SHORTER JOSEPH EPSTEIN: THE ELITE SCHOOLS SUCK...

And they suck because they are liberal. Of course, I can go to one and so can my son, but that's another story altogether. (This could also be titled "SHORTER BILL BENNETT")

REMEMBER THE "OBAMA RECESSION"?

That's what Limbaugh and Hannity were calling the drop in the stock markets until recently. We now have a tremendous rally and you can be sure that neither of them will make much of it.

U.S. Stocks Post Biggest Weekly Gain Since 1974 as Banks Rally
By Lynn Thomasson

Nov. 29 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. stocks staged the biggest weekly rally in more than 30 years after the government agreed to protect Citigroup Inc. from more losses and automakers weighed cutting costs to win federal aid.

The S&P 500 rose 12 percent to 896.24, the steepest weekly gain since 1974. The Dow Jones Industrial Average increased 782.62 points, or 9.7 percent, to 8,829.04. The Russell 2000 Index of small-cap stocks climbed 16 percent to 473.14.

I'D SAY THE CHOICE WAS OBVIOUS...

Charles Krauthammer didn't think this one through. He writes this in the WaPo:

The ruling Democrats have a choice: Rescue this economy to return it to market control. Or use this crisis to seize the commanding heights of the economy for the greater social good.

I don't think America can take any more Wall Street control.

THEY ALSO NEED TO REVISE HISTORY...

The clown at JammieWearingFool writes this garbage:

after 9/11 we had a brief period rallying around the flag and President Bush, but that didn't last very long.

The Gallup poll shows that Bush had an approval rating of at least 60% from 9/11/2001 to February 2003:

THE MOTU ARE LIKE WINGNUTS

They also can't accept responsibilty for the Big Crunch. Robert Rubin and Vikram Pandit of Citigroup both deny that they have any responsibility for the horrendous problems at Citi even though Rubin was on the board as Citi was busy destroying capital and Pandit hasn't seemed to come to terms with the size of the problem.

THEY JUST CAN'T ACCEPT BLAME

The wingnuts refuse to acknowledge that it was their undying belief in the Free Market Fairy and the policies they implemented based on that belief led to the Crunch. Instead of accepting the failure of their simplistic economic ideas, they are blaming others. First it was Phil Gramm calling Americans a nation of "whiners" and now War Whore Hanson says "Get a grip. Much of our current panic is psychological."

THE SURPRISING POPULARITY OF COULTER

This is the second time I've seen one of Hateful Ann's columns appear as "Most Recommended" on Yahoo News and I'm beginning to suspect freeping. Her article is the one about "restless leg syndrome."

ANOTHER LIE FROM THE PIGBOY

In a re-broadcast yesterday, Fats Limbaugh lied to his audience again. In discussing a proposal to move 401(k)s out of the stock market, he said that this would take capital away from companies. In fact, except for IPOs and additional stock offerings, companies make no money from purchases of their stock.

LET'S HOPE THIS NARRATIVE SPREADS

Thomas Friedman writes in the NYT that

...some of our country’s best-paid bankers were overrated dopes who had no idea what they were selling, or greedy cynics who did know and turned a blind eye. But it wasn’t only the bankers. This financial meltdown involved a broad national breakdown in personal responsibility, government regulation and financial ethics.

I especially liked how he spread the blame for the Crunch:

People who had no business buying a home, with nothing down and nothing to pay for two years; people who had no business pushing such mortgages, but made fortunes doing so; people who had no business bundling those loans into securities and selling them to third parties, as if they were AAA bonds, but made fortunes doing so; people who had no business rating those loans as AAA, but made a fortunes doing so; and people who had no business buying those bonds and putting them on their balance sheets so they could earn a little better yield, but made fortunes doing so.

Let's hope this serves as an antidote to the wingnut meme of blaming the Left for the Crunch.

WORRIES DOWN THE ROAD

To deal with the Big Crunch, many countries will begin aggressive deficit spending and I was wondering where the cash was going to come from if almost everyone starts borrowing at the same time. I still wonder but one consequence is clear: interest rates will rise because of the shortage of capital caused by the financial engineering of the MOTU. (h/t Atrios)

Calculated Risk shares these words from Nouriel Roubini:

The Treasury will be issuing in the next two years about $2 trillion of additional debt ... These policies – however partially necessary – will eventually leads to much higher real interest rates on the public debt and weaken the US dollar once this tsunami of implicit and explicit public liabilities and monetary debt driven by rising twin fiscal and current account deficits will hit a world where the global supply of savings is shrinking – as most countries moves to fiscal deficits thus reducing global savings – and foreign investors start to ponder the long term sustainability of the US domestic and external liabilities.

DOBSON EXCOMMUNICATES PARKER

Kathleen Parker wrote an op-ed column for the WaPo in which she urged the GOP to dump the Fundies. Mullah Dobson was outraged and decided she deserved the ultimate punishment:

Whatever she once was, Ms. Parker is certainly not a conservative anymore...

ANOTHER CONFIRMATION OF NEIWERT'S LAW

David Neiwert wrote some time ago that conservatives blame EVERYTHING on liberals and that has been proven correct many times. The latest instance is the claim by Grover Norquist that the decline in the stock markets is due to the fact that the Democrats took control of Congress in 2006. Here's a graph that proves Grover is wrong again:



The internal horizontal vertical line on the left is roughly November 2006 and the line to the right of it is roughly November 2007. As you can see, all 3 major U.S. markets, the Dow Jones, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq, increased in the year after the Democrats won.

Grover said this on a CNBC show and the real question is why he's invited on any show that's not part of FAUX News.

ANOTHER FINANCIAL COMPANY SEES THE LIGHT

With the addition of AIG, that makes at least 4 firms that were involved in the Big ShitPile have decided to forego obscene executive pay or bonuses.

AIG says no 2008 bonus for top execs
Tue Nov 25, 2008 1:17pm EST
By Lilla Zuill

NEW YORK (Reuters) - American International Group Inc Chief Executive Edward Liddy will receive $1 in salary this year and next, and there will be no 2008 bonuses for the company's seven most senior executives, the troubled insurance conglomerate said on Tuesday.

Fifty more AIG executives will be locked out of pay raises in 2009, AIG said in a statement.

ONCE AGAIN I ASK, "WHICH PARTY IS BETTER FOR THE MILITARY?"

Despite an enormous amount of evidence (some examples) that the criminal Bush regime doesn't care all that much for our troops, the meme that the GOP is somehow better for the military and national security is still alive. Here's a little more evidence:

Injured veterans engaged in new combat

In a little-noticed regulation change, the Pentagon's definition of combat-related disabilities is narrowed, costing some wounded veterans thousands of dollars in lost benefits.
By David Zucchino
November 25, 2008

Kerry Baker, associate legislative director of Disabled American Veterans, has accused the Pentagon of narrowing the definition of combat-related disabilities to save money. He said the change would reduce payments for tens of thousands of veterans -- those already wounded and those injured in the future.

"This is going to hurt a lot of people," Baker said. "It's one of those things that when you first look at it, you think: 'Wow. How can this be?' "

In a letter to members of Congress, the Disabled American Veterans accused the Pentagon of "mutilating" the statutory definitions of combat-related disabilities as part of a "deliberate manipulation of the law."

Even the pro-war milblog BLACKFIVE thinks this is a disgrace and points to one of the culprits, Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel, David Chu. Chu has been working for GOP presidents since Reagan and can't be considered just another poor choice by Pres. Fredo because Chu is part of the GOP's national security establishment.

DIFFERENT MORALITIES

Conservatives seem to think that we really don't need to do much about the poor and that's reflected in their policy decisions.

From Atrios:

Chyron

CNN:


PAULSON: "NOTHING IS MORE IMPORTANT" THAN KEEPING BANKS SAFE

From TIME Magazine:

Left Out of the Bailout: The Poor
By Mark Kukis Tuesday, Nov. 25, 2008

"Recent data show poverty is already rising quite substantially," says Robert Greenstein, executive director of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. "There is a strong potential for more hardship and destitution than we have seen in this country in a number of decades."

STUCK ON STUPID

Stephen Moore, formerly of the Club for Growth and now on the editorial board of the Wall Street Journal, was on Slots Bennett's show and pushing the same old supply-side crap coupled with another Free Market Fairy fantasy, the Flat Tax. His latest book, "Bullish on Bush: How the Ownership Society Is Making America Richer," co-written with nutbag Larry Kudlow in 2004, is now just more evidence of wingnut delusion.

LIKE THE WAR CRIMINALS, THE MOTU WILL WALK

Let's start off with the KEY point the Big ShitPile should've made on every sentient American: THE FREE MARKET FAIRY IS A MYTH! This point should guide EVERY decision made about how to get out of this mess and I would like to see truly MASSIVE cultural changes on Wall Street. The bailout of Citigroup DOES NOT come close to fulfilling this requirement and like the was criminals in the Bush Administration, the economic criminals on Wall Street will get away with their crimes.

THEY DON'T GET HOW FUNNY THEY ARE

(h/t John Cole)

The American Family Association is a Religious Wacko group and is rabidly anti-gay. Apparently a town Arkansas has become gay-friendly and that has AFA seeing teh apocalypse:

Eureka Springs is becoming the San Francisco of Arkansas

AN INDIRECT MEASURE OF THE U.S. ECONOMY

The number of people who are selling blood plasma is skyrocketing.

In weak economy, plasma centers pulsate with donors seeking dollars
Donations that reap $20 to $45 may hit 16 million this year, up from 10 million in 2005, industry group says
By Robert Mitchum Tribune reporter
November 19, 2008

An industry group said total donations may hit 16 million this year, up from 10 million donations just three years earlier. At the Waukegan center, manager Rhonda Johnson said this fall was among the busiest seasons she's observed, with more first-time donors joining the twice-a-week regulars.

Each liter of plasma can be worth as much as $200 before the manufacturing process and as much as $500 after, analysts said. About two-thirds of a liter of plasma is taken on each visit, depending on the donor's weight.

Last year, U.S. plasma centers collected nearly 15 million liters, which pharmaceutical companies process into drugs that are used to treat diseases such as hemophilia, immunodeficiency syndromes, and burn and shock victims.

YOU CAN'T BE A WINGNUT ALL THE TIME (maybe)

Neil Cavuto played Friend of the Free Market Fairy to Ben Stein's Realist (!) in this clip from Crooks & Liars:



On other issues, Stein is a certified lunatic but if even he can grasp that that there is no such thing as the Free Market Fairy, there's hope for all of us.

CAPITALIST PIGS UPDATE

The filthy rich who tried to hide income with UBS accounts are now starting to make deals with the IRS in order to avoid criminal charges. Let's hope something similar happens with the people behind the Big ShitPile.

UBS Clients Seek Amnesty on U.S. Taxes
By CARRICK MOLLENKAMP in Zurich and EVAN PEREZ in Washington, D.C.
NOVEMBER 24, 2008
Wall Street Journal

Wealthy clients of Swiss bank UBS AG are coming forward to make amends with tax authorities, a sign U.S. efforts to battle offshore tax evasion and dent Switzerland's bank secrecy are having the desired effect.

The clients' actions are a boon for the IRS, which lacks the staff to go after about 20,000 U.S. citizens who U.S. authorities say worked with UBS private bankers to avoid taxes.

HERE'S THE REAL PROBLEM...

(h/t Calculated Risk)

The MOTU get to keep their money and their jobs. This won't do anything to change the culure of corruption on Wall Street and that's what's really needed NOW.

U.S. Agrees to Citigroup Bailout
Billions in Toxic Assets May Be Removed; New Phase for Government Bank Rescue
By DAVID ENRICH, CARRICK MOLLENKAMP, MATTHIAS RIEKER, DAMIAN PALETTA and JON HILSENRATH
Wall Street Journal
NOVEMBER 24, 2008

The government is not expected to require any management changes, as that was seen as potentially being too destabilizing.

REMEMBER "THE FIRST MBA PRESIDENT"?

The Press wasted a lot of ink praising Fredo for his management skills despite having no clue about how badly the WH was being run. Perrspectives found this 2002 column in USA Today and it provides a good sample of how the Villagers thought about Bush:

Few Democrats have faced up to the reality that Bush and his fellow Republicans know how to manage the government. Stephen Hess, a scholar of the presidency at the Brookings Institution, says, "This is the best-run White House since Eisenhower." As Hess notes in a new edition of his book Organizing the Presidency, Bush "imposed his own ideas about running an executive office by making structural changes reflecting his priorities, goals and general approach to governing."

EVEN MORE HIDDEN STUFF

It's hard to "restore confidence in the markets" when major players are allowed to keep a LOT of stuff OFF THEIR BOOKS. BTW, how did the WSJ find out and why didn't the NYT or Bloomberg?

Bailout Talks Accelerate for Ailing Citigroup
Billions in Toxic Assets May Be Removed; New Phase for Government Bank Rescue
NOVEMBER 24, 2008
By DAVID ENRICH, CARRICK MOLLENKAMP and MATTHIAS RIEKER
Wall Street Journal

In addition to $2 trillion in assets it has on its balance sheet, it has another $1.23 trillion in entities that aren't reflected there. Some of those assets are tied to mortgages, and investors have worried they could cause heavy losses if they are brought back on the company's books.

SOMETHING ELSE BOR DIDN'T KNOW

Like a lot of other wingnut gasbags, Bill O'Reilly has been raising the alarm about the supposed return of the Fairness Doctine. As usual, he has his facts wrong. He thinks it would apply to CABLE stations but the original doctrine only applied to stations broadcast over the publica airwaves. The HuffPo has the video clip and here's a screen capture of BOR's reaction as War Whore Laura Ingraham lets him in on the facts:


Here's the transcript from LexisNexis:

O'REILLY: I think the questions can be asked. But look, the money involved now in the media, it's all about money in Washington. And you know that. I mean, you've been there long enough. If you're going to have the Fairness Doctrine, that means MSNBC goes right off the air.

INGRAHAM: No, it doesn't.

O'REILLY: The whole prime time lineup goes down the.

INGRAHAM: No, it doesn't.

O'REILLY: .right down the drain.

INGRAHAM: I mean, it doesn't. No, the Fairness Doctrine doesn't apply to cable. It applies only to public airways, which by law includes the broadcast airwaves of radio and network television. It would not apply to cable television. That would have to be some new type of legislation. And I can't imagine that would pass First Amendment scrutiny.

BOB BRINKER UNLOADS ON THE FREE MARKET FAIRY

I can't write that he went on a rant because that's not his style but today the host of the popular investing show Money Talk pointedly said that the Free Marketeers were dead wrong. Will Limbaugh and Hannity attack him?

YES, IT IS LIKE THE GREAT DEPRESSION

Daniel Gross of SLATE argues that this isn't at all like the Great Depression and Paul Krugman provides a perfect counter-argument:

RADIO TIDBITS

Bob Brinker, the host of the popular financial show Money Talk, today lit into Sec. Paulson for pulling a bait and switch on TARP and also accused top management of Big Auto for screwing up for decades. I've listened to his show off and on for several years and I'd say his audience was predominately middle-class Americans without any obvious political bent that I can detect, so it's safe to say that they are mainstream and these remarks by Brinker provide a clear alternative to the economic rubbish pushed by wingnuts like Hannity and Limbaugh.

On the other hand, FAUX News "political analyst" Tammy Bruce is still crazy. On Friday, she once again called Obama a Marxist despite the enormous evidence that he's moderate.