I’ve said elsewhere I’m ambivalent about Detroit bailout & I remain so.

(…)

I find this unbelievable. Dumping more funny money into our entirely broken financial system, no discussion even of systemic fixes (cutting out diseased parts), yet still people in Fed/Treasury somehow thinking more cash to the brokers (what an apt title for those guys) can jump start a broken economy.

(…)

What are these people thinking? Where’s Obama on this?

FWIW, reason I’m ambivalent: US economy is and has been on such a fast, downward systemic decline that whatever happens w/Detroit is not gon’a matter a whole hell’uva lot given…
a) current US economic “constitution”: it’s broken, it’s broke, & there’s no help on the way.
b) near saturating US citizen ignorance of the situation, not to mention deer-in-the-headlights helplessness of the same.
c) literal vacum of inertia & public ideas about what it’s going to take to get things going in right direction, Obama’s WS generated Treasury guys not-outside-the-box brain farts not withstanding.

The masses here, are in very real sense, asleep… about to get smacked upside the head with 3rd world economic conditions, and entirely unprepared in any meaningful sense.

…

Biden said Saturday economy is in “much worse shape” than they thought. I wonder where he/they have been getting their briefings, ’cause this trajectory’s been clear since (at least) Feb ‘08. With a little digging, writing was on the wall as far back as ‘03. I took Obama’s econ advisers during campaign as indication he’d been keeping well appraised of things these last 2 years. Everything I see from his team to date suggest to me that wasn’t the case.

IRA comments on this here:

Since the last issue of The IRA was published, AIG (NYSE:AIG) discovered another $9 billion or so in unfunded liabilities, apparently linked to credit default swaps. (…)

We’d like to tell you that the US political system has reached a new low, but really we’re reverting back to the pre-WWI norm of chaos and political corruption. For over a century Americans have convinced themselves that economic and political stability are givens no matter how stupid we as a nation act when it comes to matters of money.

That’s why we believe that the new President needs to reconsider the composition of his economic team before the ravages of deflation do even more damage to the economy and public confidence. The future of the US economy stands on the edge of a knife. If the Obama inside circle does not start putting some new, competent faces in positions of authority in the economic team, the global economy could be locked into years of stagflation and US government could be in serious trouble next year, unable to fund itself.

We have to laugh at the thought of those fine public servants at the Fed board in Washington thinking that the reserve banks could issue debt near Treasury yields when other GSEs cannot. How does NY Fed 1s of ‘09 at plus 180bp to the one year sound?

Go read it, ’cause they got it about right. One doesn’t have to have a phd in econ to understand this, nor to see macro data for the year backing up this eventuality. But who’s explaining this to US public?

George Will thinks 94% of Americans working, so things are OK. Jonah Goldberg’s big concern is nationalizing of banking. Victor Hansen thinks we’re smartest country on earth, things going to be just fine. WSJ OpED contributors seem to think requiring school uniforms, issuing more foriegn workers permits, and privatizing schools is what’s needed. On & on it goes…

All I’m seeing in MSM is applause for BO’s “preparation”, appointees and their “experience”, etc. etc. And not much more from BO’s own messaging team, rather just meanignless generalities. I lament the near horror that this insular messaging so resembles Bush’s after 2k election was finalized: “The president believes this”, “The president believes that”, while CATO was staffing every decision/policy making postion w/the Monica Goodlings of the world. Roy Lahood? Oh c’mon (pounds forehead on wall).

Funny, this is same MSM who’ve provided nuth’n but rear view mirror, after the fact knashing of teeth for Enron, mortgage collapse, econ slump, Wall Street fraud of nearly every imaginable flavor, not to mention everything to do w/Iraq, systemic DOJ foibles, RNC WH coordination politicizing US policy while destroying records of same… and of course mis-reporting nearly every major international event relevant to global stability during Bush years. Progressive community… God bless ‘em, in same bucket. KOS is unconcerned w/Obama’s abandonment of “change”, says “let’s wait and see what his policy looks like”. I mean, what the hell… KOS is prospering, right? EARTH TO KOS: BO’s econ policy is pretty Keynesianly clear dude.

Titanic to deck chairs: YOU’RE PART OF THIS BOAT!!! And just in case it’s not clear, every US citizen is on the boat. Yep, you’re onboard folks. There’s no exit, and your ticket is paid for & validated.

I pounded the streets hard for Obama… took a lot of time off to do so. I bought into promise of image he put out there, trusted him… his character, intellect and all the rest. And w/each LaHood like appointment, the worthlessness of my efforts on his behalf is increasingly fortified. A waste of time it was, I think. Utterly.

We’re still stuck in arguing and lamenting situational irrelevancies while continuing to get the shit kicked out of us by ideological & unprincipled rethugs (as in this GM deal) who really don’t give a rip about anything that matters. “Got to protect the taxpayers” they say. Yeah, sure, after xxx years of feeding ‘em arsenic?

Man does not live by Freedom Fries alone.

And just like Enron, just like Iraq failure, just like mortgage collapse and everything else… drip drip drip, public always informed after the fact, and always after every last $$ is gone. Drip drip drip fucking drip.

That all this could occur after the “age of enlightenment”… there’s not enough sand to pound.

In last couple weeks, I haven’t seen a single article in our local “paper of record” on Mitchell Wade/Felipe Sixto/Safavian convictions… all part of same tapestry of cronyism & corruption, on massive scale, that’s landed us in this mess. So how did Safavian get appointed… who in Bush admin made that decision? What were his ties to Abramhoff? How did this direct and consume federal $$ to chosen donors?

Is anyone in visible positions of authority asking any of these questions, much less explaining they may have a eensie-weensie-little affect on how we got to this point? I mean, W’ admin cronies in every single policy position in WH for 8 years. Norquist was up to his ass in Abramoff Indian ripoffs, yet he’s all over Sunday talk saying the same shit he always has… and 99.9% of that audience has no idea he’s involved in all this muck. What’s up with that? Does Obama not want to offend these people maybe…///??? bring us all together?

Message for Barack: I don’t want to be together w/those fuckers. Strip ‘em down to their skivies, take away their media card, & send ‘em up to Denver and let Dobson and his boys lay hands on them or something. Whatever.

And torture: W’s parading around networks explaining it all away… DC politics just didn’t understand him, poor guy. Oh yea, too bad about those intelligence failures that put his folk’s “good reputations” at risk. And Dick thinks “incoming administration” will have to deal w/our little econ burp, but gosh darn it they’ve done all they can.

Biden says of a little legal introspection: “we’ll leave it to incoming AG… let’s go forward!!!”

These guys laying a pile of shit in Obama’s lap w/weight of a led balloon, and he doesn’t want to comment because he only wants to “be part of the solution”?

Sheesh… we’ve got ‘winger pundocracy lamenting emerging “socialism” and resurrecting “liberal media” canard, and Obama sees no reason to explain mechanics of biggest crime spree in the history of civilization?

Everyone knows about Blogo though… “awful”, “disgusting”, blah blah blah. “Yep, that’s what’s wrong with America!!!” And what about that Kennedy woman… she wants Hillary’s seat? Does she deserve it? Will she head us back to another socialistic liberal disaster? Yep, good to see pivotal issues getting the discussion they deserve all right… hashing out everything we need to know. Yah, that Kennedy woman… she really scares me I’ll tell ‘ya.

…

Of course I’m sympathetic to all your GOP proposed abdication of GM’s retirement funding, to “bring ‘em in line” w/subsidized US Jap auto production. But they’ve already done this w/entire US economy… H1-B in tech, almost entire blue collar trades now non-union, with quality of their work down the toilet as consequence. UAW’s is just final dagger.

US retirement funds going up in smoke… hearing a new one almost every week. Largest in country, CALPERS, announced 25% losses for the year this past week: they’re considering premium increase of employee base, not mentioning base is shrinking as fast as national debt is increasing. Talk about a squeeze… and just how can anyone expect these (and 100’s of other similar) obligations to be met w/DOW giving up dividends almost entirely, not to mention Bernacky’s -0-% interest rates?

Not a whole lot of returns going to be coming out of this deep fried rustbucket of an economy, I’ll tell you that folks. MAD MAX/Thunderdome & “free markets” is kind’a melding into a synonymous concept in my mind.

And just what is emerging US economic sector again…??? I forgot. Or maybe we just have to wait a bit for the free market to get it going for us? Roads? We’ve got by far most accumulated, mature hi-tech knowledge base in history, and we’re going to jumpstart this thing w/roads?

TARP… what’s that again? Oh yea, Troubled Asset something or other I think. I really like the spontaneously illuminating vernacular of our $$ supply managers: troubled asset. Maybe if we got those things a little therapy or something, they wouldn’t be so troubled…

Then there’s the RP part, call it the caboose. RP… Relief Program. Does that mean they’re relieving us of our troubles? Or of our assets?

But if the asset has already be relieved of any value, isn’t it beyond troubled???… like dead, comatose… toes up? Wirds, so much fun… and just what do they mean anyway?

…

Instead of taking Hawaii vacation and planning inauguration gala ushering in whatever the hell he’s got in mind, he ought’a be declaring a state on national emergency… rolling up the sleeves, preparing to dissect and cut away all the broken parts, and get some new blood into reconstruction planning ’cause his current guys… every single one of ‘em, is from the system that got us here while advocating most of the mechanisms that made it possible.

Manhattan projects… we need something on that order. FAST!!! Really-fucking-fast.

Progressives (IMO) would do well to abandon their pet issues and start sounding alarms… making deeply principled demands, ’cause we’re the ones who got this guy in there. Devoting some of progressives considerable intellectual heft to considering systemic upheaval and reconstitution in big way might not be a bad idea, ’cause I got news for you: without it, you’re all going to be economically fucked. Bernacky/Paulen pouring every last lb of air into an economic tire w/a hole big enough to drive a HUMMER through.

And speaking of HUMMERs, nice to see GM advertising those things again now that we’ve got cheap gas again (it’s forever, right?). Yep, I’m really inspired seeing those damn things riding up my rear bumper again.

All rich (mostly white) fat cats should be treated equally by congress.

I mean, yeah, the Corvette ZR1 is faster around the Nordschleife by about three seconds, but Nissan is still working on the GT-R Spec-V…

My thinking has become very simplistic of late.

If the Republicans in congress are unhappy, I’m happy.

I can’t think of anything in the last eight years that made them unhappy that was bad for the country.

I agree. Nevertheless, I am sure we could create a pleasure island for them where they could be happy.
What is the minimum number of Potemkin villages and villagers necessary to fool these fools into thinking they are in charge and lording over others?

The island could come with all the thrills including warrantless wiretapping ability, island banks that lose your neighbors’ money, neocon News nonstop, and concern trolls at every street corner.

Two things on the island would be absent however: liberals and an airport.
If any liberal is born into a family on this island (I guess ‘born into a family’ is redundant, because no out-of-wedlock anything will be occurring on this fantasy island), then provisions could be made to secretly rescue him or her. He or she would have to pass several Herculean tests of character and knowledge, of course, in order to weed out the pretenders.

For example:
Give shelter to a ‘homeless’ person (a mainlander undercover will play this roll)
Name 3 mistakes G.W. Bush made during his presidency
Answer correctly “No” to the trick question:
“As an American, do you swear allegiance to the President of the United States over the Constitution of the
United States?”
Work at least one full 40-hour work week–at a job.
Define the word “liar” and use it correctly in a sentence, preferably while watching Fox News alone in a room.

Judd Gregg: “These funds were not authorized by Congress for non-financial companies – except those now disguised like banks – AIG and Goldman Sachs and Hartford Insurance.” Yeah sure – Mr. Hypocrite Gregg