From the oil speculators are evil file, a new report makes all kinds of loop suggestions about how to save us all from commodities markets:

Washington lawmakers and a money manager, stepping up an attack on commodities investors, will unveil a report Wednesday that they say shows speculators are to blame for this year's rise and fall in oil prices, which have swung by some 50%.

Several Democratic senators intend to use the findings to bolster an energy bill, which includes measures to scale back how institutions can invest in index funds that track commodities markets. These institutions now hold $220 billion in commodities, up from $13 billion in 2003, according to the report, co-authored by hedge-fund manager Michael Masters.

Sure, let's ban all non-commercial trades too. Go get 'em. And, and, and ... other stuff. Oh, yeesh.

[via WSJ]

I just realized ... wasn't the first test of the Large Hadron Collider around the same time as the Lehman announcement this morning? Dick Fuld is a brave man.

Interesting that all of a sudden chatter has moved from Sovereign Wealth Funds buying broken U.S. financials, over to Canadian banks doing same. This strikes me as more casting about for plausible balance sheets, but it's not impossible.

More seriously, isn't it enough that the Canadians are massed along the U.S. border (most Canadians live within a 100-mile perimeter of the 49th parallel)? Do they have to buy the banks too? Damn.

The more I listen to the non-business media, the more I think the President needs to get on TV and explain what's happening in financial markets. It would be nice if he took some responsibility too, but I'll settle for President Bush on primetime TV explaining to the average person three things:

1. Why the Freddie/Fannie bailout was necessary
2. Why other interventions have happened (and may still happen before it's over)
3. Why, after it's all over, nothing like this will ever happen again

My concern, in part, is that this succession of one-time interventions clearly has vanishingly small electoral support, and shrinking. If that voter support continues to fall, aided and abetted by a media that is focusing on the raw meat of bailouts, payments to executives, etc., we could rapidly find ourselves in future not doing unpleasant things that we should.

I'll admit to another motive too. I also want to take away cover from politicians and others looking to re-engineer FRE/FNM and have them continue on in another guise under the next administration. Properly done, we can explain now why that would be a bad idea, and dimish the power of any populist rhetoric -- homeownership is the American dream! (100x) -- a Barney Frank would have in subsidizing mortgages in a post-election Democrat-controlled Congress.

Agree/disagree? This is an epochal financial crisis and we have heard nothing from the people spending billions in taxpayers' money. And that is exceedingly dangerous.

[Update] I'll concede that Bush is a terrible speaker and his understanding of this issue is questionable. That didn't stop him from talking him about Iraq, however, and shouldn't stop him here. Color me naive, but I believe that the appearance of accountability is important, even if elections are only two months away. Tacitly implying that voters shouldn't worry their pretty little heads is a mistake.

From my inbox, the subprime spam du jour:

FAITH-BASED EARLY WARNING SYSTEM FOR INVESTORS:  “PROPHETIC” RELIGIOUS GROUPS SOUNDED SUBPRIME LOAN ALARM 15 YEARS AGO

Gosh, it turns out there were two faith-based early warning systems in debt markets. The credit rating agencies, and the preceding. Who knew?

Some wise-ass comments just write themselves:

Employees of the federal agency in charge of collecting royalties from oil and gas companies accepted gifts from industry representatives, engaged in "sexual relationships with industry contacts" and engaged in "alcohol abuse" while socializing with industry representatives, the Interior Department's top watchdog said.

Apparently all those people who thought government was being screwed by the oil industry were more right than they knew.

[via WSJ]