Cramer addendum

About two years ago, Henry Blodget (currently of Clusterstock) wrote about Jim Cramer admitting to market manipulation. If anyone is interested in having a clearer sense of what Cramer is saying (by someone in the know about the law) via an annotated review, I'd recommend checking it out.

Rich looters

Naked Capitalism reminds us about research done in the

aftermath of the 90's Savings and Loan crisis:

Our theoretical analysis shows that an economic underground can come to life if firms have an incentive to go broke for profit at society's expense (to loot) instead of to go for broke (to gamble on success)...

Unfortunately, firms covered by government guarantees are not the only ones that face severely distorted incentives. Looting can spread symbiotically to other markets, bringing to life a whole economic underworld with perverse incentives. The looters in the sector covered by the government guarantees will make trades with unaffiliated firms outside this sector, causing them to produce in a way that helps maximize the looters' current extractions with no regard for future losses...."