Source: Wikipedia

Dear Diary,

Dow down 99 points yesterday. Gold fell $28 an ounce – its fourth straight day of losses.

Stock markets have been slipping all over the world, especially in Europe. But outside of Russia, and maybe Greece, so far there is no sign of real panic. That will come later.

We're spending this week in Washington, zombie watching.

Yesterday, we spent the evening in the lobby of The Willard hotel. A choir sang carols.

Hark the herald angels sing,
“Glory to the newborn King!”

In one corner a group of cronies sat negotiating a deal; whose ox they were goring we don't know. Pairs of women sipped their champagne and nibbled their cookies. A few tourists gawked at the splendor of it: a Christmas tree worthy of Yosemite… ceilings rivaling those of the Louvre.

I and – my laptop in one hand, a glass of Cabernet in the other – sat in another corner, enjoying the singing and inconspicuously recording events.

As Timeless as Prostitution

Politics is the leading industry in this town. When JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon was on line on Thursday, the other end of the line was here.

Dimon was adding his backing to the so-called “cromnibus” bill – which, among other things, again allows Wall Street banks to take risky derivative bets with consumer deposits.

Here's one of our dear readers with the story:

The US House passed a bill repealing the Dodd-Frank requirement that risky derivatives be pushed into big-bank subsidiaries, leaving our deposits and pensions exposed to massive derivatives losses.The bill was vigorously challenged by Senator Elizabeth Warren; but the tide turned when Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan Chase, stepped into the ring.

Perhaps what prompted his intervention was the unanticipated $40 drop in the price of oil. As financial blogger Michael Snyder points out, that drop could trigger a derivatives payout that could bankrupt the biggest banks.