From Barron's

i always enjoy Barron's - some good quotes this week:
Anything that smacked of action Beneficent Ben pointedly put off until the Fed's Open Market Committee meets on Sept. 20 and 21. The extra day was added ostensibly to give those worthies more time to argue, but over precisely what -- whether the Yankees or Red Sox would cop the American League pennant? Or, weightier matters like the menu for lunch? -- was purposefully not spelled out.

What struck us as particularly noteworthy was his admission toward the end of the speech that "most of the economic policies that support robust economic growth in the long run are outside the province of the central bank." In other words, the Fed has pretty much done as much as it can. That means, in a neat passing of the buck, that pumping some life into the economy now rests mainly with fiscal policy, which, in turn, means Congress, a prospect that prompts one loud, undiluted "ugh" and is cause enough to abandon all hope.

THERE HAS BEEN NOT a little derision grounded in envy about Warren Buffett's latest coup, his $5 billion investment in Bank of America, an idea he claims he got while taking a bath. It's rare, we suppose, for a legend to reveal just where he got the inspiration for a stunning investment idea, but, hey, why not the bathroom? We think it's great that Warren came clean and, when you ponder it a bit, what better place to contemplate soaking Wall Street's know–it-alls than a bathtub.


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