I Still Like Elizabeth Warren

Elizabeth Warren was on Bloomberg TV this morning, and I was again struck by her ability to discuss the banking crisis in plain, straightforward terms that don't appear to be spin. It's very unusual in today's media world. Unfortunately, I thought her interlocutors asked very softball questions (not the link above); I suspect that's because they don't want to offend their patrons on Wall Street, who are often villains in Warren's explanations.

The most interesting thing she had to say in this interview was that the small, local banks are in trouble because they hold so many commercial mortgage loans. The terms of these loans are changing on a longer time frame than the sub-prime mortgages that have already begun to turn bad. The smaller banks may get into trouble as these commercial mortgages come due. She said that they would probably not be bailed out like the big banks, but would just be allowed to fail.