Exposing the lack of compassion by conservatives and
debunking right wing hypocrisy at every opportunity.
Senator Obama and his allies in Congress infused unnecessary partisanship into the process.R.I.P.
[Cross-posted at E Pluribus Unum]
9/30/08
| [+/-] |
It’s Official |
[Cross-posted at E Pluribus Unum]
9/29/08
| [+/-] |
Dear Government: You SUCK |
That is all.
| [+/-] |
Give em Hell, Marcy |
I think we should make my Congresswoman, Marcy Kaptur, an honorary lefty blogger. Check out her shorter version of why the Bailout is Teh Suck!
Sounds Like Insider Trading To Me! Rep Kaptur
HT: Kossack Tunney
She ain't buying the charade. Throwing out a Trillion Bucks without so much a real hearing before any real committees, with no time to analyze or consult with any non-crony experts on whether it will even work and what unintended consequences await.
Yes, that is the same dress as last time. Reward good behavoir and help a lady out with a proper wardrobe.
The last time I lived in a District where my Representative was even more liberal than me was when I went to school in Dennis Kucinich's playground -- but no one beat Jim Trafficant for sheer wackyness where I grew up. Both of them made my other reps, Lou Stokes and Stephanie Tubbs-Jones, seem downright mainstream. Now Marcy, god love her, completes the cycle -- leading me to ever more DFH behavior. I've never had occasion to write one of them to stop being a pussy or angry that they were in the pocket of someone with a big fat checkbook. Invariably they've inspired me to remind my kids (and you) that some of the most dangerous enemies this nation has live right here, selling snake oil.
Ahh, screw it. I might as well admit right now I've been known to say "Go Blue!" on occasion, just to piss off my father-in-law; and actually have a Michigan cap buried in my closet under all the required Ohio State gear all Ohioans are issued at birth. Living in THE most liberal districts in Ohio sure has skewed my take on my fellow Buckeyes -- and I even spent a summer at OSU a hundred years ago taking classes, chasing girls and searching in vain for decent pot. (All the good stuff was in Athens, home of my beloved yet eternally hopeless Bobcats, the only blue county south of Columbus.)
Sounds Like Insider Trading To Me! Rep Kaptur
HT: Kossack Tunney
She ain't buying the charade. Throwing out a Trillion Bucks without so much a real hearing before any real committees, with no time to analyze or consult with any non-crony experts on whether it will even work and what unintended consequences await.
Yes, that is the same dress as last time. Reward good behavoir and help a lady out with a proper wardrobe.
The last time I lived in a District where my Representative was even more liberal than me was when I went to school in Dennis Kucinich's playground -- but no one beat Jim Trafficant for sheer wackyness where I grew up. Both of them made my other reps, Lou Stokes and Stephanie Tubbs-Jones, seem downright mainstream. Now Marcy, god love her, completes the cycle -- leading me to ever more DFH behavior. I've never had occasion to write one of them to stop being a pussy or angry that they were in the pocket of someone with a big fat checkbook. Invariably they've inspired me to remind my kids (and you) that some of the most dangerous enemies this nation has live right here, selling snake oil.
Ahh, screw it. I might as well admit right now I've been known to say "Go Blue!" on occasion, just to piss off my father-in-law; and actually have a Michigan cap buried in my closet under all the required Ohio State gear all Ohioans are issued at birth. Living in THE most liberal districts in Ohio sure has skewed my take on my fellow Buckeyes -- and I even spent a summer at OSU a hundred years ago taking classes, chasing girls and searching in vain for decent pot. (All the good stuff was in Athens, home of my beloved yet eternally hopeless Bobcats, the only blue county south of Columbus.)
| [+/-] |
Bailout Has Devilish Details |
I've but one word for the drafters of the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act Of 2008:
GO2HELL!
Honestly, was this really the best we could do?
Unlike many on the left and the overwhelming majority of PrezTard Bush's former supporters who now conveniently run from their leader like Pavlovian mutts who rolled around in their own shit for eight years suddenly realize they smell bad at the ding, ding, ding of Bush's name -- I still think the bailout is essential. I haven't heard anything else out there that would more effectively unclog the credit market's tubes in the time frame necessary to mitigate the disastrous supply-side damage directly caused by the conventional voodoo since the dark day that Ronald Reagan was sworn in.
If you aren't convinced this was all orchestrated, consider Naomi Klein's take on this bit of theater even before Drama Queen McCain brought his circus act into the West Wing. Unfortunately (and this is where I differ with John Amato), even though it sure looks like this is a manufactured crisis, it's a crisis nonetheless.
That said, the plan still sucks.
Or at least we have a lot more work to do, some of which will probably have to wait until we see if we get a filibuster-proof Senate and impose a progressive version of the Shock Doctrine. What a strange dynamic when the outnumbered children in the House GOP caucus were allowed to pull the strings this time. Come January, no one will give a damn what they have to say. All they did was give John McCain and a couple of other worried Republican Senators cover as they acted their predictable douchey selves. I think America is finally weary of their stunts.
So why Mark? Why does it suck?
Glad I asked: Inadequate help for distressed homeowners.
I don't care what they tell you, I've looked at the Act carefully on this point, which magnanimously expands Chris Dodd's Hope For Homeowners Act to include not just FHA, but also Fanny Mae and Freddy Mac covered loans and anything covered by one of these junk mortgage backed securities we're buying or owned by a bank opting into the bailout. The EESA allows for renegotiation of distressed loans, by changing the interest, the term of years, or sending anyone with 10% equity into a 30 year fixed, which cuts out the house flippers.
Okie, Dokie. That sounds like a good thing, but it isn't cuz it's optional at the discretion of the bank. Under H4H, it's still the banks which decide which loans to renegotiate -- and only folks whose loan is over 31% of their income are eligible. In other words, only folks that got a loan from an almost criminally irresponsible loan officer would qualify, and only if their bank already tanked, the loan is held by Uncle Sam or out of the goodness of their heart the bank decides to give you a break.
There are a lot of otherwise perfectly solvent lending institutions that don't need to opt into the bailout who will laugh at this legislation unless homeowners are empowered to initiate the process and make the thing mandatory if the homeowner qualifies -- whether the lender is opting in or not. Homeowners are still at the mercy of the bankers in this to a large degree.
Sorry, that doesn't cut it, it doesn't help the real people who pay the real taxes that will fund this monstrosity. Barney Frank had the right idea. It needs teeth, like the ability of a Bankruptcy Judge to restructure a loan if they rule that's a just result even if the bank doesn't. Leaving this solely to a bankers discretion is simply pointless.
Take a look at this language from the full EESA (pdf). It's even worse since we're buying the paper guaranteeing the mortgages and not the debt instrument itself. The folks collecting the payment have no incentive to help out the little guy. Go figure.
Such is the sausage making that creates laws. We gave up on Bankruptcy reform. We threw away community centric housing relief, where the hopelessly ignorant wingnuts could claim victory over ACORN, an outfit that gives them a perpetual dose of Cialis. They also will dance with joy that they get to play more privatization games with an insurance "solution" to this thing -- which for the life of me I have no clue how it's supposed to work, or help.
So what did we get, politically or for, you know, fixing that whole crisis thingy? Well, very strict reporting on exactly which millionaire can only take home a half million next year without paying (gasp) higher taxes; and "oversight!" on every billion dimes they'll be handing out to the richest financial institutions on the planet. (As long as they don't get lost and shipped to Baghdad in the meantime.)
Look suckers, just be grateful they didn't eliminate the capital gains tax or really deregulate everything -- or do what Gingrich and Bill Kristol prayed for, using the FDIC to create a safe haven for their millions that don't have a safe place to sit this out. The ultimate game of corporate/wingnut welfare yet concieved.
So bitch, moan, and never forget that when Republican are anything more than an obstructive bunch of nay-sayers, but actually get to run things, their ability to fuck up your world is beyond imagination. Meanwhile, just pay up or they'll make Wall Street and Main Street look like Burbon Street. You should feel privileged to be allowed to participate in cleaning up their mess, you ungrateful peasant.
UPDATE: One more thing. I was negligent not to mention that Krugman deems the plan "sufficiently not-awful" since it includes his deal breaker demand for an equity stake so we have a non-zero chance of recouping something on this. Otherwise it was just a handout. I always figured that and the populist red meat of curbing CEO golden parachutes would be a part of this. Nobody buys a pig-in-a-poke without going home with either the pig or the poke, especially if it steals away enough cash to buy it's own lipstick factory.
GO2HELL!
Honestly, was this really the best we could do?
Unlike many on the left and the overwhelming majority of PrezTard Bush's former supporters who now conveniently run from their leader like Pavlovian mutts who rolled around in their own shit for eight years suddenly realize they smell bad at the ding, ding, ding of Bush's name -- I still think the bailout is essential. I haven't heard anything else out there that would more effectively unclog the credit market's tubes in the time frame necessary to mitigate the disastrous supply-side damage directly caused by the conventional voodoo since the dark day that Ronald Reagan was sworn in.
If you aren't convinced this was all orchestrated, consider Naomi Klein's take on this bit of theater even before Drama Queen McCain brought his circus act into the West Wing. Unfortunately (and this is where I differ with John Amato), even though it sure looks like this is a manufactured crisis, it's a crisis nonetheless.
That said, the plan still sucks.
Or at least we have a lot more work to do, some of which will probably have to wait until we see if we get a filibuster-proof Senate and impose a progressive version of the Shock Doctrine. What a strange dynamic when the outnumbered children in the House GOP caucus were allowed to pull the strings this time. Come January, no one will give a damn what they have to say. All they did was give John McCain and a couple of other worried Republican Senators cover as they acted their predictable douchey selves. I think America is finally weary of their stunts.
So why Mark? Why does it suck?
Glad I asked: Inadequate help for distressed homeowners.
I don't care what they tell you, I've looked at the Act carefully on this point, which magnanimously expands Chris Dodd's Hope For Homeowners Act to include not just FHA, but also Fanny Mae and Freddy Mac covered loans and anything covered by one of these junk mortgage backed securities we're buying or owned by a bank opting into the bailout. The EESA allows for renegotiation of distressed loans, by changing the interest, the term of years, or sending anyone with 10% equity into a 30 year fixed, which cuts out the house flippers.
Okie, Dokie. That sounds like a good thing, but it isn't cuz it's optional at the discretion of the bank. Under H4H, it's still the banks which decide which loans to renegotiate -- and only folks whose loan is over 31% of their income are eligible. In other words, only folks that got a loan from an almost criminally irresponsible loan officer would qualify, and only if their bank already tanked, the loan is held by Uncle Sam or out of the goodness of their heart the bank decides to give you a break.
There are a lot of otherwise perfectly solvent lending institutions that don't need to opt into the bailout who will laugh at this legislation unless homeowners are empowered to initiate the process and make the thing mandatory if the homeowner qualifies -- whether the lender is opting in or not. Homeowners are still at the mercy of the bankers in this to a large degree.
Sorry, that doesn't cut it, it doesn't help the real people who pay the real taxes that will fund this monstrosity. Barney Frank had the right idea. It needs teeth, like the ability of a Bankruptcy Judge to restructure a loan if they rule that's a just result even if the bank doesn't. Leaving this solely to a bankers discretion is simply pointless.
Take a look at this language from the full EESA (pdf). It's even worse since we're buying the paper guaranteeing the mortgages and not the debt instrument itself. The folks collecting the payment have no incentive to help out the little guy. Go figure.
SEC. 109. FORECLOSURE MITIGATION EFFORTS. (a) RESIDENTIAL MORTGAGE LOAN SERVICING STANDARDS.—To the extent that the Secretary acquires mortgages, mortgage backed securities, and other assets secured by residential real estate, including multifamily housing, the Secretary shall implement a plan that seeks to maximize assistance for homeowners and use the authority of the Secretary to encourage the servicers of the underlying mortgages, considering net present value to the taxpayer, to take advantage of the HOPE for Home owners Program under section 257 of the National Housing Act or other available programs to minimize foreclosures. In addition, the Secretary may use loan guarantees and credit enhancements to facilitate loan modifications to prevent avoidable foreclosures.So what's Paulson going to say to these fat cats? "Pretty Please, with serfs and handmaidens on top?"
Such is the sausage making that creates laws. We gave up on Bankruptcy reform. We threw away community centric housing relief, where the hopelessly ignorant wingnuts could claim victory over ACORN, an outfit that gives them a perpetual dose of Cialis. They also will dance with joy that they get to play more privatization games with an insurance "solution" to this thing -- which for the life of me I have no clue how it's supposed to work, or help.
So what did we get, politically or for, you know, fixing that whole crisis thingy? Well, very strict reporting on exactly which millionaire can only take home a half million next year without paying (gasp) higher taxes; and "oversight!" on every billion dimes they'll be handing out to the richest financial institutions on the planet. (As long as they don't get lost and shipped to Baghdad in the meantime.)
Look suckers, just be grateful they didn't eliminate the capital gains tax or really deregulate everything -- or do what Gingrich and Bill Kristol prayed for, using the FDIC to create a safe haven for their millions that don't have a safe place to sit this out. The ultimate game of corporate/wingnut welfare yet concieved.
So bitch, moan, and never forget that when Republican are anything more than an obstructive bunch of nay-sayers, but actually get to run things, their ability to fuck up your world is beyond imagination. Meanwhile, just pay up or they'll make Wall Street and Main Street look like Burbon Street. You should feel privileged to be allowed to participate in cleaning up their mess, you ungrateful peasant.
UPDATE: One more thing. I was negligent not to mention that Krugman deems the plan "sufficiently not-awful" since it includes his deal breaker demand for an equity stake so we have a non-zero chance of recouping something on this. Otherwise it was just a handout. I always figured that and the populist red meat of curbing CEO golden parachutes would be a part of this. Nobody buys a pig-in-a-poke without going home with either the pig or the poke, especially if it steals away enough cash to buy it's own lipstick factory.
9/28/08
| [+/-] |
China Speaks |
The most interesting and important interview (to me) in this supersaturated news cycle was Fareed Zakaria's CNN sit down with Wen Jiabao, the leader of China, no doubt one of the few world leaders who can speak intelligently about the works of Marcus Aurelius and Adam Smith. (I guarantee that neither Bush or McCain ever even heard of Smith's Theory of Moral Sentiments even if they've got The Wealth of Nations theme of "Free Markets" tattooed on their ass.)
The Chinese Premier believes we're in this together and all should share in fixing the credit crisis. Think about what an amazing shift this is from the isolation of "Red" China of just a few decades ago, where the Great Wall extended into their economic policy (and still dominates their internet access). However, if we don't get our house in order, this should be a signal that a credit squeeze, loss of value by international shareholders of Wall Street firms combined with a recessionary business cycle triggered plummeting housing values could quickly turn into a catastrophe that makes memories of the Great Depression seem like the good old days.
Wen, who is known for his openness and economic mastery, told Zakaria that despite the impressive growth his country has experienced over the past 30 years, things have changed because of the United States' subprime problems. "We have seen a decline in external demand, and China's domestic demand cannot be significantly increased in a short period of time. [So] we do risk a slowdown. We must re-adjust macroeconomic policy," Wen says. "A U.S. recession would certainly have an impact on China's economy. Ten years ago, China-U.S. trade stood at only $102.6 billion. Today the figure has soared to $302 billion-a 1.5-fold increase. A shrinking of U.S. demand would certainly have an impact on China's exports. And U.S. finance is closely connected with Chinese finance. If anything goes wrong in the U.S. financial sector, we would be anxious about the security of Chinese capital."
I think this confirms my analysis that without some kind of bailout that gets the credit markets going again, quickly, we risk exactly the historic meltdown Warren Buffet warns about.
I got the feeling that Premier Wen was trying to at least reassure us that they weren't considering cashing in all those T-Bills they hold and trigger a Boy And His Dog world. At least not yet. But he didn't obscure the fact that they may have no choice if we don't get 'er done.
They are willing to go along to a point, accepting the end of 10% plus growth and entering a period of more sustainable expansion. But unlike us, they won't tolerate a true recession there, a zero or negative period of economic growth without tapping into their savings -- so much of it tied into credit granted the US government to feed our war lust and conspicuous consumption. Remember, they've already cut off lending to US banks, which is hardly the way a "partner" who wants to "share the burden" all that much.
Maybe they'll conclude that no matter how bad a global economic implosion might hurt the USA, they'll suffer even more and will let it ride -- because any hint that they'd pull out of their "investment" in America would seal everyone's doom. (And you really have to know where to look to infer there was even a hint given, but not a threat.) We can only hope the threat doesn't become more blatant as things go from bad to suck in the next couple of years.
Weirdly, Wen spoke of the "real" American economy as fundamentally strong -- which he defines as our technical and manufacturing base, our innovative abilities. Interestingly enough, the head of the People's Republic didn't define our economic "fundamentals" in the transparently cynical way John McCain tried to redefine how stupid he sounds when talking all things economic.
So once again, for reasons no one in the government or the media cares to discuss, I've convinced myself that the bailout needs to happen or we face dire consequences. The devil being in the details, I'll be taking a close look at what comes out of the sausage factory on Capitol Hill, and some of the wacky ideologically driven alternatives that have been offerend recently.
| [+/-] |
The Top 10 October Surprises |
[cross posted at E Pluribus Unum]
From the home office in Sedona, Arizona: The Top 10 October Surprises in this year's campaign:
10. Senate elects McCain Miss Congeniality.
9. McCain personally captures Osama at the gates of hell.
8. McCain dumps Sarah, nominates Dave.
7. McCain adopts Jonas Brothers.
6. Sarah Palin announces she's pregnant, calls it her "Colbert Bump."
5. McCain changes middle name from Sidney to Mustafa.
4. Brad Hanson sells wallet-size nudie of Sarah to National Enquirer.
3. Charlie Crist spotted standing in line at County Clerk's office in San Francisco with Lindsey Graham.
2. Harlem Globetrotters endorse McCain.
And the #1 October Surprise:
1. Palin Wins Debate!
9/26/08
| [+/-] |
They Want A Cut |
That's the only reason I can think that the recalcitrant House Republicans and John McCain torpedoed the bailout deal, offering instead an 11th hour tax cut/privatization/deregulation scheme (typical). They want a piece of the action in order to line their own pockets and those of their friends.
Comparing the upside of the Paulson plan (as modified by Chris Dodd) to the Louisiana Purchase John Feehery notes that this could be the deal of the century, any century.
Comparing the upside of the Paulson plan (as modified by Chris Dodd) to the Louisiana Purchase John Feehery notes that this could be the deal of the century, any century.
I thought of the Louisiana Purchase as I saw Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson defend his bailout plan. Paulson is a smart business guy, and he knows the first principle of finance is to buy low and sell high.Yeah, I'm skeptical too. The only reason I give this idea that there might be a lucrative upside on this is the way it's been sold -- not with optimism and emphasizing the potential debt reduction angle, but with fear and panic inducing big numbers pulled out of a hat.
Andy Kessler wrote in The Wall Street Journal yesterday that the Paulson plan may be a similarly good deal for the American taxpayers.
As Kessler says, “My analysis suggests that Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson … may pull off the mother of all trades, which could net a trillion dollars, and maybe as much as $2.2 trillion — yes, with a t — for the United States Treasury.”
He goes on to say, “You can slice the numbers a lot of different ways. My calculations, which assume 50 percent impairment on subprime loans, suggest it is possible, all in, for this portfolio to generate between $1 trillion and $2.2 trillion — the greatest trade ever. Every hedge fund manager will be jealous.”
9/25/08
| [+/-] |
McCAAaaaiiiinn! You Moron |
Is this idiot still pushing the fiscally stupid and morally wrong DE-regulation snake oil that got us into this problem in the first place? Maybe not. But it was still his side of the aisle, lead by John Boener, who dug in their heels after inserting presidential politics into negotiations he has no clue about, and may have hopelessly derailed.
Nice rescue Mr. McCain. Glad you showed up. If McSame hadn't stuck his ego into the negotiations something terrible -- like approval of a plan to rescue the economy -- might have gotten done.
Which might not be a bad thing. Every day there's no deal, it's another day where Wall Street doesn't collapse, bringing down the rest of the nation -- thus exposing the canard of what might be a manufactured crisis. The gamesmanship is all too obvious, as obvious as the GOP's last minute plan introduced at the Save McCain White House Photo Op.
If the nearly extinct trickle down crowd insists that there's no way, no how they'll stand for any "socialist" interference in the free markets, then a trickle up approach is the only other option -- one the Democrats can do without demanding any GOP participation.
If this actually gets traction, liquidate your savings and retirement plan -- what's left of it, especially if it was at WaMu -- and move to Malaysia. I hear they need all the day laborers they can get. Or Alaska! They pay you to live there since they've cut taxes and live off drill, drill, drill. Dress warm.
And you better put your sell order in early, cuz the market is going to tank, again.
On the more promising news front, Katie Couric reports that Sarah Palin's approval ratings are approaching Shrub level, 34%, down from 47% a month ago. TS at Instaputz insists the more he hears from Caribou Barbie, the more he appreciates "the eloquence of George W. Bush." McCain lost this election two stunts ago.
Republicans like John Boehner brought up the concerns of House GOPers and McCain acknowledged hearing about their concerns. And McCain, and staffers, did seek to gauge the level of support of the GOP working group's white paper. The Democrats were left with the impression that McCain endorsed the GOP efforts, but they concede that he did not raise them directly.Cuz he didn't read the randsome note from the treasury.
The fact is that Boehner doesn't have 100 votes from his conference -- 100 votes that Nancy Pelosi really wants. And that's not McCain's fault.Funny that the leaders of the banking committees in both houses, from both parties announced they had a deal on the basic principle and simply just had to write the thing -- until Bush, at McCain's behest based on an idea by his Maverickynessitude himself, held a photo-op which had the effect of trashing all the work of the last week.
But Boehner and the White House -- and McCain -- if they want to get something passed -- do have the responsibility to persuade these Republicans to support the bailout .
After all, if not to get these recalcitrant Republicans on board, why did McCain go to Washington in the first place?
Nice rescue Mr. McCain. Glad you showed up. If McSame hadn't stuck his ego into the negotiations something terrible -- like approval of a plan to rescue the economy -- might have gotten done.
Which might not be a bad thing. Every day there's no deal, it's another day where Wall Street doesn't collapse, bringing down the rest of the nation -- thus exposing the canard of what might be a manufactured crisis. The gamesmanship is all too obvious, as obvious as the GOP's last minute plan introduced at the Save McCain White House Photo Op.
One the proposals -- favored by House Republicans -- would relax regulation and temporarily get rid of certain taxes in order to lure private industry into the market for these distressed assets.I'm shocked, shocked I say that tax cuts and deregulation is the Republican approach to a problem only exasperated by eight years of tax cuts and a steady diet of continual deregulation since Reagan showed the GOP that tax cuts were how to win elections and ruin the government they hate in one fell swoop.
If the nearly extinct trickle down crowd insists that there's no way, no how they'll stand for any "socialist" interference in the free markets, then a trickle up approach is the only other option -- one the Democrats can do without demanding any GOP participation.
If this actually gets traction, liquidate your savings and retirement plan -- what's left of it, especially if it was at WaMu -- and move to Malaysia. I hear they need all the day laborers they can get. Or Alaska! They pay you to live there since they've cut taxes and live off drill, drill, drill. Dress warm.
And you better put your sell order in early, cuz the market is going to tank, again.
On the more promising news front, Katie Couric reports that Sarah Palin's approval ratings are approaching Shrub level, 34%, down from 47% a month ago. TS at Instaputz insists the more he hears from Caribou Barbie, the more he appreciates "the eloquence of George W. Bush." McCain lost this election two stunts ago.
| [+/-] |
Now That We Have Your Attention |
So unconstitutionally using a narrow conservative majority of handpicked Supreme Court ideologues to steal the presidency for an unqualified boob who lost the election by a half million votes didn’t do it.
Diddling with their secret plan to invade and occupy a non-threatening, oil-rich country in the Middle East and reading My Pet Goat while terrorists determined to strike in the US finished their plans and killed thousands of Americans and turned the country inside out, didn’t make you mad.
Constructing a system of secret prisons around the world where we tortured and murdered innocent kidnapping victims just to show how tough we are, didn’t upset you at all.
Launching a disastrous, illegal war through a campaign of lies, deception and treason, that has killed thousands of US soldiers, destroyed our credibility and moral authority in the world, inspired unknown millions of Muslims to want see us harmed and will cost at least a trillion tax dollars before it’s done, didn’t stop you from voting for the miscreants.
Viciously and dishonestly smearing decorated war heroes, dedicated civil servants, honest journalists and millions of your countrymen while exposing secret intelligence and destroying CIA counter-WMD-proliferation operations in Iraq and Iran just to keep power for all the wrong reasons, didn’t even get a rise out of you – except perhaps to cheer a bit at their political success.
Conspiring with AT&T, Verizon and Comcast and committing serial felonies designed to shred your constitutional rights to be free from government spying on your private telephone and email communications and internet use, made you yawn.
Filling FEMA, the Justice Department, the Treasury, the EPA and just about every reach of the federal government with incompetent cronies to the point that the American people are doomed to suffer the worst from every made-made and natural disaster didn’t distract you from the latest episode of CSI.
But this finally has you royally, righteously angry.
Well, guess what? Republicans have been pissing down your back and telling you that it’s raining since the seventies. If this doesn’t cause you to actually finally manage to pull your head from the elephant’s ass and realize that it is only Democrats who care if government works for middle-class Americans like you, then you deserve whatever another four years of Republican rule brings down on you. Unfortunately for the rest of us, and your children, we’ll be coming along for the ride.
[Cross-posted at E Pluribus Unum]
| [+/-] |
China: The First Shoe Stomps |
The other day, I talked about the Chinese Central banks having no choice but to start cashing in US T-Bills (about half a Trillion Bucks worth) if the credit crunch leaves them without enough liquidity to keep their hyper-growth economy burning.
Today, despite denials that there was any central order from the government in Beijing, some of their banks have stopped loaning to American banks due to instability in the US economy.
This coincides with the the central Chinese banks receiving permission to buy larger stakes in the markets and await a promised injection of capital from the government amid a steady stream of people pulling their savings out of their banks and markets -- and the Chinese banks themselves finding the relatively safer harbor of money markets more attractive than either foreign banks or stocks.
The clock is ticking on the bailout deal -- which some insist isn't necessary. As long as the Chinese banks remain liquid, they won't start a run on cashing out all those US Bonds they own. The new trading rules and withholding credit to US banks might keep them going for a bit longer. But if they make a move on dumping T-Bills, it's all over.
Today, despite denials that there was any central order from the government in Beijing, some of their banks have stopped loaning to American banks due to instability in the US economy.
This coincides with the the central Chinese banks receiving permission to buy larger stakes in the markets and await a promised injection of capital from the government amid a steady stream of people pulling their savings out of their banks and markets -- and the Chinese banks themselves finding the relatively safer harbor of money markets more attractive than either foreign banks or stocks.
The clock is ticking on the bailout deal -- which some insist isn't necessary. As long as the Chinese banks remain liquid, they won't start a run on cashing out all those US Bonds they own. The new trading rules and withholding credit to US banks might keep them going for a bit longer. But if they make a move on dumping T-Bills, it's all over.
| [+/-] |
Letterman: Something Smells |
I guess Dave Letterman has joined the "In The Tank" crowd.
Letterman simply rips McCain a new one in this montage of last night's show, catching him with Katie Couric instead of on Dave's couch. Now unless Katie has enough cash to fix the economy . . .
To be fair, unlike the New York Times, Letterman never pretended to be "by any standard a journalistic organization." The guy calls his production company "World Wide Pants" for goodness sakes.
I can't wait until Barack wins this thing. Then I can go back to simply finding McCain mildly annoying instead of despising him.
Letterman simply rips McCain a new one in this montage of last night's show, catching him with Katie Couric instead of on Dave's couch. Now unless Katie has enough cash to fix the economy . . .
To be fair, unlike the New York Times, Letterman never pretended to be "by any standard a journalistic organization." The guy calls his production company "World Wide Pants" for goodness sakes.
I can't wait until Barack wins this thing. Then I can go back to simply finding McCain mildly annoying instead of despising him.
9/24/08
| [+/-] |
A Letter From Sherrod Brown |
Dear Mr. Adams:
Thank you for expressing your concerns with the problems in the financial sector and proposals to address them.
A lot of Ohioans, including me, are angry at the thought of bailing out people who made a lot of money making bad business decisions that created problems in neighborhoods across Ohio.
I agree that we need to avoid rewarding excessive risk taking. These institutions made unwise decisions, and taxpayers should not be expected to simply cover their losses.
Treasury Secretary Paulson this weekend sent a proposal to Congress that would give him almost unfettered authority to spend $700 billion purchasing troubled assets from financial institutions. On Tuesday, my colleagues on the Banking Committee and I held a hearing at which Secretary Paulson, Federal Reserve Chairman Bernanke, and others testified.
They made a strong case for the need to act quickly to prevent further damage to our economy. The turmoil in the credit markets has the potential to do great damage to a lot of innocent bystanders. I am afraid that if we do not act, the economic instability could affect thousands of American jobs and the savings of countless middle class families.
But Secretary Paulson’s proposal is not the right answer. No Secretary should be given a $700 billion blank check. Taxpayers must be given an opportunity to recover their money, and assurances their tax dollars will not fund lavish pay and golden parachutes. We need strong rules to guard against abuse, and to ensure all types of institutions and regions are helped.
In the days ahead, we need to focus on containing the damage to middle class families and local businesses as much as possible. In the months ahead, we need to take a hard look at how financial markets are regulated so we never find ourselves in this situation again.
Thank you again for contacting me. I will certainly keep your views in mind as the Senate debates ways to help restore strength to our economy.
Sincerely,
Sherrod Brown
Thank you for expressing your concerns with the problems in the financial sector and proposals to address them.
A lot of Ohioans, including me, are angry at the thought of bailing out people who made a lot of money making bad business decisions that created problems in neighborhoods across Ohio.
I agree that we need to avoid rewarding excessive risk taking. These institutions made unwise decisions, and taxpayers should not be expected to simply cover their losses.
Treasury Secretary Paulson this weekend sent a proposal to Congress that would give him almost unfettered authority to spend $700 billion purchasing troubled assets from financial institutions. On Tuesday, my colleagues on the Banking Committee and I held a hearing at which Secretary Paulson, Federal Reserve Chairman Bernanke, and others testified.
They made a strong case for the need to act quickly to prevent further damage to our economy. The turmoil in the credit markets has the potential to do great damage to a lot of innocent bystanders. I am afraid that if we do not act, the economic instability could affect thousands of American jobs and the savings of countless middle class families.
But Secretary Paulson’s proposal is not the right answer. No Secretary should be given a $700 billion blank check. Taxpayers must be given an opportunity to recover their money, and assurances their tax dollars will not fund lavish pay and golden parachutes. We need strong rules to guard against abuse, and to ensure all types of institutions and regions are helped.
In the days ahead, we need to focus on containing the damage to middle class families and local businesses as much as possible. In the months ahead, we need to take a hard look at how financial markets are regulated so we never find ourselves in this situation again.
Thank you again for contacting me. I will certainly keep your views in mind as the Senate debates ways to help restore strength to our economy.
Sincerely,
Sherrod Brown
| [+/-] |
The Netroots New Favorite Congressperson |
Is mine. Marcy Kaptur lets Wall Street and the Administration have it right between the eyes.
Let's Play "WALLSTREET BAILOUT" The Rules Are... Rep Kapture
Kossack gsadamb's diary featuring this video was a hit, climbing to the top of the Rec List. Here's his summation of Kaptur's demands, which can be summed up in her bill, H.R. 1452: Establishing the Select Committee on Financial Bailouts in which we let loose the hounds and frog march the perpetrators.
Wall Street and the Administration want to play the bailout game, and this is how they propose to do it:1.) Rush the decision
2.) Disarm the public through fear
3.) Control the playing field (hide info from the public, hold private hearings, and private teleconferencing calls)
4.) Divert attention and keep people confused
5.) The goal is to privatize gains and socialize losses
She went on to rip Wall Street a new one:
You have perpetrated the greatest financial crimes ever on this
American Republic. You think you can get by with it because you are
extraordinarily wealthy, and the largest contributors to both
presidential and congressional campaigns in both major parties.She proposed a new set of points for her game, "Wall Street Reckoning." The basic points of this game are:
America doesn't need to bail you out. It needs to secure real assets and property.
Federal regional reserve banks should have a new job to help renegotiate mortgages.
American people should get equity in any companies.
Major job creation to rebuild our infrastructure.
Regulate, we need a modern Glass-Steagall act.
Refinancing must return a major share of profits to a new social security and medicare lockbox.
She finished with this: "Real reform now or nothing."
It's a hit at DIGG TOO with almost 2800 diggs and 300 comments, more than at Daily Kos.
America, you need more like Ms. Kaptur. But you'll have to get your own, she's mine. But that doesn't mean you can't reward good behavoir!
9/23/08
| [+/-] |
Eat the Rich |
One congressional reaction that emerged — Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd’s (D-Conn.) response to the rescue package — wasn’t favorable to many of K Street’s banking clients, who oppose one provision in particular: giving bankruptcy judges the power to lower mortgages for distressed homeowners.
“We are vigorously opposing that,” said Steve Verdier, a lobbyist for the Independent Community Bankers Association (ICBA). “If that happens, then the mortgage rates for other consumers are going to go up.”
[H/T: dday]
Well, what can I say except fuck you, Mr. Verdier and the limo you rode in on.
OK, perhaps our next president puts it more…politically:
“First, the plan must include protections to ensure that taxpayer dollars are not used to further reward the bad behavior of irresponsible CEOs on Wall Street. There has been talk that some CEOs may refuse to cooperate with this plan if they have to forgo multi-million-dollar salaries. I cannot imagine a position more selfish and greedy at a time of national crisis. And I would like to speak directly to those CEOs right now: Do not make that mistake. You are stewards for workers and communities all across our country who have put their trust in you. With the enormous rewards you have reaped come responsibilities, and we expect and demand that you to live up to them. This plan cannot be a welfare program for Wall Street executives.”
—Barack Obama
And don’t even try blackmail us you rich asshole (and that goes for you too Paulson), we’re in no mood and no longer care what you idiots think. Not one thin dime should be spent on this problem until every single ARM in this country is turned into a reasonable fixed-rate mortgage for every homeowner who can afford it. If that doesn’t fix the problem then you can get in line behind them. And while you’re bent over the hood of your Towncar, you can explain to me a bigger “moral hazard” that giving you corrupt traitors hundreds of billions more taxpayer-backed dollar so you can keep ripping us off and sending a mortgage for the country’s future to the Chinese.
[Cross-posted at E Pluribus Unum]
| [+/-] |
Corporate Accountability |
Presented without comment. No Associated Press articles were harmed in copying and pasting this story.
CEO murdered by mob of sacked Indian workers
"Thousands of protesters recently forced Tata to halt work on the plant being used to produce the world's cheapest car"
Corporate India is in shock after a mob of sacked workers bludgeoned to death the chief executive who had dismissed them from a factory in a suburb of Delhi.Lalit Kishore Choudhary, 47, the head of the Indian operations of Graziano Transmissioni, an Italian-headquartered manufacturer of car parts, died of severe head wounds on Monday afternoon after being attacked by scores of laid-off employees, police said.
The incident, in Greater Noida, just outside the Indian capital, followed a long-running dispute between the factory's management and workers who had demanded better pay and permanent contracts.
It is understood that Mr Choudhary, who was married with one son, had called a meeting with more than 100 former employees - who had been dismissed following an earlier outbreak of violence at the plant - to discuss a possible reinstatement deal.
A police spokesman said: "Only a few people were called inside. About 150
people were waiting outside when they heard someone from inside shout for
help. They rushed in and the two sides clashed. The company staff were
heavily outnumbered."
Other executives said they were lucky to escape with their lives. "I just
locked my room's door from inside and prayed they would not break in. See,
my hands are trembling even three hours later," an Italian consultant,
Forettii Gatii, told a local newspaper.
More than 60 people were arrested and more than 20 were in hospital yesterday.
A spokesman for the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry
said: "Such a heinous act is bound to sully India's image among overseas
investors."
The murder has stoked fears that outbreaks of mob rule risk jeopardising the
subcontinent's economic rise.
In the most high-profile incident so far, thousands of violent protestors
recently forced Tata, the Indian conglomerate that owns Land Rover and
Jaguar, to halt work on the plant being built to produce the world's
cheapest car - the £1,250 Nano. The move could result in nearly £200 million
in investment written off.
Tata halted work three weeks ago, claiming it could not guarantee its workers
safety at the factory in the state of West Bengal. In a rare show of support
for a competitor, the billionaire industrialist Mukesh Ambani, one of
India's most powerful businessmen, said that the Nano crisis showed how
protestors were creating a "a fear-psychosis to slow-down certain projects
of national importance."
Other companies, including Vedenta, the London-listed mining company, have
encountered similar problems in India.
In a statement issued from Rivoli in Italy, Graziano said that some of Mr
Choudhary's attackers had no connection to the company. It added that the
chief executive was killed by "serious head injuries caused by the
intruders."
"We absolutely condemn the attack," Marcello Lamberto, the head of Oerlikon
Segment Drive Systems, which owns Graziano, said.
"This is by no means a regular labour conflict but is truly criminal action.
The whole of Oerlikon Group is close to the family of Mr Chaudhary in this
terrible moment."
| [+/-] |
Financial China Syndrome |
We face a Wall Street "meltdown," if we don't give Hank Paulson a Trillion Dollar blank check, right? It occurs that the term is borrowed from what can happen if a nuclear power plant loses coolant. (That's noo-kew-ler to those of you from Wassilla).
The core would melt through the containment facility and keep going through the ground with nothing to stop it -- right through the center of the earth all the way to China, hence the "China Syndrome." Realistically, the core would stop as soon as it hit the water table, with the unfortunate side-effect of blasting radioactive steam into the atmosphere. (If you're too young to have seen the movie, I highly recommend it.)
The consensus that we are avoiding a catastrophic Great Depression 2.0 is something everyone who matters seems to take on faith, and by spending a Trillion Dollars we are avoiding a $30 Trillion hit on our economy -- a bargain.
I've kinda figured that the next industries to close down if this bailout didn't happen would be the big auto makers, followed closely by the perpetually shaky airline industry. With most of the residents of lower Manhattan on the streets, Detroit turning into a ghost town and Washington having almost no choice but to nationalize the airlines since it would no longer be profitable to run them privately, you can see how quickly commerce would shut down across the nation.
The 25% unemployment of the 1930's might be overshadowed in a matter of months; and in sheer numbers, the army of people on the streets is unfathomable and would certainly be larger than the original Depression.
So I'm buying it, a bit. Of course, there's nothing that says the Fed couldn't have propped up the auto and airline sectors even if the financials were allowed to drown, right? Probably cheaper too, no? Maybe, and frankly I don't have enough data to even hazard a guess -- so I'm just talking through my hat on this, but it feels right.
However, if the financials went down, we probably would be unable to bailout other sectors even if we wanted to do this on an ad hoc basis -- Secretary Paulson's preferred approach right up until the last time we heard the words "The fundamentals of this economy are strong" come out of John McCain's mouth before he reverted to an Orwellian game of redefining the meaning of the word "fundamentals."
The financial problem tracks the radioactive nature of nature itself inside a nuclear reactor when the coolant system breaks down and stops regulating the reaction. It's not a bad metaphor to describe Washington's failure to pour some water on the out of control investment houses leveraging themselves beyond reason on risky and ridiculously complicated mortgage-backed security instruments. And again, although not that many folks have been talking about it, China comes into play here too -- and not just in a metaphorical way.
In USNews, James Pethokoukis mentions in passing the China Syndrome looms large over this whole affair as he tries to get a handle of what we're trying to avoid.
The official explanation why we need to act swiftly on Wall Street is to avoid a credit crunch, where people and businesses needing credit or access to their pre-existing revolving accounts are shut out. That's bad enough, but what happens when the central bank of China can't issue credit to it's companies because of a world-wide squeeze. Evidently, according to Secretary Paulson, the financial world is much like the Internetz, a "series of tubez" that has gotten clogged by the Big Shitpile.
The Trillion Bucks we're literally flushing down those tubez is supposed to clear out the derivative default credit swaps (crack) that the Wall Street financiers have been smoking through those pipes for the last decade. No one has mentioned it, but if China (and/or Japan, but their credit situation shouldn't be as vulnerable) can't work in the normal world of free-flowing credit, they will have no choice but to start cashing in all those T-Bills. That alone would be serious enough, but it would undoubtedly cause a run on the Treasury as the world divests itself of dollars, crashing our currency to the point that a loaf of bread might cost you a hundred bucks, or more, within a month.
That pretty much the end of the world as we know it. That's why you're seeing such dramatic moves, serious tones and ghostly white complexions on the faces of the folks who know what's really happening and know they must do something extraordinary soon. (Also keep in mind that massive global unrest caused by unemployment and hyperinflation was a prerequisite for WWII.)
So no, anyone who is saying, "Hell No" to the bailout or who wants to take their chances with a recession/depression, you obviously have zero idea of just how bad things really could get if we just allow the planet's capital markets to dissolve -- no matter how much those bastards deserve to lose everything for bringing us to this point.
That said, the markets realize that Washington has woke up and will do something -- which has slowed the meltdown for now. Still a crisis, sure. But that's different from an emergency requiring unprecedented plenary powers with a credit card balance the size of the GDP of India and no judicial, administrative or congressional oversight. We've got time to do this right. Not a lot of time, but if by Wednesday the headlines are screeching that the deal is bogged down, chalk it up to partisanship and the tired GOP scaremongering we've seen again and again as the administration bullies Congress into yet another bad decision.
Frankly, exorbitant CEO pay is a drop in the bucket in all this, even as it becomes a lightning rod issue. Much more important is allowing bankruptcy judges the power to restructure real estate mortgages much like they do with other credit instruments. That move alone will do the most to stabilize the market, keeping more people in their houses and businesses, preventing the scourge of vacancies that are turning residential neighborhoods into ghettos and closing down small businesses (the backbone of our economy) as the surrounding properties lose value in a never ending spiral.
That leaves me with two things to look forward to, John McCain coming out against doing a bailout at all, just to shore up that Maverick myth of his -- again proving his sheer ignorance of all things economic; or trying to score cheap debate points Friday if there's no bill on the PrezNitWit's desk because Congress decides it's foolish to set Paulson up as King Henry XXVII and wants to address the real economy -- the slump in housing prices that will continue to destroy confidence and add to our troubles if left to fester.
Go ahead John, make my day. Idiot. Please go into your hot-headed desperation mode for all to see.
The core would melt through the containment facility and keep going through the ground with nothing to stop it -- right through the center of the earth all the way to China, hence the "China Syndrome." Realistically, the core would stop as soon as it hit the water table, with the unfortunate side-effect of blasting radioactive steam into the atmosphere. (If you're too young to have seen the movie, I highly recommend it.)
The consensus that we are avoiding a catastrophic Great Depression 2.0 is something everyone who matters seems to take on faith, and by spending a Trillion Dollars we are avoiding a $30 Trillion hit on our economy -- a bargain.
I've kinda figured that the next industries to close down if this bailout didn't happen would be the big auto makers, followed closely by the perpetually shaky airline industry. With most of the residents of lower Manhattan on the streets, Detroit turning into a ghost town and Washington having almost no choice but to nationalize the airlines since it would no longer be profitable to run them privately, you can see how quickly commerce would shut down across the nation.
The 25% unemployment of the 1930's might be overshadowed in a matter of months; and in sheer numbers, the army of people on the streets is unfathomable and would certainly be larger than the original Depression.
So I'm buying it, a bit. Of course, there's nothing that says the Fed couldn't have propped up the auto and airline sectors even if the financials were allowed to drown, right? Probably cheaper too, no? Maybe, and frankly I don't have enough data to even hazard a guess -- so I'm just talking through my hat on this, but it feels right.
However, if the financials went down, we probably would be unable to bailout other sectors even if we wanted to do this on an ad hoc basis -- Secretary Paulson's preferred approach right up until the last time we heard the words "The fundamentals of this economy are strong" come out of John McCain's mouth before he reverted to an Orwellian game of redefining the meaning of the word "fundamentals."
The financial problem tracks the radioactive nature of nature itself inside a nuclear reactor when the coolant system breaks down and stops regulating the reaction. It's not a bad metaphor to describe Washington's failure to pour some water on the out of control investment houses leveraging themselves beyond reason on risky and ridiculously complicated mortgage-backed security instruments. And again, although not that many folks have been talking about it, China comes into play here too -- and not just in a metaphorical way.
In USNews, James Pethokoukis mentions in passing the China Syndrome looms large over this whole affair as he tries to get a handle of what we're trying to avoid.
Now this is all a very rough guesstimate and doesn't include the costs of all sorts of other ramifications. Here is a fun one: the dissolution of China. Its economy is built for hypergrowth. A dramatically rising standard of living is both keeping the Communist Party in power and keeping the country together. Neither might survive a global economic meltdown. What is the economic impact of that? I don't know. My guesstimator just blew up.I think I can flesh this out a bit. The two biggest foreign holders of U.S. public debt, in other words the countries or their central banks that make it possible for us to run this country at a perpetual deficit, are Japan and China at $593 and $518 Billion respectively. This represents nearly half of our total foreign held debt, which in turn is about 44% of the total debt. If you've been following along, most of this debt is held in the form of Treasury Bonds which can (in theory) simply be redeemed on demand.
The official explanation why we need to act swiftly on Wall Street is to avoid a credit crunch, where people and businesses needing credit or access to their pre-existing revolving accounts are shut out. That's bad enough, but what happens when the central bank of China can't issue credit to it's companies because of a world-wide squeeze. Evidently, according to Secretary Paulson, the financial world is much like the Internetz, a "series of tubez" that has gotten clogged by the Big Shitpile.
The Trillion Bucks we're literally flushing down those tubez is supposed to clear out the derivative default credit swaps (crack) that the Wall Street financiers have been smoking through those pipes for the last decade. No one has mentioned it, but if China (and/or Japan, but their credit situation shouldn't be as vulnerable) can't work in the normal world of free-flowing credit, they will have no choice but to start cashing in all those T-Bills. That alone would be serious enough, but it would undoubtedly cause a run on the Treasury as the world divests itself of dollars, crashing our currency to the point that a loaf of bread might cost you a hundred bucks, or more, within a month.
That pretty much the end of the world as we know it. That's why you're seeing such dramatic moves, serious tones and ghostly white complexions on the faces of the folks who know what's really happening and know they must do something extraordinary soon. (Also keep in mind that massive global unrest caused by unemployment and hyperinflation was a prerequisite for WWII.)
So no, anyone who is saying, "Hell No" to the bailout or who wants to take their chances with a recession/depression, you obviously have zero idea of just how bad things really could get if we just allow the planet's capital markets to dissolve -- no matter how much those bastards deserve to lose everything for bringing us to this point.
That said, the markets realize that Washington has woke up and will do something -- which has slowed the meltdown for now. Still a crisis, sure. But that's different from an emergency requiring unprecedented plenary powers with a credit card balance the size of the GDP of India and no judicial, administrative or congressional oversight. We've got time to do this right. Not a lot of time, but if by Wednesday the headlines are screeching that the deal is bogged down, chalk it up to partisanship and the tired GOP scaremongering we've seen again and again as the administration bullies Congress into yet another bad decision.
Frankly, exorbitant CEO pay is a drop in the bucket in all this, even as it becomes a lightning rod issue. Much more important is allowing bankruptcy judges the power to restructure real estate mortgages much like they do with other credit instruments. That move alone will do the most to stabilize the market, keeping more people in their houses and businesses, preventing the scourge of vacancies that are turning residential neighborhoods into ghettos and closing down small businesses (the backbone of our economy) as the surrounding properties lose value in a never ending spiral.
That leaves me with two things to look forward to, John McCain coming out against doing a bailout at all, just to shore up that Maverick myth of his -- again proving his sheer ignorance of all things economic; or trying to score cheap debate points Friday if there's no bill on the PrezNitWit's desk because Congress decides it's foolish to set Paulson up as King Henry XXVII and wants to address the real economy -- the slump in housing prices that will continue to destroy confidence and add to our troubles if left to fester.
Go ahead John, make my day. Idiot. Please go into your hot-headed desperation mode for all to see.
9/22/08
| [+/-] |
I'm Twittering |
I've set up my twitter account to keep track of the blog using Twitterfeed.
Why not?
Why not?
| [+/-] |
And Now They Want MORE? |
No, I'm not kidding. As Atrios says, Capitalism is Awesome.
Did you write your Congress Critters yet? I did. Mind you I'm sure Marcy Kaptur and Sherrod Brown are opposed to this on progressive instincts alone, but I did remind Voinovich that this smacked of socialism. That'll get his heart pounding.
But what we're witnessing is in no way a product of socialist ideology, or any ideology for that matter. As the woman who detailed for us just how the Shock Doctrine works, Naomi Klein has a few thoughts she wants to share about all this talk of the end of the Free Market canard.
More and more I'm seeing this as an election year farce, where the administration posses what it knows is an unpalatable plan. They are proven dolts when it comes to governing, but they must have anticipated resistance to this nonsense. Klein continues:
McCain doesn't know anything about economics by his own admission. The election is turning more and more on economic issues. Let's put something out there even he isn't dumb enough to endorse, patch it up with a bunch of millionaires to oversee the stupidity -- McCain mentioned Buffet, Romney and Bloomberg to hold Hank Paulson's leash, and introduce a throw-away demand on CEO pay that'll be unenforceable and can be magnanimously withdrawn in the interest of post-partisanship.
Krugman sees him as riding the populist wave of Roosevelt, Teddy Roosevelt, the Republican. They've been discrediting and dismantling the other Roosevelt's New Deal for decades, that's the essence of Reganomics after all. The tough guy taking on the evil doers is a role designed for McCain and more fitting with his tough-guy record, masking his passion for deregulating everything from Savings & Loans to health care. At least when he's surrounded by nothing but swaggering Bush sycophants, the bellicose trust-buster type is the script they would naturally write.
You want to really know why they want this bailout and want it now? Not so Wall Street's casino economy is prevented from spilling out and creating a Depression. They want to prevent what we've been demanding right along, and realizing that the government does indeed have the means to provide it -- universal health care, social justice, a green economy, all of it. They want us to stay home and shop, not go out on the streets and demand our due. We'll only do it if we are motivated enough to get our fat lazy asses off the couch like they did in the 1930's.
We have to stop measuring progress by Wall Street's standards and establish a whole new paradigm. Naomi Klein concludes:
It's pretty obvious were in some kind of horrible economic quagmire -- yet it's still not technically a recession because growth has not dropped into negative figures, yet. Apparently we need new metrics, because measuring GDP just doesn't cut it. If we are in the middle of an economic crisis and no one can do more than debate whether a recession even exists, we're looking at the economy completely wrong.
This is no longer just an election year. This is a crossroads between a future where the New World Order of Reagan/Bush is rejected and a new social order is established under principles of common purpose for maximum benefit for all, or the further disintegration of all those fairy tales about democracy and checks and balances and justice you actually believed right up until the day your job and your house and your dreams were swept away by fiat of the Masters of the Universe.
Sept. 21 (Bloomberg) -- The Bush administration widened the scope of its $700 billion plan to avert a financial meltdown by including assets other than mortgage-related securities.This sure is looking more and more like a heist than a funding request. Is that the Hell No Choir warming up?
The U.S. Treasury submitted revised guidance to Congress on its plan a day after first submitting it, as lawmakers and lobbyists push their own ideas. Officials now propose buying what they term troubled assets, without specifying the type, according to a document obtained by Bloomberg News and confirmed by a congressional aide.
The change suggests the inclusion of instruments such as car and student loans, credit-card debt and any other troubled asset. That may force an eventual increase in the size of the package as Democrats and Republicans in Congress negotiate the final legislation with the Bush administration, analysts said.
``The costs of the bailout will be significantly higher than originally considered or acknowledged,'' said Josh Rosner, an analyst with independent research firm Graham Fisher & Co. in New York. ``How, given these changes, can the administration and Federal Reserve believe they are being forthright in their unrevised expectation of future losses?''
Did you write your Congress Critters yet? I did. Mind you I'm sure Marcy Kaptur and Sherrod Brown are opposed to this on progressive instincts alone, but I did remind Voinovich that this smacked of socialism. That'll get his heart pounding.
But what we're witnessing is in no way a product of socialist ideology, or any ideology for that matter. As the woman who detailed for us just how the Shock Doctrine works, Naomi Klein has a few thoughts she wants to share about all this talk of the end of the Free Market canard.
During boom times, it's profitable to preach laissez faire, because an absentee government allows speculative bubbles to inflate. When those bubbles burst, the ideology becomes a hindrance, and it goes dormant while big government rides to the rescue. But rest assured: the ideology will come roaring back when the bailouts are done. The massive debts the public is accumulating to bail out the speculators will then become part of a global budget crisis that will be the rationalization for deep cuts to social programs, and for a renewed push to privatize what is left of the public sector. We will also be told that our hopes for a green future are, sadly, too costly.The whole Kabuki begs the question none dare speak, except everybody who knows, including Klein, that this charade of concern for the financial markets is no less a "crisis" than the ever rising unemployment and foreclosure rates, the millions of people whose health care plan is to cut out junk food and avoid doctors, and whose idea of paying for their kids education is to buy lottery tickets.
More and more I'm seeing this as an election year farce, where the administration posses what it knows is an unpalatable plan. They are proven dolts when it comes to governing, but they must have anticipated resistance to this nonsense. Klein continues:
Americans are in no mood to trust more of their individual and collective assets to the reckless gamblers on Wall Street, especially because it seems more than likely that taxpayers will have to pay to buy back their own assets when the next bubble bursts.Tell me that this wasn't set up for John McCain to oppose, to put on display his Maverickynessitude? They may not know how to govern, but splitting the nation between simplistic sloganeering and more nuanced approaches to complicated problems is something the GOP excells at. They absolutely knew this plan would be dead on arrival, were never serious about anything but making sure stockholders and executives remained solvent, and crafted a way to exploit this mess for maximum gain.
McCain doesn't know anything about economics by his own admission. The election is turning more and more on economic issues. Let's put something out there even he isn't dumb enough to endorse, patch it up with a bunch of millionaires to oversee the stupidity -- McCain mentioned Buffet, Romney and Bloomberg to hold Hank Paulson's leash, and introduce a throw-away demand on CEO pay that'll be unenforceable and can be magnanimously withdrawn in the interest of post-partisanship.
Krugman sees him as riding the populist wave of Roosevelt, Teddy Roosevelt, the Republican. They've been discrediting and dismantling the other Roosevelt's New Deal for decades, that's the essence of Reganomics after all. The tough guy taking on the evil doers is a role designed for McCain and more fitting with his tough-guy record, masking his passion for deregulating everything from Savings & Loans to health care. At least when he's surrounded by nothing but swaggering Bush sycophants, the bellicose trust-buster type is the script they would naturally write.
You want to really know why they want this bailout and want it now? Not so Wall Street's casino economy is prevented from spilling out and creating a Depression. They want to prevent what we've been demanding right along, and realizing that the government does indeed have the means to provide it -- universal health care, social justice, a green economy, all of it. They want us to stay home and shop, not go out on the streets and demand our due. We'll only do it if we are motivated enough to get our fat lazy asses off the couch like they did in the 1930's.
We have to stop measuring progress by Wall Street's standards and establish a whole new paradigm. Naomi Klein concludes:
So what is really being called into question by the crisis is the unquestioned commitment to growth at all costs. Where this crisis should lead us is to a radically different way for our societies to measure health and progress.
None of this, however, will happen without huge public pressure placed on politicians in this key period. And not polite lobbying but a return to the streets and the kind of direct action that ushered in the New Deal in the 1930s. Without it, there will be superficial changes and a return, as quickly as possible, to business as usual.
It's pretty obvious were in some kind of horrible economic quagmire -- yet it's still not technically a recession because growth has not dropped into negative figures, yet. Apparently we need new metrics, because measuring GDP just doesn't cut it. If we are in the middle of an economic crisis and no one can do more than debate whether a recession even exists, we're looking at the economy completely wrong.
This is no longer just an election year. This is a crossroads between a future where the New World Order of Reagan/Bush is rejected and a new social order is established under principles of common purpose for maximum benefit for all, or the further disintegration of all those fairy tales about democracy and checks and balances and justice you actually believed right up until the day your job and your house and your dreams were swept away by fiat of the Masters of the Universe.
| [+/-] |
Preemptive Intervention. |
I've been reading opinions on the Bank Bailout proposal on and off most of the day, catching up on things I marked for later reading and moving on. And then finally I read Sebastian Mallaby's column in the Washington Post that so many others has referred to elsewhere, and it stopped me cold.
Remember the Bush Doctrine, that thing Sarah Palin so embarrassed herself over even after Charlie Gibson explained it to her? The idea that we could, nay should invade other nations not just if they possed an imminent, verifiable threat (as Palin interpreted it to be) but that we had every right to conquer another country to prevent them from becoming a threat.
The Doctrine of Preemption. It justified our fiasco in Iraq and threatens Iran to this day. Now read this and tell me if it doesn't give you chills.
It stands to reason that we'll be paying less than the face value, but more than the investment bankers could get even if anyone else would buy it. Now there are all kinds of ways to value something, but anything short of an actual arms length sale is merely an estimate, an appraisal. Which means that without a market to sell these mortgage backed securities, they are indeed worthless. We are literally flushing the equivalent of the entire Pentagon budget into the sewer.
So if you hear anyone selling financial equivalent of "Iraq's oil will pay for the war," laugh at them and move on. There is no "upside" for the taxpayers to participate in. They are clueless -- as is John Boener who is pushing this for Secretary Paulson. Paulson's problem is that he thinks this is the end of the world, since this is the only world the Goldman Sachs alum knows.
A menltdown of the great financial houses will be the end of Secretary Paulson's world, to be sure. But other than showing me old black and white pictures of depression era soup lines, they really haven't made the case that this is the end of our world too.
There's a list of companies out there at risk, I'm sure. Real companies that make real stuff, not these phony baloney Wall Street casinos that all survive picking each other's pockets. So why won't they tell us who else will go under if the banks fail? You can't tell me they don't want to start a panic. Panic is a prerequisite for even considering a Wall Street rescue.
Will home prices tank further if there's no bailout? Will they rise if there is? Will it be harder to get a home or car loan without the bailout? If you really can't afford to pay back the loan, it should be.
Are GM and Ford doomed if they can't finance the next quarter? If the markets were as transparent as they should be, any concerned investor would already know the answer. Is Halliburton teetering on the edge of ruin if suddenly they can't afford a loan next week? Say it isn't so ;-)
What is at risk in the so-called "real economy" that the administration is approaching this as it does all it's bad ideas, like the Patriot Act, FISA, the AUMF and MCA? Everything's a fucking emergency with these guys. Nothing good ever comes from this dance we've seen way too many times now. Nothing.
If this thing was so urgent, Why didn't we hear from Bush for more than two minutes before Thursday -- after they'd figured out how they could use this latest crisis to line the pockets of their friends one last time -- and this time those pockets will need to be exceptionally deep to haul away their booty.
I'm beginning to seriously doubt there's any kind of real crisis at all.
Remember the Bush Doctrine, that thing Sarah Palin so embarrassed herself over even after Charlie Gibson explained it to her? The idea that we could, nay should invade other nations not just if they possed an imminent, verifiable threat (as Palin interpreted it to be) but that we had every right to conquer another country to prevent them from becoming a threat.
The Doctrine of Preemption. It justified our fiasco in Iraq and threatens Iran to this day. Now read this and tell me if it doesn't give you chills.
In 1989, [during the post Keating Five Thrift Bailout -Mark] there was no choice. The federal government insured theWe are about to give the Treasury unbelievable discretion and funding on what to buy and how much to pay for it. That's the same problem the financial geniuses have, valuation and when to purge the poison. If they knew what the Shitpile was worth, they could balance their books and trading would go on as usual.
thrifts, so when they failed, the feds were left holding their loans;
the RTC's job was simply to get rid of them. But in buying bad loans
before banks fail, the Bush administration would be signing up for a
financial war of choice. It would spend billions of dollars on the
theory that preemption will avert the mass destruction of banks. There
are cheaper ways to stabilize the system.
It stands to reason that we'll be paying less than the face value, but more than the investment bankers could get even if anyone else would buy it. Now there are all kinds of ways to value something, but anything short of an actual arms length sale is merely an estimate, an appraisal. Which means that without a market to sell these mortgage backed securities, they are indeed worthless. We are literally flushing the equivalent of the entire Pentagon budget into the sewer.
So if you hear anyone selling financial equivalent of "Iraq's oil will pay for the war," laugh at them and move on. There is no "upside" for the taxpayers to participate in. They are clueless -- as is John Boener who is pushing this for Secretary Paulson. Paulson's problem is that he thinks this is the end of the world, since this is the only world the Goldman Sachs alum knows.
A menltdown of the great financial houses will be the end of Secretary Paulson's world, to be sure. But other than showing me old black and white pictures of depression era soup lines, they really haven't made the case that this is the end of our world too.
There's a list of companies out there at risk, I'm sure. Real companies that make real stuff, not these phony baloney Wall Street casinos that all survive picking each other's pockets. So why won't they tell us who else will go under if the banks fail? You can't tell me they don't want to start a panic. Panic is a prerequisite for even considering a Wall Street rescue.
Will home prices tank further if there's no bailout? Will they rise if there is? Will it be harder to get a home or car loan without the bailout? If you really can't afford to pay back the loan, it should be.
Are GM and Ford doomed if they can't finance the next quarter? If the markets were as transparent as they should be, any concerned investor would already know the answer. Is Halliburton teetering on the edge of ruin if suddenly they can't afford a loan next week? Say it isn't so ;-)
What is at risk in the so-called "real economy" that the administration is approaching this as it does all it's bad ideas, like the Patriot Act, FISA, the AUMF and MCA? Everything's a fucking emergency with these guys. Nothing good ever comes from this dance we've seen way too many times now. Nothing.
If this thing was so urgent, Why didn't we hear from Bush for more than two minutes before Thursday -- after they'd figured out how they could use this latest crisis to line the pockets of their friends one last time -- and this time those pockets will need to be exceptionally deep to haul away their booty.
I'm beginning to seriously doubt there's any kind of real crisis at all.
9/21/08
| [+/-] |
Paulson, The Uniter |
I know of few human beings who I am more consistently at odds with than Bill Kristol, head neocon of the Weekly Standard. We are never on the same book let alone page. It's not even like a Coke vs. Pepsi debate. On most issues you could say I don't even like cola and he's pushing maple syrup. We're simply wired to look at the world from different solar systems.
So it's stunning that someone who is so far to the right from me that his positions on everything fall beyond the curvature of the earth can agree that the a Paulson blank check proposal is a bad idea. From his usual perch on Fox News Sunday, Kristol doesn't think giving Hank Paulson all this money is really the best way to go, and neither do I.
Can you really call something that is literally a blank check a well thought out idea where the total risk to the taxpayers totals $1.3 Trillion when you combine the Fanny/Freddie and AIG bailouts, the Bears Stearns, and Merrill guarantees plus the $700 Billion proposal to buy up all of the People's Republic of Wall Street's bad debt -- when there's zero accountability, zero taxpayer protection, zero rules, zero guarantees it will work and, zero relief for average mortgagees whose home equity is now less than zero.
So either the shock of the financial crisis meltdown has sobered the ideologues on the right and the left, or our aversion to anything that smacks socialism -- which George Will said on This Week, is defined as government control of the upper levers of the financial trigger points -- is something that deep down has always been there.
One thing to note while all this swirls in my head, no one but Ron Paul is saying anything about ending both the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan when you are about to throw the equivalent of the entire Pentagon budget into the financial markets -- knowing that the effects of this global crisis has yet to land on the shoulders of what they call the real economy, you and me, where it will inevitably wreck chaos. I honestly don't know if this proves he's simply a wacko or the only one out there who is willing to speak the truth.
So it's stunning that someone who is so far to the right from me that his positions on everything fall beyond the curvature of the earth can agree that the a Paulson blank check proposal is a bad idea. From his usual perch on Fox News Sunday, Kristol doesn't think giving Hank Paulson all this money is really the best way to go, and neither do I.
Can you really call something that is literally a blank check a well thought out idea where the total risk to the taxpayers totals $1.3 Trillion when you combine the Fanny/Freddie and AIG bailouts, the Bears Stearns, and Merrill guarantees plus the $700 Billion proposal to buy up all of the People's Republic of Wall Street's bad debt -- when there's zero accountability, zero taxpayer protection, zero rules, zero guarantees it will work and, zero relief for average mortgagees whose home equity is now less than zero.
So either the shock of the financial crisis meltdown has sobered the ideologues on the right and the left, or our aversion to anything that smacks socialism -- which George Will said on This Week, is defined as government control of the upper levers of the financial trigger points -- is something that deep down has always been there.
One thing to note while all this swirls in my head, no one but Ron Paul is saying anything about ending both the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan when you are about to throw the equivalent of the entire Pentagon budget into the financial markets -- knowing that the effects of this global crisis has yet to land on the shoulders of what they call the real economy, you and me, where it will inevitably wreck chaos. I honestly don't know if this proves he's simply a wacko or the only one out there who is willing to speak the truth.
| [+/-] |
In The Light Of Day . . . No Deal |
Okay, I've had a chance to catch up on some sleep and mull over the Paulson Proposal to bailout all of Wall Street with the single largest government intervention into the "free" market of all time.
As you can guess, my reaction is still: ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?!?
I do hope this all spells the end of the ReaganRape Era. It was always a bill of goods, goods made increasingly in China and elsewhere.
For the entire time John McCain has been in the Senate, which coincidentally covers almost the entire time this bankrupt philosophy infected the centers of power, the middle class has dwindled, the poor have become poorer while the disparity between the rich and the super-rich has grown exponentially -- because none of the prosperity ever trickled down like they claimed. Now the shittyness has rolled back uphill because their reverse Robin Hood schemes finally caught up with them.
It works both ways folks. If it's somehow morally or politically or philosophically or economically or idologically wrong to redistribute wealth downward, it's certainly wrong to make it flow in the other direction. There has to be a cost associated with the bailout, period.
I can predict this with near certainty. If they go through with giving Secretary Paulson a blank check for nearly three quarters of a Trillion Dollars without any consideration of who and how it will be repaid I'm not helping.
I won't be able to contribute to this final stage of the Bush Crime Family's Fascist Coup because my rising blood pressure will cause my brain to explode!
I think it's an even more primitive type of regression. Echidne summarizes the Feudalist Coup.
I don't know what you call it when wealth is so concentrated in so few and the vast majority of us feel helpless to improve our lot in life. That's feudalism my friends. Especially when those that benefited most from the system absolutely refuse to contribute a proportional amount to set things straight again.
When an elected chief executive is exposed as a criminal whom 70% of the people want removed can still act the petulant king, ignoring any calls for responsibility or accountability and embarrassing us to the end with impunity -- that's feudalism. When the courts and legislature is cowed to the point where they are powerless to curb the excesses of the executive, that's feudalism.
When ordinary citizens lives are reduced to bare subsistence regardless of their station in life because they cannot get ahead and watch their accumulated saving suddenly disappear almost overnight while the so-called government that is supposed to represent them confiscates their future earnings and those of their children and grandchildren, only to transfer it all to the corporate kleptocracy that has been stealing from them right along -- what else to you call it?
It certainly ain't capitalism if we just throw your children's chance at the good life at this mess and it's certainly not representative democracy if we just hand over almost a Trillion dollars to the administration to play with any way they want with zero legislative accountability and no judicial recourse.
Enough is enough.
You want this bail-out? I won't put up with the good stuff trickling down any more. I want a firehose attached to the coffers of the well-to-do and I want the pumps opened up to full.
I want comprehensive universal health care, now. I want an end to the speculators and short sellers ability to scam the markets, I want the people responsible for this mess thrown in jail, I want a tax increase on the people who benefited from this ponzie scheme, I want the taxpayers to own a piece of what they're buying and not just a hand out, and I want an end to any talk of free market privatization fixes for social programs and problems.
We need new rules, not more theft. If we're going to redistribute wealth, do it across the board.
Otherwise, No Deal.
As you can guess, my reaction is still: ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?!?
I do hope this all spells the end of the Reagan
For the entire time John McCain has been in the Senate, which coincidentally covers almost the entire time this bankrupt philosophy infected the centers of power, the middle class has dwindled, the poor have become poorer while the disparity between the rich and the super-rich has grown exponentially -- because none of the prosperity ever trickled down like they claimed. Now the shittyness has rolled back uphill because their reverse Robin Hood schemes finally caught up with them.
It works both ways folks. If it's somehow morally or politically or philosophically or economically or idologically wrong to redistribute wealth downward, it's certainly wrong to make it flow in the other direction. There has to be a cost associated with the bailout, period.
I can predict this with near certainty. If they go through with giving Secretary Paulson a blank check for nearly three quarters of a Trillion Dollars without any consideration of who and how it will be repaid I'm not helping.
I won't be able to contribute to this final stage of the Bush Crime Family's Fascist Coup because my rising blood pressure will cause my brain to explode!
Yes, it does sound terribly conspiracy-theory-esque when explained justI don't know if fascism really is the right term here. Not that it's too inflammatory, or that the complete merger of the corporate with government isn't exactly what we're seeing -- which is the very definition of fascism.
this way. But what else does one call a criminal conspiracy to destroy
Congressional powers permanently, alter Judicial powers permanently,
and steal public funds?
I think it's an even more primitive type of regression. Echidne summarizes the Feudalist Coup.
We are being treated like suckers, my friends. Or like the peons of the rich and wealthy. But much more importantly, the market will be in the same shit almost instantaneously, because the rules of its game have not been truly changed.Call it whatever you will, supply-side, trickle-down, fiscal responsibility, globalization, or free market fairy tails -- they gave us a republic and we allowed them to distract us with enough bread and circuses to let them establish an aristocracy that lives of the rent we pay from the land we work through the foreseeable future.
I don't know what you call it when wealth is so concentrated in so few and the vast majority of us feel helpless to improve our lot in life. That's feudalism my friends. Especially when those that benefited most from the system absolutely refuse to contribute a proportional amount to set things straight again.
When an elected chief executive is exposed as a criminal whom 70% of the people want removed can still act the petulant king, ignoring any calls for responsibility or accountability and embarrassing us to the end with impunity -- that's feudalism. When the courts and legislature is cowed to the point where they are powerless to curb the excesses of the executive, that's feudalism.
When ordinary citizens lives are reduced to bare subsistence regardless of their station in life because they cannot get ahead and watch their accumulated saving suddenly disappear almost overnight while the so-called government that is supposed to represent them confiscates their future earnings and those of their children and grandchildren, only to transfer it all to the corporate kleptocracy that has been stealing from them right along -- what else to you call it?
It certainly ain't capitalism if we just throw your children's chance at the good life at this mess and it's certainly not representative democracy if we just hand over almost a Trillion dollars to the administration to play with any way they want with zero legislative accountability and no judicial recourse.
Enough is enough.
You want this bail-out? I won't put up with the good stuff trickling down any more. I want a firehose attached to the coffers of the well-to-do and I want the pumps opened up to full.
I want comprehensive universal health care, now. I want an end to the speculators and short sellers ability to scam the markets, I want the people responsible for this mess thrown in jail, I want a tax increase on the people who benefited from this ponzie scheme, I want the taxpayers to own a piece of what they're buying and not just a hand out, and I want an end to any talk of free market privatization fixes for social programs and problems.
We need new rules, not more theft. If we're going to redistribute wealth, do it across the board.
Otherwise, No Deal.
9/20/08
| [+/-] |
Malkin Concedes Defeat of Conservatism |
Wow, I just want to preserve this one for posterity. Mind you, she doesn't so much as admit her life's philosophy is utterly bankrupt, just that it was betrayed. The ten word answer is now exposed as the empty bumper-sticker it is, as nothing more than trite rhetoric and without soul or substance.
Naturally, rather than believe she's been played all this time, or simply a fool, Malkin scapegoats Bush for betraying the conservative movement.
Don't bother Michelle, he doesn't give a damn. He doesn't feel any pain, especially other people's. The truth is, it was all a lie. Why do you think they paid so many people to spew the drivel they wrote for you to regurgitate when people everywhere would argue the other side for free?
Whatever Michelle, you shrill harpy. Quoting a reader's email she specifically acknowledges the death of the right.
I mean, being absolutely wrong about absolutely everything never stopped them before, did it? Have you once seen a conservative shamed when their hypocrsy was brought to light, or to even acknowledge the lies they repeat every damn day.
But it is nice to see this wingnut witch down in the dumps. I hope she has a good cry.
Naturally, rather than believe she's been played all this time, or simply a fool, Malkin scapegoats Bush for betraying the conservative movement.
Don't bother Michelle, he doesn't give a damn. He doesn't feel any pain, especially other people's. The truth is, it was all a lie. Why do you think they paid so many people to spew the drivel they wrote for you to regurgitate when people everywhere would argue the other side for free?
Whatever Michelle, you shrill harpy. Quoting a reader's email she specifically acknowledges the death of the right.
"'We have lost. Conservatism has absolutely no more moral high ground to speak from.'Oh but were it true, that the zombie lies of the right would simply vanish in a cloud of short-selling derivative buybacks. Alas, I doubt we've heard the end of their drivel.
Fiscal conservatism has been on life support for quite some time. Bush/Paulson pulled the plug permanently today."
I mean, being absolutely wrong about absolutely everything never stopped them before, did it? Have you once seen a conservative shamed when their hypocrsy was brought to light, or to even acknowledge the lies they repeat every damn day.
But it is nice to see this wingnut witch down in the dumps. I hope she has a good cry.
| [+/-] |
Sanders Speaks Sanity |
Come on, let's be fair about this:
"If this bailout is necessary, it should not be middle income orEnough is enough! They got their almighty tax cuts, their golden parachutes, their commissions on the loans they sold they knew would probabably default, their estate tax freeze so they can raise another generation of worthless snobs, and they gamed the system until it broke.
working families who have to pay for it,” Sanders said. “It should be
the people who benefited from President Bush's disastrous policies,
including the very wealthiest people in this country."
They need to pay. Not us, them. The United States Treasury is not a charitable organization that only exists to fund weapons contractors and bail out neerdowells who pillage homeowners and stockholders and now want a Seven Hundred Billion Dollar blank check to take even more from you and me.
On Saturday, Vermont Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders went two or threeEnough. Make 'em pay or we don't play.
steps further in the opposite direction, offering a proposal to impose
a 10 percent surtax on couples who makes more than $1 million annually
or individuals who make more than $500,000. He estimates this increase
would raise $300 billion for the federal government over the next five
years — or less than half of the $700 billion Treasury has asked for.
These are the same people who shout "Socialism" when the people overwhelmingly demand affordable, universal health care. If I'm now expected to share the risk of a Wall Street collapse, the brokers, bankers and the CEOs damn well ought to share the risk I might get too sick to work and help pay for their ponzie scheme now that the jig is up.
A lousy dime on the dollar, that's all Sanders asks. They'll lose their minds and lock him away.
Meanwhile, Chuck Schumer says nice try, what else ya got? I hope the Dems, for once, don't let themselves get rolled. We've so got these fat cats by the short hairs. They broke their piggy bank, the only thing they've ever cared about, and want mom and pop America to buy them a new one.
No, not this time. Not without a quid pro quo.
| [+/-] |
$700,000,000,000 |
Funny how when you read something, certain things just jump out at you.
$700,000,000,000
Seven Hundred Billion Dollars and No Pennies. That answers that question.
That's the 12 figure limit on the Proposal to bailout the mortgage securities markets. That's on top of what some doom sayers predict will be the ultimate Five Hundred Billion Dollar cost of the Freddie/Fanny takeover.
I do believe we've reached the stage where a billion here and a billion there are finally adding up to real money.
At first glance, reading the actual language of Treasury's proposed bill it seems more like a resolution of the board of directors, or a trust agreement than a statute. But it immediately answers another burning question that arose when the financial gurus first caught the rumor this would happen: at what price would Hank Pauldon be buying up all these mortgage-backed securities?
Answer: at any price he wants.
Sec. 2. Purchases of Mortgage-Related Assets.(a) Authority
to Purchase.--The Secretary is authorized to purchase, and to make and fund commitments to purchase, on such terms and conditions as determined by the Secretary, mortgage-related assets from any financial institution having its headquarters in the United States.
Paulson will also be authorized to sell any of this paper at any price he can get. I'm optimistic since once Treasury puts out it's first take-it-or-leave it offer to purchase these now worthless securities, we'll corner the market on them, have a chance to rate them and imprint the full faith and credit of the United States on the instrument, and sell them back on the market for any amout we say they're worth.
Here's the killer clause, a real Master of the Universe provision:
Sec. 8. Review.Decisions by the Secretary pursuant to the authority of this Act are non-reviewable and committed to agency discretion, and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency.
Oh and now the debt limit on the Treasury is bumped up to $11,315,000,000,000. (That's Eleven Trillion Bucks.)
I don't think we ever need worry about some other nation invading the USA and taking us over -- but with this much debt we're ripe for a hostile leveraged buy-out. In fact, if the CEO PrezNitWit were running a corporation this way, he'd be looking for a bailout.
You can say this, the proposal is certainly short and sweet. No doubt the sheer brevity of the proposal will convince most that there's nothing sinister going on, and therein lies the rub. We are a government of limited, enumerated powers and pretty much gave the Secretary of the Treasury sweeping authority to run the entire security/credit apparatus of our economy with little or no restrictions.
We went from a poorly regulated corner of the financial world to a completely unregulated one, ruled by fiat of Hank Paulson according to any arbitrary and capricious rule he deems appropriate.
Paulson can create a new agency to oversee this monstrous endeavor, or not. He can buy securities from some companies and refuse others, letting them die on the vine. No oversight, no determination or recourse for fraud, no insider manipulation prevented, Nothing.
This is the ultimate theft vehicle, with a built in get out of jail free card.
| [+/-] |
Cassandra Calling |
Unfortunately, while we were all dreading the Rovian October Surprise, like bomb, bomb, bombing Iran using predator drones with smart bombs and minimal collateral damage; the real thing was an attack on Wall Street using predator lending by dumb investors with minimal collateral period.
A couple of days ago I half jokingly asked if we could nationalize the health care industry the way we did the bulk of the housing and insurance sectors with the Fanny/Freddie (re)acquisition and bailout of AIG. I didn't know we'd end up completely nationalizing the entire mortgage industry at that point.
Noting McCain's desire to give health care the same "innovative" treatment we gave banking, and the resulting disasterous consequence most surely to follow such idiocy, Anonymous Liberal connects the dots:
Not that they were any good at it, but seeing clones like Caribou Barbie repeat the phrase, "mistakes were made," they probably think they've learned enough from the experience to give it a try in the big leagues.
While a lot of us certainly hope that President Obama can guide us back to the principles of liberal democracy that has been the hallmark of progress and prosperity for Western Civilization, there are two concerns we must be aware of.
The most obvious is the repugnant concept of a President McCain. It should go without saying he would go down in history as Pinochet on steroids if he got a chance to institutionalize some patented neocon market reforms the Bushies are almost certain to implement.
That implementation of course will be a fait accompli, which is my biggest concern. However, there looks to be little if anything we can do to stand in its way. Not now, not with the proven cowardice of the current Congressional leadership who've caved to FISA and offshore drilling when there wasn't a gun to their heads.
My fondest hope is that the dirty details of the plan Paulson presents can merely be criticized by history as closing the regulatory barn door after the pony died, yet I have zero confidence this crowd won't insist on slipping a poison pill into the small print.
Also, be absolutely certain that the millionaire investment pirates that created this fiasco in the first place will end up immune, insulated from bearing any responsibility, and getting off without so much as a tax increase to help fix this mess.
Welcome to your New World Order, brought to you by BushCo.
A couple of days ago I half jokingly asked if we could nationalize the health care industry the way we did the bulk of the housing and insurance sectors with the Fanny/Freddie (re)acquisition and bailout of AIG. I didn't know we'd end up completely nationalizing the entire mortgage industry at that point.
Noting McCain's desire to give health care the same "innovative" treatment we gave banking, and the resulting disasterous consequence most surely to follow such idiocy, Anonymous Liberal connects the dots:
Then again, if we bring the same approach to health care that we brought to the banking industry, maybe in eight years or so, our health care system will completely collapse and the government will have to step in and take over. Voila! A national health care system. Brilliant.Consider this observation by brand new Kossack (User No. 179910), Roydeeboy:
Did those neocons at 1600 Pennsylvania have this on file and they just spent a day running it through spellcheck? Will we ever know what it contains, or will the Congressional leadership just rubber stamp this and put a 1,000-page bill on the floor Monday with a "vote-or-else" rule?Now I don't want to go all "Truther" on you, so I'm not going as far to say that the capital meltdown was planned. But that doesn't mean these Mayberry Machiavellis won't take full advantage of the situation. That's what they do -- and they've had a dry run lately turning Iraq into supply-side heaven.
I guess I'm just a little wary of all this because I'm just finishing Naomi Klein's "The Shock Doctine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism." This is so typical of the episodes in the book where ideological pols make vicious use of "crisis" situations to impose economic doctrines they can't get passed into law.
This bailout - with its associated inflation - is going to take down a huge number of humans - probably including me - while rescuing the institutions that caused it. And never you mind about the greedweasels already have milked the calamity for millions of dollars.
Not that they were any good at it, but seeing clones like Caribou Barbie repeat the phrase, "mistakes were made," they probably think they've learned enough from the experience to give it a try in the big leagues.
While a lot of us certainly hope that President Obama can guide us back to the principles of liberal democracy that has been the hallmark of progress and prosperity for Western Civilization, there are two concerns we must be aware of.
The most obvious is the repugnant concept of a President McCain. It should go without saying he would go down in history as Pinochet on steroids if he got a chance to institutionalize some patented neocon market reforms the Bushies are almost certain to implement.
That implementation of course will be a fait accompli, which is my biggest concern. However, there looks to be little if anything we can do to stand in its way. Not now, not with the proven cowardice of the current Congressional leadership who've caved to FISA and offshore drilling when there wasn't a gun to their heads.
My fondest hope is that the dirty details of the plan Paulson presents can merely be criticized by history as closing the regulatory barn door after the pony died, yet I have zero confidence this crowd won't insist on slipping a poison pill into the small print.
Also, be absolutely certain that the millionaire investment pirates that created this fiasco in the first place will end up immune, insulated from bearing any responsibility, and getting off without so much as a tax increase to help fix this mess.
Welcome to your New World Order, brought to you by BushCo.
9/19/08
| [+/-] |
Some Random Rants |
For the record, five out of five former Secretaries of State agree with Obama and not McCain, including McCain supporter Kissinger, and Loyal Bushies Baker and Powell.
Avedon pens one of her best rants ever, and that's saying a lot. She's so cute when she slips into that Brit accent.
moar funny pictures
The usually loquacious Paul Rosenberg says it all with pictures. Change has arrived!
And not to be a downer, there are a few things that should still concern everyone.
With the failure of Ameribank in WV, that makes 12 banks that have failed this year. I guess they just couldn't wait out the storm and wait for the Masters of the Universe to save them. But are they really saving us, or just delaying the inevitable -- at least for another six week or so until the election is over?
Don't forget that we lost another city to a hurricane a week or so ago, and there maybe some very dangerous diseases floating around there, like the ones they kept in "one of the country’s five biosafety labs that are Level-IV, the highest level. Such laboratories typically handle pathogens like smallpox, tularemia and anthrax to develop vaccines and antidotes."
Homeland security says all is well, and I'd really like to think that the ebola samples they kept there were destroyed properly before Ike hit. I'd like to think that, but I've seen too many movies.
And the cry goes out from John Aravosis: What did McCain campaign manager and former Fanny/Freddy lobbyist Rick Davis get deregulated and when did they deregulate it?
It's not that I can't wait for the debates, I can't wait until McCain gets his ass handed to him so badly at the first one he cancels the other two. If I were him, I'd just concede the election now, but I have some integrity.
Kissinger, who served under both Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford, said: "I'm in favor of negotiating with Iran."I don't have a rant for that, but I'll bet McCain broke his walking stick across his knee when he heard. (Look for the Sec.St. Panel on CNN.)
Avedon pens one of her best rants ever, and that's saying a lot. She's so cute when she slips into that Brit accent.
Republicans are pissed off because it's so hard to get good help these days - help that knows they are just the help, that knows their place, that uses the servants' entrance and calls them "sir" and doesn't question them. A strong middle-class - that is, a secure workforce - gets bolshy and tells abusive employers to bugger off, and the ruling class doesn't like that.John Cole couldn't be more pissed.
Ezra's head spins with Teh Stoopid things McCain says.I do not ever want to hear another damned word about the free market. I don’t want to hear another thing about letting the market regulate itself. I don’t want to hear about the free flow of capital. I don’t want to hear about government getting out of our lives.
But to the blame for the crisis on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is likeLeft Coaster's Paradox could have saved a lot of digital ink by pointing out Sec.Treas. Paulson is the one holding the gun.
blaming an Orthodox Rabbi for a food shortage that started in the pork
market. He may be hungry too, but it sure as hell isn't his fault.
moar funny pictures
The usually loquacious Paul Rosenberg says it all with pictures. Change has arrived!
And not to be a downer, there are a few things that should still concern everyone.
With the failure of Ameribank in WV, that makes 12 banks that have failed this year. I guess they just couldn't wait out the storm and wait for the Masters of the Universe to save them. But are they really saving us, or just delaying the inevitable -- at least for another six week or so until the election is over?
Don't forget that we lost another city to a hurricane a week or so ago, and there maybe some very dangerous diseases floating around there, like the ones they kept in "one of the country’s five biosafety labs that are Level-IV, the highest level. Such laboratories typically handle pathogens like smallpox, tularemia and anthrax to develop vaccines and antidotes."
Homeland security says all is well, and I'd really like to think that the ebola samples they kept there were destroyed properly before Ike hit. I'd like to think that, but I've seen too many movies.
And the cry goes out from John Aravosis: What did McCain campaign manager and former Fanny/Freddy lobbyist Rick Davis get deregulated and when did they deregulate it?
It's not that I can't wait for the debates, I can't wait until McCain gets his ass handed to him so badly at the first one he cancels the other two. If I were him, I'd just concede the election now, but I have some integrity.
| [+/-] |
The McCain Health Care Privitization Nightmare |
Krugman notes
that Social Security wasn't the only thing that McCain was going to "fix" by throwing the whole system into Wall Street's prudent hands.
I'm not so clear on how that all works either. If we make health care more affordable and available to us peons, just how do the bankers short-sell our treatment protocols on the derivative market? Can you still leverage a hostile take-over of my kidney transplant?
High finance can be so confusing.
that Social Security wasn't the only thing that McCain was going to "fix" by throwing the whole system into Wall Street's prudent hands.
Opening up the health insurance market to more vigorous nationwide competition, as we have done over the last decade in banking, would provide more choices of innovative products less burdened by the worst excesses of state-based regulation. ~McCain (pdf)So what was that again about everything being Obama's fault?
I'm not so clear on how that all works either. If we make health care more affordable and available to us peons, just how do the bankers short-sell our treatment protocols on the derivative market? Can you still leverage a hostile take-over of my kidney transplant?
High finance can be so confusing.
| [+/-] |
Grown-ups Vs. Gramps |
Did anyone notice the sharp difference in tone and approach between John McCain and Barack Obama's statements this morning on solutions for our Trillion Dollar financial crisis? You should have.
McCain came out this morning, well in advance of Secretary Paulson's press conference, guns blazing. "McCain all but blames Obama for the crisis."
He's a Maverick, by golly, and he'll fight, fight, fight the evil enemy dudes who conspired with Barack Obama to create this mess that makes him look bad for his lack of understanding of the economy when he'd rather be talking about lipstick.
How absurd. I won't rehash the idiocy of someone who supported the policies that got us into this mess for 26 years blaming they guy he calls an upstart for a mess whose roots are founded in years of neglect, malfeasance and corruption.
The contrast with Obama this morning, flanked by respected financial leaders like Volker and Rubin was striking. Calm, thoughtful . . . Presidential. Here's what Perry at Young Turks had to say about it.
McCain's type of side show often works, but right now it's the wrong message at the wrong time. It's like going to the movies when you're in the mood for a good laugh only to discover that the comedy you just paid for is some film noire with foreign subtitles. It just doesn't sit well.
Mind you, both candidates are playing the hands the financial crisis dealt them, but Obama's demeanor, his careful "less is more" approach is masterful. Amazing that the younger, less experienced candidate is the one who comes across mature and filling us with just the right emotional impression -- here's an unflappable guy who looks like he's in charge and knows what he's doing.
Face it. He's good.
For the life of me I couldn't figure out how it was possible that McCain won the GOP nomination when he was such a sniveling douche that had pissed off half of the Party. It wasn't what he said or what his record showed. It was all about reputation. It worked for many in that field as well. Guilliani was only there because of the image the public had of him as he filled the leadership vacuum left when George Bush disappeared during a crisis -- a pattern he repeated during Katrina and again this last week.
But at that moment, a wholly different type of crisis, Guilliani's gung-ho kick ass style is what we needed-- then. We were scared on 9/11, but also pissed. The look on Rudy's face, the way he marched through the streets, taking charge and too tough to wear a face mask so we saw the anger. Yeah! Let's kick some ass!
This crisis is different, a numbers crisis, although it's just as threatening to our way of life. We again are scared, and pissed, but in a way we're pissed at ourselves. Remember how even the thought of America in any way being responsible for the circumstances that lead to 9/11 where met with swift and decisive derision. Certainly something you dare not utter let alone think, whether you were on the left or the right. Truthers and Falwell types who blame teh gay are still ostracized for such irrelevancies.
Insisting that now was not the time for partisan squabbling showed me (at least) that Obama "gets it." Going out of his way to tie Obama to the crisis diminished McCain's standing as a serious man who could provide thoughtful crisis management.
At a time every Wall Street expert and leaders in Congress and the Administration were putting partisanship aside to avert a crippling depression the likes of which no one alive can contemplate, John McCain stood alone, maverickly demanding Obama give up "the lectures and just this once admit" his responsibility for something that is obviously systemic involving the decisions of hundreds of thousands of homeowners, investors, bankers, politicians, lobbyists and several presidents from both parties.
A sad and selfish display. At times like these it's hard not ascribe to a certain amount of High Broderism, much as I usually detest such attitudes as fake and self-serving. McCain simply didn't need to go there, not now. This just wasn't the time for the cheap shots, not when he was presenting his plan to save us all from ourselves. But with a the likelihood of adding another Trillion Dollars or two to the national debt, and we don't really know how many mortgages the taxpayers are going to buy or what they'll cost us, just this once John McCain could have acted like a grown-up.
At this stage of the game anyone who is swayed by policy proposals, governing philosophy, or adhering to their tribal roots has made up their minds. Right now, as usual, it's up to the 5%, 7% or 9% who are unfathomably undecided, who really don't pay attention and might not figure it out until they walk into the polling booth. And in a race that is still tight (much to the delight of the cable news networks), these folks who don't pay attention unless they're hit over the head will pick our next president on the most trivial and irrelevant of criteria.
These folks, to the point they are persuadable (and I think they're paying attention, finally) can no more visualize a Million Dollars let alone a Trillion. Who really can? They've no interest in learning why a "derivative credit-default swap" matters, because it doesn't touch their lives in the least.
More importantly, where Obama and McCain propose completely different tax and spending priorities, events of this past week have thrown those plans out the window. By January there'll be a completely different financial landscape, and that reality will come crashing down upon both candidates' platforms.
Knowing that, maybe those low-information voters are on to something. When the dust settles, the character of our choice of who will lead us will matter a great deal more than any agenda they want to implement. Our choices as a people just got narrowed considerably about what we are to do moving forward. The how, and the ability to confidently inspire us to achieve that future matter much more than they did when this thing got started.
McCain came out this morning, well in advance of Secretary Paulson's press conference, guns blazing. "McCain all but blames Obama for the crisis."
He's a Maverick, by golly, and he'll fight, fight, fight the evil enemy dudes who conspired with Barack Obama to create this mess that makes him look bad for his lack of understanding of the economy when he'd rather be talking about lipstick.
How absurd. I won't rehash the idiocy of someone who supported the policies that got us into this mess for 26 years blaming they guy he calls an upstart for a mess whose roots are founded in years of neglect, malfeasance and corruption.
The contrast with Obama this morning, flanked by respected financial leaders like Volker and Rubin was striking. Calm, thoughtful . . . Presidential. Here's what Perry at Young Turks had to say about it.
McCain went first at about 9 am. As I watched I saw him throw barbsI think this is important, more important that what we in blogtopia (y!sctp) always say is important. People decide these things by tone, what they see, hear and feel in their gut. It's something that Obama exudes and McCain has forfeited with his gimmicks and slimy tactics -- gravitas.
at Obama and speech in a very stilted, rehearsed tone. What message
would any passing very get from this speech? Its your average stump
speech that any candidate would give.
Obama came on
sometime after 11 am, and his had a completely altered tone. He came
out, flanked by economic advisors, and answered questions from the
press in a very serious manner. He expounded on points and sounded very
knowledgable. Then he said him and his advisors were going to get
together and come out with a more specific, detailed plan in the coming
days to deal with this. He also struck a very bipartisan, "we gotta
pull together and get through this together" chord, as well.
McCain's type of side show often works, but right now it's the wrong message at the wrong time. It's like going to the movies when you're in the mood for a good laugh only to discover that the comedy you just paid for is some film noire with foreign subtitles. It just doesn't sit well.
Mind you, both candidates are playing the hands the financial crisis dealt them, but Obama's demeanor, his careful "less is more" approach is masterful. Amazing that the younger, less experienced candidate is the one who comes across mature and filling us with just the right emotional impression -- here's an unflappable guy who looks like he's in charge and knows what he's doing.
Face it. He's good.
For the life of me I couldn't figure out how it was possible that McCain won the GOP nomination when he was such a sniveling douche that had pissed off half of the Party. It wasn't what he said or what his record showed. It was all about reputation. It worked for many in that field as well. Guilliani was only there because of the image the public had of him as he filled the leadership vacuum left when George Bush disappeared during a crisis -- a pattern he repeated during Katrina and again this last week.
But at that moment, a wholly different type of crisis, Guilliani's gung-ho kick ass style is what we needed-- then. We were scared on 9/11, but also pissed. The look on Rudy's face, the way he marched through the streets, taking charge and too tough to wear a face mask so we saw the anger. Yeah! Let's kick some ass!
This crisis is different, a numbers crisis, although it's just as threatening to our way of life. We again are scared, and pissed, but in a way we're pissed at ourselves. Remember how even the thought of America in any way being responsible for the circumstances that lead to 9/11 where met with swift and decisive derision. Certainly something you dare not utter let alone think, whether you were on the left or the right. Truthers and Falwell types who blame teh gay are still ostracized for such irrelevancies.
Insisting that now was not the time for partisan squabbling showed me (at least) that Obama "gets it." Going out of his way to tie Obama to the crisis diminished McCain's standing as a serious man who could provide thoughtful crisis management.
At a time every Wall Street expert and leaders in Congress and the Administration were putting partisanship aside to avert a crippling depression the likes of which no one alive can contemplate, John McCain stood alone, maverickly demanding Obama give up "the lectures and just this once admit" his responsibility for something that is obviously systemic involving the decisions of hundreds of thousands of homeowners, investors, bankers, politicians, lobbyists and several presidents from both parties.
A sad and selfish display. At times like these it's hard not ascribe to a certain amount of High Broderism, much as I usually detest such attitudes as fake and self-serving. McCain simply didn't need to go there, not now. This just wasn't the time for the cheap shots, not when he was presenting his plan to save us all from ourselves. But with a the likelihood of adding another Trillion Dollars or two to the national debt, and we don't really know how many mortgages the taxpayers are going to buy or what they'll cost us, just this once John McCain could have acted like a grown-up.
At this stage of the game anyone who is swayed by policy proposals, governing philosophy, or adhering to their tribal roots has made up their minds. Right now, as usual, it's up to the 5%, 7% or 9% who are unfathomably undecided, who really don't pay attention and might not figure it out until they walk into the polling booth. And in a race that is still tight (much to the delight of the cable news networks), these folks who don't pay attention unless they're hit over the head will pick our next president on the most trivial and irrelevant of criteria.
These folks, to the point they are persuadable (and I think they're paying attention, finally) can no more visualize a Million Dollars let alone a Trillion. Who really can? They've no interest in learning why a "derivative credit-default swap" matters, because it doesn't touch their lives in the least.
More importantly, where Obama and McCain propose completely different tax and spending priorities, events of this past week have thrown those plans out the window. By January there'll be a completely different financial landscape, and that reality will come crashing down upon both candidates' platforms.
Knowing that, maybe those low-information voters are on to something. When the dust settles, the character of our choice of who will lead us will matter a great deal more than any agenda they want to implement. Our choices as a people just got narrowed considerably about what we are to do moving forward. The how, and the ability to confidently inspire us to achieve that future matter much more than they did when this thing got started.
| [+/-] |
She's a Witch! |
I hope someone else caught the crowd reaction when John McCain announced at a campaign event his personal scapegoat for almost thirty years of “conservative” laisse faire economic policies. Do you suppose that even five of them knew what the SEC Chairman does or who Chris Cox is as they cheered “BURN ‘ER!”?
These people really shouldn’t be allowed to gather in public.
\"She's a Witch!\"
[Cross-posted at E Pluribus Unum]
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