“The bailout, whether it ultimately passes or not, will likely be studied by game theorists for years to come, as there are conflicting and somewhat self-contradictory incentives between no fewer than a half-dozen different parties. Everyone wants the package to pass but nobody wants to vote for it.

Framing the plan properly would probably make it more popular. Anyone who tries to frame the plan risks taking ownership. Even if framed properly, it would probably remain unpopular enough to constitute a political liability. So no parties have an incentive to “spin” the plan as a positive, and it continues to become more unpopular as the default narrative (“Wall Street bailout”) is left unchallenged.

“Transparency is meaningless without accountability.

“Get big or go home. How big can you f—- up? Can you f—- up so bad that you would ruin the world economy? If it’s just 15,000 who are out of jobs, no. You have to actually be a global f—-up to get any help.

“We’re all complicit in forcing the presidential candidates to make simple, talking-point narratives. The whole mechanism of dissecting their every waking moment has created somewhat of a paralysis. We have drained them of their ability to remain human.

“Every year that I spent working 12 hours a day on interesting problems while I was in high school put me ahead 6 years on what I could accomplish today, when I’m lucky to get 1-2 hours free a day.

“Require the SEC to open up the L3 holdings of these banks to public scrutiny, auction off a sampling of these securities, and apply those prices to the L3 portfolios of all the banks. In this way we will know which banks are insolvent.

“I try to drench each novel with enough story and action and crisp dialogue to keep people from throwing the book against the wall when I start to preach at them.

“If you give people a measure of risk, they think they can control it and will take more risk.

“Bull markets are born in despair
grow with skepticism
mature with optimism
and die in mania.

“As long as we pay CEOs with stock that they don’t have to pay for, risk and reward will be decoupled.