Which one of these is out of step? Big Ben or The Bank of England?

Time is up.

For those who follow the news, you know that London's venerable Big Ben is now closed for repairs. There will be no hearing the massive bells for the next several months. That great symbol of Britain is silenced, yet still manages to be right at least twice each day.

But that's not the Big Ben that I'm thinking about. It's the American Big Ben. Ben Bernanke. Big Ben Bernanke.

The clock is ticking away as we await that much awaited interest rate decision next Tuesday. We don't yet know whether our Big Ben is out of step, but we do know that no matter what he announces, there is no way that he will be perceived as having been correct as least twice on that day. No matter what his decision, it will be second guessed as the market will plummet in the aftermath.

On this holy day in the Jewish faith, the newspapers remind us that Ben Bernanke's grandfather was a Torah reader, in of all places, South Carolina. I believe he was from an area known to be the center of Evangelical Judaism.

Or not.

I would imagine, that whether the Chairman spent any time in a formal religious setting today, or not, he was thinking about his deeds of the past year, as this is a season for introspection. More likely, he was thinking of his future deeds and how he will be inscribed in that proverbial Book of Life.

If there are pictures in the Book of Life, you will probably note that Ben Bernanke's beard has lots more gray in it than just a single year ago. My understanding is that there is no PhotoShop use allowed in the Book of Life, so what you see, is what it is. If PhotoShop was acceptable, there would, in all likelihood, be an incredible mane of flowing hair and maybe even a pony tail.

Today, it became known that during some recent introspection, Alan Greenspan admitted that he never foresaw the sub-prime crisis, nor understood the significance of a collapse in that market.

As we like to say, "who knew"?

As Ben ponders the imponderables, in the world of finance, such questions as "who shall live and who shall die" can have a sense of immediacy. Just ask American Home Mortgage. They died.

Today's big news was that Countrywide Financial may yet live, as it announced it has lined up big financing. Its stock price finally moved in the right direction and in a big way. They are The Chosen.

Supposedly, some good news about GM's upcoming labor contracts also contributed

• 1
• 2
• 3
• next page >>

---

Add your voice

Know something about Subprime lender crisis and the struggling home mortgage market?
We want to hear your view. Write now!