The credit markets are frozen because of uncertainty and lack of information.

No one knows how much mortgage-backed securities are now worth, and no one wants to sell them to find out.

(...)

Another measure of potential losses is how much Tier 3 capital the banks have - these are risky loans that cannot be valued except by a model because there is no market for them..

From a particularly informative article at BBC News here.

The overall sense I get is that the more layers placed between the source of the actual money for loans, and the end recipient of those loans, the more likely the loan situation is to become unrealistic.

I am also disturbed by how interesting I found this lengthy article on financial markets. I think that means I am now officially old.

Current Mood: blah

Seems to be how to live without resorting to automobile ownership. It is possible, but it does limit your options in big America significantly. The biggest problem is the social constraints it imposes.

I am steadfastly sticking to my guns on this issue, however. If I have problems, it's because I have not set up the right situation for myself, and I've merely to get myself into a better one. And I intend to do precisely that next year.

And besides, I hate the complexity of modern cars, hate car dealers, hate car repairs, hate car insurance, hate buying gas, and hate driving. So, um, I guess that does tend to boost my ideological stance on the issue somewhat.

Fuck cars.