Nicole Belle at C&L:
"As much as I didn’t like the bailout bill that lost on Monday, I do recognize that we must do something. For those screaming, “NO! Let them fail!” that’s all well and good for you, but the ramifications are far-reaching. How many of you own small business that rely on lines of credit to pay employees? Or are you employed by a small business owner who uses LOCs? How many of you have children who need a student loan to go to college? How many want to buy your first home or sell the one you have before it’s foreclosed upon? All of these very common scenarios require loans and lending is at a standstill right now."
Bullshit, Bullshit, and Bullshit. Lending is NOT at a standstill right now. The Sky is NOT Falling.
“We must act and we must act now,” Obama said. “We cannot have another day like yesterday.”
Yawn. Double Fucking Yawn. 777 down yesterday, Up 485 today. Investment bankers and banks lost money. And some people who play the market saw their portfolios take yet another big hit. And some smart players made a shitload. How did yesterday affect YOU? If your portfolio took a hit, don't fucking panic and don't jump on the sell-at-the-bottom bandwagon. Or do, if you like- that's your own decision. I took my own little bit of money (that was in double inverse funds) out of the market because I had the good sense to get the hell out of such volatility. I could have made a killing, but then again, that is only if I timed my exit just right.
The world will not end if more of these banks fail. Other banks, smarter banks, that haven’t played too fast and loose will buy up the failed ones. Other corporations will devour those that go ass up. The world will not end tomorrow if Paulson doesn’t get A NON REVIEWABLE wad of cash that he can dole out to his friends and other bush cronies as he sees fit.
This whole premise is ridiculous. I can’t believe that Nicole and others who should know better, don't. In the past twenty years (not just the Bush years), I have seen this same ploy being foisted on the American public, over and over again. "The Free Market must not be tied by all these rules and regulations!" - Followed by "X bank is too big to fail!" when their scorched earth investment policies turn around to burn their own asses.
This mass failure of banks could very well be the catalyst that the nation needs. Let the myth of free market supremacy die a very horrible and very public death. The morons on the right don’t argue that we should eradicate the police, the fire department, and the highway departments in favor of a “free” system that somehow magically corrects itself. Why do we let these small minded nitwits argue that “free market” is some kind of panacea for healthcare, the economy, and the innumerable Gordon Geckos running wild on Wall street?
Burn their golden parachutes. Let them die. It won’t hurt as much as you think. Hell, it won’t even hurt as much as the billions wasted in Iraq and $5 gallon gas is hurting us right now.
NO BAILOUTS.
Sep 30, 2008
Mo Betta Bailouts
Sep 29, 2008
No Bailout
Time to cut Corporate America's nuts off.
No More Golden Parachutes. Save America. Hang a CEO til he's dead, dead, dead.
Damn the luck. We knew it was coming, and we told em. Too bad all those investors didn't have the balls to hang with those double inverse funds.
Fuck em and feed em fishheads. How's that W sticker working out for ya, Jackass?
"And they never saw the hammer til they hit themselves in the face with it. Twice."
God Bless Wall Street. God Bless Capitalism. God Bless shiny stuff and Blessings from God.
God Save America from Republicans.
But you know what those good ole boys helping themselves to America's wealth say:
GOD HELPS THOSE WHO HELP THEMSELVES.
I do believe it's time to Help the Republican party to the exit.
and why is it so fucking hard to accomplish such a necessity to sanity?
This is Why
Sep 27, 2008
Sep 25, 2008
Better seen than Heard, at least to the McCain campaign
Some thought that David Letterman went a little too far last night in his excoriation of McCain. I personally think Ol' Dave is completely fed up with the Republican party, even "war hero" McCain and went as far as he possibly could in his show to demonstrate just how incompetent this Republican ticket is.
The Vid is at Crooks and Liars. I'll link it later, got to get the girls to school.
UPDATE: The always excellent SadButTrue has the vid and more
I thought it was brilliant, especially the way he framed it. Dave is a master at dealing with the Mainstream semi-buffoon average American audience.
I didn't think Letterman was being sexist, but I could be wrong. I believe Letterman was playing a subtle double point from a different direction- that it's McCain who is being sexist, by not allowing Palin to stand in for him while he goes off to, uh, save Washington- And by the same token, Palin, is not considered "ready" by McCain himself to even run her own portion of the campaign.
The Republican party itself is delegating Palin to a simple symbolic position- that of a Pretty tough woman, in fact the perfect woman for Republicans. One that is seen more than she is heard.
And dealing with the 90% McCain following here in West Texas, I have to tell you- that's all these people want. They Love their Caribou Barbie. They don't need anything more than that simple image. They don't want to know anything more than that. The more she talks about Policy the less they'll like her, Which, incidentally- is exactly the same story with McCain. They've already made their minds up- Republican party over America. They will put focus on Muslim-Black-High Taxes! and ignore everything else on purpose. America, the stupid, is more apparent now than ever before.
Racism trumps Sexism in this case, I'm afraid, or do you think that the Republican party would have put a black man on their ticket to Combat Hillary if she had beat out Obama?
Sitting in the middle of Racist Republican Redneckistan, I don't think so.
Sep 22, 2008
Thought vs. Instinct
(found at Edge, from Gawker.com)
WHAT WE NEED MORE OF IS SCIENCE
SCIENTISTS EXPLAIN WHY PEOPLE VOTE FOR REPUBLICANS
Every election season, commentators trot out the old statistics about how more education makes people more likely to support Democrats, more studies are published on how liberal Daily Show viewers are so well-informed, and various smart people try to explain why anyone would ever vote for a Republican, against their "self-interest." This month has seen three alarming and remarkable scientific investigations into Americans' inexplicable habit of voting for George Bush and John McCain. Which means: trend! Hooray! Let's take a look at what America's top scienticians say about fucking idiot flyover losers and their stupid voting: ...
...Conservatives Have An Entirely Different Moral Code
This should bring you down, a little bit. Jonathan Haidt, a psychologist, wrote a lengthy anthropological investigation into why people vote for Republicans. It's not the Thomas Frank "they are distracted by bullshit" explanation, though it is related: they have different cultural standards of ethics and morality! Liberals and college students define morality as "how we treat each other," conservatives attach more significance to "supporting essential institutions, and living in a sanctified and noble way." Liberals recognize fairness and care as important moral virtues, conservatives add to that loyalty, respect for authority, and duty. The educated moral relativism worldview is fundamentally incompatible with the way like 50% of America thinks, and stereotypes about out-of-touch elitist coastal democrats are basically correct. Sigh.
So What Have We Learned?
Conservatives respond instinctually, not rationally, to scary images, "facts," and institutions. Whether this is innate and biological or cultural seems still up in the air. Democrats can't win with logical arguments or even appeals to the innate rightness of concepts like "diversity" and "tolerance," because those aren't considered essentially good and important by the voters they're trying to appeal to. This does suggest that an appeal to old New Deal institutional concepts like the Welfare State might actually be effective, if they're wrapped in the flag and a sense of duty. Also scientists still consider the majority of Americans to be like a fascinating exotic backwards tribe and the fucking country is doomed.
