The mind boggles…
…on every conceivable level this morning.
Item: The bailout of Detroit went down in flames last night, but not because principled lawmakers devoted to the free market thought that management of the automakers should pass from weak hands into stronger hands via bankruptcy, as the Framers of the Constitution provided for.
No, it appears the Republican holdouts were more than happy to fork over the $14 billion, but only if the United Auto Workers agreed to wage cuts on the GOP’s timetable. In other words, the modern Republican party believes it’s government’s place to micromanage wages. (And let the record show the instigator of this scheme, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, was all for the bailout of the financial sector that Jim Rogers has declared bankrupt.)
Item: Laid-off workers at a company smash windows and computer gear. Workers at another company travel hundreds of miles to company headquarters to demand back wages. Taxi drivers fight with police in several cities, and even the cops gather as mobs to demand higher wages.
United States 2010? No, China 2008.
Item: Congresscritter submits a bill demanding the Fed, among other things, restore the M3 money supply figure it stopped reporting nearly three years ago. The congresscritter is… Dennis Kucinich?
OK, here’s something I can actually wrap my head around. The Federal Reserve just gave Bloomberg a big ol’ middle finger in response to Bloomberg’s Freedom of Information suit demanding to know who’s getting those $2 trillion in emergency loans, and what they’re putting up for collateral.
The Fed responded Dec. 8, saying it’s allowed to withhold internal memos as well as information about trade secrets and commercial information. The institution confirmed that a records search found 231 pages of documents pertaining to some of the requests.
Incredibly, this longish story never gets around to saying what the next step in the legal process is. So yes, I guess my mind boggles at that too.
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Republocrats. Sigh!
Comment on December 13, 2008 @ 1:03 am
Is all this several trillion dollars of bailout money given out as loans, that have to be returned back to the Fed ultimately?
Comment on December 13, 2008 @ 11:06 am
Its so nice to know that one of the few crusaders for the lost art of fiscal prudence is Dennis Kucinich. This probably means that any notion of fiscal prudence on the part of our Congressional Satraps of the Low Fat Ottoman Empire is about as likely as ….well….its about as likely as finding our soon-to-be-retired President reading the Federalist Papers.
Comment on December 13, 2008 @ 1:36 pm
Bush said he was sorry…
I believe the quote was, “Fiscal crisis? Sorry bout that! My bad!”
Comment on December 13, 2008 @ 3:07 pm
Comment 4. David - what does ‘My bad!’ mean.
From an Australian who can’t understand American grammar!
Comment on December 14, 2008 @ 11:24 pm
The solution is simple - its already written up and approved - for over 200 years now - gold & silver as the only money - in the U.S. Constitution.
Case closed.
Comment on December 15, 2008 @ 8:47 am
maybe gold and silver are the next bubble. However, “accidental high yielders” are always a good bet in terms of stocks. Don’t get carried away with this gloom and doom stuff. This is when contrarians weigh in and make their fortunes. No risk, no gain.
by the way we are doomed…..DOOOOOMED!!!!
Comment on December 15, 2008 @ 11:43 am
If we actually went back to a metal based monetary system, it would not be a good thing. If the fiat system doesn’t succeed the transition would dwarf anything you all have imagined so far. We really would be back in the middle ages carrying around little bags of gold Foreign trade, banks, everything would be in ruins. You really don’t want to go back to gold, because civilization wouldn’t survive it.
Comment on December 15, 2008 @ 11:46 am