Wednesday, April 8, 2009

SAR #9098

In the US, anger has become a form of entertainment.

Deja vu: Some of the maneuvering behind the PPIP is quite reminiscent of the schemes made popular by Enron. The potential hazards here are, clearly, enormous, as are the amounts of money to be stolen. The Administration explicitly rejects the suggestion that the banks are going to end up shamelessly bidding on each others’ assets. But there's already a spiffy market in false noses and fake beards.

Who Knew about the Torture? They all did, all the way up the chain of command to the Commander in Chief. And they are all guilty of crimes against humanity, by omission if not commission.

Visiting Alien: The FDIC is funding 85% of the PPIP give-till-it-hurts program so Geithner and Bernanke won't havaea to ask Congaress for themoney. But not to worry. Sheila Bair, FDIC chairwoman, says, "We project no losses.” And if there are, the Treasury will bail out the FDIC and the taxpayers of some future generation will bail out the Treasury.

Try That Here! A poll showed that nearly half of the Frence would approve of locking up the bosses. I'd like to see the results of that one in the US. Or one about trials for war criminals.

Career Suicide: Harvard law professor Elizabeth Warren, chair of the congressional oversight committee monitoring the government's Troubled Asset Relief Program, said "The very notion that anyone would infuse money into a financially troubled entity without demanding changes in management is preposterous." I think she means you, Timmy.

Lingering: George Soros says the US is in for a "lasting slowdown" and could face a Japanese-style period of low growth with high inflation. There may be some signs of life in the US economy by late 2010, but Soros stresses the "may".

Serenity: Maria D'Antuono, 98, waited 30 hours to be freed from her ruined home after the Italian earthquake. She spent the time knitting.

Slow Learners: A NY Times poll shows that 31 percent of respondents had a favorable view of the Republican Party. It is not surprising that this is the lowest endorsement rating in 25 years. It is dumbfounding that 1 out of 3 people who are allowed to vote think well of the party that brought torture to the country, that eavesdropped on phone and email and internet conversations without warrant or cause, that encouraged the death of a major US city by ignoring the plight of millions of Katrina victims, that instituted an unlawful war based on known lies, and that set American science back by a generation. Why does anyone who can read and write support this bunch?

Foregone Conclusion: General Petraeus's top expert on guerrilla warfare says that Pakistan could collapse within six months. Lord knows we're doing all we can...

Speeding Bullet: The insular US media has kept the US citizenry ignorant of the fact that the world economy is falling much faster than it did in 1929 - 1930. The world economy is plummeting now as it did in the Great Depression, but much faster. As in so much else, the US is not representative or understanding of the experiences of the rest of the world.

Constant Gardner: "Pfizer to Pay £50 Million After Deaths of Nigerian Children in Drug Trial Experiment."

Tiny TALF: To date only $3 billion in asset backed securities have been sold under the TALF program - far less than anticipated. There are lots of buyers for the Fed backed securities, but an absolute dearth of credit card and auto loan seeking customers. No loans, nothing to securitize. Maybe the Fed and Treasury might consider considering the customer in their plans.

More, Always More: Meredith Whitney sees house prices falling another 30% nationally, ending with a 50% drop from peak to trough.

Touch Up: The PPIP is not really elitist, designed only to enrich the rich, just because you have at least $10 billion in order to qualify for the government's free handout. Them that has, gets. Plans are underway to allow two Blacks, a lesbian and 3/5ths of a Latino an opportunity to participate, just to be inclusive.

Porn O'Graph: Location, location, location.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Obama's "plan" of giving Pakistan lots of money to "fight terr'ism" is totally ludicrous given that most of the terrorism in Asia is commissioned in Pakistan, with support from Pakistani intelligence services!

The best outcome is that the Pakistani government merely steals the money for their "retirement" funds, the worst is that it frees up more resources for terrorist outfits.

Good thing that "we" are also allied with Saudi Arabia so we get the opportunity to corner the market in Arab terrorism too ;-p

Anonymous said...

Re: Slow Learners

Um...The Obama administration isn't exactly full of "change" these days. Here is an EFF article about the WH's dismal opinion on warrantless wiretapping:

http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2009/04/obama-doj-worse-than-bush

They even go a bridge further than Bush and express the opinion that the government can NEVER be held accountable for illegal surveillance, under ANY US statue.

Thanks 52%!

Charles Kingsley Michaelson, III said...

Anony: Let's be clear, Harry Truman is pretty well thought of at my house. Ike I'm luke warm on. Mr. Carter seems like a nice guy to have as a neighbor.

The others I've lived under have all disappointed me and so far Obama hasn't zoomed to the top of the charts either.

But "sovereign immunity" is a long established concept - not a good one, just long established. You cannot sue the government without the government's permission. Just as the US kept that concept from the monarchy, this and subsequent presidents will keep, and use, all the power that their predecessors gathered - constitution be damned.
cjn

Anonymous said...

Why does anyone who can READ and WRITE support this bunch? I think you answered your own question.

Anonymous said...

RE: Porn O' Graph

Detroit, a great Liberal experiment that, in the end, leaves the city with only welfare recipients and government workers. Everyone else fled.

RBM

Pickdog said...

"Slow Learners: A NY Times poll shows that 31 percent of respondents had a favorable view of the Republican Party. It is not surprising that this is the lowest endorsement rating in 25 years. It is dumbfounding that 1 out of 3 people who are allowed to vote think well of the party that brought torture to the country, that eavesdropped on phone and email and internet conversations without warrant or cause, that encouraged the death of a major US city by ignoring the plight of millions of Katrina victims, that instituted an unlawful war based on known lies, and that set American science back by a generation. Why does anyone who can read and write support this bunch?"

Seems likme Obamma is "meet the new boss, same as the old boss..I suspect a poll conducted in 2011 will show the same disdain for the Democraps. Maybe a viable 3rd party is in the cards....

Anonymous said...

Regarding Republicans, you vastly underestimate the Republican noise machine: Roger Ailes, Rush Limbaugh, drug addict, and the sway held over American people. I compare Roger Ailes's effectiveness to the Nazi propaganda regime.

Or look at it another way. I've been calling George W Bush and dimwit former US Labor Secretary Elaine Chao 2 of the biggest liars in US history. In the monthly jobs reports, these two morons rarely if ever met the minimum monthly jobs creation target, 100K-130K new jobs created per month, just to absorb new graduates into the US workforce. Elaine Chao's name rarely appeared.

Anonymous said...

31% of the country support republicans because they aren't socialists...I mean democrats.

Frankly I wish one party controlled the whitehouse and the other congress as that would require negotiation.

As it is the dems control everything and all sorts of stupid things are being pushed through. Even Obama supporters have to admit that.

jfwells said...

Slow Learners: A NY Times poll shows that 31 percent of respondents had a favorable view of the Republican Party...

...Why does anyone who can read and write support this bunch?


a significant government study showed a functional illiteracy rate of 21% to 23%.

The other 8% to 10% work on Wall Street.

Charles Kingsley Michaelson, III said...

jfwells - Marvelous. Noted, filed away and to be used as soon as possible.
ckm