We’ve had Progress!

Now we have to Hope for Change!

I am So Worried!

And I am sure it is too true!

Krugman on Rose

I love this guy!

McCain: Another Desperado

Haven’t we seen this movie before? Why would anyone want to replay it?

Two of a Kind

A not so funny bit of humor!

His Family’s Child!

Obama does look remarkably like his white Grandfather. And remarkably many people did the right thing back in the day. I know many who did and many who didn’t!

How lucky was Barack Obama?

h/t Atrios

Levi Stubbs

R.I.P.

1936 - 2008

Memories from the Sugar Shack!

No Shit!

The Onion is once again far more reality-based than most “responsible” media. This is funny and frightenedly not funny at the same time!

Recession-Plagued Nation Demands New Bubble To Invest In

July 14, 2008 | Issue 44•29

WASHINGTON—A panel of top business leaders testified before Congress about the worsening recession Monday, demanding the government provide Americans with a new irresponsible and largely illusory economic bubble in which to invest.

"What America needs right now is not more talk and long-term strategy, but a concrete way to create more imaginary wealth in the very immediate future," said Thomas Jenkins, CFO of the Boston-area Jenkins Financial Group, a bubble-based investment firm. "We are in a crisis, and that crisis demands an unviable short-term solution."

The current economic woes, brought on by the collapse of the so-called "housing bubble," are considered the worst to hit investors since the equally untenable dot-com bubble burst in 2001. According to investment experts, now that the option of making millions of dollars in a short time with imaginary profits from bad real-estate deals has disappeared, the need for another spontaneous make-believe source of wealth has never been more urgent.

"Perhaps the new bubble could have something to do with watching movies on cell phones," said investment banker Greg Carlisle of the New York firm Carlisle, Shaloe & Graves. "Or, say, medicine, or shipping. Or clouds. The manner of bubble isn't important—just as long as it creates a hugely overvalued market based on nothing more than whimsical fantasy and saddled with the potential for a long-term accrual of debts that will never be paid back, thereby unleashing a ripple effect that will take nearly a decade to correct."

"The U.S. economy cannot survive on sound investments alone," Carlisle added.

Congress is currently considering an emergency economic-stimulus measure, tentatively called the Bubble Act, which would order the Federal Reserve to† begin encouraging massive private investment in some fantastical financial scheme in order to get the nation's false economy back on track.

Current bubbles being considered include the handheld electronics bubble, the undersea-mining-rights bubble, and the decorative office-plant bubble. Additional options include speculative trading in fairy dust—which lobbyists point out has the advantage of being an entirely imaginary commodity to begin with—and a bubble based around a hypothetical, to-be-determined product called "widgets."

The most support thus far has gone toward the so-called paper bubble. In this appealing scenario, various privately issued pieces of paper, backed by government tax incentives but entirely worthless, would temporarily be given grossly inflated artificial values and sold to unsuspecting stockholders by greedy and unscrupulous entrepreneurs.

"Little pieces of paper are the next big thing," speculator Joanna Nadir, of Falls Church, VA said. "Just keep telling yourself that. If enough people can be talked into thinking it's legitimate, it will become temporarily true."

Demand for a new investment bubble began months ago, when the subprime mortgage bubble burst and left the business world without a suitable source of pretend income. But as more and more time has passed with no substitute bubble forthcoming, investors have begun to fear that the worst-case scenario—an outcome known among economists as "real-world repercussions"—may be inevitable.

"Every American family deserves a false sense of security," said Chris Reppto, a risk analyst for Citigroup in New York. "Once we have a bubble to provide a fragile foundation, we can begin building pyramid scheme on top of pyramid scheme, and before we know it, the financial situation will return to normal."

Despite the overwhelming support for a new bubble among investors, some in Washington are critical of the idea, calling continued reliance on bubble-based economics a mistake. Regardless of the outcome of this week's congressional hearings, however, one thing will remain certain: The calls for a new bubble are only going to get louder.

"America needs another bubble," said Chicago investor Bob Taiken. "At this point, bubbles are the only thing keeping us afloat."

As usual fiction is more reality-based than non-fiction.

Colin Powell Does the Right Thing!

Finally, he has endorsed Barack Obama. As my sister said, “Should we thank Alma?”

I am a Swing Fan!

Thanks Jill and Melina!

The Shrill One: Nobel Laureate

Congratulations to the Professor. Maybe now Mr. Paulson will do as he says.

Here is Dave Johnson's take.

Fear and Loathing!

Americans and the World are full of fear and loathing as to the economic situation and collapse that all these years of Republican Economic Policies have brought us.

And who can blame them. And Ben Stein is now in the Loathing Camp.

Et tu, Ben?

Pearlstein: Stop Digging!

The Master of the Universe, Mr. Paulson, needs to listen to the smart guys not the ideologues. I like Steven Pearlstein and though I don’t always agree with him, I do pay attention to what he has to say:

Remember the Rule of Holes: When you find yourself in one, the first thing to do is to stop digging.

Amen!

Lynch Mobs?

What exactly did “they” think was going to happen when “they” insinuated that Barack Hussein Obama is a terrorist? This is the U.S. of A. after all.

Naomi Wolfe on Liberty and its Loss!

How bad can it get? Connect the dots!

I have been thinking along these lines for a long time, both with and without my aluminum foil hat wrapped really, really, tight. She is right “people will and do follow orders.” Some however don’t!

She is wrong as to when the coup took place, however. It was December 12, 2000. That was when the U.S. Supreme Court announced the end of the “Rule of Law” in Bush v. Gore.

Rachel with Krugman: Recovery?

Feeling better?

Andros on the Debate

I am late on this post but Andros is such an optimist. I love it. And I always hope that he is right. We will see what happens in the second one. I am of the opinion that if Obama isn’t up by about 20 points he is in trouble (Bradley/Wilder Effect) and I despair. You can see why I need this constant optimism that Andros supplies.

One Sarah to another Sarah!

Sometime a song is what you need. Go Sarah S.

Sarah Palin: SCOTUS One Case You Should know about!

It would seem to me that a governor of a state would be really invested and interested in the issues and legal cases that effect their state. Apparently Sarah Palin is so disinterested, not just in Foreign policy and Domestic policy of the lower 48, she is also completely disinterested in what effects her constituents in Alaska.

The SCOTUS opinion on the Exxon Valdez litigation which effects the coastal communities of Alaska would have been something she would have noticed and when queried by Katie Couric about Supreme Court Decisions she disagreed with besides Roe v. Wade she was unable to name another case.

I would think that she probably should have felt the import and remembered this case. But maybe she will get back to Katie about this!

Or, how soon we forget:

Maybe as one who has impaired memory, as I am, she should just admit it, but that said I don’t live in Alaska, I live in the the lower 48 so I would have immediately said Bush v. Gore. But also no one writes my talking points. And I am not trying to sell anything.

But then I am a news junkie. What do I know?