Monday, September 29, 2008

Humpty Dumpty 2.0

Something to think about ... what if the world economy is so far gone that this bailout wouldn't have worked to begin with? When ponzi schemes unravel a little cash infusion may slow down the scams collapse long enough for a few important people to get their money out, but it won't change the death spiral of the unravelling process.

When Bernanke rushed to pump hundreds of billions of dollars into global liquidity this morning before the vote even occurred it pulls back the veil on the nature of the credit collapse ... it is in a state of perpetual motion downwards. This bailout bill may have stalled the inevitable until after the election, but the outcome for the ponzi world economy can be summed up thus ...

Humpty Dumpty sat on a Wall
Humpty Dumpty had a Great Fall
All the King's Horses and All the King's Men
Couldn't put Humpty together again.

The Congress should sit on its hands and wait for when Obama is President and they have the chance to vote for FDR's New Deal 2.0

Sunday, September 28, 2008

$700B rescue plan finalized; House to vote Monday


Let's see when this $700 billion bailout bill passes whether or not we find ourselves in the same situation again next month. There is a lot of assumption associated with this bill. like



- We allow the banks to dump the bad securities, and they will, in turn use the liquidity to reinvigorate lending.-



Why is that true? What if the financial institutions use these funds to cover undisclosed areas of internal liquidity problems and don't use it to lend? Is there anything in the bill that mandates the Banks lending if they get relief? If not, then the $700 billion dollars will evaporate as quickly into the credit market sink hole as the $200 billion that was pumped into the credit market the week AIG was bailed out.



I don't think Congress knows the whole story yet and the result of this $700 billion infusion might be nothing but a rude awakening and more of the same.



Think in terms of this ... for nine years Credit Default Swaps have built, unregulated, to 68 trillion dollars. Every major financial institution is heavily leveraged in this CDS kited float cloud, if this is the root area of credit collapse, all bets are off any successful bailout implementation. I hope Credit Default Swaps are not the root cause if what we are seeing, but time will tell.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Saturday, September 27, 2008

S.E.C. Chairman: Oversight Failures Fueled Collapse


If Credit Default Swaps aren't addressed even $10 trillion dollars of Taxpayer money won't correct the underlying economic problem. CDS is a runaway freight train of liquified natural gas barreling down the tracks toward America's Minivan, stalled on the railroad crossing of history.
About Wall Street Crisis
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Ringside

I would argue that to a lot of America, McCain lost, and it had nothing to do with a word he said. The visual was devastating and that is not a superficial point. What you had on stage was an old man and a young man. Not the same as Reagan versus Mondale, where they were both seen as elders to start with.



Most Americans don't know a thing about the issues, except for they bore them. Ask yourself this, Nora, do we use old men to sell products in the US? Not even Viagra. Anyone on Madison Avenue will tell you that youth sells, we have millions of dollars of examples of that assumption crossing our visual path everyday.



I think we will see a pattern emerge where every time McCain appears on stage next to Obama he will lose support, regardless of the salient points of the debate. Humans think in terms of archetypes, and Americans see themselves as youthful, not old ... that will play a part in the outcome of this race.



Remember, there was a reason that Reagan inserted a joke about his age into the debate with Mondale, and McCain isn't likely to joke the issue off with the same finesse.
About Presidential Debates
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Saturday, September 20, 2008

McCain Claimed "Privatization" Was Necessary For Social Security


"You kids! ... you damn kids and your filthy mutt! Dammit, I know I don't know what I'm saying, and you know I don't know what I'm saying, so why push me? You're pushing me! My FRIENDS, you need to vote for me and otherwise SHUTUP!!! Who do you think I think I am, anyway!?! Stop agitating me and remember to vote for me on November 4th! DAMMIT!!!!"
About John McCain
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Time to Take a Second Look at Our "Free Trade" Agreements


Free Trade only works if everyone is on the same page with labor and environmental rights and the current Global paradigm means little more than resource rape, worker exploitation, and environmental degradation.



WTO is floundering, as well it should, for it is being revealed to be the same type of poison pill as the IMF and the World Bank. It's a neocolonial trojan horse and many nations on earth would rather retain the subtle, remarkable qualities of their cultures rather than trashing it all to be an economic resource for an ill designed International Economic Philosophy that will overheat and collapse within 50 years anyway.



China and India are correct to have their protectionism and tariffs, it makes their societies thriving and robust, unlike the United States.



I have nothing against the people of the world, but my loyalty is to the American people. They deserve jobs, they deserve savings, they deserve to be living on sound wages not credit cards.



To bring health and jobs back to the United States economy we need to dump these foolish trade policies, reinstate tariffs against all goods and services provided from abroad, even by foreign operations of American companies, and worry less about keeping a small ultra wealthy subset of the American people happy at the expense of the rest of us.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Monday, September 15, 2008

Denial is Not An Economic Recovery Plan


Speaker Pelosi ... I feel the Democrats ( that would be, we, the Opposition) need to hammer two things home.



First, that the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act was a miserable piece of legislation that has critically undermined the US Economy and needs to be repealed and the Glass-Steagall Act reinstated until such time, as a responsible replacement is arrived at. In addition, all of the companies that have benefited from the GLBA and consolidated be broken up. Sanity before Profit; Stability before Market Fantasy.



Second, it must be declared that the Chicago School of Economics (Milton Friedman) has proven a failure and must be replaced with the Keynesian approach of balanced economy which has proven successful for the US in the past. It is the duty of the US Government to ensure a stable economy for all Americans, and not engage in farcical perpetual wealth schemes that are as self defeating for the United States as notions of Social Darwinism.



These are tough times that require spine, not hedging ... SPEAK OUT! The Dems and Obama need to declare Friedman a farce in order to get the economy back on track. Resurrect Keynes Speaker Pelosi!!!
About Economy
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Racism Hurts Obama In Michigan


"ST. PAUL " The "Bubba vote" and underlying racism will hurt Democrat Barack Obama in key battleground states such as Ohio and Pennsylvania, former House majority leader Dick Armey said Wednesday.

"The Bubba vote is there, and it's very real, and it is everywhere," Armey told USA TODAY and Gannett News Service. "There's an awful lot of people in America, bless their heart, who simply are not emotionally prepared to vote for a black man."



The headline I would like to see in foreign newspapers is this:



"Racist Vote Key to McCain Win"



I say foreign newspapers, because the American Press would never make such an honest statement and even though the American people at large care little about the US image abroad the corporate leaders and members of the ruling class would be highly disconcerted to have such domestic dirty linen aired abroad after all the time and energy they have put into cultivating America's "Good Guy' and yes "Progressive" image.



Some important people would find such a foreign headline devastating.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Sunday, September 14, 2008

Greenspan: This Is The Worst Economy I've Ever Seen


Milton Friedman and his economic theories are a fraud, and his followers, who anointed him as their Jim Jones or David Koresh, have cost the United States the international economic leadership role it has enjoyed since the end of WWII.



We should have stuck with Keynes:



"Keynesian economics (pronounced /ˈkeɪnzi�"n/, also Keynesianism and Keynesian Theory, is an economic theory based on the ideas of twentieth-century British economist John Maynard Keynes. The state, according to Keynesian economics, can help maintain economic growth and stability in a mixed economy, in which both the public and private sectors play important roles. Keynesian economics seeks to provide solutions to what some consider failures of laissez-faire economic liberalism, which advocates that markets and the private sector operate best without state intervention. The theories forming the basis of Keynesian economics were first presented in The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money, published in 1936."



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keynesian
About Federal Reserve
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Thursday, September 11, 2008

Olbermann Slams Republicans For Exploiting 9/11 In Special Comment


I wonder what MSNBC management is trying to prove by having Olbermann's show replaced in the 11pm PDT time slot tonight with Brokaw's blow by blow replay of the September 11th atrocities? Is this rubbing Keith's nose in it for his Special Comment last night?



Just a clue to MSNBC management ... there is nothing NEW to be learned from watching those poor people die in slow motion all over again ... it isn't respectful ... it is simply gratuitous.



Unless Brokaw and MSNBC management are trying to inspire the same feeling of horrified awe one experiences when seeing the Hindenburg Disaster ... in which case they are beneath contempt, like the Republicans, for what they pulled at their Convention.



Here's a hint, if you are actually running a news organization, why not point out that in the seven years since the 9/11 murders the victims have yet to receive justice instead of punishing us and Keith by giving Bin Laden's a victory lap.
About MSNBC
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Palin's Dangerous Saber Rattling on Russia


Mr Goldenberg, if you tilt your head in the direction of Washington DC you may hear a distant, muffled, moan. No, it isn't a moose mating call ... it is dozens of State Department officials dry heaving into their waste baskets.



You have to hand it to Governor Palin, her first time without training wheels she accomplished so much! The operative word in her comment about defending Georgia is key ... "IF" ... IF Georgia were to be a member of NATO we might have to go to war with Russia to defend them ... that could go for Ukraine too ... IF Ukraine were a member of NATO ... etc, etc,etc.



Maybe someone should have mentioned to Sarah that there are other members of NATO besides the US, and they live a whole lot closer to Russia than Alaska is. My guess is the reason that Georgia and Ukraine haven't been embraced by NATO relates to their concern of being drawn into a war with Russia over the former Soviet Satellites. But Sarah, reassured them ... "SURE NATO will go to war against Russia to defend Georgia! yup! yup! yup!"



My guess is now the other NATO members will table discussion of Georgia, and Ukraine joining pending the outcome of ther US elections ... I mean NATO has had so much fun in Afghanistan, war with Russia would just be the cherry on top!



Sarah you sure put the puck in the net this time! Yup! Yup! Yup!
About Sarah Palin
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Olbermann Slams Republicans For Exploiting 9/11 In Special Comment

An excellent Special Comment, but I never interpreted the 9/11 video as anything but the GOP paying homage to the single event that saved the Bush Presidency and provided all those wonderful opportunities for the NeoCons, Friedmanites, and New World Order fanatics for the past eight years.
About MSNBC
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

I'm Officially Shutting Down This 'Lipstick On A Pig' Discussion


As idiotic as this "Lips on a Pig" nonsense is, I recall another incident that was equally absurd.



When Bob Dole was running for President there was a public event he was was due to appear at that was being covered by CNN. Candy Crowley was the reporter and she was having a back and forth lead in to Dole showing up with the CNN Anchor. Suddenly there is a roar of the crowd behind Candy when Candidate Dole arrived and she interrupted her discourse with the anchor to say ...



"Speak of the devil ... here he is!"



A bit of Dole's speech was aired and then Candy reappeared on the screen, looking rather dour, and at this point she APOLOGIZED for using "Speak of the devil" in reference to Senator Dole.



It was one of the stupidest acts of political correctness I have ever seen,
About Sarah Palin
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Monday, September 08, 2008

Mavericks?

If America puts this dynamic duo in the White House it deserves its misery.

Barack Obama is the Nominee -- Why are Black People Still So Mad?



Devastating. To say that this is an unacceptable trend is a grave understatement. I feel ashamed for the SFPD, and I also see a far greater problem because this is obviously not unique to San Francisco.



Anyone in the United States who thinks that we can successfully compete in the world while at civil war with ourselves is fooling themselves. If we are the UNITED States of America we have to be a UNITED people. We need to aggressively address racial profiling and the habit of divesting minority groups of their rights. In a World of mainly racially, culturally, and religiously homogeneous competitors America's diversity can either be its greatest strength or its Achilles Heel.



America HAS to evolve beyond this oppressive tendency for, beyond its criminal unfairness, it only undermines the Nation's future. Let's not kid ourselves.
About Civil Rights
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Saturday, September 06, 2008

Campaigns Begin Dash To Election


The next 60 days will be possibly the ugliest campaign for the Presidency we have ever experienced as Americans. The Rove machine is going to throw everything it has at Obama/Biden. Every Poll and negative MSM story that comes out about Obama/Biden needs to be vetted thoroughly and viewed as propaganda until proved otherwise. We, supporters of Obama, have to give worse than we get in order to win this battle, and we CANNOT SHRINK from adversity ... we must Win!



Something to keep in the back of your minds as well, I have a sense that the viciousness we will be seeing from the McCain/Bush camp derives from the Bush Administration not getting assurances that an Obama Administration would forgo criminal investigations of them, as Clinton agreed to in the case of Bush 41. Biden has alluded to the possibility of Bush Administration investigations and that makes it all the more crucial for the Republicans for McCain to win, whether they like him or not.



Folks, this election will be brutal like the fight for Iwo Jima and only one side will prevail and hoist the flag on Mount Suribachi.



We can't afford to lose and neither can they ... so to Fight is to Win. WE MUST FIGHT!!!
About John McCain
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Friday, September 05, 2008

No Questions: Palin Won't Talk To Press




Of course no questions ... she is only model, not an actual candidate. Her requirement is to look good in ads, PERIOD.



I expect the McCain campaign to keep her under wraps for the next two months. And I will tell you exactly the argument to be used:



'As everyone understands Sarah has a special needs infant and a daughter whose wedding needs to be planned, certainly no reasonable person would begrudge her that.'



... and if the McCain campaign is pressed on her lack of availability the response will be:



'Clearly the liberal media is picking on Sarah, our fine VP candidate, because she is a responsible mother ... For SHAME!'



This Republican miscreants telegraph their political perversions.
About Sarah Palin
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Palin's Lawyer Works To Undermine Trooper Scandal


The problem for Palin is she was involved directly in this attempt to fire her estranged brother-in-law and the intimidation, and ultimate removal of the Alaska State Security Official who stood in her way. Also, Palin has evidently left a trail of emails documenting her actions and has made so many political enemies in Alaska through her governing methods, at both the local and state level, that there are political and personal adversaries that would love to expose her shortcomings and abuses to the courts or even the media.



There are good lawyers that can argue a blue sky is actually puce, to be sure, and with as sloppy as Palin has comported herself in this matter that is exactly what she will need.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Wednesday, September 03, 2008

Huckabee Slags Media In Off-Script Remarks


You know Jason, I was thinking, if things don't pan out for Palin and the VP spot and Fox News gets tired of Huckabee's HeeHaw routine ... I can see a fast food franchise in their future!



What with Palin's recipe for Moose and Huckabee's for Squirrel ... they could have an amazing restaurant ...



Rocky and Bullwinkle's
About John McCain
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Former POW says McCain is "not cut out to be President"


Life isn't a cartoon so we shouldn't allow the spin on John McCain to go unverified. Here is the first hand account of a fellow POW that shouldn't be ignored.

McCain More Likely to Drop Palin, Bookmakers Say

I doubt the Republicans intend on dumping Caribou Barbie (as Stephanie Miller calls her) ... the GOP is counting on the stupidity of the American public to win the day for them as it has for the last 28 years.
About Sarah Palin
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost