“Would you care for some rot-gut red, with your crow, sir?”
These are confusing, trying and muddled times. Several weeks ago, Henry Paulson, aka The Harbinger of Death, threatened our country (in a sniveling, poorly written two-page memo) with mayhem, cultural dissolution, financial disaster and the end of American life as we know it, if we did not consider and immediately approve, post haste, a bailout for Wall Street bankers and financiers, in the amount of $700B. The country rose up in a loud voice and said, “NO!”, the Congress backpedaled for a few days, then re-grouped and instead approved a bail-out bill for more than $850B. Weeks later, we are all still scratching our heads about exactly what happened.
Unless you have been completely isolated from the recent news reports, you know a number of events have since transpired, none of which are particularly encouraging or heartening. The office of the GAO has reported that there is virtually no oversight for how this money is being spent; there are reports that Paulson, et al, without any oversight, have doled out some $2T that is unaccounted for; AIG has used large amounts of its’ cash for parties; we have had to rescue Citibank; most of the $850B is still not apportioned; the stock market has tanked; mortgages and still foreclosing, nation wide; 401K plans are shrinking faster than anyone could imagine…the list of consequent, contingent and ongoing disasters goes on and on. This is what we might chose to call “The Big Swindle”. There is a rumor that there is a new economic team on the way, but their impact is some months off, their effectiveness is still mere speculation and we have no leadership in this tumultuous transition period between the Bush and Obama administrations (W has been hiding behind a Christmas tree in the Whitehouse, revealing his “regrets” to Charles Gibson. That is really helpful.)
But the scenario ripens with both age and the reported availability of mountains of disposable cash from the treasury. Now, as it happened, at the end of November, the CEO’s of Detroit’s Big Three (which are not as big as they used to be…or think they are) came, hat-in-hand, via private jet, to Washington to make their own plea for survival funding. They brought with them a myriad of problems, conundrums, contradictions and perplexing issues. What they did not bring was any humility.
Their lavish method of travel notwithstanding, these three titans of industry also appeared with their hand out, pleading poverty, with a silk top hat in which to collect the funds and wearing silk suits. In a manner nearly as obscene as the one Paulson used in demanding funds for the original $700B, they had no plan for what they would do with the money, other than to keep on “doing what they have always been doing”. In the only smart move any congressional body has made in at least a decade, the auto industry moguls were sent home. They were told to come back when they had a plan, a strategy and some vision of the future which had any shred of credibility. Recently some plans have been leaked, including the bald-faced insult that they will all forego their annual multi-million dollar salaries (maybe) if their companies get government money, that they will all travel by hybrid vehicle this time and they have considered the future (at least a little) in their plans for use of the funding (Ford has actually promised a very small percentage increase in their CAFÉ standards within five years. Wow.).
There remain some glitches in the procedure. First of all, on this return trip, the “guys” have had time to think up reasons to increase the originally proposed bail-out/loan/bridge loan/grant/funding proposal from $25B to $34B. While Ford says it would only like their share to be in the form of a $9B line of credit (to be used should one of the other two fail, which is a fall-back position no one understands), Chrysler just simply says that it needs the money to survive and GM promises that this money (they want $18B) will ensure plant closures and the layoffs of up to 30,000 workers over the next few years. On top of this, GM has suddenly announced that with out at least $4B before the end of the year, they will collapse completely. Somehow, I find it very difficult to believe that the army of bean counters at GM did not have any clue that this collapse might take place before it became clear that the Feds were loosely throwing money around. These guys from Detroit must really believe that we are as stupid as we look. After how we responded to Paulson, we must look pretty stupid.
At any rate, the polarizing discussion swirling about for the last two weeks or so has been something like Hamlet’s dilemma, with each side asking the other, “To bail-out or not to bail out?” You can (and probably have) read stories in Newsweek, MSNBC.com, the MSM, in blogs and on numerous web sites, either vehemently urging the demise of these dinosaurs (and how they got to be and stay alive), as well as those wailing about the millions of sub-contract and supplier tier jobs that will be lost if the Big Three go Big Belly Up. (Michael Moore, whether you like him or not, did a nice job of summing it all up last night on “Countdown”, with Keith Olbermann, on MSNBC-TV; you can watch it on your computer). But we may be missing the boat, here.
Whilst everyone has been looking the other way, hoping for gas prices to go down, buying more and more goods produced in China and ignoring the 800 pound reality gorilla in the room, everyone has also known (but wouldn’t admit) that Detroit can not seem to build cars that anyone wants, its’ cost structures were non-competitive, it had little R&D in the pipeline for needed future transportation technologies, had too many brands and had made too much money for the last 60 years without planning effectively for old age. They just seem to have woken up and started wondering where their 401K had gone.
My name is not Krugman or Reich or Friedman or Keynes, but it occurs to me that the boat we might catch might look something like this:
To begin with, if everything I have read is true, last year the government approved a $25B grant for the auto industry to work on new electric and hybrid auto technologies. It is my understanding that Japan has made the same effort for their auto industry. This would push ahead some competitiveness and forestall complete disaster in the industry, here. WE SHOULD GIVE IT TO THEM, NOW. But there should be accountability strings attached, and progress reports. We deserve to know how they are spending our money. If it is mal-appropriated, it should be returned.
Secondly, and with as many strings attached, we should pull another $25B out of the sum already allocated (since Paulson has no real plans for spending it anyway) and set it up in an interest bearing account. The Bogus Three can draw upon it as a line of credit, as needed, to keep things afloat and weather the current storm, as best they can.And this money should be put into a repayment schedule, to begin in 18-24 months. We should also recognize that this will only limit layoffs and lowered productions, not stop them. The general state of the economy right now indicates that very few people will be out buying new cars in any record numbers, any time soon.
A third bold move would be to change the name of the UAW to the United Manufacturing Workers (the UMW) and get them to join in the re-training (help provide funding) of their members to build, assemble and manufacture other and more diverse goods. For instance: The hot ticket everywhere these days seems to be wide-screen HD, digital televisions sets. I cannot help but believe that with the creativity and resourcefulness of Motorola, GE, Hitachi, Panasonic, and Sony (to name just a few) with deep roots and pockets in the US, we could not manage to assemble those TV’s in this country. In fact, we could even think about using our vast resources to supply the raw materials. It might push a few low-end Korean manufacturers out of the spotlight, but there would be some immediate consequences and benefits to our economy and employment statistics. Look at it this way:
An auto assembly line worker making $26.00/hr. is currently an endangered species (that $70/hr worker is a myth). Were he/she to be re-trained to assemble/manufacture the thousands of HD TV sets that are in such huge demand, they might only make $16/hr., but they would not be out of work and in danger of losing their home. The money would run back through the economy and eventually the new “hybrid” vehicles that Detroit would be selling by then could be a much needed purchase by the people who would now have the money (from jobs) to pay for them.
The Obama administration is (already) talking about (finally) paying attention to rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure. We will need more skilled workers to rebuild electrical transmission lines, gas lines, bridges, tunnels, roadways and sewer and transportation systems. We will need to build windmills and water transmission routes. We will need communications workers, more draftspeople, more environmental researchers and more teachers. And all of that means that we need more earth moving machines (Caterpillar can’t build them all, and Komatsu shouldn’t), dump trucks (hello, General Motors: nobody needs a Cadillac), surveying gear, cranes, steel production, rebar and electronic measuring devices. There is no reason that all of this cannot be manufactured and produced in the United States. There is no reason the 30-50,000 auto workers, whose jobs are at risk cannot be trained to do these jobs and save their homes and send their children to college. And we should not forget that we may a nearly endless supply of empty, under or un-utilized manufacturing facilities which could be pressed into service, in very short order. And the nations’ governors just m et with the President elect, and they told him that their states were literally days, weeks and months way from being able to put “shovels in the ground” for rebuilding projects.
But we will need to face some tough realities (you thought I forgot about the crow by now, didn’t you?). Initially, we need to put a harness on greed and the seemingly insatiable appetite Wall Street has for instant profits and shareholder “overnight” wealth. That may never happen in America again. The Dellionaire/Microsoft phenomenon may never occur again, ever. Secondly, that US –made TV set may cost 5-10% more than the one we used to buy at Circuit City from Indonesia…but the worker will have the money to pay for it. And Circuit City will not make the retail profit it used to, but it will still be in business as a retailer. Wal-Mart may have a problem if they cannot buy everything from China. Sorry.
GM may eventually have to file for bankruptcy and restructure, despite the federal aid dollars. That would not be the end of the world. Too much has been written recently about what will happen: other companies will move in to the vacuums created and address the new needs: the small company that paints plastic bumpers for GM can move on to paint plastic parts for TV’s from Motorola. It will take some time, but Rome was not built in a day (and the US will not go away in one, either). Ford will most likely soldier on or at least plans to. Chrysler is a lame duck on life support. When Daimler Benz gave up on it, and Cerebrus bought it, their clear intention was to either make a go of it or write it off. It was their risk, they took it, and they lost. The tax payer should no more be held accountable or responsible for that gamble than they would be if Proctor and Gamble gambled on a new laundry detergent and failed. The only difference is in the scale of the economies involved.
Mary Ann Keller, a noted automotive journalist, has been saying for years, that there would eventually only be two or three automobile companies in the world. Every day it becomes clearer that one of those will be Toyota (or some Japanese conglomerate with Toyota at the center). We are witnessing manufacturing Darwinism as the world gets “flatter” (Friedman) and GM’s position as the center of (their own) universe is passing. Must I remind you of the old adage about throwing good money after bad?
This discussion about saving the US auto industry, as I alluded to earlier, is quite polarized. As many people want to save it (for many of the wrong reasons) using tax payer money (a very wrong solution) as want to see it die (for some other wrong reasons, like spite); the Michigan legislators are screaming for it (their job security) and many others (including many members of congress) are screaming against it (which has something to do with our nose in spite of our face). I am suggesting a middle ground.
I am left with three principal thoughts. Right up front, we should recognize that the model employed by Wall Street for the past several decades simply does not work. The events of the past several weeks and months have borne this out, without contradiction. Short-term, high yield greed is no way to build and maintain a robust economy. It should not be difficult for anyone to see that the net loss in earning power without reasonably equal accumulations of wealth for the traditional middle class has been both destructive and counter productive. And as far as the auto industry debate is concerned, GM, Ford, Chrysler and their minions are representatives of this failed model. Simple life support and prolongation of life as it has been is no remedy.
I must add to that a quote I read in a NYT editorial this week by Prof. Krugman. An Indian economist, Prabhat Patnaik, said that, the “free market system [demonstrates] the incapacity to distinguish between speculation and enterprise.” Put simply, greed ( unfettered speculation) is what prompts GM to have far too many “brands” (who the hell needs a Hummer, anyway?), and for Wal-Mart, Home Depot, Lowes and Handy Andy or some other home supply company or discount outlet to have a big box store on every available scrap of land in America. As Michael Moore pointed out (again) last night on “Countdown”, if no one has a job, who will there be to buy the automobiles, shop at Wal-Mart or buy even discounted clothing? If we engaged in and invested in real growth-oriented enterprise, we would not be confronted so bluntly by this dilemma. It seems that you can buy anything at Wal-Mart except logic.
In a new blog (here comes point number three) on 12/3, Robert Reich (http://robertreich.blogspot.com) points out that while we are scrambling to “rescue” financial capital, we are ignoring and squandering human capital. I.e., while we work harder and harder to keep solvent and propagate the financial frontispieces of our economy, we are ignoring the workers and the human infrastructures that constitute the lifeblood of our culture (and perhaps even our existence).
The realities and the disappointments of the Wall Street rescue plan are becoming more obvious every day, and we surely do not need to have a repeat performance when it comes to Detroit, even if it is on a much smaller scale. But we cannot merely set the auto industry completely adrift, either. We should find a method and pathway that will rescue the untapped potentials that are lying about to be optioned nearly for the taking. But, as we learned from the Wall Street debacle, that old line about “too big to fail” is too big to swallow. And this applies equally to Detroit.
There is much crow to eaten in the near future. Sadly there is plenty go around, and the Big Three should figure that out and ditch the caviar along with their corporate jets. But unless we want to re-enact the champagne breakfasts of AIG, we had better make sure that everyone knows that rot gut red is all there is with which to drink it down.
Life Goes On In Texas
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Holiday Cheer
A day or so ago, I met with my friend Ron, for coffee. I made an observation about Americans and traditions and he, of course, challenged my reasoning. Well, I thought about it.
Good Sir:
Not being one to let sleeping dogs fart in the their sleep and get away with it, I drug out Webster's and looked up "tradition". This is, of course, per our talk about my earlier observation that many Americans mistake (oftentimes) habits (or habitual behavior) for tradition. (Habit, by the way, comes from habere, meaning to have or hold...as in clutch, hold on to, maintain). Tradition, however, comes from the Latin, tradere, to hand down, or to surrender (hand over). It would seem to imply that whatever is being handed down is also being entrusted, (to later be handed down another day) and that whatever it is, it must (or should) have some value attached to it or intrinsic in it. I do not (pardon the use of ther word, here) traditionally and automatically attach intrinsic value to routine habit. Most of what we "hand down" in this country are court decisions or matters of red necked bigotry, and their value is frequently in question. ( and I know, before you say it, that both are frequently simply the unexamined transference of ignorance). For me, the only item ever truly "handed down" or "surrendered" to me was my wretched first name, which came from my grandmother's first boyfriend, whom she regretted not marrying soon after she married my drunken grandfather. I think curses may also be traditional. I also have my birth certificate, but it is currently under review by the Dept. of Homeland Security.
Be all that as it may (or might be...or might not be...I smell an argument coming), I suppose my remark/observation is based upon the fact that having a holiday party simply to have one (because we always have had one, and not to "celebrate", as in rejoice, remember, commemorate, observe with reverence; or routinely giving a gift (especially if it is a new gift, and not, say a hand-me-down) probably does not constitute a "handing down" or a "surrender" of anything that has a particular value, either intrinsic or manufactured for the occasion. And if these actions are done repetitively and most probably without pre-meditation, and as a matter of course (because "we've always done it this way" ), the repetitive act is merely a "habit" (something we hold on to without thought) and not a "tradition", as described above. This could be held to mean that in many instances, we attempt to have our cake and eat it, too, while not surrendering any of it. Sadly, for many, habits can be addictive and may cause tunnel-vision, thereby limiting perspective and personal growth. In other words, we choke on our cake.
And habits can be hard to break (un-have, no longer wear, as in "I will have nun of it") because any such occasion requires us to take a fresh look at any situation at hand and then muster the raw courage (gumption?) to actually DO something differently (or perhaps not at all). Which is the reason why (in great likelihood) insitutional resistance to change is so great, because th"we never did it that way before" (bald-faced lying seems to be a tradition among our politicians and there is sadly little value there, either. I suppose that means it is merely a habit?Or addictive?). This also helps to further understand the definition of insanity, wherein we "keep doing the same old things we've always been doing and expect to get different results."
In conclusion, let me say that this is the essential reasoning behind my cause celebre to say "Bah Humbug" at this time of year and to hypothesize that you are now wishing to hell you had never asked me to clarify this over a freaking cup of coffee. Merry Christmas. Have a piece of cake.
Good Sir:
Not being one to let sleeping dogs fart in the their sleep and get away with it, I drug out Webster's and looked up "tradition". This is, of course, per our talk about my earlier observation that many Americans mistake (oftentimes) habits (or habitual behavior) for tradition. (Habit, by the way, comes from habere, meaning to have or hold...as in clutch, hold on to, maintain). Tradition, however, comes from the Latin, tradere, to hand down, or to surrender (hand over). It would seem to imply that whatever is being handed down is also being entrusted, (to later be handed down another day) and that whatever it is, it must (or should) have some value attached to it or intrinsic in it. I do not (pardon the use of ther word, here) traditionally and automatically attach intrinsic value to routine habit. Most of what we "hand down" in this country are court decisions or matters of red necked bigotry, and their value is frequently in question. ( and I know, before you say it, that both are frequently simply the unexamined transference of ignorance). For me, the only item ever truly "handed down" or "surrendered" to me was my wretched first name, which came from my grandmother's first boyfriend, whom she regretted not marrying soon after she married my drunken grandfather. I think curses may also be traditional. I also have my birth certificate, but it is currently under review by the Dept. of Homeland Security.
Be all that as it may (or might be...or might not be...I smell an argument coming), I suppose my remark/observation is based upon the fact that having a holiday party simply to have one (because we always have had one, and not to "celebrate", as in rejoice, remember, commemorate, observe with reverence; or routinely giving a gift (especially if it is a new gift, and not, say a hand-me-down) probably does not constitute a "handing down" or a "surrender" of anything that has a particular value, either intrinsic or manufactured for the occasion. And if these actions are done repetitively and most probably without pre-meditation, and as a matter of course (because "we've always done it this way" ), the repetitive act is merely a "habit" (something we hold on to without thought) and not a "tradition", as described above. This could be held to mean that in many instances, we attempt to have our cake and eat it, too, while not surrendering any of it. Sadly, for many, habits can be addictive and may cause tunnel-vision, thereby limiting perspective and personal growth. In other words, we choke on our cake.
And habits can be hard to break (un-have, no longer wear, as in "I will have nun of it") because any such occasion requires us to take a fresh look at any situation at hand and then muster the raw courage (gumption?) to actually DO something differently (or perhaps not at all). Which is the reason why (in great likelihood) insitutional resistance to change is so great, because th"we never did it that way before" (bald-faced lying seems to be a tradition among our politicians and there is sadly little value there, either. I suppose that means it is merely a habit?Or addictive?). This also helps to further understand the definition of insanity, wherein we "keep doing the same old things we've always been doing and expect to get different results."
In conclusion, let me say that this is the essential reasoning behind my cause celebre to say "Bah Humbug" at this time of year and to hypothesize that you are now wishing to hell you had never asked me to clarify this over a freaking cup of coffee. Merry Christmas. Have a piece of cake.
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Hope and Change, Change and Hope
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/11/24/change_is_coming_to_fema.html
This article showed up in the Washington Post Politics Daily section of this morning’s emails. Those of you who know anything about me know that:
When W rolled FEMA into DHS, I went ballistic. I said then that it was a terrific way to neuter a needed agency, and I was proven right.Everything that came from it afterwards, was stillborn.
When Katrina hit, and New Orleans was lost, then the government denied there was problem and CNN was broadcasting pictures of refugees at the stadium in the rain, I knew that affairs had gone completely sour.
When it was reported that “Brownie” was out looking for new shirts, at a department store many miles form the scene of the disaster, my stomach churned.
When some days later, W told “Brownie” he was doing “a heckuva job”, I vomited.
When Brownie got shit-canned, I stood up and cheered and told everyone that I just wanted a shot at that job for a month or so. (I probably would have shot by a Bushie Brown Shirt brigade, but I really didn’t care; my sensibilities were enraged).
Now the word on the Obama street (see the article) is that change is on the way for FEMA. Hip Hip Hooray! Hope! Change! Change! Hope!
But then one reads on. The rumor is that James Witt, another Clintonista and Arkansas crony, will be brought in to reprise his clean-up act. And he will bring along Mark Merrit to help and then succeed him. If anything in the report about Witt’s activities after he left FEMA is true, then we should be wary. He obviously learned enough about the slovenly government relief processes during his tenure to profit enormously from them, afterward. And he has a skillful and learned protégé’. Again, if at all true, he has been ably aided and abetted by the likes of state governors and their successors (Would trust Bobbie Jindal with YOUR wife?). Let’s just hold the cheering and applause for a bit, shall we?
Alongside this disclosure came the announcement, by the Fed (and broadcast widely in the Mostly Silly Media), that several billion more dollars were suddenly being released into the consumer marketplace to promote consumer spending (Christmas gifts?), finance new automobiles (which are largely over-priced and fuel-inefficient) and (finally) to do something about the gazillion dollars a risk in current home mortgage foreclsures around the country (which should have been done long ago).
Hank Paulson, appearing gaunt, haggard and frightened as ever, held a another press conference, looking like a cornered dog who has been caught stealing the Thanksgiving turkey off of the dining room table, and blurted, stumbled and gasped his way through a series of nearly incoherent explanations..and now we wait to see if Wall Street will jump for joy or jump off the ledge of the highest building.
The first pundit and media reactions were that this economic move did not ever require the draconian predictions laid out two months ago, about those predicted massive defaults and martial law, and it would seem that the Fed, W, Paulson and the rest are merely grandstanding for the holidays. But it seems to me to be a sack of large coal lumps being left at the front door of 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.
There is certainly hope for change in the air, but these announcements make me wonder if we should change our hopes, just a little bit, until we know exactly what the future portends. I would really like to get into the holiday spirit, instead of just being dispirited.
Life goes on in Texas.
This article showed up in the Washington Post Politics Daily section of this morning’s emails. Those of you who know anything about me know that:
When W rolled FEMA into DHS, I went ballistic. I said then that it was a terrific way to neuter a needed agency, and I was proven right.Everything that came from it afterwards, was stillborn.
When Katrina hit, and New Orleans was lost, then the government denied there was problem and CNN was broadcasting pictures of refugees at the stadium in the rain, I knew that affairs had gone completely sour.
When it was reported that “Brownie” was out looking for new shirts, at a department store many miles form the scene of the disaster, my stomach churned.
When some days later, W told “Brownie” he was doing “a heckuva job”, I vomited.
When Brownie got shit-canned, I stood up and cheered and told everyone that I just wanted a shot at that job for a month or so. (I probably would have shot by a Bushie Brown Shirt brigade, but I really didn’t care; my sensibilities were enraged).
Now the word on the Obama street (see the article) is that change is on the way for FEMA. Hip Hip Hooray! Hope! Change! Change! Hope!
But then one reads on. The rumor is that James Witt, another Clintonista and Arkansas crony, will be brought in to reprise his clean-up act. And he will bring along Mark Merrit to help and then succeed him. If anything in the report about Witt’s activities after he left FEMA is true, then we should be wary. He obviously learned enough about the slovenly government relief processes during his tenure to profit enormously from them, afterward. And he has a skillful and learned protégé’. Again, if at all true, he has been ably aided and abetted by the likes of state governors and their successors (Would trust Bobbie Jindal with YOUR wife?). Let’s just hold the cheering and applause for a bit, shall we?
Alongside this disclosure came the announcement, by the Fed (and broadcast widely in the Mostly Silly Media), that several billion more dollars were suddenly being released into the consumer marketplace to promote consumer spending (Christmas gifts?), finance new automobiles (which are largely over-priced and fuel-inefficient) and (finally) to do something about the gazillion dollars a risk in current home mortgage foreclsures around the country (which should have been done long ago).
Hank Paulson, appearing gaunt, haggard and frightened as ever, held a another press conference, looking like a cornered dog who has been caught stealing the Thanksgiving turkey off of the dining room table, and blurted, stumbled and gasped his way through a series of nearly incoherent explanations..and now we wait to see if Wall Street will jump for joy or jump off the ledge of the highest building.
The first pundit and media reactions were that this economic move did not ever require the draconian predictions laid out two months ago, about those predicted massive defaults and martial law, and it would seem that the Fed, W, Paulson and the rest are merely grandstanding for the holidays. But it seems to me to be a sack of large coal lumps being left at the front door of 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.
There is certainly hope for change in the air, but these announcements make me wonder if we should change our hopes, just a little bit, until we know exactly what the future portends. I would really like to get into the holiday spirit, instead of just being dispirited.
Life goes on in Texas.
Saturday, November 22, 2008
Time For a MashUp
This is what ThinkProgess.org calls it when they glom together several relevant pieces of info and/or video about one subject, and put it into a coherent feature. It is usually about an event or happening that they think should be given special notice by people like me, who read that stuff. In no particular order, here, then, is my mashed up “Week In Review” (with apologies to the NYT):
I found an article by Yglesius, I think, (ThinkProgress) this week about the tens of tens of BILLIONS of dollars the US spends every year on sophisticated aircraft for warmaking. Grumman, Boeing, GE, IBM and Northrup, to name a few, receive so much money to build, outfit, maintain and re-supply fighter jets and bombers, that it constitutes a disproportionally huge share of the national budget. I am wondering why? As “Fred on Everything” pointed out this week, these hot-shot, missile carrying, infra-red equipped weapons of mass destruction cannot hit much of anything, in particular. Despite multi-million dollar guidance systems, they mostly blow up innocent Iraqi, Turkish and Pakistani civilians. If they are lucky, their Top Guns only destroy two or three jubilant wedding parties as they vainly attempt to assassinate a miscellaneous belt-bomb carrying insurgent hiding in a mud flat, somewhere in the hills of Afghanistan. The spending of these billions goes almost completely unnoticed when we have no reasonable plan of action for health care in this country (more on that in a minute), mortgage foreclosures are rampant, AIG execs are playing in hot tubs and we are debating whether or not to allocate (what now appears to be) a paltry $25B to slow down the inevitable demise of another industrial behemoth, the Detroit Big Three. (I think a Hummer is a Grumman product, but I am not sure. I am certain it has gasoline-seeking radar capabilities).
The USSR (remember those guys?)used to spend far more on its’ military buildup than it did anything else, and we all railed against that as a “false economy” and hideous communism. Now we appear to be doing the same thing and no one notices. Worse, by our oversight and ignorance, we are condoning it. And we wonder why the economy is in such bad shape? We spend nothing (to speak of) on infrastructure and the basic well being of our citizens. We spend pittances on education and millions on salaries and fringe benefits for members of congress who work part-time and do mostly nothing. And then there is the auto industry and that dust-up: it is another example of an artificial economy and another one of our dinosaurs which is rumored to be “too big to fail”. Why not try this approach: Give those guys the $25B already allocated by the Dept. Of Energy to go green, but do it with lots of strings attached ( and don’t BS me about requiring the sell-off of two of five corporate jets.) Cut out those ridiculous exec salaries and stipends for board members, hire some bright, innovative and productive contributors and get on with what should have been done 30 years ago. (Jimmy Carter, are you out there?) Then LOAN the Big Dolts another $25B out of that pot we already have approved (Only 8% of the total?) with therepayments to begin back to the treasury in 18 months, with interest, when the immediate crunch is over. Or sell the whole mess to Toyota and take your lumps.
I keep sending out columns by Nobel winner Krugman ( a voice in the wilderness) and everyone should add http://robertreich.blogspot.com to their favorites. I think these two guys are the only ones (maybe) who know what is going on (maybe), why it is the way it is and what the hell to do about it, in order to keep the sky from falling. Hank Paulson is Chicken Little and we have heard enough if his chicken shit. I would laugh hysterically at his antics if I were not sobbing so uncontrollably.
Health care: It is very curious that the Obama team has announced cabinet positions in many areas (I’m getting to all that) EXCEPT HHS, which would include health care. During one of the presidential debates, Brokaw asked Obama and McCain about health care. He said that for some in the US, it was seen as a priviledge, some people thought it should be a right, and whose responsibility was it, anyway? Both of the candidates punted. They both had the chance to drive right through that huge opening, and the both drove around the mountain. More chicken shit. They both had the chance to say this: Health care in the US should NOT BE a priviledge. health care in the US SHOULD BE a right of every citizen ,and, as the richest and most creative country in the world (or should be), Health Care in the US, for every citizen, should be our complete responsibility. Neither one said that, it would have answered the question emphatically and clearly and we could be having those discussions right now. So far, however, health care is still the big bad wolf, just outside the kitchen door and nobody wants to open it. The longer we a wait, the worse the situation will become. But we chat endlessly with the know-nothing CEO’s who flog the auto industry and we build more F-18 fighter jets. Brilliant. Defamatory. Incriminating. Embarrassing.Our priorities are not, well, priorities
At an election night party, standing around in someone else’s kitchen, Keith Bell (a friend of a friend and a world champion swimmer and senior citizen) said to me: “Health Care should not be a commodity”. Think about THAT ONE, for a minute.
Senate seats in Congress: The Dems are both livid and wild ( and laviciously greedy)about having 60 of them so they can bullet-proof any legislation they want and ride rough-shod over and through the decisions of the past like a bulldozer over a bunch of Tonka toys in the sandbox. The post-election brouhaha over the seats in MN, GA, and AK (and the continued pleas for money to ensure democratic wins) is nauseating. Two more seats will not spoil or ruin the party’s party. Without them there will be no tension and probably no creativity in the legislative process. Things could be worse: you could (for stupid and molly-coddle reasons) welcome Lieberman back into the fold after he stabbed you in the back. You could give Ted Stevens a standing ovation as he leaves the floor after becoming a convicted felon. And you could largely ignore the fact that Ted Kennedy came back to work with a brain tumor. At least none of the nitwits brought a bill up to the vote about what sort of new dog might be allowed in the White House. At least not yet.
And right now the Congress is flagrantly displaying its’ back side: This past week, when the economy was shredding itself, the holidays are here and no one has money to spend (or knows whether they will have a job next week) and Sarah Palin is hosting a telecast of the beheading of a turkey, the Congress voted not to take any significant action on anything of any importance until after they come back into session after this break. HOWEVER, they did manage to hold elections for leadership posts for the next congress, before the next congress even convenes. Would someone please tell me why the old congress is selecting the leadership for the new congress????? As usual, our gallant elected officials are making grandiose plans for time off, plans for what they will do later to plan for doing later, and spending no time doing anything right now, when everything needs most to be done, YESTERDAY. Turd Blossom may have moved on to Fox Noise, but he has apparently left behind plenty of seeds of malfeasance, sloth, self-aggrandizement and the pomposity of the infatuation of power. And having failed at everything political, Fred Thompson is returning to acting.Wait a minute: returning?
MEANWHILE, ThinkProgess also reports that the Bush administration is in a “sprint toward the finish line”, moving rapidly backard, to dismantle, cripple or undo legislation vital to the environment. Then, in order to add insult to injury, the administration has been busy “burrowing” politically appointed officials(Dana "The Twit" Perino has said that the new administration should be glad to have these "experienced" people?) into permanent government jobs they cannot be ousted from later, further polluting the waters and progress for years and months to come. (Remember when the Clinton administration glued down the keys on White House west wing keyboards before Bushies took office? We are not dealing with adults, here. ) And there is a terrible irony and sadness which pervades the entire notion that the one man who was elected to provide dignified leadership and vision for our country has turned out to be the ultimate saboteur. And let the pardons begin.
Richardson for Secretary of Commerce. A good choice and an apt reward for someone who stood up the Clinton’s and had Obama’s back from day one. He is a good man and I am much more comfortable knowing that he can read the clauses and terms of the NAFTA and proposed Columbian trade deals in their native languages.
Napolitano for DHS. She has street cred and a rep for getting things done. She (like Richardson) has a good grasp on the border immigration issues. Although there are many who wonder about how she will handle terrorist problems, I will sleep better at night, knowing that she will, in all likelihood, prevent insurgent Italian immigrants from blowing up the NYC subway system. If we are really lucky, she will flush away most of FEMA and resist the urge to rehire anyone who has done a “heckuva job”.
Geithner for the Treasury: OMG! He is white, of teutonic ancestry, intellectual, educated, unbiased and not from Wall Street. If you place his photo next to Paulson’s, you immediately see the clear contrast between what you get when you position the age of the 21rst century next to the Jurrasic one. Kind of like Einstein next to T-Rex.
Hillary for Secretary of State. Duh. Like we didn’t see that one coming. She has managed NOT to scratch out anyone’s eyes lately, can most likely keep Sarkozy’s wife at bay, can probably dance with the Iranians better than Condi Nasty, keep Berlusconi’s hands off her ass and bring some grace., elegance, determinedness and required female bitchiness back to the office. She will be sort of the anti-Kissenger. But if Obama pays off her campaign bills, I will be really pissed. What the catter might play at while the cat is away is anyone’s guess, but it is worth the risk.
Rachel Maddow: Her show just gets better every day, and I have been very curious to watch her navigate the recently troubled waters of gay rights, Prop 8 and so on. This week, this happened:
Update: When contacted by ThinkProgress, Rachel Maddow explained her reasons for avoiding the subject of gay rights with Huckabee:
I weighed whether or not to ask him about his anti-gay views, but I really don't care about them very much. Huckabee is a doctrinaire anti-gay theocratic social conservative whose views are well-known and heartfelt. I also probably wouldn't bother asking Sarah Palin about her anti-gay views if I had the opportunity to interview her -- it's just not the most interesting or newsworthy (or ridiculous) thing about either of them.
AlterNet reported this after ThinkProgess snared it. As usual, Rachel took the most logical action at the most opportune time and chose not to play in the in mud, but rather to stick with what really mattered and was not so “ridiculous”, so as not to waste our time. Then on the program on 11/21, she featured a story about the sale of stuffed “patriotic” RNC elephants as Christmas presents. The accompanying press release said that all proceeds from the sales would go to fight “left-wing Democratic legislative attempts in Congress”. She demurred that this was certainly in the spirit of Christmas. Bravo Rachel.
Lefties in blogosphere, dismayed progressives and label/name calling: There appear to be a ton of hot-under-the-collar far left wing bloggers who are yelling about being betrayed by Obama for even looking at former officials and dignitaries for posts in the new administration. Shut up! You are like Congressional democrats, crying over a seat or two when there are better things to worry about. You cannot have your cake and eat it, too. You have a new President whose presence portends a better world. There is also a debate about either dissolving the notion of progressives altogether, post election, or merely changing their names to “liberal”. Y’all worry far too much about names and labels. Just sign the (right) damn (left)petitions, make your voices heard where it counts, vote out slime balls and stop worrying about what you called yourself. Just act with integrity, honor and dignity and stop writing meaningless rants to OpEdNews: nobody reads that anymore anyway, and if you have something we all need to hear, there are better forums.
Life goes on in Texas.
I found an article by Yglesius, I think, (ThinkProgress) this week about the tens of tens of BILLIONS of dollars the US spends every year on sophisticated aircraft for warmaking. Grumman, Boeing, GE, IBM and Northrup, to name a few, receive so much money to build, outfit, maintain and re-supply fighter jets and bombers, that it constitutes a disproportionally huge share of the national budget. I am wondering why? As “Fred on Everything” pointed out this week, these hot-shot, missile carrying, infra-red equipped weapons of mass destruction cannot hit much of anything, in particular. Despite multi-million dollar guidance systems, they mostly blow up innocent Iraqi, Turkish and Pakistani civilians. If they are lucky, their Top Guns only destroy two or three jubilant wedding parties as they vainly attempt to assassinate a miscellaneous belt-bomb carrying insurgent hiding in a mud flat, somewhere in the hills of Afghanistan. The spending of these billions goes almost completely unnoticed when we have no reasonable plan of action for health care in this country (more on that in a minute), mortgage foreclosures are rampant, AIG execs are playing in hot tubs and we are debating whether or not to allocate (what now appears to be) a paltry $25B to slow down the inevitable demise of another industrial behemoth, the Detroit Big Three. (I think a Hummer is a Grumman product, but I am not sure. I am certain it has gasoline-seeking radar capabilities).
The USSR (remember those guys?)used to spend far more on its’ military buildup than it did anything else, and we all railed against that as a “false economy” and hideous communism. Now we appear to be doing the same thing and no one notices. Worse, by our oversight and ignorance, we are condoning it. And we wonder why the economy is in such bad shape? We spend nothing (to speak of) on infrastructure and the basic well being of our citizens. We spend pittances on education and millions on salaries and fringe benefits for members of congress who work part-time and do mostly nothing. And then there is the auto industry and that dust-up: it is another example of an artificial economy and another one of our dinosaurs which is rumored to be “too big to fail”. Why not try this approach: Give those guys the $25B already allocated by the Dept. Of Energy to go green, but do it with lots of strings attached ( and don’t BS me about requiring the sell-off of two of five corporate jets.) Cut out those ridiculous exec salaries and stipends for board members, hire some bright, innovative and productive contributors and get on with what should have been done 30 years ago. (Jimmy Carter, are you out there?) Then LOAN the Big Dolts another $25B out of that pot we already have approved (Only 8% of the total?) with therepayments to begin back to the treasury in 18 months, with interest, when the immediate crunch is over. Or sell the whole mess to Toyota and take your lumps.
I keep sending out columns by Nobel winner Krugman ( a voice in the wilderness) and everyone should add http://robertreich.blogspot.com to their favorites. I think these two guys are the only ones (maybe) who know what is going on (maybe), why it is the way it is and what the hell to do about it, in order to keep the sky from falling. Hank Paulson is Chicken Little and we have heard enough if his chicken shit. I would laugh hysterically at his antics if I were not sobbing so uncontrollably.
Health care: It is very curious that the Obama team has announced cabinet positions in many areas (I’m getting to all that) EXCEPT HHS, which would include health care. During one of the presidential debates, Brokaw asked Obama and McCain about health care. He said that for some in the US, it was seen as a priviledge, some people thought it should be a right, and whose responsibility was it, anyway? Both of the candidates punted. They both had the chance to drive right through that huge opening, and the both drove around the mountain. More chicken shit. They both had the chance to say this: Health care in the US should NOT BE a priviledge. health care in the US SHOULD BE a right of every citizen ,and, as the richest and most creative country in the world (or should be), Health Care in the US, for every citizen, should be our complete responsibility. Neither one said that, it would have answered the question emphatically and clearly and we could be having those discussions right now. So far, however, health care is still the big bad wolf, just outside the kitchen door and nobody wants to open it. The longer we a wait, the worse the situation will become. But we chat endlessly with the know-nothing CEO’s who flog the auto industry and we build more F-18 fighter jets. Brilliant. Defamatory. Incriminating. Embarrassing.Our priorities are not, well, priorities
At an election night party, standing around in someone else’s kitchen, Keith Bell (a friend of a friend and a world champion swimmer and senior citizen) said to me: “Health Care should not be a commodity”. Think about THAT ONE, for a minute.
Senate seats in Congress: The Dems are both livid and wild ( and laviciously greedy)about having 60 of them so they can bullet-proof any legislation they want and ride rough-shod over and through the decisions of the past like a bulldozer over a bunch of Tonka toys in the sandbox. The post-election brouhaha over the seats in MN, GA, and AK (and the continued pleas for money to ensure democratic wins) is nauseating. Two more seats will not spoil or ruin the party’s party. Without them there will be no tension and probably no creativity in the legislative process. Things could be worse: you could (for stupid and molly-coddle reasons) welcome Lieberman back into the fold after he stabbed you in the back. You could give Ted Stevens a standing ovation as he leaves the floor after becoming a convicted felon. And you could largely ignore the fact that Ted Kennedy came back to work with a brain tumor. At least none of the nitwits brought a bill up to the vote about what sort of new dog might be allowed in the White House. At least not yet.
And right now the Congress is flagrantly displaying its’ back side: This past week, when the economy was shredding itself, the holidays are here and no one has money to spend (or knows whether they will have a job next week) and Sarah Palin is hosting a telecast of the beheading of a turkey, the Congress voted not to take any significant action on anything of any importance until after they come back into session after this break. HOWEVER, they did manage to hold elections for leadership posts for the next congress, before the next congress even convenes. Would someone please tell me why the old congress is selecting the leadership for the new congress????? As usual, our gallant elected officials are making grandiose plans for time off, plans for what they will do later to plan for doing later, and spending no time doing anything right now, when everything needs most to be done, YESTERDAY. Turd Blossom may have moved on to Fox Noise, but he has apparently left behind plenty of seeds of malfeasance, sloth, self-aggrandizement and the pomposity of the infatuation of power. And having failed at everything political, Fred Thompson is returning to acting.Wait a minute: returning?
MEANWHILE, ThinkProgess also reports that the Bush administration is in a “sprint toward the finish line”, moving rapidly backard, to dismantle, cripple or undo legislation vital to the environment. Then, in order to add insult to injury, the administration has been busy “burrowing” politically appointed officials(Dana "The Twit" Perino has said that the new administration should be glad to have these "experienced" people?) into permanent government jobs they cannot be ousted from later, further polluting the waters and progress for years and months to come. (Remember when the Clinton administration glued down the keys on White House west wing keyboards before Bushies took office? We are not dealing with adults, here. ) And there is a terrible irony and sadness which pervades the entire notion that the one man who was elected to provide dignified leadership and vision for our country has turned out to be the ultimate saboteur. And let the pardons begin.
Richardson for Secretary of Commerce. A good choice and an apt reward for someone who stood up the Clinton’s and had Obama’s back from day one. He is a good man and I am much more comfortable knowing that he can read the clauses and terms of the NAFTA and proposed Columbian trade deals in their native languages.
Napolitano for DHS. She has street cred and a rep for getting things done. She (like Richardson) has a good grasp on the border immigration issues. Although there are many who wonder about how she will handle terrorist problems, I will sleep better at night, knowing that she will, in all likelihood, prevent insurgent Italian immigrants from blowing up the NYC subway system. If we are really lucky, she will flush away most of FEMA and resist the urge to rehire anyone who has done a “heckuva job”.
Geithner for the Treasury: OMG! He is white, of teutonic ancestry, intellectual, educated, unbiased and not from Wall Street. If you place his photo next to Paulson’s, you immediately see the clear contrast between what you get when you position the age of the 21rst century next to the Jurrasic one. Kind of like Einstein next to T-Rex.
Hillary for Secretary of State. Duh. Like we didn’t see that one coming. She has managed NOT to scratch out anyone’s eyes lately, can most likely keep Sarkozy’s wife at bay, can probably dance with the Iranians better than Condi Nasty, keep Berlusconi’s hands off her ass and bring some grace., elegance, determinedness and required female bitchiness back to the office. She will be sort of the anti-Kissenger. But if Obama pays off her campaign bills, I will be really pissed. What the catter might play at while the cat is away is anyone’s guess, but it is worth the risk.
Rachel Maddow: Her show just gets better every day, and I have been very curious to watch her navigate the recently troubled waters of gay rights, Prop 8 and so on. This week, this happened:
Update: When contacted by ThinkProgress, Rachel Maddow explained her reasons for avoiding the subject of gay rights with Huckabee:
I weighed whether or not to ask him about his anti-gay views, but I really don't care about them very much. Huckabee is a doctrinaire anti-gay theocratic social conservative whose views are well-known and heartfelt. I also probably wouldn't bother asking Sarah Palin about her anti-gay views if I had the opportunity to interview her -- it's just not the most interesting or newsworthy (or ridiculous) thing about either of them.
AlterNet reported this after ThinkProgess snared it. As usual, Rachel took the most logical action at the most opportune time and chose not to play in the in mud, but rather to stick with what really mattered and was not so “ridiculous”, so as not to waste our time. Then on the program on 11/21, she featured a story about the sale of stuffed “patriotic” RNC elephants as Christmas presents. The accompanying press release said that all proceeds from the sales would go to fight “left-wing Democratic legislative attempts in Congress”. She demurred that this was certainly in the spirit of Christmas. Bravo Rachel.
Lefties in blogosphere, dismayed progressives and label/name calling: There appear to be a ton of hot-under-the-collar far left wing bloggers who are yelling about being betrayed by Obama for even looking at former officials and dignitaries for posts in the new administration. Shut up! You are like Congressional democrats, crying over a seat or two when there are better things to worry about. You cannot have your cake and eat it, too. You have a new President whose presence portends a better world. There is also a debate about either dissolving the notion of progressives altogether, post election, or merely changing their names to “liberal”. Y’all worry far too much about names and labels. Just sign the (right) damn (left)petitions, make your voices heard where it counts, vote out slime balls and stop worrying about what you called yourself. Just act with integrity, honor and dignity and stop writing meaningless rants to OpEdNews: nobody reads that anymore anyway, and if you have something we all need to hear, there are better forums.
Life goes on in Texas.
Friday, November 14, 2008
How things look today
I regularly have some fun, these days, doing work for the SW Chapter of the Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic. They have an office and studio here in Austin. Last week, they held a recognition dinner for their volunteers and about 160 people attended. I learned later that that was only about half of us! Lots of volunteers and lots of donated hours. Organizations like this one, where there is so much valuable “product”, as opposed to those groups who spend most of the publicly raised and donated funds supporting a top heavy administration, should get more attention and recognition. If you have one like it you can get to and help out, do it: you will feel better later.
I am discouraged about CA and Prop 8. That seems a step rearward (but then there is CT?). There is much talk about the role of blacks and Hispanics in that vote, and especially the role of churches and religion. Churches and their religious “leaders”, and I think especially in minority settings, hold entirely too much sway over how people think and act when it comes to socio-political decisions. Go see Bill Maher’s film, “Religulous”, then decide for yourself. We have our priorities all screwed up. Have you gone to the local park and visited your Ten Commandments monument, lately? You can still do that In Utah, at least this week. And would someone please tell me why the Mormon organization is tax exempt?
Hank “The Wall Street Airhead” Paulson got up and spoke two days ago (can’t ANYONE stop that man? Chickens, henhouses, foxes and all that) and the stock market sank (again) like the Titanic, two hours later. The next day the DOW came back some, then it was announced that even Wal-Mart was bracing for bad sales, that Best Buy had forecasted a cataclysmic sales fall off, and that the Republicans would probably block any attempt to “bail out” the Big Three in Detroit. The market dropped back another 400 points by noon on Friday, 11/14. It will be a long weekend, which will be made worse by W hosting the economic summit of the G-20. Here is a group of the world’s most unfit and untrained economists, gathered together to debate (politically) and decide (selfishly)about the most important, delicate and precipitous fate of the economic welfare of millions, and who will eat too much, make pompous pronouncements and accomplish mostly nothing. But the meeting will leave a gorgeous carbon footprint.
But first, before that showplace takes place, Paulson should be made to sit down, shut up and then leave the room as soon as possible, taking Bernanke with him( Bernanke is rumored to be about to slice an incredible small piece of interest pie into an even smaller slice. How do you do that? I did not know that interest has a half-life, like uranium). These men are both useless and moronic.
Second, George W. Bush has proven to be absolutely incapable of providing any presidential leadership, especially as a lame duck, either for this country or for the meeting of the G-20. Or 19, or 23 or whatever. Third, the Big Three (Wal-Mart will find its’ own way; it always does) should be left to find or lose themselves in the marketplace they created. The made this bed, let them sleep in it. And although I have resisted the urge to say this until now, the notion being put forth by some of our Congressional idiots, that the government should buy up the US auto industry and put a public overseer in charge, is about as close to being socialist/Communistic/Marxist economics as anything I have ever heard of. Real capitalistic measures would bring in the best business managers and efficiency experts and long range planners and market researchers that might be found, and either make the automotive behemoth ultimately work or kill it quickly… or maybe sell it to someone who knows how to build the right cars for the right market for the right price.Let’s see: you can take two from column A (that would be Toyota and Honda) and two from Column B (that would be BMW and VW) and then wait to see what dinner tastes like. Chrysler is already on life support, GM has been asleep at the switch for 20 years and Ford has finally realized that Henry has actually died. Old and inappropriate stuff dies all the time. It is called survival of the fittest, not prolongation of the useless. Being put into some taxpayer funded suspended animation won’t bring Detroit back to life. We have been holding a mirror up the mouth of the US auto industry for years, looking for the fog of breath, and all we get are SUV’s and carbon dioxide emissions.
And I still think Lindsey Graham is an illiterate buffoon, who has no business holding any public office and even less business being the chief advisor to John McCain. And T. Boone Pickens is the smoothest talker on the planet (did you see him on the Daily Show? Wow.) and after I am finished being all flushed in the face, I realize that there is no way in hell I’d let him date my daughter. Or yours. There is some kind of poker card up his Texas sleeve, and it has something to do with owning huge water rights in the continental US. And the only thing I know for sure about natural gas is that it can blow up in your face.
The RGA just met in (where the hell else?) FL, and chose not to elect Sarah Palin to any leadership position. Maybe they are smarter than I gave them credit for, earlier. The GOP does NOT need a re-birth, a rejuvenation or a re-creation: it needs a total re-invention, in order to join the new century. As long as they:
-continue to sing the praises of Ronald Reagan (the man is DEAD, for chrissakes);
-cower before Kissenger;
-listen to Lindsey Graham;
-dream about Goofy Gingrich (he is not, can not and will not be any Lazarus);
-drool over Mitt Moneybags;
-long for Looney Jindahl;
- stupidly support Ted Stevens;
-support sloppy vote counting in MN;
they will remain so far behind the curve of reality that they will never see political daylight again. Collectively, they seem to have no shame, no wisdom, not much honor (even among thieves) and no integrity (as in “holding things together”). All of this makes them only slightly worse than myopic, doddering older Democrats who still have FDR confused with Jesus.
I have seen the author and NYT columnist Thomas Friedman on television three times in the last 72 hours. And he has been quoted all over the web and in the Mostly Silly Media repeatedly, since then. I am angry that I have still not even finished reading his first book, The World is Flat, and now he already has another in the bookstores, Hot,Flat and Crowded. I am not angry, however, that despite his dismal and depressing observations, his frighteningly accurate estimations of how many cultural upheavals have and will take place, how rapidly the population is outgrowing the planet and its’ resources, and what a bunch of dunderheads and dolts we have all been about dealing with it, he still holds out HOPE that we will harness both technology and common sense and save ourselves, the planet and the future. There. Now I don’t have to read the second book.
Life goes on in Texas.
I am discouraged about CA and Prop 8. That seems a step rearward (but then there is CT?). There is much talk about the role of blacks and Hispanics in that vote, and especially the role of churches and religion. Churches and their religious “leaders”, and I think especially in minority settings, hold entirely too much sway over how people think and act when it comes to socio-political decisions. Go see Bill Maher’s film, “Religulous”, then decide for yourself. We have our priorities all screwed up. Have you gone to the local park and visited your Ten Commandments monument, lately? You can still do that In Utah, at least this week. And would someone please tell me why the Mormon organization is tax exempt?
Hank “The Wall Street Airhead” Paulson got up and spoke two days ago (can’t ANYONE stop that man? Chickens, henhouses, foxes and all that) and the stock market sank (again) like the Titanic, two hours later. The next day the DOW came back some, then it was announced that even Wal-Mart was bracing for bad sales, that Best Buy had forecasted a cataclysmic sales fall off, and that the Republicans would probably block any attempt to “bail out” the Big Three in Detroit. The market dropped back another 400 points by noon on Friday, 11/14. It will be a long weekend, which will be made worse by W hosting the economic summit of the G-20. Here is a group of the world’s most unfit and untrained economists, gathered together to debate (politically) and decide (selfishly)about the most important, delicate and precipitous fate of the economic welfare of millions, and who will eat too much, make pompous pronouncements and accomplish mostly nothing. But the meeting will leave a gorgeous carbon footprint.
But first, before that showplace takes place, Paulson should be made to sit down, shut up and then leave the room as soon as possible, taking Bernanke with him( Bernanke is rumored to be about to slice an incredible small piece of interest pie into an even smaller slice. How do you do that? I did not know that interest has a half-life, like uranium). These men are both useless and moronic.
Second, George W. Bush has proven to be absolutely incapable of providing any presidential leadership, especially as a lame duck, either for this country or for the meeting of the G-20. Or 19, or 23 or whatever. Third, the Big Three (Wal-Mart will find its’ own way; it always does) should be left to find or lose themselves in the marketplace they created. The made this bed, let them sleep in it. And although I have resisted the urge to say this until now, the notion being put forth by some of our Congressional idiots, that the government should buy up the US auto industry and put a public overseer in charge, is about as close to being socialist/Communistic/Marxist economics as anything I have ever heard of. Real capitalistic measures would bring in the best business managers and efficiency experts and long range planners and market researchers that might be found, and either make the automotive behemoth ultimately work or kill it quickly… or maybe sell it to someone who knows how to build the right cars for the right market for the right price.Let’s see: you can take two from column A (that would be Toyota and Honda) and two from Column B (that would be BMW and VW) and then wait to see what dinner tastes like. Chrysler is already on life support, GM has been asleep at the switch for 20 years and Ford has finally realized that Henry has actually died. Old and inappropriate stuff dies all the time. It is called survival of the fittest, not prolongation of the useless. Being put into some taxpayer funded suspended animation won’t bring Detroit back to life. We have been holding a mirror up the mouth of the US auto industry for years, looking for the fog of breath, and all we get are SUV’s and carbon dioxide emissions.
And I still think Lindsey Graham is an illiterate buffoon, who has no business holding any public office and even less business being the chief advisor to John McCain. And T. Boone Pickens is the smoothest talker on the planet (did you see him on the Daily Show? Wow.) and after I am finished being all flushed in the face, I realize that there is no way in hell I’d let him date my daughter. Or yours. There is some kind of poker card up his Texas sleeve, and it has something to do with owning huge water rights in the continental US. And the only thing I know for sure about natural gas is that it can blow up in your face.
The RGA just met in (where the hell else?) FL, and chose not to elect Sarah Palin to any leadership position. Maybe they are smarter than I gave them credit for, earlier. The GOP does NOT need a re-birth, a rejuvenation or a re-creation: it needs a total re-invention, in order to join the new century. As long as they:
-continue to sing the praises of Ronald Reagan (the man is DEAD, for chrissakes);
-cower before Kissenger;
-listen to Lindsey Graham;
-dream about Goofy Gingrich (he is not, can not and will not be any Lazarus);
-drool over Mitt Moneybags;
-long for Looney Jindahl;
- stupidly support Ted Stevens;
-support sloppy vote counting in MN;
they will remain so far behind the curve of reality that they will never see political daylight again. Collectively, they seem to have no shame, no wisdom, not much honor (even among thieves) and no integrity (as in “holding things together”). All of this makes them only slightly worse than myopic, doddering older Democrats who still have FDR confused with Jesus.
I have seen the author and NYT columnist Thomas Friedman on television three times in the last 72 hours. And he has been quoted all over the web and in the Mostly Silly Media repeatedly, since then. I am angry that I have still not even finished reading his first book, The World is Flat, and now he already has another in the bookstores, Hot,Flat and Crowded. I am not angry, however, that despite his dismal and depressing observations, his frighteningly accurate estimations of how many cultural upheavals have and will take place, how rapidly the population is outgrowing the planet and its’ resources, and what a bunch of dunderheads and dolts we have all been about dealing with it, he still holds out HOPE that we will harness both technology and common sense and save ourselves, the planet and the future. There. Now I don’t have to read the second book.
Life goes on in Texas.
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Just Kicking It Around.
I got this from my friend, Tracey, tonight:
Intellectuals solve problems; Geniuses prevent them.
Intellectuals solve problems; Geniuses prevent them.
Albert Einstein.
On The Einstein Quote:
Intellectuals do frequently solve problems. Just as frequently they make them worse. Thinking can be over-done, like a good piece of meat on the fire too long, and turned to cinders in one's mouth. Just look at the profession of law. On the other hand you have Bill Maher.
Geniuses, while indeed having the ability to see far ahead and prevent problems, also would sometimes do well to look behind themselves first, to understand better what has preceded them, before they become a problem, themselves. This happens most often, when radical mental errancy is mistaken for genius and followed down a dangerous path. That would be the Marx Brothers as opposed to Karl Marx?
And then you have George W. Bush. Sort of spoils the whole discussion, doesn't it
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Happy Veterans Day
Let’s just start with this news item (it‘s non-partisan), and then we can move on:
“Raped in the military? You’ll have to pay for your own forensic exam”. www.alternet.org/waronairag/106307/. If this horror story doesn’t make you wonder where all of our collective brains and compassion have gone, nothing will. If you are still with me after this, then please read on to what I woke up thinking about in the middle of the night:
I had (once again) mistakenly assumed that since the elections were over, some aspects of American life would return to normal and some primarily political topics would fall by the wayside or be sidelined. Other than the obvious fact that the innumerable and daily requests for more and more money for Democrats have stopped filling my email box every day, not much has changed. There is ongoing discussion of Red State vs. Blue State, and now the introduction and discussion of the “purple” state. New in the past many months, and as vocal and demanding as ever, are the “progressives”, and there is newly energized talk about the survival of the neo-cons and the re-structuring of the Republican Party. Lots of the old dogs from before the elections are still nipping at our heels and barking, and the round of warnings and admonitions to President-elect Obama about who and whom NOT to forget or overlook gets louder every day. Even many Republicans and red-staters, who just days ago were calling Barack a terrorist, a Muslim Christian hater and unpatriotic, are heaping praises and recommendations upon him. I think they are all just looking for work.
By now, we all know where the red states are, who lives there and how they voted. These (mostly southern)states (and Wyoming?)and their residents are the ones who put up the boldest fight to elect the McCain /Palin camp and got run over like a stray dog trying to cross the San Diego freeway. Or perhaps more appropriately, while trying maybe to cross the Dan Ryan Expressway, in south Chicago? Representing them at the highest level (and still very vocal) were the main stream Republicans, their affiliate and constituent neo-cons and bankers and business leaders from the US military industrial complex we have all come to call “home”. One conservative friend of mine asked me, just this morning, to stop picking on the Republicans, saying they had suffered enough and needed time to lick their wounds. For a time, I almost considered that reprieve, but after re-thinking, I suppose some tongue-lashing is still in order. But I have a few choice words for everyone else, as well.
The Republicans have continually held up a collection of values and symbols that are exactly the opposite of what America needs right now. We need relief for the middle class, they want to lower taxes on the rich. We want to elevate common values and decent standards of living for the many, they want to raise executive pay. We now know that trickle down doesn’t trickle down, so stop the crap and get real.
Outwardly, you can begin seeing this attitude in Sarah Palin, in her flamboyant and inflammatory remarks on the campaign trail and her “wardrobe” escapades. (www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/27657223#27657223) She is an outright insult to the intelligence of the American people. Her very persona of ignorance and arrogance embodied that backward stance. Then there was the Straight Talk Express (which never was), being repeatedly told we were “My Friends” (which we were not), and the fear tactics (Muslims, terrorism, racism) used just prior to the election, which were intended to, among other things, disguise and cover over the true nature of the economic collapse and what it might mean to Americans (did you ever have trouble getting cash from your ATM? I didn’t). By all published accounts, the Bush administration, the treasury Department’ the FDIC, et.al. could have stopped the foreclosure disaster almost before it began, and they all did nothing until Wall Street went up in flames. When Henry Paulson’s’ buddies began to fry, he began to cry and the right wing wasted no time, energy or media coverage to get $700+B out for rescue purposes, ASAP. We had to save the banks the brokers and their yachts and summer homes, but the middle class could “go fish”. The MSM (the Mostly Silly Media) sang all the right songs, trumpeted the clarion call and the Congress caved in like a pile of popsicle sticks in a windstorm. The mere fact that Paulson had the unmitigated gall to offer up a bail-out (rescue)scenario that was only two pages long, should tell us all something about the contempt that this administration has for the general public.
There is nothing “new” about the neo-cons I mentioned, except perhaps their clothes ( Hi, Sarah…someone asked if in fact a private donor paid for those "duds", and if it was in fact more than the $2300.00 limit on political contributions allowed by law, then was the donation to the RNC illegal? Oops), and their new hairdos (see Ms. Pfotenauer; boy will I be glad not to see or hear her again: she was and is the epitome of inauthenticity. I thought she would never go away. This is not to forget, however, John Edward’s $200.00 haircuts. And both Sarah and John have a new baby. How cute). And then there is both the clothing AND the hair when it comes to Candy McCain (where’s my free beer?), and McCain’s expensive shoes and all of the makeup artists. McCain himself was held up as righteous man of deep convictions, who then took borderline stances on most anything moral throughout the campaign, lied about suspending his unsuspended campaign, stiffed David Letterman with a rouse and has been variously described as a rambunctious, temper-tantrum throwing, plane-crashing, cynical bigot who used to whore around and treats his wife and family badly, in all of his seven homes… when most Americans were having trouble staying in just one. But no, I am not forgetting the electric bill at Al Gore’s mansion or the bill for jet fuel to carry Obama and Biden to undisclosed locations (to meet with Dick Cheney?). Both campaigns have left behind one helluva carbon footprint.
The Dems are faring better in some of these areas: aside from the nauseating fact that the men have almost all pioneered the now nearly exclusive use of “periwinkle” colored ties (Rachel Maddow coined that one; they look stupid), their clothing has been much more subdued and the hair styles much less flamboyant. In fact, until the acceptance speech night, Barack’s suits looked almost shabby and too dark to inspire hope and change. But his newest spokesperson, Stephanie Cutter, has a no-nonsense hairdo that speaks volumes about simplicity and elegance. And when Tom Brokaw took her on, she used only simple, two-dollar words and BS’d about nothing. I hope Pfotenauer and Fiorina were listening.
But Dems are gloating and shedding entirely too many crocodile tears of joy. Democrats seem to have made a profession out of bad-mouthing themselves and their accomplishments and personifying misery and self-inflicted bad luck. ”Poor me. I’m so miserable. I am a Democrat.” I am much more impressed with the Rev. Wright’s expressions of indignity than I am with photos of Jesse Jackson crying in Grant Park. If anyone should be yelling God Damn”, it ought to be Jesse: “God damn, man, It’s about freakin’ time!” And now, every left-handed pundit, Democratic “advisor” and commentator cannot wait to advise Barack Obama on “what he ought to do” to fulfill his promises and obligations to the grateful and sobbing Democratic electorate. There may be more blue states now, and more blue pockets in red environs, but many dems still lack the backbone to stand up and take charge instead of whimpering. You have the bandstand now, boys, let’s make some music!
But the group of Democratic cousins that perplex me the most are the “progressives”. They claim they are aggressive Democrats, and if you want to know how they think, how they talk and what they believe in and hope for, just go read OpEdNews.com. They may be “progressive”, but they are Libertarian wannabes, nihilistic, pessimistic and unknowing pseudo Nietzsche devotees. They believe, as do many of their red counterparts, that they are more correct than you are, and advocate measures that will “hurt you more than it hurts me”, but that’s OK because “I know better”. They are America’s new cynics: they “understand the cost of everything and the value of nothing” (Oscar Wilde?)They have an identity crisis and maybe have a thing about their mothers. I think they are the group that turns red and blue states purple (the color of rage?) because they flat out make everybody mad, as we say here in Texas. Their strength lies in their ability to thoroughly cloud an issue with effusive rhetoric, all of which attempts to persuade you that their position is the only real alternative. Their side on an issue is usually just as incendiary as that of a white, racist fundamentalist preacher in Appalachia, but no one wants to condemn them, because they are “men sent from God”. The difference is that progressives just think they are. If you think religious proselytizers are tough, try arguing with a progressive.
Now, having said all of that, as the song lyrics go, “Here are a few of my favorite things”…at least for today:
AIG: On top of the first mammoth bail-out package they received, and on top of the scandal that erupted right afterwards, about their big executive party that cost almost a million dollars, and on top of an additional $40B the Fed gave them a day or two ago, MSNCBC-TV reported this morning that AIG threw another executive party at a resort hotel in AZ, ordering the hotel not to display any signage or evidence that AIG and its staff were even there. Your tax dollars at work. Another close friend has suggested it is time to have some of these execs walk the plank. I cannot disagree. I just want the waters infested with sharks when they jump. Note: This story never made it to the msbnmc.com web site and was mysteriously pulled from msnbc-tv by mid-morning. However, Keith Olberman brought it back to life on "Countdown" that same evening. Olberman suggested that the additional $40B went to pay for the hors d'oerves for this party. Somebody get the plank.
The Fed will not disclose the recipients of $2T in bailout funds. Read it yourself: www.alternet.org/blogs/peek/106443. Yes, the “T” stands for “trillion”. That’s YOUR trillion, by the way.
The Big Three (or at least two of them) are anxiously awaiting $25-30B in bailout finds to save them from oblivion. In the first place, the US auto industry has had a century to learn how to become a successful and profitable venture. They have failed repeatedly and chosen short-term gains and quick profits from the sale of sub-standard (by modern world comparisions) automotive products. Rescuing this ship may be throwing good money after bad. There are several other corporations (at least 12, I read today) that employ just as many people as GM and they are not asking for handouts (It will be truly ironic if the one corporation that emerges unscathed is Wal-Mart, China’s single largest trading partner)... Let Toyota buy GM, it will not sink entirely then and Toyota knows how to do this stuff and do it right. There are fear tactics at work here, as well, and if we fall for it all, we will get what we deserve and waste another trillion dollars. The UAW should change its name to “Unless we All Work” and stop living off of profits from Chevrolets that break down on the way to work.
China just anounced a national bail-out plan, working from the bottom up, building bridges, roads, dams and other infrastucture and creating jobs and cash flow (msnbc.com). If the Chinese are so smart, what is our problem? (Sorry, I forgot: part of the problem is that the Chinese have most of our money.) Late note:It was suggested in a comment on OpEdNews today that someone ask the Chinese delegates coming to the upcoming world economic summit just how they figured out how to do this. The Bush administration is rejecting the idea.
Bush and Obama discussed bailing out the Big Three yesterday. But Bush wants to tie the action to a NAFTA-style trade agreement with Columbia. Jeezuss, Mary and Josephus, can’t we just do one damn thing at a time? Does everything that even hints of something positive have to be some sort of covoluted, self-aggrandizing nightmare? And what kind of position of strength does Bush think he is negotiating from? He is crazier, more stupid and more oblivious to real life than I thought he was. But Dana Perino says there is “no quid pro quo"? Please send her away. Let her hook up with Pfotenauer.
MSNBC.com: “Banks being urged to step up lending, curb exec pay”. I guess I forgot that we gave 24 banks $124B so they could sit on it, collect interest and make sure their honchos managed to pay their mortgages. Silly me. This is a holiday: are you happier, yet?
Fannie and Freddie have announced that they will begin efforts to halt foreclosures.(MSNBS.COM) Excuse me, but this is Nov 10. Where the hell have you guys been? Partying with AIG?
“Sparring starts as Repubs ponder future”. msnbc.msn.com/id/27654019/. I think they should have started thinking about that well before the election, and one story floating around is that Newt Gingrich will play the role of Lazarus in this new movie, rising from the dead of the New England winter and then on to save the party. I think I mentioned inappropriate symbols up above, somewhere?
OpEdNews.com is today publishing a poll, asking people about discussions they may have had or overheard about any possible attempted assassination of Barack Obama. This is the group/web site that proclaims itself as the progressive voice of America? They should just advertise for henchmen and provide the weapons. They could write speeches for Palin. Note: as of late afternoon on the day I posted this, enough people (including myself) had called in to protest this disgusting stunt, that the article disppeared from the web site.
Despite the level-headed commentaries and observations on the economy by the likes of Robert Reich, Paul Krugman, Noam Chomsky and others, the bloody neo-cons, The Fed, Henry “Hank” Paulson, AIG and a few greed oriented Democrats (they want to welcome Lieberman back into the fold? Are they kidding?) are still, even after an election that promised hope, change and salvation for the middle class, not only want to rape America, but force it have the baby (probably sextuplets)and do it with no pre-natal care, no post-natal care nor health care coverage for the mother or the babies.
As I write this, at around 3:00 EST, the DOW is down about 175, after closing yesterday down a bit less than 100. The headline says this is because of consumer spending worries and anxiety about the pending bail-out of Detroit. Understandable: consumers have
nothing to spend and Detroit is bankrupt of vision, ideas, strategies and cash. And George W. Bush just said, on the deck of an aging aircraft carrier, in the waters off the isle of Manhattan, that “Veterans inspired me”. Well, whoop-tee-do for you (and Cheney), who never served a day.
You are leaving soon, right George? Don’t let the door hit you in the ass, on the way out.
And Happy Veterans Day.
“Raped in the military? You’ll have to pay for your own forensic exam”. www.alternet.org/waronairag/106307/. If this horror story doesn’t make you wonder where all of our collective brains and compassion have gone, nothing will. If you are still with me after this, then please read on to what I woke up thinking about in the middle of the night:
I had (once again) mistakenly assumed that since the elections were over, some aspects of American life would return to normal and some primarily political topics would fall by the wayside or be sidelined. Other than the obvious fact that the innumerable and daily requests for more and more money for Democrats have stopped filling my email box every day, not much has changed. There is ongoing discussion of Red State vs. Blue State, and now the introduction and discussion of the “purple” state. New in the past many months, and as vocal and demanding as ever, are the “progressives”, and there is newly energized talk about the survival of the neo-cons and the re-structuring of the Republican Party. Lots of the old dogs from before the elections are still nipping at our heels and barking, and the round of warnings and admonitions to President-elect Obama about who and whom NOT to forget or overlook gets louder every day. Even many Republicans and red-staters, who just days ago were calling Barack a terrorist, a Muslim Christian hater and unpatriotic, are heaping praises and recommendations upon him. I think they are all just looking for work.
By now, we all know where the red states are, who lives there and how they voted. These (mostly southern)states (and Wyoming?)and their residents are the ones who put up the boldest fight to elect the McCain /Palin camp and got run over like a stray dog trying to cross the San Diego freeway. Or perhaps more appropriately, while trying maybe to cross the Dan Ryan Expressway, in south Chicago? Representing them at the highest level (and still very vocal) were the main stream Republicans, their affiliate and constituent neo-cons and bankers and business leaders from the US military industrial complex we have all come to call “home”. One conservative friend of mine asked me, just this morning, to stop picking on the Republicans, saying they had suffered enough and needed time to lick their wounds. For a time, I almost considered that reprieve, but after re-thinking, I suppose some tongue-lashing is still in order. But I have a few choice words for everyone else, as well.
The Republicans have continually held up a collection of values and symbols that are exactly the opposite of what America needs right now. We need relief for the middle class, they want to lower taxes on the rich. We want to elevate common values and decent standards of living for the many, they want to raise executive pay. We now know that trickle down doesn’t trickle down, so stop the crap and get real.
Outwardly, you can begin seeing this attitude in Sarah Palin, in her flamboyant and inflammatory remarks on the campaign trail and her “wardrobe” escapades. (www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/27657223#27657223) She is an outright insult to the intelligence of the American people. Her very persona of ignorance and arrogance embodied that backward stance. Then there was the Straight Talk Express (which never was), being repeatedly told we were “My Friends” (which we were not), and the fear tactics (Muslims, terrorism, racism) used just prior to the election, which were intended to, among other things, disguise and cover over the true nature of the economic collapse and what it might mean to Americans (did you ever have trouble getting cash from your ATM? I didn’t). By all published accounts, the Bush administration, the treasury Department’ the FDIC, et.al. could have stopped the foreclosure disaster almost before it began, and they all did nothing until Wall Street went up in flames. When Henry Paulson’s’ buddies began to fry, he began to cry and the right wing wasted no time, energy or media coverage to get $700+B out for rescue purposes, ASAP. We had to save the banks the brokers and their yachts and summer homes, but the middle class could “go fish”. The MSM (the Mostly Silly Media) sang all the right songs, trumpeted the clarion call and the Congress caved in like a pile of popsicle sticks in a windstorm. The mere fact that Paulson had the unmitigated gall to offer up a bail-out (rescue)scenario that was only two pages long, should tell us all something about the contempt that this administration has for the general public.
There is nothing “new” about the neo-cons I mentioned, except perhaps their clothes ( Hi, Sarah…someone asked if in fact a private donor paid for those "duds", and if it was in fact more than the $2300.00 limit on political contributions allowed by law, then was the donation to the RNC illegal? Oops), and their new hairdos (see Ms. Pfotenauer; boy will I be glad not to see or hear her again: she was and is the epitome of inauthenticity. I thought she would never go away. This is not to forget, however, John Edward’s $200.00 haircuts. And both Sarah and John have a new baby. How cute). And then there is both the clothing AND the hair when it comes to Candy McCain (where’s my free beer?), and McCain’s expensive shoes and all of the makeup artists. McCain himself was held up as righteous man of deep convictions, who then took borderline stances on most anything moral throughout the campaign, lied about suspending his unsuspended campaign, stiffed David Letterman with a rouse and has been variously described as a rambunctious, temper-tantrum throwing, plane-crashing, cynical bigot who used to whore around and treats his wife and family badly, in all of his seven homes… when most Americans were having trouble staying in just one. But no, I am not forgetting the electric bill at Al Gore’s mansion or the bill for jet fuel to carry Obama and Biden to undisclosed locations (to meet with Dick Cheney?). Both campaigns have left behind one helluva carbon footprint.
The Dems are faring better in some of these areas: aside from the nauseating fact that the men have almost all pioneered the now nearly exclusive use of “periwinkle” colored ties (Rachel Maddow coined that one; they look stupid), their clothing has been much more subdued and the hair styles much less flamboyant. In fact, until the acceptance speech night, Barack’s suits looked almost shabby and too dark to inspire hope and change. But his newest spokesperson, Stephanie Cutter, has a no-nonsense hairdo that speaks volumes about simplicity and elegance. And when Tom Brokaw took her on, she used only simple, two-dollar words and BS’d about nothing. I hope Pfotenauer and Fiorina were listening.
But Dems are gloating and shedding entirely too many crocodile tears of joy. Democrats seem to have made a profession out of bad-mouthing themselves and their accomplishments and personifying misery and self-inflicted bad luck. ”Poor me. I’m so miserable. I am a Democrat.” I am much more impressed with the Rev. Wright’s expressions of indignity than I am with photos of Jesse Jackson crying in Grant Park. If anyone should be yelling God Damn”, it ought to be Jesse: “God damn, man, It’s about freakin’ time!” And now, every left-handed pundit, Democratic “advisor” and commentator cannot wait to advise Barack Obama on “what he ought to do” to fulfill his promises and obligations to the grateful and sobbing Democratic electorate. There may be more blue states now, and more blue pockets in red environs, but many dems still lack the backbone to stand up and take charge instead of whimpering. You have the bandstand now, boys, let’s make some music!
But the group of Democratic cousins that perplex me the most are the “progressives”. They claim they are aggressive Democrats, and if you want to know how they think, how they talk and what they believe in and hope for, just go read OpEdNews.com. They may be “progressive”, but they are Libertarian wannabes, nihilistic, pessimistic and unknowing pseudo Nietzsche devotees. They believe, as do many of their red counterparts, that they are more correct than you are, and advocate measures that will “hurt you more than it hurts me”, but that’s OK because “I know better”. They are America’s new cynics: they “understand the cost of everything and the value of nothing” (Oscar Wilde?)They have an identity crisis and maybe have a thing about their mothers. I think they are the group that turns red and blue states purple (the color of rage?) because they flat out make everybody mad, as we say here in Texas. Their strength lies in their ability to thoroughly cloud an issue with effusive rhetoric, all of which attempts to persuade you that their position is the only real alternative. Their side on an issue is usually just as incendiary as that of a white, racist fundamentalist preacher in Appalachia, but no one wants to condemn them, because they are “men sent from God”. The difference is that progressives just think they are. If you think religious proselytizers are tough, try arguing with a progressive.
Now, having said all of that, as the song lyrics go, “Here are a few of my favorite things”…at least for today:
AIG: On top of the first mammoth bail-out package they received, and on top of the scandal that erupted right afterwards, about their big executive party that cost almost a million dollars, and on top of an additional $40B the Fed gave them a day or two ago, MSNCBC-TV reported this morning that AIG threw another executive party at a resort hotel in AZ, ordering the hotel not to display any signage or evidence that AIG and its staff were even there. Your tax dollars at work. Another close friend has suggested it is time to have some of these execs walk the plank. I cannot disagree. I just want the waters infested with sharks when they jump. Note: This story never made it to the msbnmc.com web site and was mysteriously pulled from msnbc-tv by mid-morning. However, Keith Olberman brought it back to life on "Countdown" that same evening. Olberman suggested that the additional $40B went to pay for the hors d'oerves for this party. Somebody get the plank.
The Fed will not disclose the recipients of $2T in bailout funds. Read it yourself: www.alternet.org/blogs/peek/106443. Yes, the “T” stands for “trillion”. That’s YOUR trillion, by the way.
The Big Three (or at least two of them) are anxiously awaiting $25-30B in bailout finds to save them from oblivion. In the first place, the US auto industry has had a century to learn how to become a successful and profitable venture. They have failed repeatedly and chosen short-term gains and quick profits from the sale of sub-standard (by modern world comparisions) automotive products. Rescuing this ship may be throwing good money after bad. There are several other corporations (at least 12, I read today) that employ just as many people as GM and they are not asking for handouts (It will be truly ironic if the one corporation that emerges unscathed is Wal-Mart, China’s single largest trading partner)... Let Toyota buy GM, it will not sink entirely then and Toyota knows how to do this stuff and do it right. There are fear tactics at work here, as well, and if we fall for it all, we will get what we deserve and waste another trillion dollars. The UAW should change its name to “Unless we All Work” and stop living off of profits from Chevrolets that break down on the way to work.
China just anounced a national bail-out plan, working from the bottom up, building bridges, roads, dams and other infrastucture and creating jobs and cash flow (msnbc.com). If the Chinese are so smart, what is our problem? (Sorry, I forgot: part of the problem is that the Chinese have most of our money.) Late note:It was suggested in a comment on OpEdNews today that someone ask the Chinese delegates coming to the upcoming world economic summit just how they figured out how to do this. The Bush administration is rejecting the idea.
Bush and Obama discussed bailing out the Big Three yesterday. But Bush wants to tie the action to a NAFTA-style trade agreement with Columbia. Jeezuss, Mary and Josephus, can’t we just do one damn thing at a time? Does everything that even hints of something positive have to be some sort of covoluted, self-aggrandizing nightmare? And what kind of position of strength does Bush think he is negotiating from? He is crazier, more stupid and more oblivious to real life than I thought he was. But Dana Perino says there is “no quid pro quo"? Please send her away. Let her hook up with Pfotenauer.
MSNBC.com: “Banks being urged to step up lending, curb exec pay”. I guess I forgot that we gave 24 banks $124B so they could sit on it, collect interest and make sure their honchos managed to pay their mortgages. Silly me. This is a holiday: are you happier, yet?
Fannie and Freddie have announced that they will begin efforts to halt foreclosures.(MSNBS.COM) Excuse me, but this is Nov 10. Where the hell have you guys been? Partying with AIG?
“Sparring starts as Repubs ponder future”. msnbc.msn.com/id/27654019/. I think they should have started thinking about that well before the election, and one story floating around is that Newt Gingrich will play the role of Lazarus in this new movie, rising from the dead of the New England winter and then on to save the party. I think I mentioned inappropriate symbols up above, somewhere?
OpEdNews.com is today publishing a poll, asking people about discussions they may have had or overheard about any possible attempted assassination of Barack Obama. This is the group/web site that proclaims itself as the progressive voice of America? They should just advertise for henchmen and provide the weapons. They could write speeches for Palin. Note: as of late afternoon on the day I posted this, enough people (including myself) had called in to protest this disgusting stunt, that the article disppeared from the web site.
Despite the level-headed commentaries and observations on the economy by the likes of Robert Reich, Paul Krugman, Noam Chomsky and others, the bloody neo-cons, The Fed, Henry “Hank” Paulson, AIG and a few greed oriented Democrats (they want to welcome Lieberman back into the fold? Are they kidding?) are still, even after an election that promised hope, change and salvation for the middle class, not only want to rape America, but force it have the baby (probably sextuplets)and do it with no pre-natal care, no post-natal care nor health care coverage for the mother or the babies.
As I write this, at around 3:00 EST, the DOW is down about 175, after closing yesterday down a bit less than 100. The headline says this is because of consumer spending worries and anxiety about the pending bail-out of Detroit. Understandable: consumers have
nothing to spend and Detroit is bankrupt of vision, ideas, strategies and cash. And George W. Bush just said, on the deck of an aging aircraft carrier, in the waters off the isle of Manhattan, that “Veterans inspired me”. Well, whoop-tee-do for you (and Cheney), who never served a day.
You are leaving soon, right George? Don’t let the door hit you in the ass, on the way out.
And Happy Veterans Day.
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