A Real Loss This Monday

Well, the Patriots blew a huge game yesterday. All ability to control their own destiny was fumbled away on 5 second half turnovers. While I expect they will keep fighting, they now will need all kinds of help to make a playoff spot. My other team, the New Orleans Saints were also all but eliminated from the playoffs yesterday. NFL, gotta love it.

Doris Dungey, Known as "Tanta" on Calculated Risk, Has Passed Away
I was barely awake when I sat down at my desk this morning. I checked out the site Naked Capitalism and scanned the links section. I saw a link to a New York Times article out this morning, here it is:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/01/business/01tanta.html?_r=1

I had a terrible feeling that Doris Dungey was Tanta from the blog Calculated Risk. I read the story and everything just stopped for about 30 minutes. CR has an extended blog section devoted to remembering Tanta and I encourage you to check it out. I would also encourage you to donate to the American Cancer Society and/or a charity desired by Tanta's family.

If you have no idea who Tanta was, I can tell you who she was to me. Back when I started to think there was something wrong with the mortgage markets, it was near impossible to get any real in depth analysis on the subject. I stumbled across the site Calculated Risk and I found the holy grail of real information. This lady known as Tanta gave an unbiased, by the numbers look at all things mortgage. She made long posts (called "Ubernerd" posts) that finally made clear just what the heck was going on. This woman was a high powered intelligence and she was able to make idiots like me understand complex financial matters. Tanta, along with CR himself and Mish Shedlock inspired me to write my own blog.

We are all intellectually worse off without Tanta. We are all a bit poorer now that she is gone. Thinking of you tonight, Doris Dungey and her family.

Developments Continue
In all honesty, my heart is just into a post this evening. Still, there was plenty of important information out there today with one item standing out like a sore thumb.

Mish has a must read up concerning Ben Bernanke taking things to the next level in the war against rates. Read the whole thing:
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2008/12/helicopter-ben-pulls-out-bazooka.html

I admit that bond stuff and yield curves are not exactly my area of expertise (what is?) but this stuff looks ominous. The FED is really facing a "backs against the wall" moment here and it is not clear what they will do next. Safe to assume there is going to be more, and not less, volatility across everything while this gets sorted out.

Try to have a good night.