Wed, Dec 31 2008
END OF A TOUGH YEAR
From our family to yours, Happy New Year.
Sat, Dec 27 2008
EVERY REASON TO WORRY
We're going into the New Year in a way completely unlike any I have ever felt on my many years on this planet, in this country.
Unemployment is going through the roof, real assets are going through the floor, the economy is going over a cliff, and reason is going out the window.
It looks like governments everywhere are going to do the exactly wrong thing to maintain a corrupt, broken financial system that never should have been allowed to come into being. It looks like nuclear war could break out in the Middle East any minute. It looks like the vast majority of people let themselves get swept up in the never-ending good times mania of 'charge it!' and have no savings, so the debt-burdened moneyless masses are dragging everyone else into the abyss of poverty with them. It looks like no matter what we do, we are definitly screwed.
I myself am not in such great shape. My business targeted the construction businesses, which are going under at a massive clip. They have no money coming in, so they don't need what I sell, so I have no money coming in. I had all my credit cards paid off until a few months ago, now I find myself using them to float until I can find other sources of income. I have some small savings, but it is in gold in overseas vaults, and I'll be damned if I'll cash in that last little bit until I absolutely have to.
So, this New Year is precarious indeed. I have a Plan B, which I hope I will be able to execute in time and ride out the Greater Depression. If not, I'm fucked along with a gazillion middle-aged over-qualified ex-executives nobody wants to hire.
Thu, Dec 25 2008
WORST CALLS OF 2008
Thu, Dec 25 2008
GOODNIGHT, EARTHA
One of the finest entertainers of all time (and a hottie well into her golden years), Eartha Kitt, passed away today. I saw her live on the island of St. Croix, USVI in the late 80's and she rocked da house, baby!
Eartha Kitt, sultry 'Santa Baby' singer, dies
NEW YORK, Associated Press – Eartha Kitt, a sultry singer, dancer and actress who rose from South Carolina cotton fields to become an international symbol of elegance and sensuality, has died, a family spokesman said. She was 81.
Andrew Freedman said Kitt, who was recently treated at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital, died Thursday of colon cancer.
Kitt, a self-proclaimed "sex kitten" famous for her catlike purr, was one of America's most versatile performers, winning two Emmys and nabbing a third nomination. She also was nominated for several Tonys and two Grammys.
Her career spanned six decades, from her start as a dancer with the famed Katherine Dunham troupe to cabarets and acting and singing on stage, in movies and on television. She persevered through an unhappy childhood as a mixed-race daughter of the South and made headlines in the 1960s for denouncing the Vietnam War during a visit to the White House.
Through the years, Kitt remained a picture of vitality and attracted fans less than half her age even as she neared 80.
Thu, Dec 25 2008
CLASSIC CATHOLIC XMAS HYPOCRISY
Standing in front of his solid gold throne, in his gold-thread accented dress, Il Papa waggles a finger at greed and selfishness, and decrees that the Xmas message applies to everyone (unless you're openly gay). He also gives Mugabe and starving children the finger waggle, although he is clearly not opening the Vatican gold and art vaults to actually fork over some dough to help said starving anytime soon, never mind that said vaults contain more $ that the entire GDP of most countries on the planet...
Pope decries selfishness in economic crisis
VATICAN CITY, Associated Press – Pope Benedict XVI warned in his Christmas message Thursday that the world was headed toward ruin if selfishness prevails over solidarity during tough economic times for rich and poor nations.
Speaking from the central balcony of St. Peter's Basilica, Benedict said he was trying to inspire hope in the world.
"Brothers and sisters, all you who are listening to my words: this proclamation of hope — the heart of the Christmas message — is meant for all men and women."
[Unless you're queer. In which case, you're going to hell for being exactly as god made you.]
More yaddah...Tue, Dec 23 2008
DUBYA ON THE DEATH OF CAPITALISM
"We abandoned free market principles to save the free market system" - George W. Bush
Socialist Fascism, we are here. They just haven't started flexing their muscles yet, that's all. Wait 'till the riots start in Detroit...Tue, Dec 23 2008
GOD BLESS US, EVERY ONE
Mon, Dec 22 2008
THEY DON'T GOTTA TELL YOU SQUAT, DEBT SERF
It's the biggest looting in history, Paulson via BushCo did it, and the money is gone, okay? You're fucked, and it doesn't matter because the dollar is fucked, the economy is fucked, and we are going down in flames. Happy days will not be here again until we purge the rottenness from the system, and that will never happen since there are too many fatcats and incompetents vested in keeping the system going in some way, so that leaves one way out: REVOLUTION.
Where'd the bailout money go? Shhhh, it's a secret
WASHINGTON, Associated Press – It's something any bank would demand to know before handing out a loan: Where's the money going?
But after receiving billions in aid from U.S. taxpayers, the nation's largest banks say they can't track exactly how they're spending the money or they simply refuse to discuss it.
"We've lent some of it. We've not lent some of it. We've not given any accounting of, 'Here's how we're doing it,'" said Thomas Kelly, a spokesman for JPMorgan Chase, which received $25 billion in emergency bailout money. "We have not disclosed that to the public. We're declining to."
The Associated Press contacted 21 banks that received at least $1 billion in government money and asked four questions: How much has been spent? What was it spent on? How much is being held in savings, and what's the plan for the rest?
None of the banks provided specific answers.
"We're not providing dollar-in, dollar-out tracking," said Barry Koling, a spokesman for Atlanta, Ga.-based SunTrust Banks Inc., which got $3.5 billion in taxpayer dollars.
More yaddah...Sun, Dec 21 2008
DELAYED REACTION
Sat, Dec 20 2008
LEE IACOCCA LEADS THE CHARGE
"Am I the only guy in this country who’s fed up with what’s happening? Where the hell is our outrage? We should be screaming bloody murder. We’ve got a gang of clueless bozos steering our ship of state right over a cliff, we’ve got corporate gangsters stealing us blind, and we can’t even clean up after a hurricane much less build a hybrid car. But instead of getting mad, everyone sits around and nods their heads when the politicians say, "Stay the course."
Stay the course? You’ve got to be kidding. This is America, not the damned Titanic. I’ll give you a sound bite: Throw the bums out!
You might think I’m getting senile, that I’ve gone off my rocker, and maybe I have. But someone has to speak up. I hardly recognize this country anymore.
The most famous business leaders are not the innovators but the guys in handcuffs. While we’re fiddling in Iraq , the Middle East is burning and nobody seems to know what to do. And the press is waving ‘pom-poms’ instead of asking hard questions. That’s not the promise of the ‘ America ‘ my parents and yours traveled across the ocean for. I’ve had enough. How about you?
I’ll go a step further. You can’t call yourself a patriot if you’re not outraged. This is a fight I’m ready and willing to have.
The Biggest ‘C’ is Crisis !
Leaders are made, not born. Leadership is forged in times of crisis. It’s easy to sit there with your feet up on the desk and talk theory. Or send someone else’s kids off to war when you’ve never seen a battlefield yourself. It’s another thing to lead when your world comes tumbling down. George Bush, Dick Chaney and who is this Bozo coming up next? One of the most Liberal Idiots in the U.S. Senate, and he is talking about disarming America . I can’t believe the American people aren’t seeing what he is about to do to this country. May God have mercy on us all.
On September 11, 2001, we needed a strong leader more than any other time in our history. We needed a steady hand to guide us out of the ashes. A Hell of a Mess. So here’s where we stand. We’re immersed in a bloody war with no plan for winning and no plan for leaving. We’re running the biggest deficit in the history of the country. We’re losing the manufacturing edge to Asia , while our once-great Companies are all moving offshore. We’re getting slaughtered by health care costs. Gas prices are skyrocketing, and nobody in power has a coherent energy policy. Our schools are the worst in the world. Our borders are like sieves. The middle class is being squeezed every which way. These are times that cry out for leadership and we are getting ready to put the most Liberal Senator in the U.S. Senate in as our next President because we want to be fair and elect someone just because of his race. We don’t have time to be fair, we need a strong leader.
But when you look around, you’ve got to ask: ‘Where have all the leaders gone?’ Where are the curious, creative communicators? Where are the people of character, courage, conviction, omnipotence, and common sense? I may be a sucker for alliteration, but I hope you get the point.
Name me a leader who has a better idea for homeland security than making us take off our shoes in airports and throw away our shampoo? We’ve spent billions of dollars building a huge new bureaucracy, and all we know how to do is react to things that have already happened.
Name me one leader who emerged from the crisis of Hurricane Katrina. Congress has yet to spend a single day evaluating the response to the hurricane, or demanding accountability for the decisions that were made in the crucial hours after the storm. Everyone’s hunkering down, fingers crossed, hoping it doesn’t happen again. Well guess what people? We are having more floods right now. What are we doing to help these people out? Now, that’s just crazy. Storms happen. Deal with it. Make a plan. Figure out what you’re going to do the next time. Why are we allowing people to build in flood plains anyway? If you build in a flood area, expect to be flooded and deal with it. Don’t expect the Government to bail you out.
Name me an industry leader who is thinking creatively about how we can restore our competitive edge in manufacturing. All they seem to be thinking now-days is getting themselves bigger salaries and bonuses. Who would have believed that there could ever be a time when ‘The Big Three’ referred to Japanese car companies? How did this happen, and more important, what are we going to do about it? Likely nothing!
Name me a government leader who can articulate a plan for paying down the debt, or solving the energy crisis, or managing the health care problem. The silence is deafening. But these are the crises that are eating away at our country and milking the middle class dry. I have news for the gang in Congress and the Senate. We didn’t elect you to sit on your asses and do nothing and remain silent while our democracy is being hijacked and our greatness is being replaced with mediocrity. What is everybody so afraid of? That some bonehead on Fox News will call them a name? Give me a break. Why don’t you guys show some spine for a change? I honestly don’t think any of you have one!
Had Enough?
Hey, I’m not trying to be the voice of gloom and doom here. I’m trying to light a fire. I’m speaking out because I have hope; I believe in America … In my lifetime I’ve had the privilege of living through some of America’s greatest moments I’ve also experienced some of our worst crises: the ‘Great Depression’, ‘World War II’, the ‘Korean War’, the ‘Kennedy Assassination’, the ‘Vietnam War’, the 1970s oil crisis, and the struggles of recent years culminating with 9/11. If I’ve learned one thing, it’s this:
‘You don’t get anywhere by standing on the sidelines waiting for somebody else to take action. Whether it’s building a better car or building a better future for our children, we all have a role to play. That’s the challenge I’m raising in this book. It’s a call to ‘Action’ for people who, like me, believe in America . It’s not too late, but it’s getting pretty close. So let’s shake off the crap and go to work. Let’s tell ‘em all we’ve had ‘enough.’ "
- Lee Iacocca, "Where Have All the Leaders Gone?"
Thu, Dec 18 2008
1933 FOLLIES
Keynsiean claptrap from back in the day - why inflation is a good thing:
Tue, Dec 16 2008
CHARGE-IT! THE GRINCHES THAT STOLE ALL THE XMASES
Bush, Congress leaving taxpayers on the hook for $8 trillion. How's that for a poke in the eye.
Bailout payout tops $8 trillion
Politico - As the holiday season commences, it’s worth taking stock of the last gift that President George W. Bush and the 110th Congress have left for U.S. taxpayers.
It’s a package of about $8.7 trillion dollars’ worth of potential taxpayer commitments for loans, guarantees and other bailout goodies for businesses and distressed homeowners.
Amid the tissue paper:
• More than $1.5 trillion in Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. loan guarantees, including a $139 billion assist to the lending arm of General Electric Corp.
• $1.8 trillion in cash, tax breaks and loan guarantees doled out from the Treasury Department to taxpayers, financial institutions and credit companies.
• $300 billion for homeowners from the Federal Housing Authority.
• $25 billion in assistance for auto companies from a program overseen by the Energy Department, which is separate from the bailout proposal that tanked last week in the Senate.
• And $5 trillion worth of new money, loan guarantees and loosened lending requirements from the Federal Reserve Bank.
According to Bianco Research President James Bianco, who crunched these numbers, that amounts to more government aid and assistance than nine other historic bailouts and big government outlays combined.
The New Deal, for instance, cost an estimated $32 billion in its day, which would be about $500 billion in today’s dollars. The Marshall Plan cost about $12.7 billion, which is the equivalent of a paltry $115.3 billion. The Louisiana Purchase? The French got $15 million, which would be worth about $217 billion today.
If you take those three items, add in the adjusted costs of the Race to the Moon, the savings and loan crisis, the Korean War, the Iraq war, the Vietnam War and assistance for NASA, you still get to just $3.92 trillion — not even half of the taxpayers’ exposure today, according to Bianco.
If that weren’t enough to make you want to upgrade your holiday gift list, it’s useful to remember that Congress isn’t done and President-elect Barack Obama’s team hasn’t even started.
More yaddah...Mon, Dec 15 2008
BUSH GETS SHOED
Bahahahahahaha! "Shoeing" someone is one of the worst insults you can make in the Arab world.
Fri, Dec 12 2008
GOODINGHT, BETTIE
"She's the perfect combination of sexuality and sensuality. Like Elvis, Montgomery Clift and James Dean, Bettie Page brought something modern to the Fifties."
-- Albert Watson
1950s pinup model Bettie Page dies in LA at 85
LOS ANGELES, Associated Press – Bettie Page, the 1950s secretary-turned-model whose controversial photographs in skimpy attire or none at all helped set the stage for the 1960s sexual revolution, died Thursday. She was 85.
Page was placed on life support last week after suffering a heart attack in Los Angeles and never regained consciousness, said her agent, Mark Roesler. He said he and Page's family agreed to remove life support. Before the heart attack, Page had been hospitalized for three weeks with pneumonia.
"She captured the imagination of a generation of men and women with her free spirit and unabashed sensuality," Roesler said. "She is the embodiment of beauty."
Page, who was also known as Betty, attracted national attention with magazine photographs of her sensuous figure in bikinis and see-through lingerie that were quickly tacked up on walls in military barracks, garages and elsewhere, where they remained for years.
Her photos included a centerfold in the January 1955 issue of then-fledgling Playboy magazine, as well as controversial sadomasochistic poses.
"I think that she was a remarkable lady, an iconic figure in pop culture who influenced sexuality, taste in fashion, someone who had a tremendous impact on our society," Playboy founder Hugh Hefner told The Associated Press on Thursday. "She was a very dear person."
More yaddah...Wed, Dec 10 2008
MORE THAN ALL OF THESE PUT TOGETHER
Absolutely amazing. This is OUR money, those fatcats just took it and *poof* its gone.
“I sincerely believe, with you, that banking establishments are more dangerous than standing armies; and that the principle of spending money to be paid by posterity, under the name of funding, is but swindling futurity on a large scale.” (Thomas Jefferson)
Tue, Dec 09 2008
THE DECIDER'S LEGACY
Mon, Dec 08 2008
FRED THOMPSON HAS GOOD NEWS ABOUT THE ECONOMY
Thompson is a total jackass as a politician (he was nothing more than a shill at during the elections, never serious about his candidacy), but a fair actor, and this script is hilarious:
Sun, Dec 07 2008
MUSINGS
We run our economy and our society on specific models of human behavior, models created and refined by academics in the employ of corporations.
Models of human behavior define irrational behavior as those human actions that do not correspond to what the model predicts.
No grand economic model can accommodate changes without intervention by the creator of the model. Individuals register changes in their environment and respond.
So how good can the model possibly be, if it lumps everything it did not predict as "irrational", and requires intervention from the creators to produce desired results? And how can we possible make good choices based on such inherently flawed models?
Sun, Dec 07 2008
ROAD TO THE GREATER DEPRESSION
Sat, Dec 06 2008
PROBABLY EXACTLY WHAT THEY WILL DO
Only starting a war with Pakistan is a lot more dangerous than bitchslapping some stoneage bufoons like Afghanistan and Iraq. The Pakis have nukes and they really really really hate India. Plus, their government is being taken over by al-Quaeda types, so hello suitcase nukes, and hello radiocative fallout cloud swirling around the planet...
Fri, Dec 05 2008
SHOW ME THE MONEY
Who gots some, who ain't:
Fri, Dec 05 2008
SKIN IN THE GAME
Who is holding the most dollars? Who stands to lose the most if we devalue the dollar and inflate our way out of debt?
W00t! Looks like our old pals the Chinese and Arabs are the biggest bagholders...
Wait a minute - Libya? Kazhakstan? Nigeria?! Who let those dimestore clowns into the big leagues? Maybe just as well, we don't need them all flush with real cash, let 'em drown in that fiat crap with the others:
Thu, Dec 04 2008
THE GHOST IN THE MACHINE
How come nobody is freaked out about this? This is fucking SERIOUS:
Thu, Dec 04 2008
ECONOMIC STATE OF THE UNION
Thu, Dec 04 2008
DUBYA IS SORRY ALRIGHT
The only thing this retarded sociopathic Fortunate Son is sorry for is that anyone is calling him on his shit. Only we're not, really, he isn't going to jail, he's retiring on a big fat pension and taxpayer-paid bodyguards for life.
SheWired.com - Five years into the Iraq war and the announcement that the country’s in a real recession and President George W. Bush told ABC News’ Charlie Gibson he’s sorry in an interview for World News Monday.
With only weeks left to go in his eight-year long presidency, Bush, who’s never before publicly shown a glimmer of awareness of his troubled legacy, told Gibson that he was “unprepared” for the Iraq war.
"In other words, I didn't campaign and say, 'Please vote for me, I'll be able to handle an attack,'" Bush said. "In other words, I didn't anticipate war. Presidents -- one of the things about the modern presidency is that the unexpected will happen."
Beyond the Iraq war, Bush made a thinly veiled attempt at an apology regarding the spiraling economy.
“I'm sorry it's happening, of course," Bush told Gibson. "Obviously I don't like the idea of people losing jobs, or being worried about their 401(k)s. On the other hand, the American people got to know that we will safeguard the system. I mean, we're in. And if we need to be in more, we will."
During the extended interview Bush also touched on his place in the GOP and how his presidency might have affected Sen. John McCain’s shot at becoming the next President.
“I think it was a repudiation of Republicans," Bush said. And of Barack Obama’s landslide victory, he added "And I'm sure some people voted for Barack Obama because of me. I think most people voted for Barack Obama because they decided they wanted him to be in their living room for the next four years explaining policy."Tue, Dec 02 2008
HOW OUR FINANCIAL SYSTEM WORKS
"The U.S. government borrows money from taxpayers…gives it to Wall Street so they can lend it back to the taxpayers at a profit. Wall Street borrows 'our money' from the Fed at, say, 1%…then they lend it back to us at, say, 6% or 7%. That way, Wall Street makes money and we can still borrow what we need.
Nice system huh?"
Mon, Dec 01 2008
WELCOME TO THE THUNDERDOME
Mon, Dec 01 2008
BUSHCO SCUTTLED THE U.S.S. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
The BushCo ratfucks knew *exactly* what they were doing, and they did it on purpose. The ship is now sinking, and no amount of deckchair rearranging will save it.
We are SO FUCKED....
Government warned of mortgage meltdown
Regulators ignored warnings about risky mortgages, delayed regulations on the industry.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Bush administration backed off proposed crackdowns on no-money-down, interest-only mortgages years before the economy collapsed, buckling to pressure from some of the same banks that have now failed. It ignored remarkably prescient warnings that foretold the financial meltdown, according to an Associated Press review of regulatory documents.
"Expect fallout, expect foreclosures, expect horror stories," California mortgage lender Paris Welch wrote to U.S. regulators in January 2006, about one year before the housing implosion cost her a job.
Bowing to aggressive lobbying -- along with assurances from banks that the troubled mortgages were OK -- regulators delayed action for nearly one year. By the time new rules were released late in 2006, the toughest of the proposed provisions were gone and the meltdown was under way.
"These mortgages have been considered more safe and sound for portfolio lenders than many fixed-rate mortgages," David Schneider, home loan president of Washington Mutual, told federal regulators in early 2006. Two years later, WaMu became the largest bank failure in U.S. history.
The administration's blind eye to the impending crisis is emblematic of its governing philosophy, which trusted market forces and discounted the value of government intervention in the economy. Its belief ironically has ushered in the most massive government intervention since the 1930s.
Many of the banks that fought to undermine the proposals by some regulators are now either out of business or accepting billions in federal aid to recover from a mortgage crisis they insisted would never come. Many executives remain in high-paying jobs, even after their assurances were proved false.
In 2005, faced with ominous signs the housing market was in jeopardy, bank regulators proposed new guidelines for banks writing risky loans. Today, in the midst of the worst housing recession in a generation, the proposal reads like a list of what-ifs:
--Regulators told bankers exotic mortgages were often inappropriate for buyers with bad credit.
--Banks would have been required to increase efforts to verify that buyers actually had jobs and could afford houses.
--Regulators proposed a cap on risky mortgages so a string of defaults wouldn't be crippling.
--Banks that bundled and sold mortgages were told to be sure investors knew exactly what they were buying.
--Regulators urged banks to help buyers make responsible decisions and clearly advise them that interest rates might skyrocket and huge payments might be due sooner than expected.
Those proposals all were stripped from the final rules. None required congressional approval or the president's signature.
"In hindsight, it was spot on," said Jeffrey Brown, a former top official at the Office of Comptroller of the Currency, one of the first agencies to raise concerns about risky lending.
[Read more of this stomach-churning "no duh"] --> More yaddah...Mon, Dec 01 2008
FILE UNDER "NO SHIT, SHERLOCK"
Your hard-working goobermint has squandered trillions of your dollars, put you in the poorhouse and now officially announces what has been in the rearview mirror all year: recession. For those of us looking out the windshield, please note that huge depressionary cliff we are now hurtling over....
Good news, everyone! "The panel said it has no definition of the term "depression.""
US in recession since December 2007: official panel
WASHINGTON (AFP) – The US economy has been in recession since December 2007, a panel of economists charged with the official designation of business cycles said Monday.
The Business Cycle Dating Committee of the National Bureau of Economic Research said it made the determination during a conference call on Friday.
Although a recession is generally defined as two consecutive quarters of declining activity, the panel has its own criteria for determining a downturn.
"A recession is a significant decline in economic activity spread across the economy, lasting more than a few months, normally visible in production, employment, real income and other indicators," the panel said.
"A recession begins when the economy reaches a peak of activity and ends when the economy reaches its trough. Between trough and peak, the economy is in an expansion."
The committee said it "identified December 2007 as the peak month, after determining that the subsequent decline in economic activity was large enough to qualify as a recession."
According to government data, the US economy contracted at a 0.2 percent pace in the fourth quarter of 2007 but grew 0.8 percent in the first quarter and 2.8 percent in the second quarter of 2008. It then contracted 0.5 percent in the third quarter, based on a provisional estimate.
But the gross domestic product (GDP) data may have been skewed by tax rebates that stimulated consumer spending, according to analysts.
The NBER said "we do not identify economic activity solely with real GDP, but use a range of indicators" in determining the onset of recession.
A major factor in determining recession is employment, which has been declining since last December, the panel said.
The NBER makes no forecast on how long a recession will last, but said that in the past they have run from six to 18 months. The panel said it has no definition of the term "depression."
The White House acknowledged the NBER conclusion and said it has been working to foster recovery.
"NBER determines the start and end dates of business cycles, and they've done that," White House spokesman Tony Fratto said.
"But what's important is what is being done about it. The most important things we can do for the economy right now are to return the financial and credit markets to normal, and to continue to make progress in housing, and that's where we'll continue to focus."
All news articles and images provided under the Fair Use Notice.