It's not that we're in a recession or anything...

Merrill posts $4.9 billion loss, sells Bloomberg stake

We're going from bad to worse. But Freddie is looking at offering US$10 billion in new shares. I really wonder who would be insane enough to buy them.

The main buyers for any new-stock issues are likely to be existing shareholders worldwide, the paper said, citing one person involved in the discussion.

Any sale would have to offer a high rate of return to attract buyers, given the near-14 percent yield on Freddie's preference shares, the paper added.

During the last major recession faced by the US, the Japanese came to the rescue by buying up the United States, mostly in real estate. I'm thinking this time it might be the Chinese, though they seem to be a tad busy in Africa these days.

We have a "bad air" alert in CT for the weekend. Tomorrow night I'm going up to the Casino with my sister and friends to celebrate another friends impending doom... um, marriage. Hen party, bachelorette, I'm not sure what we're calling this, but it will involved gambling and alcohol and food in air conditioning, so I don't care.

If you're not afraid of the "bad air" we're going to be having in CT this weekend, you might be interested in a road trip. I spotted this article,
134 miles of Yankee Charm in the NYT this morning. It's not a cheap trip given current gas prices, but it would be a nice one. Probably better to do in October when it's cooler and the leaves are peeping.