Monday, December 22, 2008

Free Markets!


The Waning Days of the Years-Of-Bush are filled with cries about the "Death Of Free Markets."
Well, Good Ridddance, I say. Mostly because the so-called free markets never were actually free. Entry into the arena of free trade always reauired a fee. Money, Power, Connections, any of the above will do. To the worker who produces the goods and services being freely traded - Nothing.
Sorry; I got a little sidetracked there.
Something that came to me in a nightmare a while ago: Maybe, just maybe, if it's "Too Big To Fail", then it's also Too Big To Be Run For Short-Term-Profit to please the stockholders and generate bonus payments to senior management. If the gov't. (that's you and me, fellow taxpayer) is going to end up on the hook, why doesn't the gov't. have a sayso in the management? If the Interstate Highway System is infrastructure, the why arent the Cars and Trucks travelling on the highways also infrastructure? The vehicles are, like the roadway, merely conveyances for the delivery of people and products.
Now, this is a pretty radical thing to say; I imagine the proud owner of a hugely expensive and very shiny Land Yacht would consider it more as a prized possession than as a transportation device. Often, on the roads of America, the transportation part, implying movement, does not, in fact, apply to the multitudes clogging the asphalt. The prized personal conveyance (My Car!) ends up much more a status symbol than a device that can actually transport one from location A to location B. Without passing (sloowly) through locations A', A", A'"... en route. Not an efficient use of resources, one might say.
This radical notion of Infrastructure and State Participation would seem to apply equally to other areas where we are now seeing some marvelous examples of the ineptitude of management. Of course, we're seeing some pretty clear examples of the ineptitude of governmental management as well as of corporate management. Whether this is because of the incestuous relationship between Business and Government or vice versa, I'm not prepared to speculate now.
Perhaps Next Year.
God Bless Us Each And Every One.

Saturday, December 20, 2008

"Go Shopping"


In an eerie echo of counter-culture hero and loonie retailer Earl (Madman) Muntz; San Francisco retailers are "slashing prices, in some cases selling items below cost"! YES! "We have not yet begun to shop." Not only are the shoppers out of control, as they have been for many years, consuming everything that comes to hand with both hands, so to speak; now it appears that, just as the shoppers "Gotta Shop" just so the sellers "Gotta Sell". It's in the blood. "What will it take to put you into this {product-I'm-trying-to-sell}?, they cry". With a nation of compulsive sellers selling to a nation of compulsive buyers, it's no wonder that Treasury Sec'y Hank Paulson is focused on topping up the lender's money supply. They're gonna need every penny. Once everybody is far enough in debt, the economy will have recovered its robust appearance, as victims of Consumption (the tubercular kind) are also wont to do.
Even President-Elect Obama seems to be intent on returning the nation to its massively unsustainable levels of overconsumption, lacking any clear pathway to a healthy economy that depends on rational levels (of slightly less unsustainable levels) of consupmtion.

Thursday, December 18, 2008

For Every Problem...


There's A Solution that's simple, obvious, and wrong. Here's one that seems clearly obvious (well, to me, at least).
Here's the situation: As the year winds down and the time Congress reconvenes approaches, the Senate is in a bit of disarray. NO; That isn't the problem. The problem is that one state (Illinois) is short a Senator, while a near neighbor state (Minnesota) has one too many. WELL! What could be simpler. In the newfound, though sure to be short-lived spirit of collegiality, Minnesota could lend one of its surplus senators to Illinois! It's probably not a goood idea at this time to let Gov. Blagojevich, he of lets-make-a-deal fame, become involved in the process at this time. In the spirit of Keep-It-Simple-Stupid, I suggest a coin toss.
After all these ponderuous matters of "spoilt ballots" (one Minnesota ballot was disqualified because the voter used a smiley instead of filling in the circle - how much more clearly could a preference be stated?!) are resolved, the finally-victorious Senator-Elect from Minnesota could, if he was lent out, be repatriated, and Illinois left, if still a Senator short, at least no worse off. Perhaps the Senator-on-Lend-Lease would have enjoyed the time so much as to decide to run in the eventually-to-be-decided-upon special election. Actually, I may have overquoted H. L. Mencken above; I don't think this solution is wrong at all. Just unusual; and possibly illegal. That doesn't seem to be much of an impediment when Illinois politics are involved though.

Monday, December 08, 2008

Brain Drugs


In a shocking development - "Scientists Back Brain Drugs for Healthy People." Yes, the selfless scientists who are hard at work developing new drugs to alleviate the ills of mankind now believe that the fruits of their labors should be shared by all - not just the sick and hypochondriacal. However; aware that the human mind is a complicated mechanism (though, unfortunately, often out of tune, so to speak), it really isn't safe to simply pass out the pills to all comers. "More Research", say the Researchers. This kind of self-serving claim is so ubiquitous in scientific reports that one wonders if anybody ever does any research for the purpose of learning anything - except to find a need to fund further research.
Some years back, for instance, at a "State of the (San Francisco - ed.) Bay" conference, the Keynote Speaker noted with some dismay that much of the bay's marine life was in precipitous decline. Her proposed solution: "A Major Funding of Research" to find out why. My proposed solution: "Stop Pumping All the Water Out of the Bay".
A noted minister and charlatan who's much given to rhyming platitudes has one that's certainly appropriate in this kind of situation: Avoid The Paralysis Of Analysis. Sometimes we really do know enough to do the right thing, without waiting for yet-another-study.
Sorry for mixing such disparate examples. But it was kinda fun.

Sunday, December 07, 2008

Scapegoat?


India seems intent on blaming Pakistan for the terrorist attack on Mumbai. At first it seemed as though Indian Government was upset that the Indian terrorists were setting up training camps in Pakistan instead of India, as they usually do. Perhaps they were getting tax breaks or something from the Pakistani Government. But no! Feeling the heat from their pallid response to the attacks on high-profile targets, Indian officials decided to blame the Perpetually-Failing-State of Pakistan. Trying to distract attention from the fact that the Indian Government, no great shakes, itself, hasn't been too successful at preventing terrorist activity, either. In fact, judging by the somewhat amazing Charge/Countercharge going on, both of these parties seem intent on finding a Casus Belli, allowing them to substitute a nice little border war for anything resembling actual responsible governance.
Seems almost Bushian in the way it's being played out:
Step One: Find a Scapegoat.
Step Two: Attack!
Step Three: Blame "Faulty Intelligence" for your continuing failures...

Friday, December 05, 2008

Moronic


Is What This Is. Debating all the little details of a puny few billion (somewhere between 15 and 150 Billion $$$ is what we're talking about here): Terms for Auto Aid; also known as Micromanaging. In a business-as-usual manner, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) proclaimed "As we consider this legislation, our first priority must be to protect the hard-earned money of the American taxpayer..." Subtext: "We Need It For Our Friends On Wall Street." Sen. McConnell isn't the only one piling on, of course. Sen. Christopher Dodd (D-Conn.), the master-micro-manager of the Senate, while grilling the by now well-toasted "Big Three" CEOs wanted to know if they were going to switch their now-useless SUV plants over to the building of Mini-Buses. His plan: spend taxpayer money to build mini-buses to sell to ride-share programs that cities will fund with, you guessed it, taxpayer money! All this will be funded with IOUs, of course. Then again, some congressman wanted to know if any of this bailout money would be given to Auto Parts Suppliers. Helping them, one would suppose, to make more parts to build cars that nobody will make, on account of nobody will buy them. The (by now well-toasted) CEOs, without batting an eye, or lauging hysterically, said something so non-committal that it ended up as an 18 minute blank spot on the Congressional Record. I'm joking. They said something. It got published. It absolutely made no sense in the context of why or why not anybody should give the "hard-earned money of the American taxpayer..." (Thanx Mitch!) to the automobile industry.
Perhaps they should get the hard-earned etc. etc. because, as noted here, At G.M., Innovation Sacrificed to Profits..."Time and again over the last 30 years, G.M. has spent billions of dollars on innovative ideas"... Only to discard them when they threatened to actually become atually viable in the marketplace. Which, as George M. C. Fisher says, was "probably a mistake, in retrospect.”
Do Ya Think?
Oh: there was also something said by G. Richard Wagoner Jr, the CEO of General Motors (GM) to the effect that it would be impossible for the auto industry to be viable if the market in the USA shrank to Only Ten Million Cars A Year. How anybody could make a living selling only 10,000,000 of something is inconievable to this Chief Executive of Mega-Corporation.
I Googled "buggywhip" AND "bailout", and found (not too surprisingly) "about 156" results. Mostly non-responsive. There was, however, this snippet from The Oil Drum: "as the bailout calls for yet another transfer from poor to rich, ... to pass this legislation unless it includes incentives for buggywhip manufactures. ..." YES! I'm not the only one who wonders why the Buggywhip Companies didn't get a bailout in 1908, but their successors should get one in 2008.
Still, looking at this historically (if that's possible), it seems as though this Laissez-Faire Capitalism adventure is pretty much Darwinian in its lifespan. It grows and grows until it founders from its own Gigantism (is that a word?).
Still seems to me that, instead of frantically trying to get debt-ridden consumers to spend more (see Sixteen Tons), it might be better to ride the tide, and look for a way to ease the transition to a less-unsustainable lower-level of over-consumption.

Thursday, November 27, 2008

Left Unmentioned


In All The Foofaraw regarding the Automakers Imminent Demise two factors seem to have gone largely unmentioned:
Unlike the little boy who takes his football with him when he leaves the game; the infrastructure and the technology possessed by the bankrupt (in many ways!) companies will NOT disappear. Not that GMFordChrysler has a lot to offer in those areas, but they do claim that they are on the veritable brink of major breakthroughs in quality, efficiency, and safety. The same brink they've been on for several decades. But then, with their feet cemented firmly in the twentieth century where they were spawned, what else could one expect?
The Fact That Dare Not Speak Its Name; one of the largest economic factors favoring foreign car makers, and greatly disfavoring the domestic folk, is Health Insurance costs. Those sneaky foreigners have (Gasp!) Socialized Medicine! They can make more profit with less labor overhead on every car they can sell.
Billarycare, as it was called, was hugely panned, and quickly discarded as being anti-Capitalist some sixteen years ago. All the major industry groups shunned the idea, in concert with the Health Insurance Industry. I'm guessing that industry in general, the little that remains, and particularly the automakers, would now welcome a plan to divest themselves of the cost of healthcare for both their current workers and also for their insured retirees. One wonders if the incoming President would like to take a swing at this one?

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Consumers...


AKA Debtors are getting yet-another-chance to borrow more money! Cool! For those with maxed-out credit cards, or unable to buy a New SUV, or whose Homeowners-Line-Of-Credit has run out: A Life-Line To Consumers! Now, step right up, the lending window is Open For Business at the bank of your choice. Financed with your tax dollars (of course!).
The redoubtable Hank Paulson, a notorious One-Trick Dog, is focused entirely on the movement of money, his only-stock-in-trade. Mr. Secretary Paulson has dealt another $800,000,000,000.00 to his clients in the Finance Industry; an industry whose total output is 0 (nothing, that is, nil, nothing, zip). Except that these days borrowing from the gov't. seems to be a lot more profitable than actually trying to make/sell something tangible. Tangible product is so 20th century I suppose.
The only drawbacks to Mr. Paulson's plan:
a. When people go into Survival Mode, they stop buying all those wonderful things (like Maxi-SUV's), and budget for necessities only; like food, shelter, and absurdly overpriced toys for the Grandchildren. We'll only have a short time to wait 'til Black Friday tells us how bad (or perhaps not-so-bad) the shopping portion of the economy has become.
b. At some point in time this Supply-Side Capital-Formation Genius-Of-The-Market economic model (the Upstairs/Downstairs Model) founders on the resulting destruction of the middle class. The wage-earners go deeper in debt, lose everything, end up, as Tennesee Ernie Ford said:
CONCLUSION: I wouldn't recommend buying a used car from this man. Or, indeed, from anybody associated with the (blessedly soon-to-be-outgoing) present toxic administration.

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Is It Ignorance...


Or is it merely a case of Wishful Thinking? Just when there's Yet-Another-Illustration of massive American civic illiteracy, we have New York Times (and Pulitzer Prize winning to boot!) columnist Thomas Friedman telling us that the United States Congress has the power to amend the Constitution! Go ahead, take a look. The United States Constitution is now officially at the Top of The Frank Maunder Reading List. In this particular case where we're talking about amending the Constitution, I think we should perhaps take a look at

Article. V.
"The Congress, whenever two thirds of both Houses shall deem it necessary, shall propose Amendments to this Constitution, or, on the Application of the Legislatures of two thirds of the several States, shall call a Convention for proposing Amendments, which, in either Case, shall be valid to all Intents and Purposes, as Part of this Constitution, when ratified by the Legislatures of three fourths of the several States, or by Conventions in three fourths thereof, as the one or the other Mode of Ratification may be proposed by the Congress; ..."

You note: Congress Proposes amendments. The states Ratify. How fast does the forward-thinking Mr. Friedman think the states can organize statewide elections, or statewide Conventions?
I think this column is not dissimilar to a Wishful-Thinking Episode of Mr. Friedman mentioned Here, where he talks about a 500 MPG car that mostly runs on some of that Limitless-Inexpensive-Electricity that is also (how fortunately) environmentally cost-free.
Hey, sometimes we all have episodes of I-want-what-I-want-when-I-want-it. I understand. But really, doesn't a writer for a major metropolitan newspaper have an accuracy-in-reporting requirement imposed on his/her umm... Maunderings?

Conclusion: Read Your Constitution (and other governing documents as well, please). Also, it would not come amiss to study up on basic principles of Physics; especially in regard to matters of energy. Look here Energy: Part 1, and also here Energy: Part II if you'd like an easy-to-read Introduction To Basic Principles Of Energy

Thursday, November 20, 2008

Please, Let's Somebody Ask...

GM and Ford and Chrysler execs: "If we give you twenty-five billion dollars - how many more people will buy cars?". OR: "If we don't give you the money - how many people won't be able to buy a car?. Listen carefully to their response. My own guess: Very Damn Few. There are, of course, advocates of a bailout. As we see here: "The Future Is in Sight" says Jeffrey Sachs.
I'm sorry Professor Sachs; The Automakers have been promising "the pathbreaking (fill in the blank) set to arrive in (fill in the blank)" for forty years, and have yet to deliver. It's the same kind of empty "Trust Me" plea made by Big Oil when they promise that there will never be an oil spill - and besides, If There Is One, we promise to clean it up. There are oil spills - lots of 'em - and they're never cleaned up.
Same-wise, there will never be {Major Prediction Here} a powered vehicle that has no detrimental environmental impacts! This in spite of the strange and deluded belief held by so many that Electric Vehicles are non-polluting and cheap to run on that abundant-and-inexpensive electricity one can find in one's garage. Cheap if you plug it into your neighbor's garage, perhaps. Unless he reciprocates, of course. Figure about two terawatts/day of added demand for electricity, and shop around for a source, I says, before you tout the future of the Electric Vehicle

Harassing The Beasties

No Wonder They're Going Extinct! Yes, there does appear to be a strong correlation between the activities of Mankind and the rate at which other species hit the wall (become extinct, that is). Small wonder, when the scientists who search for "New Species" get so excited when they discover such that they Harass Them Mercilessly. Catch as many as you can. Put a collar or a transmitter or a camera on them. How on earth is a beastie supposed to survive with all this hardware hindering its every activity? Seeking food - tough enough without the added ballast. Evading capture - well, that's already been a failure. Reproducing - Hah! What self-respecting animal wants to star in a porn movie? In a stunning appraisal, the writer in this piece speculates that: "The tarsiers, which some scientists believed were extinct, may not have been overly thrilled to be found." Well, who would be?

Certainly not the Great Auk, as this historical tidbit shows:

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

What The Doctor Ordered!

Grow Your Own Organs!

Good news!
I've thought for years that this entire debate over donor organs was eventually to be rendered moot - by using home- (or body-) grown organs. Just kickstart a new baby heart next to the old worn-out ticker. When it's hearty (eh) enough, take out the old, splice in the new.
For myself, I'm hoping for a pair of nice new 20/20 baby blues, though I'll happily accept any other color, if they'll rid me of my glasses!

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Adamant!

Yes; it seems pretty clear from yesterday's Congressional Hearings that the financial leaders of the Federal Gov't are pretty firm in their intention not to give any of your Hard-Earned-Tax-Dollars to any corporation that produces anything even remotely resembling a tangible asset. No, the TARP (don't ask)funds are to be given exclusively to financial institutions. Companies, that is, whose business is conducted entirely in the realm of symbolism (read: $$$). Their output is Spreadsheets; many, many, Spreadsheets. Tonnes and tonnes of Spreadsheets. These days mostly printed in Red Ink. Understandable, when you think about it. The financial leaders of the gov't are, after all, former mavens of the financial "Industry". They themselves have never produced anything beyond a Spreadsheet. To them, all business is conducted in the Realm of the Dollar-Denominated-Instrument. All their work is devoted to a symbolic (read: $$$) model of the to-be-avoided-at-any-cost Real World. To the Economist, real flesh-and-blood people get in the way of the nice elegant formulae used to describe the ebb and flow of Wealth Creation. A Payroll is a Spreadsheet showing symbolic (read: $$$) transactions. The idea that a payroll is made up of real people, requiring real food and real clothing seems terribly untidy.
No; I'm afraid we can't afford any money for GM or Ford. If they go broke it doesn't signify, as long as the Wall Street Financial Institutions can keep on producing Spreadsheets.
Makes me reconsider my own position that the Automakers shouldn't be bailed out. After decades of gov't. handouts for R&D, always spent on sufficiently futuristic technolgy as to make the actual Development part of R&D impractical. Creating a self-perpetuating government handout branch of the auto industry. Funging (is that a real word?) corporate profits to the Corporate Officers and the Stockholders. Like J. Wellington Wimpy, forever promising a technological breakthrough on Tuesday for a handout today. Now claiming that if the particular automakers GM, Ford, Chrysler go bankrupt, somehow no other company will make cars. All the factory capacity will sit idle. All the workers will be unemployed. We'll all have to walk!
Summing up: I'm entirely conflicted on this entire thing. Think I'll go take in a movie. Evade Reality. If it's good enough for Hank Paulson - it's good enough for me.

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Memorial Day...


It's been ninety years now since the "War to End War" ended. How has that worked out so far? Here's a photo memorial from BBC: BBC News Slideshow Of WWI Images

Sunday, November 09, 2008

"Small Cars..."

"Make Small Profits" (Henry Ford II). "Yes; Small Cars Make Small Profits" (Frank Maunder). What happens, though, when business-as-usual is overtaken by the limits of sustainability? How many cars (small, large, behemoth-size) do you have to sell each year to make a profit? A Million? Ten Million? Perhaps if you price motor vehichles by the ton it would make more sense. Today, with 250,851,833 Registered Motor Vehicles already on the road in the United States (Bureau of Transportation Statistics, 2006) - How Many More Do We Need? Where Do We Put Them All? How can Drill, Baby, Drill supply enough fuel for a fleet this prodigious? How many cars can one person drive simultaneously? How much of your "Hard-Earned-Money" do you (the taxpayer) want to give to the GM-Ford-Chrysler Corporation so that it (they) can try to continue on with business-as-usual? Perhaps, one might think, this is an Unsustainable position. Perhaps, one might ask, what will the Post-Internal-Combustion-Era look like?
At least we know it won't mean a Recession (OH! MY!), because that is always imminent, but never actually arrives. (Thanks be to God and the Econometricists who measure such things).
Comfort for the afflicted.

Friday, November 07, 2008

An Irony

...But I don't know if you could call it a bitter irony: Just when lots of people are starting to at least give lip service to the idea that Humans need to reduce the rampageous overconsumption of resources - along comes a Imminent-Yet-Never-Will-It-Actually-Arrive Recession(OH! MY!), and LO!, people's consumptive habits begin to wane. Which (and here's the irony), causes the Economic Wizards (and maybe a few Econostrologists) to holler that "We have to get the American consumer spending again". Seems the only way to have a "healthy" economy is to have an unhealthy level of consumption. You know, Consumption is what they used to call Tuberculosis. That's because it consumed the body it occupied. Much like todays Gluttonous American Consumer is consuming Planet Earth. It's a deadly road. "Unsustainable", or so they say.
Given the economic/environmental deadly embrace; how can the Capitalist/Consumption society morph into a sustainable walk-lightly-on-the-land society? How can the residents of the society transform themselves into stewards of the land instead of predators of the land? I'm betting it can't be done without a lot of desperation-induced-lifestyle-change.


An aside: This week (well, this Lunar Month) the folk of the Land of Smiles hold a celebration called Loy Krathong. They (we) build little floats (Krathongs), and set them on the water.The rite is intended to apologize to the God of the River for the violence we committed against the river during the year. It's a beautiful ceremony. Sometimes, though, the Krathongs are obscured by all the plastic bags and oil slicks that befoul the rivers. It seems that it's Human Nature to drop whatever isn't useful in the nearest available spot - to get washed down to the river, the ocean, befouling everything. Just ask the volunteers of Operation Cleanup who annually haul megatonnes (well, kilotonnes) of trash off the beaches and the riverbanks of North America.
My claim: Better not to do the misdeed than to apologize for it afterward. And then to repeat the crime, time-without-end!

Thursday, November 06, 2008

Barack Obama and Moby-Dick

I watched Wednesday morning (it's 12 hours ahead of New York here in the Land of Smiles). My pessimistic evaluation of the polls had things pretty up in the air. The Bradley Effect you know. Actually, I believe there is such a thing, but it's only one thread in an entire fabric of reasons/rationales/feelings/beliefs that make up a voter's mind for him(her). Wow, that sentence wasn't very nice was it? Anyway, there I was, and at 11 AM, after it had already become a sure thing, the polls closed on the West Coast, and CNN immediately called Candidate Obama the winner. I was amazed at how powerful my feelings were. Something about the "officialness" of somebody on TeeVee saying it aloud. About two minutes later my strongest emotion was one of annoyance, as legions of talking heads all delivered oracular statements about the "Historic Event" (code for "He's Black"). Some of the announcers actually said "He's Black" (code for "Historic Event).
Now, sure, this election was historic, in that sense. For the first time in the history of the United States a person other than Yet-Another-Old-White-Guy was elected President. About time, some might say, but hey, let's take a lesson from the President-Elect, and be gracious here.
What does Moby-Dick have to do with this? Aha! Thanks for asking!
Here's what The White Whale has in common with the President Elect. In the book, Moby-Dick, the white whale, is being sought by Ahab, the one-legged whaling captain. But Ahab wants to stick a harpoon in Moby-Dick, not because Moby-Dick is white. Ahab wants to hapoon Moby-Dick because Moby-Dick rove off his leg (the right one, if I remember right). The Whiteness Of The Whale has nothing to do with it! In Chapter 41 (or perhaps 42 - there's a lot of chapters in the book), Melville writes, opaquely, in my opinion, about the significance of WHITE. Concluding that it has a powerful emotional effect, but whether of joy or dread or fear or ... Well, read it yourself, for the full gamut.
Likewise, other than symbolically, The Blackness of the President-Elect has nothing to do with Barack Obama and how he will govern. (Equally Significant: Skinny Legs!) To my mind, the historicity of the election is that for the first time in a long long time the voters went with the intelligent candidate. There's been a run of good-ol-ignorant presidents ever since Ronald Reagan. Admittedly, Bill Clinton was intelligent, but he campaigned as Bubba-From-Arkansaw (because he was smart). Who knows? Maybe President Obama will be the first in a line of intelligent knowlegeable thoughtful studious presidents. Maybe its the beginning of a trend!
My money? He's a One-Time Phenom. He'll say and do things that will make too many voters (and Those Who Prey On Them) unhappy. It will be seen that he is not, as they like to say; "Just Like US!

Tuesday, November 04, 2008

January 20

Yes! After being closed for some time due to Rot and Neglect; Our beloved Liberty will (we hope) reopen after a short-but-intensive period of restoration. We sincerely apologize for the interregnum, and hope it will not occur again. Everybody is welcome to come and enjoy the Celebration!


Sunday, November 02, 2008

At The End...

It all comes down to a spitting contest. Nothing new to be said, nothing different to be done. Keep chanting the last keynote sound bite. On Tuesday (or before, if you can find a voting machine), the voters will decide! Apparently, the choice is now between a Dangerous-Liberal-Leftist-Socialist or a Four-Year-Long-Bush-Rerun. These are both pretty deadly insults they hurl at each other. At this point however, my money is on the Dangerous-etc. After eight years of Bush-First-Run, there's not a lot of harm that a Socialist (OH! MY!) can still cause. Of course, the same might be said about a Four-Year-etc. as well. After the carpet-bombing of the United States socio-economic structure at the opening of the 21st century, not a lot remains of the infrastructure of society. Not much left to be destroyed. Still, one hopes for a bit of a renaissance with a new President.
Speaking of which: Candidate Obama has shown amazing organizational skills and a sure-handedness in executing a large and complicated campaign. Articulate and knowledgeable too! He's a bit of a blank slate as far as what he will actually attempt to do as president, but one hopes he will be as adept as President Obama as he has been as Candidate Obama.
I still opine that the US is an ungovernable country, no matter who's doing the governing, and it has been so for some time. Approximately since the day when Ronald Wilson Reagan convinced a large portion of the boobocracy that government wasn't Of the People, By the People, For the People but was rather the Enemy Of the People. Somehow, he sold the idea that we (the people) needed a kindly-old-uncle-Ron at the head of the government to emasculate it, and prevent it from harming us (the people). The opposite has, of course, proven to be the case. Now, perhaps, we can hope for an activist president who will get the government up-and-running again.
I Has My Doubts.

Saturday, November 01, 2008

Egad!

"At Long Last, Sir (or madam), Have You No Decency?....
While Candidate McCain is marketing fear as his ticket into the White House, it seems Candidate Dole (R.-NC) is attempting to market More-Christian-Than-Thou. Dole attacks with second 'Godless' ad. Reading past the first paragraph, it turns out that its a guilt-by-second-hand-association, at best. Sadly, Candidate Hagan replies that she is, in fact, the More-Christian-etc. candidate.
Now, as I believe I mentioned before, I (perhaps mistakenly) corrected a student of mine, a visitor from Uppsala University, who told me he "knew you had to be a Christian" to run for public office in the USA. I quoted that now quaint old, now largely-ignored document, called the Constitution for the United States of America, Article V, Section 3:
"...no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States."
I guess I was wrong! Not only must one be a Christian; one must proclaim one's piety more loudly than one's opponent.
Fear, Piety, Simple-Man(or Woman)-Of-The-People, Anti-Tax; appeal to the worst rather than the best. That seems to be the trend these days. Make sure to wear a Flag on your lapel Johnny (or Barack). It's what matters most these days, it seems.
In aswer to the Question Above: NO!, it seems there's no decency remaining in the public square. Egad.

A Chill Up The Spine

Yes: The Conviction of "Chuckie" Taylor by a Federal Court in Miami FL must be giving some of the "Extra-Ordinary-Rendition-eers what is known as a moment of clarity. Soon to be stripped of the protection of the office of Vice-President Dick Cheney, what will be the fate of the operatives who engaged in kidnap and torture under the guise of "intelligence gathering"? It's going to be difficult for them to defend their actions, especially in light of the fact that no intelligence was gathered as a result of their exercise in futility. Nor, in fact was any intelligence shown by the participants in this entire exercise in Biblical-Style Vengeance.
It appears that the Miami Court must be a good place to try foreigners and other criminals we don't like. Manuel Noriega, a former CIA operative who apparently stopped taking orders (bad idea!) after becoming Jefe of Panama, was kidnapped during the "Panama Invasion" in 1992, taken to Miami, and convicted of being an all-round baddie.
One has to wonder; if even a Head Of State can be tried/convicted - what about the CIA and DOD guys who umm... are open to charges of violating The UN CONVENTION AGAINST TORTURE?
I think this part of the Convention is pretty clear:
"Part I; Article 1
1. For the purposes of this Convention, torture means any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him or a third person information or a confession, punishing him for an act he or a third person has committed or is suspected of having committed, or intimidating or coercing him or a third person, or for any reason based on discrimination of any kind, when such pain or suffering is inflicted by or at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of a public official or other person acting in an official capacity. It does not include pain or suffering arising only from, inherent in or incidental to lawful sanctions.
Chief Enabler of the torture program Alberto Gonzalez, and others of the Exceptionalist America persuasion, would probably exempt Americans (or at least their friends and fellow neo-cons) from prosecution for this sort of crime. But I sure wouldn't. Time was when Senator John McCain wouldn't either. We don't know how Candidate McCain stands on this.

Friday, October 31, 2008

Some Thoughts

Around Election Time:
1. Happy Halloween! (Don't forget to put up the Christmas Lights).
2. "She's Just Like Us!" (Our Sarah, that is). That's a good selection criterion alright. I hope you choose your cardiac surgeon or your oncologist for that same reason. That's how we oughtta select our generals firefighters and airline pilots too. Why do people keep chattering about 'qualifications' for gossake?
3. "He wants to spread the wealth around!" Sounds pretty good to me. Alas; there isn't any left to spread. The current president spread it all around to his cronys, the war profiteers, and now the last of the contents of the treasury (and the Social Security Trust Fund is being express mailed to failed finacial institutions. Keep it out of the hands of the poor folk.
4. I understand the Consumers Aren't consuming enough any more. Bizzarre world, isn't it? A 'healthy' economy depends on people consuming more and ever more. Actually, it's worse even than that. To be a successfully capitalist economy, the consumers have to consume more, and increase consumption at an accelerating pace into the bargain! The faster we can burn through the limited resources of our planet, the healthier our economy will be. As far as the inhabitants of the planet (that would be You and Me) - Not So Much, sorry!

Sunday, October 26, 2008

Proposition 8..

Lets Face It Folks; If we don't stop them here in California, we're going to be screwed! As it points out here:A Line in the Sand For Same-Sex Marriage Foes... - A "No" vote on Proposition 8 will not only mean that your priest/pastor/rabbi/imam will have to marry Gays and Lesbians, but your children will become victims of the Homosexual Agenda!

"In television advertisements, rallies, highway billboards, sermons and phone banks, supporters of Proposition 8 are warning that if it does not pass, churches that refuse to marry same-sex couples will be sued and lose their tax-exempt status. Ministers will be jailed if they preach against homosexuality. Parents will have no right to prevent their children from being taught in school about same-sex marriage....
Yes; it seems that allowing people to marry whom they chose means that your sons will be forcibly wedded (and bedded!) by men (oh me!), and your daughters will be made concubines of Lesbians (oh my!) .
Be Afraid! Be Very Afraid!
Besides - Fear is the last best hope of the Party Of Fiscal Responsibility (GOP) to get your vote.

Friday, October 24, 2008

Shocked Disbelief

"...those of us who have looked to the self-interest of lending institutions to protect shareholders' equity... are in a state of shocked disbelief."... Alan Greenspan, Oct. 23 2008. Amazing. I guess Mr. Greenspan can be included among those who believe, most miraculously, that the government is incapable of regulating people's economic behavior, but that it is in fact the government's job to regulate people's social behavior. Why people cannot be held responsible for the way they act socially but are presumed responsible for the way they handle money, is puzzling. If I try to rob you with a gun: I Go To Jail! If I try to rob you with a contract: I Get Government (Taxpayer) Bailout Money!

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

"anti-American views,"

Oh My! Apparently there's a secret cabal of Anti-American Leftist Liberal Socialist Congress-persons lurking in the halls of Congress. Who woulda thought it? Michele Bachmann, that's who. Here she explains:



It seems that the late, unlamented House UnAmerican Activities Committee never really went away; it simply reconstituted itself as a committee of Congressmen who harbor anti-American attitudes. Now, there are those who remember the original HUAC, when it was demanding cofessions from various "Slightly Pink" victims... er... witnesses. Some might characterize the activities of that iteration of HUAC as being "Anti-American". But at least they were not Leftist-Liberal-Socialists. They were good capitalist anti-Communist witch-hunters. And it worked! How many witches have you seen lately? Except of course around Samhain Eve? Or on Fox-News-Fair-And-Balanced?
As to Why The Liberal Media Elite refuse to investigate; I leave that as an exercise for the puzzled reader.

Sunday, October 19, 2008

Odd, Isn't It?

For some time now it seems to have been the case that the Presidential Campaigns, in particular, are always either brilliant (the winner) or incompetent (the loser). Once upon a time, the ratings agencies (the news reporters, actually), gave at least a wink and a nod to the voters as the determining factor in the election. But No More! Now, it's all about the Marketing Of The President. Madison Avenue is entirely to blame (the loser), or entirely credited (the winner) for the results of the polling. At the polls, I mean, not in the pollsters Polls. Odd that this is not also true of the down-ticket campaigns. Sometimes, though not always, the Candidate or the Issue is allowed to succeed/fail on its own merits. Sort of like the old-fashioned concept of Participatory Democracy, where the people decide on their own who and what they want government to be. Instead of the Campaigns holding the voters in total thralldom.
No real point to be made here; it's entirely possible that the Miniscule Machiavellis of Madison Av. are correct in their self-indulgent evaluation: The Boobocracy is competely dominated by marketing! That would be a shame, I think. The President really should be elected based on a serious evaluation of the candidates. Who Knows - perhaps that is the reality, and voters do in fact vote their own minds, rather than following the direction of the marketing wizards.
NAH!
But one thing I do know - I do love alliteration.

Friday, October 17, 2008

My Misteak

OOps! A few years ago I staked a claim to the invention of a New Science. Well, it appears that I was late to the game. It seems my "New Science of Econostrology" was anticipated (I shoulda known it I guess!)
by astro-finance specialist Raj Kumar Sharma, a prominent quack medical practicioner in Mumbai, India; shown here with Miss Germany in an undated picture. As he says:
"Leo is the sign of the sun and the sun is the father in Indian astrology ... But the son (Saturn) and his father (the sun) don't get along ..."

So, it's pretty obvious, the Mumbai Stock Exchange (SENSEX) was due to take a dump, as we see in the Chart, (The graph of the SENSEX, that is).
The other chart, the Astrological Chart shows the heavenly positions of the Sun, Saturn, and also Mercury, and assorted other mischief-makers, all in the sign of Leo


As Quakestar.org says, in their analysis of Election Day 2008(!):"The Unusual Week of Oct. 6th. 2008 -The Stock Market Crash- If anyone were ever to doubt astrological cause -let them examine the chart of the 2008 Stock Market Crash. The placement of the planets looks to all appearances like a Shakespeare play stage scene:... The stagecraft is so poised by the playwright that the evil group is gazing exactly quartile (90 degrees) across the boards to 74 degrees West longitude which is the global location of the New York Stock Exchange."


All this adds up, pretty clearly, to a major drop in the stock market (go figure). Now, if you'll notice, the SENSEX has been headed down since sometime in January, whereas, if my limited knowledge of the Zodiac hasn't led me astray, all these various heavenly bodies haven't been stuck in Leo for the last ten months. If I'm right, then, using the Principle of Post hoc, ergo propter hoc, then it all becomes clear. The falling of the market has caused the Sun to enter the House of Leo.
Of course, as per my motto; I Could Be Wrong. If so, I apologize. Still, it looks to me suspiciously as though, given all the various dates and times, Pt. Sharma has been just a little retro in his analysis. All well and good to say "See, I could have told you this was going to happen!", after it's happened. Sort of like when the racetrack touts hand you their "predictions" after the eighth race. Lot of good it does you then! Still, it's pretty clear, and I cannot deny it, the financio-astrologio-medico-man was practicing Econostrology long before I "invented" it. Therefore, in an attempt to make amends, I hereby award to Pt. Raj Kumar Sharma the First Annual Post-facto Prediction Prize for Econostrology. Way to go Raj!

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Voodoo

Economics rules the roost. The New York Times opines here Mr. Paulson’s Client that Treasury Secretary Paulson is going to "...get the banks lending freely again". I have to ask Mr. Paulson: who do you expect the banks to lend to - other than themselves? The consumer is tapped out. The consumer has no collateral left to borrow against. The consumer is even getting his credit card limit reduced for goshsakes! When the banks pass up a chance to charge usurious rates, it shows pretty clearly that the Financial Wizards Of Wall Street understand that the loans they make aren't very likely to get repaid. Besides, with the government shovelling money at them with both hands, why should they exert any effort to look for another source of wealth? As for the economists contribution, the prevalence of the words "Confidence" - the stock in trade of the con man, and "Faith", the stock in trade of the Priest - it kind of gives the lie to the idea of "The Science Of Economics". Face it, its All Voodoo Economics.
Oh: a wink and a nod to Paul Krugman, the 2008 Nobel Prize winner for the above-mentioned Science of Economics (AKA the Dismal Science). He's the only economist I know of offhand who can rise above his spreadsheets and charts, and make mention of the human aspects of economic activity. To wit: (my concept of the whole thing), there's not much reason for the creation of Goods & Services except to enable people to enjoy Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness. For the most part, though, people just screw up the economist's charts and equations. Reduce the beauty of the system to a shambles by not acting like the economist's Fully Specified Predictive Model.
Tough!

Monday, October 13, 2008

Ancient Tmes

The Connecticut State Supreme Court says "Gays Can Marry". An increasingly acceptable ruling, it seems. CT is now state number three to rule thus. But then, in a dissenting opinion, Justice Peter T. Zarella said, incredibly, "The ancient definition of marriage as the union of one man and one woman has its basis in biology, not bigotry,"! Now I find this disquieting. I, and I think most people, think of judges as being knowledgeable, studious, thoughful people. Of Good Judgement, as it were. Perhaps I'm wrong in thinking Mr. Justice Zarella is an unschooled idiot. Perhaps the problem is semantic. The justice has a different definition of "Ancient" than me. So, let's see if we can infer what "ancient" means to Mr. Justice Zarella. It could hardly mean Biblical Times. That was the time of Solomon, who famously had a thousand wives. Probably not exactly 1,000. Most likely a thousand was used to mean "A LOT". Of course, having a lot of wives back then didn't mean a lot of marriage-for-love weddings. It meant that you were rich and powerful, and other rich-and-powerful guys wanted to ally themselves with you. There was a brisk trade in daughters and sisters going on. Not likely there were many multi-wife orgies going on, either. Sexual activity was more likely to be between one man and one concubine, or perhaps with one harlot. Perhaps occasionally with one fluteboy. Those were the times when women were treated as chattel. Somewhat related to cattle. Property, in both cases. Women had no separate societal or economic identity apart from their father, their husband, their son or their husbands son, successively.
In more recent ancient times, Rama V (Chulalongkorn), the King Of Siam and great grandfather (I think) of the current King, had at one time or another one hundred fifty eight wives. Rama V also had a lot of Elephants. He offered some of his finest Combat Elephants to President Lincoln to help during the Civil War. This was back in the nineteenth century; when the King OF Siam was still officially a God. Again, I suppose, this could not be considered as "ancient times".
In Modern Times, of course, we practice Serial Monogamy, or, one man and one woman (at a time).
So, looking back and looking ahead, I confess I'm unable to decipher Mr. Justice Zarella's meaning when he says "Ancient". I'm also uncertain what he means when he uses the word "Biology", come to think of it. Perhaps he's talking about his own biology. Wonder how often Judge and Mrs. Zarella procreate these days...

Sunday, October 12, 2008

Unscripted ?!?!

Just as in a News Conference, no politician is so unwary as to hand a mike to somebody at a political event without knowing pretty much what that person is going to say. No politician; liberal, conservative, elitist, hockey-mom, straight-talker, gaffe-prone - nobody is that dumb! So you can take it as a given that when Candidate McCain let that sweet little old lady talk at the "Town Hall Meeting" in Lakeville Minnesota, he knew he was gonna get one or another of the Keywords: "Liberal", "Terrorist", "Elitist", "Muslim", "Liberal", "Traitor", "Elitist", or the word the LOL actually used, "Arab". Having salted his mine, so to speak, McCain switched tracks and became the Senatorial Statesman, gently correcting the LOL and showing his recently missing Straight Talker persona. Then there was the guy who got the word out to the faithful that Candidate Obama, along with those tax-and-spend liberals Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid, was going to turn the United States into a Socialist State! (Oh My!)
After twenty years of Ronald Reagan and (ideological) sons practicing Voodoo Economics, compared to eight years of the tax-and-spend-liberal economic policies of Bill Clinton, it takes a lot of chutzspa to call the Republicans The Party Of Fiscal Responsibility. I honestly don't know why that claim doesn't bring peals of laughter. Or perhaps a spate of tears and a gnashing of teeth. But then, as I've mentioned before, with the right coaching people can even be taught to say Fair And Balanced with a straight face on the Fox News Channel.

Friday, October 10, 2008

The Recession

That Never Arrives - appears to have arrived! The DJIA (a measure of expectations more than reality) finished the session at 8,579.19, a new low for the period of the George W. (CEO Presidency) Bush administration. Don't know about you, but I'm guessing that Dow 40,000 is pretty much out of the question, at least for the forseeable future. A possible reason for the panic selling: the CEO of AFLAC was on CNBC a few moments ago reassuring us that "The smartest men in the financial world are working on this". Another possible reason to panic: George W. (CEO Presidency) Bush is meeting with leaders of the World Of Finance to fix things up. Don't know about you, but I'm selling! Or, I would be if I hadn't spent it all on food and shelter already.
I'm not sure why there's such a frantic need to identify the exact moment at which the economy goes into what they now refer to as a "Technical" Recession. Seems to me that when you've lost your job/house/retirement savings: that's a bad economic indicator. DOW, NASDAQ, FTSE, all those alphabetic indicators be damned! If, as the current candidates for high office say, "The American Workforce Is The Best And Most Productive" ever ever ever; then why can't they get any work? Does "Worker" include the people who work (used to work) at banks and finance companies? Is moving numbers between boxes on the Spreadsheet work?
A lot of these pronouncements sound like they're coming from people tiptoeing past the Cemetary. Or, perhaps they believe, like the Queen Of Hearts, that what I say shall be done is as good as done. Say the fundamentals of the economy are strong (a demonstrable lie!); thus it must be so. Then, when called on the lie, Redefine "Fundamental".

Wednesday, October 08, 2008

What's The Point?

Why is the Government bothering to (your choice):
a: Recapitalize, or,
b: Liquefy, or,
c: Rescue, or,
d: Bailout,
the banks, the financial service companies, the "lenders", whatever you wanna call 'em? I keep reading/hearing about the need to "provide capital to the lenders" so they can begin lending to each other again! Can anybody explain to me why banks need to lend each other money? If they were able to turn that money around by lending it to a borrower, I could understand it. But, there are only two groups of borrowers left standing: Those who can't qualify for a loan - and those who can't afford a loan.
This entire process is fruitless. At some point, perhaps two trillion(!), perhaps three trillion(!!) dollars down the line, the wizardly government economic experts are going to have to give up on the lender, and start thinking about doing something for the borrower. The lenders don't want to lend to the borrowers because the borrower doesn't have nice tidy good-looking collateral. Homeowners? Negative equity; sorry!
Businesses? Declining revenue; sorry!
Car Buyers? You're a moron!: sorry!
Credit Card Borrowers? OKAY! You we can make a profit on!
All these junque-type-"instruments" people bought into are junky precisely because of the decliine in the Underlying Asset Value. That is, the housing market. Re-"liquefy" the broke homeowners instead of tossing 'em overboard. If the banks don't have to hold a large-and-increasing inventory of empty buildings, maybe there'd be some capital available for borrowers.
This whole thing about financials lending each other money sounds like that old canard about the Chinese Merchants who found themselves marooned on a desert island: With nothing better to do, they started swapping hats. When they were rescued some years later, they'd both gotten rich from the trade! Nice story, but I think it's apocryphal.
At any rate, with property values down perhaps $2,000,000,000,000 in the aggregate, that money is gone! That means a lot of people are poorer. No Getting Around It!

The Most Important Thing

About The "Debates" is not what they say. It's How They Look. Or, rather, how Candidate Obama looks. For those who have been told he's a Radical-Muslim-Fundamentalist-Terorist-America-Hating-Liberal - It's a real shock to find out he looks like

This


Not This

Yes, after all the mischaracterizations (to be polite about it) on Talk Radio (You Know Who I'm Talking About, Don't You?) and Fair And Balanced Cable News (Ahem), it turns out the man is, as Candidate Biden so endearlingly pointed out, quite presentable, well spoken, and even articulate. The last an increasingly rare attribute in a candidate for high office. All the Joe Sixpacks aside, there are still a large number of voters in the USA who (I hope) want a smart and knowledgeable person for President. If you still don't value those characteristics after having witnessed eight years of the absence of same, I'm afraid there's really no hope of redemption for you. As I pointed out earlier (somewhere down-Blog), The plain-talkin' back-slappin' easy-goin' good-ole boy (or Moose-Huntress good-ole gal) turns out to be a Really Bad model for a national leader.

Tuesday, October 07, 2008

You Gotta Wonder

...If these states voted for G. W. Bush not once, but twice!
Then how can any pollsters believe their polling results? What kind of people are they polling? People who think G. W. Bush is presidential, no?
My Advice: Discount any poll numbers you see for these states - concede that there are enough numbskulls voting there to vote for the next Disaster-In-Waiting to swing the election to that candidate.
I know: It's a depressing thought, but there you have it.
These states, now classed as Battleground States, were won by George W. Bush in 2004: Colorado, New Mexico, Iowa, Virginia, and North Carolina.
Read 'em and weep.

Monday, October 06, 2008

Palling Around...

With Terrorists...? That is so weak! I'm sorry, but Candidate Palin And Others... are so far out of bounds. What purpose is served by this sort of comment: "'...he's palling around with terrorists who would target their own country,' Palin told a group of donors in Englewood, Colo. A deliberate attempt to smear Obama, McCain's ticket-mate echoed the line at three separate events Saturday." (DOUGLASS K. DANIEL, AP, Oct 6). This from a person who "pals around" with corrupt politicians (I know, I know), like Sen. Ted Stevens "Stevens, 84, is charged with lying on senate financial disclosure forms about more than $250,000 in home renovations and other gifts from oil pipeline magnate Bill Allen." (Alaska Daily News, Oct. 5). And worse; she's "palling around" with a Separatist! Yes, if, that is, "palling around" is how you'd describe her relationship with Husband Todd Palin, who "...was a member of the (Alaska Independence) party for seven years (Los Angeles Times, Sep. 3). Be that as it may... It's pretty clear that Obama's Terrorist, a University of Chicago professor, is far more accomplished than Palin's Separatist, a snowmobile racer (or am I being an Elitist?).
I gotta say, I thought she did much better when she simply spouted a lot of sense-free (and often grammar-free) platitudinous stump commentary. She did it so well. But piling purposelessness on top of senselessness to try to reach the White House is like the Titans trying to reach Olympus by piling Ossa on Pelion (yes, that's where the saying comes from). Two Thumbs Down RNC campaign.

Friday, October 03, 2008

Master of the Non Sequitur

... Is Candidate Palin. Here's an interesting view she expressed in the Alaska Daily News: '...Palin said she had been "annoyed" in her interviews with CBS News anchor Katie Couric and had been caught off guard when asked what newspapers and magazines she read and to name Supreme Court decisions she disagreed with - questions Palin appeared not to be able to answer. Her responses, Palin said, were "an indication of being outside that Washington elite, outside of the media elite also."...'
Well, yes. I guess. Who among us, saving only the Washington Elite can name the newspapers, or news sources generally, where we garner our information?
Other than that, the Vice Presidential Debate was unsurprising. There were some pre-debate attacks on Moderator Ifill, attempting to cast her as a Tool Of The Media Elite, but, steady professional that she is, that charge didn't fly. Actually, I thought Gwen Ifill would pose more interesting questions, but i guess the universe of possible questions is pretty small - especially in the canned-response-to-a-pseudo-debate-question format. Which is what these "Debates" are.
Lots of stress tones in Candidate Palins voice, but that's hardly a surprise.
Passing Little content - also not surprising.

Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Mortgage...

... The term comes from the Old French "dead pledge," (Wikipedia)

The vote on the Big Bank Bailout Bill failed. Surprising, a little bit. After all, back in classical times, even the galley slaves started bailing when the Trireme started to take on water. And, like them, I remind you, we are all chained to the oars!
Still, as some of the more (ahem)Republican of Republicans have proposed, the gov't. can fund the bailout the same way it has been funding the rest of it's expenditures: With a Tax Cut. That's worked pretty well so far now, hasn't it?
Something that seems to have gone unnoticed - like What The Dog Did In The Night - is that passing these bundled "Mortgage Based Securities" around the table does nothing to help anybody (except the Wizards of Wall Street, of course). If you, chained to the oars as you are, have a mortgage you can't afford, after this deal is done, you still won't be able to afford it! Changing ownership of the securities changes nothing about the mortgages themselves. If the Banks are "recapitalized", do we any of us believe they will return to the lending policies that saddled them with a lot of crappy non-performing loans? Re-financing the same property with the same lending terms does approximately... umm... lessee here... OH! Nothing! Plus, the new new new Oversight Authority (whatever it turns out to be), won't permit those sloppy lending practices again. Sorry, One To A Customer, and you've had yours already.
If the value of the property is less than the value of the mortgage, Somebody has to take a loss. Currently, and I predict for the forseeable future, that will be YOU.
Give the banks all the money they can find room to store; they still aren't going to give any of it to you. Too Bad!

Monday, September 29, 2008

What If They...

Just take the money and run...
So to speak. Here we are: I (the Wall Street financial wizard) sell You (the Taxpayer) my crappy near-worthless bad financial instruments (like Mortgage Backed Securities and assorted other inventive devices), and,

I take the money and, cat chasing it's tail fashion, use the money you gave me to buy the Treasury Notes you have to sell to get the money to buy my crap? I wind up with a small interest income, and you end up with the management of some truly mysterious and impossible-to-value Instruments of Mass Destruction, as Warren Buffett characterizes them.
Of course, If I put my windfall bailout money into those bonds, the money still won't be available for lending to umm, borrowers. Which is sort of the stated purpose of the whole drill. It's also intended, of course, to Restore Confidence in the market. Confidence, you know, the stock-in-trade of the Con Man. I must admit, I've never really understood the purpose of confidence among the Wizards of Finance; those who lay claim to a deep and abiding understanding of the Basic Principles of the Marketplace. Confidence seems more like believing in the accuracy of my SWAG - you know, my Scientific Wild-Assed-Guess.
So... No Idea if this will/would/could happen. But the Stock Market - which, as we know, is Always Right - seems unimpressed, at least in the early going. Actually, a market isn't mentate (real word?); it's the financial wizards who price things for the market that seem to not want to bid things up. Perhaps under the guidance of their SWAG.

Future Tense

Some Things Never Arrive - Or so it seems.

Culled from the news online today:
1.) "The Baby Boomers are set to start retiring shortly." Now, this has been written over and over again, for at least since we stopped panicking about the Y2K disaster. If the baby boomers are ever to start retiring, please, let it be now! That way, maybe the new entrants into the job market (presuming such still exists - a job market, I mean) will have at least a few open positions to apply for.

2.) "The economy appears to be headed for a recession." Again, we're headed for it, but we never seem to arrive. It's like the question about how the arrow can ever reach the target, when it has first to travel 1/2 the distance, and then 1/2 the remaining distance, etc. Thus, it is clear, we can Never Reach A Recession, since we always have to get half way to one, and then ...

3.) "We have to reduce our Carbon Emissions, or we'll cause an irreversable climate catastrophe." Not yet, but soon. We really have to start thinking about maybe soon, we (well, You) need to start reducing your "Carbon Footprint". Or, maybe, reducing the Rate Of Increase of your carbon emissions. Someday... Someday... Maybe... Soon, perhaps.

Of course it's all nonsense. We do reach end points all the time. A point at which the status quo can't be maintained. If the Baby Boomers don't start retiring soon, they'll all be dead before they even get out the door of their workplace. If we're never going to reach that Recession, how can we ever reach the Recovery that is supposed to follow it? If we never get around to reducing our Carbon Emissions, forget about the idea of a climate disaster; what about the time when there isn't enough coal/oil/tar/corn/palm/bio-Whatever to go around? How many Iraqs can we invade? And how well has that worked for us? How big a war are we willing to participate in to maintain our overdrafting of limited resources? Actually, as I pointed out here..., the limiting factor isn't oil, or food even; it's that widely ignored, largely disrespected, constantly abused resource; Water Yes, H2O is the thing we're going to be fighting over in a few decades. As Mark Twain, that great American visionary once said, "... Whiskey's for drinking; Water's for fighting." And who are we, to argue with a man of such clear vision? Might be a good idea to lay in a supply of Evian, next time you're at the market.
Sometimes, after all, the soon-to-occur-event actually occurs!

Saturday, September 27, 2008

My Take...

Drawish. The Candidates were both well-catechized. Like well-directed actors, they "Hit Their Marks and Said Their Lines". They went through the bullet-chart of the programmed talking points pretty much like they were on autopilot - in spite of Moderator Jim Lehrer's invitation to go off script and actually respond to each other's statements. Candidate Obama made a few half-hearted attempts to do that, but all it amounted to was that he faced Candidate McCain and said "you" instead of facing the Moderator and saying "him". Not exciting stuff. For some stretches you could pretty much predict what was gonna be said; didn't take a lot of attention. They knew the questions - even if they didn't know what the Moderator was going to say. They were clearly masters of the two-minute drill. It would have taken a pretty off-the-wall question to even make for a difficult segue. It would have been kind of interesting though. This was supposed to be about foreign affairs. What about a question about something like: What's going to be the effect of the new economic power of Brazil? What do you think will happen with the new power structure in Zimbabwe? What do you think is likely to happen regarding the loss of clout of Barisan Nasional in Malaysia?
Lots of things to talk about - not just the old standbys.
My own personal favorite moment: When Candidate McCain couldn't get his mouth around "Ahmadjinedad". Who among us could? Instead of sluffing past it, he rassled it until he came close enough (for government work, anyway). The same sort of thing I, and probably most people, have to deal with from time to time. Good work, John!
Finally, something important: "Actions Have Consequences". I'd like the many voters who cast their ballot (many of them two times!) for the current President to consider the consequence. Not that we have this administration and it's disastrous consequences to deal with. That's pretty much a share-the-blame situation. No - it's rather that now, and for the rest of your life, you get to Own Your Vote. Please, dear voter, reflect on the reasons you cast your ballot as you did, and think about what's real, what's important. Don't just go with The Guy Who Makes Me Feel Comfortable. Don't just go with the one with the simplest easiest-to-understand answers.
Thanks

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

I'll Take a Few Days

Off... And solve this

Or... Maybe it's not really a crisis. Maybe it's only a few "whiners" who don't understand that the economy is fundamentally sound. Maybe that's the problem. Anyway, it's time to “set politics aside,” head back to D.C., and make sure the good people of America get all the protection they deserve: Fire some of the greedy evildoers, give a few hundred billion to my friends. That should do the trick. Oh, and duck out on a debate I can't deal with right now!
Amazing how fast Candidate McCain can evolve when the real world trashes the flimsy construct of his own personal reality.

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Don't Move...


Or The Sheriff Gets It!

Not unlike what Wall Street Financial Wizards are saying today. Along with some of the Government Overseers of those guys. It pretty much amounts to being held up at the point of a gun, only the gun is pointed at the robbers, who threaten to crash their business, and take you down with it. I think what needs asking, though I do not expect to hear it in these Wizard Photo-Op Hearings, is: If the mortgagee is going to be thrown overboard, what point is there in giving all this (taxpayer) money to the mortgagor? As others have been pointing out, only to be drowned out by the aforementioned wizards, IF the distressed mortgages had been propped up by means of government intervention to begin with, THEN the holders of these multiply-derived-and-uncertainly-valued would have some true asset value backing their investments. It could still be done like that. Seven hundred billion dollars is still a lot of money, even these days. The only thing is, we'd still be out the bailout money already handed out.
Cleavon Little's ploy in the still hilarious Blazing saddles worked for him - I'm willing to bet it'll work for Wall Street Financiers as well. Once the Politicians get their photo-ops on video.

The Only Discernable Difference

Between A


And a

Wall Street Master of Finance


appears to be a

Harvard MBA


I thought it used to be an article of faith among the unbridled capitalists that "The Market Is Always Right".
I was wrong it seems. It's still an article of faith. Or maybe just a talking point. Just today, this very day, on Bloomberg teevee, Jim O'Neill, an Economist (you know, a practitioner of The Dismal Science) for the financial stalwart formerly known as Goldman Sachs repeated the mantra. Right there, on teevee! To a live talking head! "Of course, the Market is always right.", he said. Not nearly as right as it's going to be when his former boss at Goldman Sachs, now Treasury Sec'y. Henry Paulson starts shoveling some of that 700 Billion taxpayer dollars out the front door of the Treasury! Maybe Economist O'Neill is hoping to get a job offer. By looking As Sound As A Dollar.
I used to think the Military-Industrial Complex was good at milking the cash cow. But the Financial-Investment Complex has shown them to be pikers (relatively speaking).

Monday, September 22, 2008

Interesting

Isn't it? Seemingly, in spite of the massive illogic required, a large number of people, adults, one would have thought, *Homo Sapiens "The Ape That Thinks"*, or, perhaps doesn't think, believe that Candidate Obama is:
1.) A Liberal,
2.) A Muslim, and,
3.) A Fundamentalist.

Remarkable! Here we have a man who, it is believed, simultaneously believes in the equality of women and the subservience of women. How this can be - and how his wife can be permitted to appear in public without her Burqa - is an exercise which I, having better things to do, will leave to you, Dear Reader.

Saturday, September 20, 2008

Shell Game

President Bush, on Friday, told the country "I decided to act and act boldly.” - or rather, "We're going to come up with a plan" - to save the economy. This is a good thing to hear from the leader of the Party of Fiscal Responsibility. This following some earlier statements by the leaders of the government branch of the financial system, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and Security & Exchange Commission head Christopher Cox (yes, John McCain's scapegoat guy). The stock market soared as punters rushed to buy cheapo financial equities. Yes, now that the Taxpayer will apparently be buying the bad debt from the banks that made the loans (and banked the loan fees), Investors can return to business as usual. And firmly tell the US Government to quit trying to crush us with all that burdensome regulation. Indeed, there are those who are already complaining about the Bailout. Lost in the chaotic scramble: The Taxpayers and the Investors are the same people!
Not to worry though - we can finance the potentially Trillion Dollar government intervention by cutting taxes!

Friday, September 19, 2008

Culled

Or, Copied, rather, from the Anchorage Daily News: It's a lot of prose about a woman who seems to generate strong feelings in everyone who knows her, and among those who don't know her, as well. My evaluation (based on almost no knowledge): She's a very average politician who will get much better as she improves her ability to obfuscate. Ex: "I don't know squat about Russia (my addition), but I know which direction it is from Anchorage." Quite the non sequitur, don't you think?
My thanks to all the "contributors"

***

What's an Alaska accent anyway? The Chicago Tribune politics blog, The Swamp, examined Sarah Palin's accent and talked to experts about it.

Fans and foes alike describe it with colorful phrases, such as "a little Minnesota, a little Valley Girl," "an interesting mix of Minnesota, and Mississippi" and "bush-like," as in Native American accents heard in Alaska's bush or remote areas. Many commentators wonder if Palin's voice reflects a true "Alaskan accent."

"She's a good example of the Northern speech with a Western influence," said William Labov, a University of Pennsylvania linguistics professor, pointing to several examples, such as Palin's dropping of "g's" from word endings and pronunciation of "terrorist" as two syllables instead of three.

***

Here are local bloggers and their reactions to Troopergate andn the Palin phenomena:

> Sen. Lyda Green speaks out on KUDO (Celtic Diva)

I'm paraphrasing here, but these are the main ideas I remember:

The McCain-Palin campaign's takeover, speaking for Alaska's government, is a states' rights issue.

The McCain-Palin campaign's stonewalling of a bipartisan legislative investigation is creating a constitutional crisis within our state.

Sen. Green is very, very grieved.

> Burning bridges in Alaska (Shannyn Moore)

They were visible and in full force at the McCain-Palin press conference yesterday. Alaskans don't roll that way. People get cranky, even nasty at times, over politics and what they think is best for the state. Alaska lawmakers are sitting in federal prison for selling their votes, and it wasn't this nasty. The McCain-Palin ticket has become a poster child for partisan politics on steroids. On No. 5, the day after this election, the shrapnel of this campaign will be strewn across Alaska. It's going to take Dr. Phil and a few Barry White albums to get the healing started.

> Palin running scared: Flip-flops on Troopergate (Kodiak Konfidential)

> Palin throws Alaskans under the bus (Mudflats)

This is not going over well in Alaska. I'll use my usual caveat that there are lots of Alaskans who happily subscribe to the "Sarah right or wrong" mentality and will continue to do so. However, the progressive take on this whole latest mess is only slightly short of taking torches and pitchforks and surrounding the attorney general's office, demanding an end to the stonewalling. I've watched Alaskan progressives that I personally know go from saying, "Wow! I can't believe I voted for a Republican!" to, "She's doing OK. I don't agree with everything, but I don't regret my vote" to being so furiously seething angry they just can't say anything.

This means that there's a shift, and shifts tend to bring along all people to a certain degree. If there's one way to tick off Alaskans it's by bringing in "outsiders" to try to control state affairs. Imagine if you will how a small independent nation would feel being invaded by the superpower next door. It's like that.

> Rep. Les Gara on Troopergate (Huffington Post)

Over the next few days McCain's folks will try to get local legislators to step in line, out of party loyalty, and reverse their vote to investigate Troopergate. But many local Republicans, like Senate president Lyda Green, have so far refused to play those politics. Stay for more from McCain's campaign for "Change." They've tried to change the truth. They've succeeded at changing Gov. Palin's promise to comply with this investigation. Let's see what they'll change next.

> Sarah, stop the slander (Alaska Real)

I honestly am just so frustrated with what Gov. Palin has been doing and saying, I cannot write what I was going to write. What she is attempting to do with Walt Monegan - shift the blame and public disgust to him rather than be "open" and "welcome the investigation" as she has repeatedly promised in the past - is just beyond disgust to me.

> Sen. Lisa Murkowski on Palin (Wall Street Journal Opinion)

"We were trying to make headlines for 50 years in Alaska, since we became a state," she joked. "What it took was Sarah Palin. . . . I've called her the Sarah phenomenon." Ms. Murkowski, however, does grant the governor her reputation as an agent of change: "She didn't care who she ticked off. I've told my colleagues, 'Don't underestimate this woman.' . . . She's not afraid to challenge. It may be bold. It may be crazy."

Ms. Murkowski says nonetheless a certain amount of hype has tinged press accounts of Mrs. Palin's rise. "There was a need to clean things up" in Alaska, she says. But Gov. Palin came into office when a federal criminal investigation of local lawmakers was already under way. "She rode that wave."

> Ivan Moore: Is what you see what you get? (Anchorage Press)

Was the prior reality the real reality? Or is this one? Or are they both? Is the act of observation - the very, very intense observation on the national stage-a fundamental reason for the changes we're seeing? Bottom line, has the level of observation that is par for the course now, the mainstream media, the tabloids, the Internet press, the blogs and the public all acting in concert, gotten us to the point where we can't observe reality in our presidential and vice presidential candidates? Are we eternally doomed to being unable to truly know who these people are?

> Wasilla residents speak out on Palin (Alaska Journal of Commerce)

As mayor of Wasilla from October 1996 to October 2002, Palin presided over a budget that rose from $7.6 million to $13.6 million. Wasilla City Council member Dianne Woodworth, an accountant in private practice, said Palin was not conservative with the city budget.

"The true test of a leader is when there is not a lot of money and you have to work across the aisle," Woodworth said. "Likewise, when she was mayor of Wasilla, we were in a time of prosperity. I've never seen her pushed when a lot of resources weren't there."

> Halcro on Talis Colberg (Halcro.com)

From conducting a pre-investigation investigation, to recusing himself due to a conflict to reinserting himself right back into the middle to getting on a plane for a vacation in the middle of one of the biggest legal controversies the attornery general's office has handled in recent history, Colberg more and more appears out of his league.


Plucked from the relative obscurity of drawing up wills in Palmer to managing one of the biggest legal staffs in the state, Colberg's latest actions show he is certainly not ready for prime time.