Say What!?! - 04/28/10

Four things that happened yesterday that make me nonplussed.

"Ex-squeeze me? Baking powder?"

-- Wayne Campbell (Mike Myers), Wayne's World

Here are four things that happened yesterday that make me say, What the ...

1. The Greek rescue package has now risen threefold, to $90 billion, from the amount expected to have been required a month ago. What the ...

    

2. In the morning, Standard & Poor's downgraded Portugal's sovereign debt rating from A+ to A-. With all the scrutiny over their role in the credit mess, the ratings agencies are still remarkably slow to respond to changing fiscal conditions. What the ...

    

3. At midday, Standard & Poor's downgraded Greece's sovereign debt rating from BBB+ to BB+. (See No. 2.) What the ...

    

4. Senator Levin dropped the "S" bomb on 16 occasions in yesterday's Subcommittee testimony. Upon its closing, the hearing on Goldman Sachs (GS) unpeeled a disappointing group of politicians who have little comprehension of the role of investment firms and their market-making functions. What the ...