Quotable

Firstly, I don't think enough has been made about the CBO's report on the valuation of the TARP "investments" so far - so go read that post again.

I read two good quotes today: first, from LongOrShortCapital:

There is no means of avoiding the final collapse of a boom brought about by credit expansion. The alternative is only whether the crisis should come sooner as the result of voluntary abandonment of further credit expansion, or later as final and total catastrophe of the currency system involved. -Ludwig von Mises, Human Action (1949)

the other was on Paul Kedrosky's site:

The British government plans to provide insurance for new asset-backed securities. That is like helping a junkie to detox by guaranteeing drug supplies until the local dealer resumes normal service.
-- Source: John Kay (in FT)

-KD