Friday Market Wrapup Blog

The last time I posted, I took issue with how the proposed economic stimulus plan would be paid for and alluded to the fact that there would be better ways to apply that money to the problem.

In a commentary that appeared in todays Washington Post, William Gross, the head of PIMCO, prosposed the most sensible solution I've heard thusfar. You can read it here.

Everybody knows by now that the US House passed an economic stimulus package today, though it's still not a done deal since the Senate is looking to pass its own similar but expanded version. No reason to beat a dead horse here, so lets leave it at the whole package is going to cost us around $150 billion (roughly one percent of GDP).

But here's something that will make you go "hmmm"...

I'm an avowed NPR junkie who feels a slight twinge of guilt whenever there's a fund drive and I don't contribute. Though I do give occasionally, I still castigate myself for not doing more for a worthy cause. But for better or worse, I always keep my radio tuned to the local public radio station.

I heard an interesting story on the drive home this evening about Egan-Jones, a small upstart of a ratings firm in the vein of S&P or Moody's. I typically don't care much for credit rating agencies (CRA) because despite of how pure their intentions may be, I feel like a lot of people have been screwed out of a lot of money because credit raters serve two masters.