Filed under: Authoritarian, Civil Liberties, Depression, Economy, Politics, Progressive | Tags: Stupidity, wingnuts
Things are moving incredibly quickly in the economic sector. I wish I had more time to blog.
Wish I had time to locate a heap of linkage to show that the Tax Day Tea Parties are a GOP project to sink the Obama Presidency and revive the old “tax and spend” zombie meme. Instead I’ll just label this entire post opinion, and point out that this website is so transparent that a six-year old should be able to see through the ruse.
Some other thoughts I am having right now.
1. Government spending is neither good nor bad, in and of itself. It is necessary.
2. Just because you label something you don’t like “pork” doesn’t make it so.
3. People who talk about socialism without understanding what socialism is look very ignorant to the rest of us.
4. Free market fundamentalism in the service of elitist kleptocracy is one of the things that got us into this mess. No amount of pedantery aimed at explaining how the excesses of our current political economy have moved us away from “true capitalism” is going to fix the problems we’re dealing with. I don’t think Obama’s done a very good job with the economy up to this point. But the problem isn’t his “interventionism.” His problem is that, in order to stabilize the economy and get back to a sustainable model, we are going to eventually have to temporarily nationalize some finanical institutions fix them, and then put them under responsible ownership, whether anyone likes it or not. If this had been done already and best practices for dealing with failed banks applied, we would be much closer to seeing a real recovery.
5. “Silent Majority” was once a very popular catchphrase among the KKK and their allies. I think it is still something of a racist dogwhistle, even though a lot of young people don’t get that, because they certainly didn’t learn it in history.
6. I don’t like paying taxes. But the people who are saying that taxes are out of control are so out of touch with reality I don’t know how to get through to them. The Bush administration cut a lot of taxes and they didn’t exactly decrease spending. If you want to object to paying taxes, that’s fine. But don’t pretend you’re making a political argument that people ought to take seriously. Just admit you have a personal thing about paying taxes, then move on and try to say something intelligent.
7. Making common cause with people like the Wingnut Daily and Newt Gingrich and Michelle Malkin (who wrote a book defending the internment of Japanese Americans during WWII) doesn’t make you “bipartisan” or independent-minded. It makes you a sucker. You’re never going to get good government this way. These are the same people who were marching in lockstep with the torturers, the war profiteers, the lawyers who eviscerated the Fourth Amendment, and the corporatists less than a year ago.
8. If you think all this talk of “revolution” is harmless, think again. And again.
I think Davenoon’s response to the Tea Party “Manifesto” is entirely appropriate.
The Teabaggers want you to waste your time worrying about “collectivism” and conspiracy theories so you won’t notice that it was their masters and political allies who looted the treasury, broke the economy, shredded the Constitution, and embroiled us in two foreign wars that are bleeding our military to death. But, you know, we’re all free to say and think whatever we want. Lap it right up, if that’s your thing. Don’t forget to stimulate the economy by purchasing some gear before you go.
Just be prepared to accept responsibility for the consequences when they come back to power and keep doing exactly what they’ve been doing for the last 30 years. And if you say one word about “populism” or “groupthink” after this, don’t expect any response other than than the ridicule hypocrites deserve.
We are so screwed by the stupidity of our political discourse. It makes my head hurt.
I am going back to my work on the Alabama PACT now.
Filed under: Blogs, Depression, Economy, music, Politics, Progressive, Suggested Reading
Looks like that excellent bartender, Billmon, is back (and, thankfully, doing his best to help us understand our economic problems).
Filed under: Depression, Economy, music | Tags: Accountability, Banks, Failed Institutions, Obama, TARP
I felt pretty good after the President’s speech last night, but Makeitblue finds a valid reason for concern.
Big news from the treasury today. Wonder if I’ll still feel good after that announcement.
The right way to deal with insolvent banks.
The way we’re likely to deal with insolvent banks.
At some point this weekend while I was buried under mountain of conflicting economic data, trying to figure out whether the country might actually collapse this year, or whether I’m just beeing an obsessive-compulsive manic-depressive n00b, and we’re actually only looking at very hard times, someone advised me to “find a way to be happy.” Excellent advice. This song makes me happy. Wish I could have found a verson with higher-quality sound, but the lighting’s good and Robert Earl sure does look pleased to be there.
Enjoy 
Filed under: Depression, Economy, Personal, Politics, Progressive, wake up, world organization
What Driftglass said.
President Obama had better gain control of the agenda and put the Republicans in their place soon. It is EVEN MORE IMPORTANT that he kneecap those Blue Dogs and their fellow-travelers in the Senate. These people have managed to maintain “respectable” Dem voting records while stabbing the American people in the back on key vote after key vote for way too long. They need to be deprived of their position as the swing caucus, and people need to be disabused of the illusion that they are moderates.
The Republican party is as weak as it’s been in my lifetime. Time to force some folks to get off the goddamnedfence. It’s time for people to choose between more and better Democrats, or an morally bankrupt, Taliban-admiring, regional rump party. This needs to get done. The opportunity may not come again.
People are already using Geithner and Summers to argue that there’s no difference between the two parties. I know this is mind-boggling after the nightmare of the last eight years, but I. Am. Hearing. It. And I can’t say I blame people for thinking that. Those two are awful choices. But that’s not the point.
This is the point. If the Dems don’t get ahead of the curve and manage this situation soon, THE SITUATION WILL MANAGE THEM. That’s just where “bipartisanship” and “centrism” lead, folks. It’s the reason Bush was able to win steal the election in 2000 and govern rule the country as though he’d won with 90 percent of the vote . You can’t appease the most extreme wing of the opposition and expect the average citizen to see a difference between the two parties.
So it’s encouraging to see a few modest signs that the President is going on the offensive. He doesn’t need the entire South to get re-elected. Repeat that to yourself. Repeat it to your friends. He doesn’t need the South to get re-elected.
I know, I know. We may have reached the sort of tipping point that renders all this moot. And a LOT of Dems are looking compromised these days. But I don’t think we’re quite to the point where none of this matters. If I did, I’d be moving the wife, kid, and grandkid to the ancestral homestead and plowing up about 40 acres right now. Instead I’m living in a tiny apartment within walking distance of my job and hoping I’m able to stay employed long enough to improve my circumstances. Like millions of others.
People who predict doom and gloom tend to be early. They tend to overshoot on the negative side. They tend to discount unforeseen possibilities. Back in March, I, myself, was convinced that, by September, the situation would be much more dire than it actually is today.
It’s true that we’re probably entering a period of historic transition. The postwar world order is fucked at this point. More and more frequently, I ask myself “Are we still as superpower? Or, are we just a great power with nuclear weapons?”
It is entirely possible that we could simply slip into this depression and limp along with just enough economic activity for the status quo in the U.S. to hold for years, while the world slips back into something that looks a lot more like the post-Napoleonic balance of power system than a globalized “New World Order.” In which case, this stuff matters a whole lot. If the possibilty of this happening doesn’t appeal to you, and you want to see a change in the status quo, all I can say is that you need to WAKE THE FUCK UP AND GET EVERYONE YOU KNOW INTO THE GODDAMNED STREETS.
Big changes coming. But they’re the sort of changes that might just take decades to occur. History moves at its own pace. The trick is to accelerate positive changes (like renewable energy on a massive scale and SUPERTRAINS) and minimize the negative (like the immoral payment structure of our health care system and ponzi finance).
It’s hard to accept the possibility that we have nothing to look forward to but low wages and robber barons for a generation. But we need to accept it as a distinct possibility. That’s exactly where we’re going unless we find a way to radically alter the paradigm in a hurry. Sadly, I am afraid that such a shift will requires an event of epochal significance. I just hope that event doesn’t turn out to be:
- a huge war,
- a full-blown police state, or
- 10 years of double-digit unemployment and rampant violence.
We certainly seem to be headed for one of those three, or maybe all of them at the same time. It’s goddamned sad that things are so bad a lot of people are viewing a Greater Depression as the least bad alternative.
Take a look at the changes in the distribution of income over the last 15 years in the U.S. and around the world. Look at the work most people are doing to survive. Compare the median income to the median home price. It should only take you a few minutes of digging to conclude that the absurdly wealthy corporatists are going to have to make some concessions to the rest of us one of these days. They’re not going to do that until they get the message that their survival depends on it. Because their own survival is the only thing they care about. Until they start to feel threatened, they will continue to prey on us.
I’m not sure how much longer I can continue to blog about what the Democratic party ought to do. I am beginning think that our country requires more radical solutions than they are capable of comprehending, and that’s a real shame.
BigMedia: You suck!
No Justice = No Peace
Filed under: collapse, Depression, Economy, music, Politics, Progressive, Suggested Reading, wake up
Doing some research and working on a post that builds on these two at Monkeyfister’s. Also, see this conversation on the bond collapse at Correntewire. There are several comments there worth checking out if you’re as puzzled as I am by where the global economic clusterfuck is going to take us.
In the meantime, I hope you enjoy this youtube, because you can never have too much Leonard Cohen.
Filed under: collapse, Depression, Economy, Politics, Progressive, Suggested Reading, U.S. Treasury Bonds, wake up, world organization
Posted a question about the economy for Monkeyfister a while ago, thinking we might compare notes. Boy, did I get a response!
He spent three hours putting it together. If you go read it now, you will be glad you did.
