Shock Ahead!

I don’t know enough to know, but weirdly, I found myself impressed by NPR’s Newt Gingrich interview–did I really just type that?–and it left me wondering a lot about this whole thing. Paulson, currently on loan to the Bush Administration from Goldman Sachs (that would be two years in Government, and thirty-two years at Goldman Sachs) would be bailing out mostly Morgan Stanley and Golman Sachs. I cannot remember a larger conflict of interest in my entire life. If things are truly as serious as he claims, Paulson should resign or otherwise recuse himself and the planning of this should be in other hands.

Adam, I think your scenario is a dead-on depiction of a McCain campaign wet dream. I’m hoping, though, that when they wake up, they’ll be alone in bed.

How grotesquely cynical of them to turn this crisis into a series of photo ops, all the while claiming higher ground by putting politics behind them. I’m glad to see that–so far–all the snaps are of egg running down McCain’s face.

And now for something completely different. A charmingly british dissection of our little crisis:

http://www.dailymotion.com/swf/k5uAxezoHObKgBHSpY

I’m sure McCain’s campaign would love something like that; I just don’t see the House Republicans being organized enough to give it to him.

So…are there any proposals for the Debate Drinking Game rules…my friends?

David, I pretty much concur. The thing that I agreed with Gigrich on was Paulson’s very serious conflict of interest. And my memory of Gingrich isn’t failing either; I always have, and still do, agree with Gary Trudeau’s visual metaphor. Still, I think the NPR interview was inciteful.

ton impended

Ah, here we are.

Point well taken, Chris. The conflict of interest issue must be taken into account. Major problem with Gingrich is his motives for going after Paulson, which I suspect have to do with Paulson drifting off of Gingrich’s anti-government reservation. Paulson is intelligent enough to know what is really wrong, and to realize that he must compromise on this bailout. Gingrich is twisted by his anti-government, pro-privatization ideology, and is likely wanting to knife Bush in the back for any compromises with Democrats that in any way echo FDR and the New Deal. I really think he is that demented. He is certainly either an intellectual failure or a pro-private-sector-as-religion televangelist, or both. I categorize him with people by Bill Kristol.

A few pictures from the Greensboro Obama-Biden rally up on my blog. It rained on the way there and on the way back, but nary a drop during the event itself.

God loves Democrats.

If I were standing in Galveston next to W when Ike came through, and he said “It’s raining,” my brain would freeze up. This is an immovable object against an irresistible force. Something undeniable said by someone unable to tell the truth truly is a real mind blower. That is how I feel about the current crisis. Bush is right, there is a monetary crisis, it’s just that he is the last person we should believe. Of course it is mostly his fault in the first place, but still real. We are close to everything collapsing and, of all things, it is W who is the messenger of truth. It’s not that we should bail out Wall St. but if no credit is available, everything shuts down. Everyone is screwed.

And I thought that we entered Bizzaro world 8 years ago.

Finally! - a clear explanation on the bailout of Wall Street and why it’s so necessary.

http://www.236.com/video/2008/get_your_war_on_bailout_1_9145.php

I don’t think McCain needs to worry about staging any drama. The dems are doing the job very well for him, starting from when Clinton repealed the Glass-Stiegel act, middling out with Freddie and Fannie, and now the comedic end begins with democratic ass-covering starting this next week.

Here’s the story, and characters, so far:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H5tZc8oH–o

It’s not even a competition anymore. Now we can just watch for the lolz. I can’t WAIT for the next debate!!
Barry’s stuttering, followed by pointing at his detractor and saying “look,” always cracks me up!

It’s like when Homer Simpson says “D’oh!” or Don Knott’s trying to find the bullet to his gun.
Comedy gold!

Ya sure you betcha, President McCain….all those banks forced to give bad loans. Ya sure, you betcha…I’ll get back to you on that.

What is really sad about this “bailout” is it won’t fix anything, just slow down the fall. We still don’t have enough qualified people to buy all these homes cheap money built.

Scary stat of the week. In 1979 our national debt was 1.5 trillion in todays dollars. 20 out of 28 years of Republican control of the President’s Office and we are at 11.5 trillion. We are adding 1.5 trillion this year alone.

Thank goodness this is the fiscally conservative party otherwise we would be a wash in red ink. (sigh)

Oh my, McCain twit: Yes, Clinton did not veto the Republican sponsored bill–The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act–that effectively brought an end to the Glass-Steagall Act (if you are going to be President, you need to work on your spelling) but he also did not repeal it. If you think the President has or should have the power to repeal legislation, then wow–go find yourself a fascist state to rule. You’re right about Glass-Steagall being a bad call, but you need to talk to Phil Gramm or James Leach about that. Hey, don’t you know Phil Gramm?

David, why do I think the economy did so well under Clinton?
Well, he made dramatic reductions in our military, including our CIA services. That’s saves a lot.
Then the market bets on Fannie and Freddie Mac, which he was a huge part of, certainly had speculative and borrowed money flowing.
You see, David, when you take a loan out on anything, you may have a lot of money in the bank because of that loan, but eventually, that loan will have to be paid back.
So when you see, say, 10K in your bank account thanks to a loan from Citibank, let’s say, that money is yours, but not yours, even though your account is posting it a liquid asset. An economy based on a white-hot speculative market kind of works that way.
Did you know that even when a president leaves office, speculative loans stay on the books for the next president to work out?
That sure helped Clinton when the first Bush raised taxes just before he left. But Clinton’s malfeasance sure didn’t help the second Bush when he had/has to deal with payment due that exceeds accounts received.
I hope I helped you to understand how to balance a checkbook.
Don’t forget to read this gushing LA Times article, giving out all the credit, where credit is so very due. Andrew Cuomo deserves extra credit:

http://articles.latimes.com/1999/may/31/news/mn-42807

You may also want to google up “ACORN.” That’s Obama’s money tree, and they have been quite the busy little bees! The democrats love them so, that they’re currently insisting that ACORN gets a portion of the money on our current bailout bill. It seems Republicans don’t like that, and seems to be a big reason we’ll have to wait till Thursday till the next vote.
Enjoy staring at your 401K this week, if you have one.

Hats off to the neo-cons’ creativity in finding a way to blame minorities for the current Wall Street crisis. Not the loan brokers selling “liar’s loans” and no-proof-of-income loans with enormous interest bumps after a short introductory period (which were only thought up in the last few years of the bubble). No, blame the minorities who got loans ten to fifteen years ago who were fine up ’til now.
Unfortunately, they might now lose their jobs and homes because of the money-for-nothing orgy on Wall Street. Now, we finally get to see some trickle-down, only it’s going to be the shite that’s gonna be trickling down.

I know I won’t be getting through to anyone who could believe the neo-con story, but it makes me feel a little better to spew.

Dave/piglet/Chris - ….or you could just ignore the troll. Don’t rise to his bait. You won’t change his mind; he is just trying to get you down in his mud hole, wrestling over arcane arguments. Pretend he’s not even there.

Chris, I think it’s much more fun “learning” from the people people you work for.
Bringing children into this is the ultimate in vile:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TW9b0xr06qA

Shouldn’t the little tykes be wearing little Mao hats?
Shot by Jeff Zucker with a steadi-cam no less! If McCain pulled that, you’d be going crazy.

Piglet, I suggest you check out ACORN, and see what your shock troops have been up to the last few years.

To be fair, both parties were responsible for this mess, Bush for trying to conspire with Carl Rove to establish a republican voting block of hispanic “home=owners” but remember Obama took it to court to intimidate banks, as a “community organizer.”

Yes, we can can can…

PS: As to ACORN; truly, you’re a nut.

All the policy wonks in HQ are getting a little punch drunk from trying cram some knowledge - any knowledge - into Sarah Palin’s head in preparation for the VP Debate in 2 days. She doesn’t seem to be retaining very much, but she remains perky, none the less. The consensus from all who have spent time with her is that within six weeks, she’ll be back in Wasilla, hunting moose, and preparing for the next baby that God wants her to have - back, at last, in her element.

All talk of a mole in the Palin/McCain 2008 Campaign has died off, which has steamed Marlene no end. She’s had quite enough of this stodgy, inbred town and is ready to move on. She’s been reading travel brochures for Steamboat Springs and Baja California, looking forward to spending the winter skiing and surfing. We have been able to amass a small fortune during our time in DC (thanks, Mr. McCain!) and she was really hoping for some playtime this winter. She had already chosen her next identity - Felicity - and her new cover - a graphic arts teacher in a progressive middle school in rural Iowa. There will be time enough for that after the election, but meanwhile, there are still a few low hanging monetary fruits to be harvested.

I’ve made myself an unofficial comptroller of the various slush funds that the Republicans have salted away (and, believe me, the numbers are legion!). I’ve specialized in vote rigging and minority voter suppression at the polling places. These Republicans spend tons of money in these two areas alone and I’ve been able to install a few new guidelines that make tracing the cash nearly impossible, from either end. The more paranoid of the contributors to these funds greatly fear the government’s ability to follow the bread crumbs back to them, so they were more than willing to adopt my accounting slights of hand. I tell you, this scam will be the best one yet. It’ll make the looting of Tom DeLay’s “retirement fund”, look like a small town carny shell game.

It can’t happen before sun down today due to the end of the Jewish holiday. I’m not sure however how anyone in the house that is Jewish will have had time to read the updated proposal before being told to vote on it. Should be interesting.