Robert Reich had an interesting blog posting on Christmas eve:
(http://robertreich.blogspot.com/).
“The Debate to Come over Wall Street, Autos, and Everything Else: Cyclical or Structural?”
The crux of the post is summarized in the last lines:
---whether the economic crisis we're experiencing is basically cyclical (in which case, nothing really needs to change over the long term, after the economy gets back on track) or structural (in which case, many aspects of our economy and society will needs to change permanently).
Above these lines, Reich talks about the basic contradiction which exists in the thinking of the old-time Wall Streeters, that this economic mess we are in is “cyclical”, that soon things will be back to normal (in effect, telling the public…you me and us… to “get over it”) and the more radical thinking that says this nightmare is “structural” and cannot be counted upon. That is what he referring to in that quote above, about matters that will need “to change permanently”.
Reich is being immensely politic and enormously polite. As long as the financial powers that be can continue to convince us that this is an acceptable “cyclical” condition, they can maintain the stranglehold on the world’s money supply. It should be abundantly clear to almost everyone right now that the “structure’ of how we have been managing and mismanaging our money does not work any more. And it needs to be changed. And will make every mogul in the history of money manipulation and how wealth is accumulated damned unhappy.
Here is where I see a great irony posed by this (now worldwide) economic disaster and the natural resource stewardship we talk about so often today. If we accept the proposition that we should stand back and allow the existing monetary structure (and its’ practices) to “cycle over” again, as it done so often in the past, we will be “re-cycling” NOT a resource but a bad and deleterious habit. To put it even more succinctly, when I bemoaned this paradoxical dilemma to a good friend last night, she reminded of one of our favorite syllogisms (attributed to Einstein): Insanity is when you keep doing the same things you have always done and expect to get different results. Duh.
At that point I began to look at the existing monetary infrastructure that we have in play as a piece of the fabric of our society. S cloth, we have used it, worn it, laundered it, dry-cleaned it, heaped praise upon it and re-used it, soiled it, re-laundered it and used it again. And after every use and re-use, it has become thinner and more difficult to maintain. And the majority of the world’s wealth has continued to accumulate in the hands of fewer and fewer people at the top of the economic (pardon the terminology) “pyramid”. We have, in effect, “re-cycled” the very financial structure which does the least to provide for those who move the stones that build the pyramid. I am reminded of slaves in ancient Egypt and the Pharos who wore the golden adornments. And Henry Paulson does sort of remind me of Yule Brenner and AIG certainly has the festivity angle down cold.
Now before anyone jumps all over me for advocating of “spreading the wealth” and short-changing Joe the Plumber, or hyping Karl Marx, urging a revitalization of hippie communes or taking out the “fascist pigs” of high finance, I have to say that I am far more inclined to maintain the more measured “Reichean” overview and to think about this somewhat logically.
The system we have in place, the “structure’ as Reich refers to it in this recent post, is broken. The TARP sins that have been committed in the name of bail-out and the ugly and counter-productive results of those sins should be obvious to everyone. $350B has already been “thrown at” the banks, and virtually none of it has spurred the economy or stopped the foreclosure debacle. The AP reported that financial institutions have refused to account for how they allocated and spent at least $1.6B of that money. Sec. Paulson is now talking about dispersing the next $350B and no one seems to know what for. Jobless rates are skyrocketing on a monthly basis, and the generally held opinion is that the big real estate, medical groups and others will be close on the heels of Detroit for bail-out money. Meanwhile Chrysler has halted all production for at last 30 days, GM has closed the last of its plants that produce SUVs and word on the street is that General Electric is in as much trouble and General Motors. I don’t see how anyone can that what we have been doing financially for the last two decades has been for the “good of the many”, but has rather (and most recently and obscenely) been for the greater good of the “the few”. I wish someone would explain to me (and to everyone else) the contorted logic that promotes multi-million dollar year-end bonuses for Wall Street execs, only because “things could have been worse” without their leadership? Is someone daft?
No one disputes our need to recycle. We need to recycle wood, paper, plastic, water and virtually every natural resource at our disposal if we are to survive, as a world of bipeds, into the coming centuries. But the one central feature of our existence that we DO NOT need to recycle is the way we have come to handle and manage money and accumulate wealth.
There are some who believe this current phase will “cycle through” and there will indeed be a recovery. But any hope of another “re-cycle” beyond that is very doubtful. We may have washed this cloth, re-cycled this fabric, so often that it is simply “used up” and we need a new one. You can choose to get on this bandwagon or choose insanity. Your call.
Friday, December 26, 2008
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
A Pot Pourri of Pot Porridge Cold
How times have changed. Who would have ever thought that we (I) would be jumping up every morning to read the blogs, op eds and the columns of economists, before anything else? I have become, in these troubled times, a disciple of Paul Krugman (Krugman.blog.NYTimes.com/) and Robert Reich (http://robertreich.blogspot.com/). Krugman is busy every day, now (http://www.alternet.org/workplace/114804/krugman%3A_we%27re_in_for_a_year_of_%27economic_hell%27/) , and yesterday it was announced that he has started talking to the Obama economic team. Reich, now labeled as Clintonista, still speaks in plain English and makes common enough sense. How quickly, since the housing bubble burst and we were blackmailed and cajoled into giving Wall Street countless billions of dollars, that we have discounted and ignored Greenspan, Henry Paulson and the Wall Streeters we held in such high esteem for so long (Mammoth chunks of our economy are in ruins, and Greenspan recently told a congressional review board, basically, “Oops”.).
What these guys knew and when they knew it will be something we will be angry about for many years, and perhaps even generations. And I find “oops” a patheticly ineffective defense.
In these times I am also drawn to the words of writers like Noam Chomsky (http://www.zcommunications.org/zspace/noamchomsky). He is masquerading as a linguist, but speaks quiet volumes about philosophy, sociology and cultural phenomena. His words are well reasoned and measured, always carefully exposing (but with little room for argument) both sides of every coin. He does this on issues like the world-wide economy, war and rumors of war, racism and regional poverty. Read Chomsky and you will understand genocide like never before.
And if you do not think that times have changed, if you have watched the tele on Sunday morning at any time in the last several weeks, you will have noted that even the noted George F. Will has changed his tone. He has made nice remarks about Democrats, Barack Obama and gays. I can watch him now without being tempted to throw my coffee cup (or my shoes) at the TV screen. I will continue to conjecture that, as the political landscape evolved into brighter and brighter hues of blue, his wife has withheld sexual favors until he cleaned up his rhetoric. Hell hath over-frozen, as Sir Will might say.
And “The times, they are a changin’ “ is also evident when, as recently as a decade ago, blind political and judicial fury would have been unleashed, willy-nilly, against Cheney-like evil-doers, at the slightest provocation or opportunity. But yesterday, Joe Biden set out to quash any such rashness: When asked what the new administration might do about prosecuting Bush-era “criminals”, he cautioned that they should “look forward, not backwards”. I do not know if it the holiday spirit driving this, but (even though I don’t agree), there is something to be said for making an effort to avoid unnecessary ugliness when everything is already ugly in the extreme. And time wounds all heels. In this case I hope it incarcerates them.
And just to keep some spice in the rum-punch bowl, not only has Rachel Maddow leapt suddenly to stardom, from the almost nothingness of Air America, she publicly went on record for excoriating the President-elect about Rick Warren. Whilst I was cheering that, I read this: http://www.alternet.org/blogs/rights/114756/. Times can change when both public opinion and pecuniary considerations make one stop and think about how truly dear one’s religious convictions really are. I raise you one bah and see you two humbugs.
While you are at it, you might like to read this, as well: http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2008/12/will_the_warren_risk_be_worth.html
Meanwhile, the more (recent) times change, the more they remain the same. Mostly I am referring to the recent exposures of the exploits of Mr. Madoff . Here is a nice Christmas story: http://www.alternet.org/workplace/114782/. While Rachel was leaping to prominence, Madoff was bringing people to the point of leaping from tall buildings, and it wasn’t because he convinced them they were Superman. And Madoff preyed on charities and non-profits. And people think I am mean. Frankly, I don’t quite know how that list (above) was kept down to ten.
The only Times which seem not be changing appreciably are the New York ones. They reported that the big change today in world-wide business was that for the first time since 1938 (?), Toyota will post a loss in earnings: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/23/business/23auto.html?th&emc=th.. Meanwhile, we have just agreed to fork over many billions of dollars to GM and Chrysler, whose accountants arose from some deep slumber a few weeks ago and predicted an early death for both, without some form of financial life support. This raises a few questions:
Right now, almost everyone can conjure up a picture of Mr. Scrooge, hunkered over his desk, green eye-shade in place, meticulously going over every last penny in his ledger (he was an accountant…that is what they do), grumbling about where the money isn’t. Or where the money went, like to pay the salary of that miserable Bob whats-his-name with the sick kid. He KNEW where his money came from, where it was and where it went. And he knew what to expect. Mostly. But comes now GM, Chrysler, Wall Street and (everyone predicts) soon the real estate industry, state governments, hospitals, and hula hoop manufacturers, claiming that the rumor of their demise (apologies to Mark Twain) are not rumors at all. So we act surprised and pretend to believe that that the bean-counting, Scrooge-like accountants involved in all of this did not see it coming? Are we daft? This year’s mistletoe overhead has been an overhead of phony finance that cannot be sustained. Kissing is risky a business this year.
Then we have this, from the Washington Post: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/22/AR2008122202479.html?wpisrc=newsletter, like this is any freaking surprise. Asia has been riding on our coattails of conspicuous consumption for years and someone is supposed to be shocked? This might clear up a few things and give you some ideas: http://www.alternet.org/environment/111954/.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch in Crawford, nobody is really thinking about anything much at all, except perhaps when to announce the pardons for Cheney that he has been shamelessly politicking for in the press, for days now. http://www.alternet.org/blogs/waroniraq/114774/.
Back at the Fed Spa in DC, Paulson seems to want to emulate Santa Claus and is itching to give away the remaining $350B to Wall Street before the Obama gang can get their hands on it. The AP reported, in the course of things, that something like at least $1.6B of the first batch went to pay out bonuses and perks and most of the rest is unaccounted for….and Citi Corp is still flying a fleet of 9 (nine) private jets. Which brings me back to the accountants and their green eye-shades.
For the life of me ( and apparently the lives of many others), I have no idea where these number crunchers have been hiding. They are supposed to tell us about calamities like this before they happen. You would think, that with all of the financial wizards we claim to have, who make far more money than you or I do, someone could tell us HONESTLY about debacles like Enron (hell, their accounting firm couldn’t account for themselves) , Worldcom, and Lehman Bros. And now Gov. Schwarzenegger says CA is facing a $42B shortfall. And of course a large part of this is because we have had large hedge funds run by hedge-hogs, who evidently come out only at night, to undercut the financial shrubbery of America while we sleep ( we must have the curfew on Madoff all wrong: he cannot come OUT at night.) Another government f#@kup.
I must be missing something, here. Oh, yes: It’s my money. Yours too.
I don’t know why I am doing this. I am supposed to be full of good cheer. I think I will go insert one of those old fashioned VCR cassette tapes into my old-fashioned machine, and play back Bill Murray’s “Scrooged” for some laughs. I can watch it on my non-HD TV while I drink some very-fattening eggnog and eat sugar cookies.
Well SHIT FIRE! I just got a holiday greeting email from Michelle Obama! It asked me to donate to a local food bank or send a care package. What kind of silly non-neo-con compassionate conservative crap is that? I can’t just ditch eight years of conditioning in a flash. Food banks! Bah! Let then eat chocolate truffles! Care Packages! Humbug! Who cares? I’ve just gotten real comfortable being miserable, and I wish everyone would do the same and leave me alone: Hell, it’s Christmas. Show some sympathy.
What these guys knew and when they knew it will be something we will be angry about for many years, and perhaps even generations. And I find “oops” a patheticly ineffective defense.
In these times I am also drawn to the words of writers like Noam Chomsky (http://www.zcommunications.org/zspace/noamchomsky). He is masquerading as a linguist, but speaks quiet volumes about philosophy, sociology and cultural phenomena. His words are well reasoned and measured, always carefully exposing (but with little room for argument) both sides of every coin. He does this on issues like the world-wide economy, war and rumors of war, racism and regional poverty. Read Chomsky and you will understand genocide like never before.
And if you do not think that times have changed, if you have watched the tele on Sunday morning at any time in the last several weeks, you will have noted that even the noted George F. Will has changed his tone. He has made nice remarks about Democrats, Barack Obama and gays. I can watch him now without being tempted to throw my coffee cup (or my shoes) at the TV screen. I will continue to conjecture that, as the political landscape evolved into brighter and brighter hues of blue, his wife has withheld sexual favors until he cleaned up his rhetoric. Hell hath over-frozen, as Sir Will might say.
And “The times, they are a changin’ “ is also evident when, as recently as a decade ago, blind political and judicial fury would have been unleashed, willy-nilly, against Cheney-like evil-doers, at the slightest provocation or opportunity. But yesterday, Joe Biden set out to quash any such rashness: When asked what the new administration might do about prosecuting Bush-era “criminals”, he cautioned that they should “look forward, not backwards”. I do not know if it the holiday spirit driving this, but (even though I don’t agree), there is something to be said for making an effort to avoid unnecessary ugliness when everything is already ugly in the extreme. And time wounds all heels. In this case I hope it incarcerates them.
And just to keep some spice in the rum-punch bowl, not only has Rachel Maddow leapt suddenly to stardom, from the almost nothingness of Air America, she publicly went on record for excoriating the President-elect about Rick Warren. Whilst I was cheering that, I read this: http://www.alternet.org/blogs/rights/114756/. Times can change when both public opinion and pecuniary considerations make one stop and think about how truly dear one’s religious convictions really are. I raise you one bah and see you two humbugs.
While you are at it, you might like to read this, as well: http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2008/12/will_the_warren_risk_be_worth.html
Meanwhile, the more (recent) times change, the more they remain the same. Mostly I am referring to the recent exposures of the exploits of Mr. Madoff . Here is a nice Christmas story: http://www.alternet.org/workplace/114782/. While Rachel was leaping to prominence, Madoff was bringing people to the point of leaping from tall buildings, and it wasn’t because he convinced them they were Superman. And Madoff preyed on charities and non-profits. And people think I am mean. Frankly, I don’t quite know how that list (above) was kept down to ten.
The only Times which seem not be changing appreciably are the New York ones. They reported that the big change today in world-wide business was that for the first time since 1938 (?), Toyota will post a loss in earnings: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/23/business/23auto.html?th&emc=th.. Meanwhile, we have just agreed to fork over many billions of dollars to GM and Chrysler, whose accountants arose from some deep slumber a few weeks ago and predicted an early death for both, without some form of financial life support. This raises a few questions:
Right now, almost everyone can conjure up a picture of Mr. Scrooge, hunkered over his desk, green eye-shade in place, meticulously going over every last penny in his ledger (he was an accountant…that is what they do), grumbling about where the money isn’t. Or where the money went, like to pay the salary of that miserable Bob whats-his-name with the sick kid. He KNEW where his money came from, where it was and where it went. And he knew what to expect. Mostly. But comes now GM, Chrysler, Wall Street and (everyone predicts) soon the real estate industry, state governments, hospitals, and hula hoop manufacturers, claiming that the rumor of their demise (apologies to Mark Twain) are not rumors at all. So we act surprised and pretend to believe that that the bean-counting, Scrooge-like accountants involved in all of this did not see it coming? Are we daft? This year’s mistletoe overhead has been an overhead of phony finance that cannot be sustained. Kissing is risky a business this year.
Then we have this, from the Washington Post: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/22/AR2008122202479.html?wpisrc=newsletter, like this is any freaking surprise. Asia has been riding on our coattails of conspicuous consumption for years and someone is supposed to be shocked? This might clear up a few things and give you some ideas: http://www.alternet.org/environment/111954/.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch in Crawford, nobody is really thinking about anything much at all, except perhaps when to announce the pardons for Cheney that he has been shamelessly politicking for in the press, for days now. http://www.alternet.org/blogs/waroniraq/114774/.
Back at the Fed Spa in DC, Paulson seems to want to emulate Santa Claus and is itching to give away the remaining $350B to Wall Street before the Obama gang can get their hands on it. The AP reported, in the course of things, that something like at least $1.6B of the first batch went to pay out bonuses and perks and most of the rest is unaccounted for….and Citi Corp is still flying a fleet of 9 (nine) private jets. Which brings me back to the accountants and their green eye-shades.
For the life of me ( and apparently the lives of many others), I have no idea where these number crunchers have been hiding. They are supposed to tell us about calamities like this before they happen. You would think, that with all of the financial wizards we claim to have, who make far more money than you or I do, someone could tell us HONESTLY about debacles like Enron (hell, their accounting firm couldn’t account for themselves) , Worldcom, and Lehman Bros. And now Gov. Schwarzenegger says CA is facing a $42B shortfall. And of course a large part of this is because we have had large hedge funds run by hedge-hogs, who evidently come out only at night, to undercut the financial shrubbery of America while we sleep ( we must have the curfew on Madoff all wrong: he cannot come OUT at night.) Another government f#@kup.
I must be missing something, here. Oh, yes: It’s my money. Yours too.
I don’t know why I am doing this. I am supposed to be full of good cheer. I think I will go insert one of those old fashioned VCR cassette tapes into my old-fashioned machine, and play back Bill Murray’s “Scrooged” for some laughs. I can watch it on my non-HD TV while I drink some very-fattening eggnog and eat sugar cookies.
Well SHIT FIRE! I just got a holiday greeting email from Michelle Obama! It asked me to donate to a local food bank or send a care package. What kind of silly non-neo-con compassionate conservative crap is that? I can’t just ditch eight years of conditioning in a flash. Food banks! Bah! Let then eat chocolate truffles! Care Packages! Humbug! Who cares? I’ve just gotten real comfortable being miserable, and I wish everyone would do the same and leave me alone: Hell, it’s Christmas. Show some sympathy.
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