You Want I Should Exchange Our Convertible Bonds for Equity, Boss?

Sorry I've been so intermittent with the posts lately, I've been extremely busy. Here's a couple of posts to catch us all up on what's happening in business.

First, I saw this on the cover of the WSJ yesterday, and I honestly felt a chill down my spine. It's a feature article about the TARP's "chief investment officer." Before getting into philosophical analysis of the situation, just look at the guy! He looks like one of Jack Nicholson's low-level enforcers from The Departed. To make it worse, although any moderately rational individual could have seen this coming, he acts like it too:

Tall, bald and blunt, Mr. Lambright has gained a reputation within the government for his tough negotiating style, which at times has irked those seeking aid and ruffled the feathers of some colleagues. Some have criticized Mr. Lambright for demanding too many concessions, including restrictions on executive compensation. Some of his own colleagues have urged him to cool his rhetoric.

"He's unbelievably tough, and sometimes needs to be reminded that the job is to save the financial system," says former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, who hired Mr. Lambright at the Treasury.

Paulson thinks he's tough! This Stanford thug makes Paulson look like Mr. Clean. Ladies and Gentleman, I give you the new power center of our economy: a smart, well-dressed version of an underworld hit man. Well, we knew it would happen some day.