and the Band Played On

So the so-called conservatives are having their so-called freedom event with so-called commentators and news anchors from so-called news stations. It’s all a side show to the real problems of the country. It’s easy to misplace anger in an environment where misinformants rule the airwaves.

So, let me show you where the real theft is happening, in case you may have missed it.

First, the FDIC released yet another move towards creating a financial banking cartel. Another one bites the dust.

Corus Bank, National Association, Chicago, Illinois, was closed today by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, which appointed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) as receiver. To protect the depositors, the FDIC entered into a purchase and assumption agreement with MB Financial Bank, National Association, Chicago, Illinois, to assume all of the deposits of Corus Bank, N.A.

But you know there’s really nothing to see here at the NY Times: A Year After a Cataclysm, Little Change on Wall St. Much more important to focus on creeping socialism and taking our government back from imagined enemies.

One year after the collapse of Lehman Brothers, the surprise is not how much has changed in the financial industry, but how little.

Backstopped by huge federal guarantees, the biggest banks have restructured only around the edges. Employment in the industry has fallen just 8 percent since last September. Only a handful of big hedge funds have closed. Pay is already returning to precrash levels, topped by the 30,000 employees of Goldman Sachs, who are on track to earn an average of $700,000 this year. Nor are major pay cuts likely, according to a report last week from J.P. Morgan Securities. Executives at most big banks have kept their jobs. Financial stocks have soared since their winter lows.

No nothing to see here. Wait, a minute. Maybe we should listen to people with some expertise instead of Glenn Beck or Rush Limbaugh who couldn’t even get one college degree or a freshman’s worth of credits between them . Maybe we shouldn’t focus on sycophants like Chris Matthews or Keith Olbermann who just want to hear themselves talk and hump each others legs until they tingle.

In fact, though, regulators and lawmakers have spent most of the last year trying to save the financial industry, rather than transform it. In the short run, their efforts have succeeded. Citigroup and other wounded banks have avoided bankruptcy, and the economy has sidestepped a depression. But the same investors and economists who predicted, and in some cases profited from, the collapse last fall say the rescue has come at an extraordinary cost. They warn that if the industry’s systemic risks are not addressed, they could cause an even bigger crisis — in years, not decades. Next time, they say, the credit of the United States government may be at risk.

Yup, what have we been talking about here for month after month after month, while we get named called every imaginable insult from one end of the political spectrum to another. I must defy definition if one day I can be called a racist republican ratfucker then be called a greenie and a leftie the next.

Oh, meanwhile …

SCOTUS Reviews “Hillary” the Movie

{  Physical and Mental Health Warning!!! Watch right wing hate CDS youtubes at your own risk!!!}

Okay, here’s another constitutional question about which I am no authority but sure find interesting. Here’s the link to the NYT and Adam Liptak’s article today called “Supreme Court to Revisit ‘Hillary’ Documentary”. It’s high drama for the court because this basically pits first amendment rights against campaign funding. It’s also pitting interest groups that are usually allies against each other and has made strange bedfellows of the NRA and the ACLU. If the Supreme Court could actually pick away at how Corporations fund political campaigns this day and age I would be relieved, but of course not if it violates the First Amendment. So SCOTUS has to determine the fate of the baby and they’re coming back from their summer vacation early to do so. We also have some increased drama in that the court itself since it as polarized as the country itself and definitely the interest groups that are involved in providing huge campaign donations. I’m intrigued.

Do NOT Buy A Used Health Care Program from This Man!

I’m going to bring out some information I put out on Bobby Jindal in December of last year so you’ll know exactly how little to pay attention to this man. Jindal is obviously positioning himself for a run at national office which doesn’t surprise me at all, because the guy’s been a bigger job hopper than our current POTUS. It’s evident that anything to be learned from any of those short-lived jobs is lost on him because he never puts facts, people, or effectiveness before ideology. He’s a faith-based ideologue. He’s totally convinced of the ‘rightness’ of his view regardless of what the facts are on the ground. Contrary to his insistence that Louisiana is improving when it isn’t, and contrary to his insistent that he’s cut state bureaucracy when the payrolls have gone up, he’s still just a man that never lets facts get in the way of a good dogmatic speech opportunity. I don’t think the man exactly lies, he just appears to be totally delusional.

I’ve written two things on him. One being his insistence that the state of Louisiana is all hunky dory just cause he’s in office. It’s not, our unemployment statistics are moving up now like the rest of the country because the FEMA and Federal Hurricane monies that were stimulating our economies are running out. We’re getting our dose of recession and it’s not going to improve for us any time soon. Of course, it goes against his ideology to suggest that government funding may have actually helped our state, so he just prefers to take all the credit himself.

He also has been insisting he’s passed these tough ethic laws, which is true, but he conveniently forgets to mention he’s exempted the governor’s office. Ask Jindal about those tickets to see Miley Cyrus at the SuperDome if you’re a reporter and you get a chance.

Governor Bobby Jindal, in the midst of Day 4 of a special session on ethics, is having to deal with a controversy surrounding Disney sensation, Hannah Montana. 9NEWS has learned that Governor Jindal’s chief of staff and several state legislators were able to get tickets for free. WAFB’s Jim Shannon has the story.

Much has been said down at the legislature about free tickets and lavish meals for lawmakers and appointed state employees. Granted, all of that talk is for future legislation. However, the governor’s office is not ignoring the perks that come with being governor. Governor Bobby Jindal’s special session on ethics is moving through the legislature on a fast pace. Amid cries of no more fat cat meals or tickets to sporting events and concerts, the governor is dealing with a ticket controversy within his own office.

A Deadly Unwind

My dad was a small town Ford dealer (Council Bluffs, IA). Dad was fortunate enough to have a very rich mentor that put him into the dealer development program when I wasn’t even walking and so we moved to what I still believe is the middle of no where and put down roots. I don’t know if you’ve got much experience in a small town, but the local car dealers are actually pretty big businesses for them. My dad headed up blood drives and the United Way. He belonged to the Chamber of Commerce. When Dad was younger he volunteered for everything. As he got older, he wrote a lot of checks. He helped my Mom establish a Victorian house museum that still is world-renown. He always bought tons of tickets to the college world series to hand out to every one who walked in the door. He sponsored little league teams and bought advertising in the local newspapers and TV stations. His 50-100 employees were with dad for as long as I can remember. Not only the mechanics and the office folks stayed with Dad, but also the car salesmen. They were my family too. When dad retired in the 1980s after surviving those horrible energy crisis years, I came to look back on how central the car business is to small town America. Actually, Dad also sold a lot of trucks because we lived in farm country.

I’m thinking more and more about this as well as having a lot of discussions with Dad on the unwinding of the great American car companies. In a way, it feels like the unwinding of small America cities and a way of living. Chrysler and GM are dumping dealers all over the country. Most of the surviving dealerships are not going to look like the way dealerships developed when cars and the car industry were the most American of all business. I’m sure it’s going to be much more efficient and I am certain that each of the US automakers over franchised, but still, there is something about a small town car dealership that is not going to be replaceable. In many towns, it is one of the biggest employers and also a huge source of charitable donations.

It is odd that the first two articles that grabbed me this morning as I drunk my coffee were two contrasting views on the wind down of Chrysler. The first one was all about the finance and the bankruptcy and is on Salon. It’s called “Who is Screwing with the bankruptcy laws”. The second was on the front page of the business section of the NY Times. It goes to directly to the heart of the dealer closings and is entitled “Chrysler Francisees Make Case Against Closure”. Both show exactly how ugly the Chrysler bankruptcy  has become.

Nobody Knows You When You’re Down and Out

The military patrols in front of my house after Hurricane Katrina: Hummers, guns, and soldiers

I moved to New Orleans sight unseen about 14 years ago.  It’s a city with much charm and beauty, tons of eccentricities and eccentrics, and it’s own brand of food, architecture and music that make you feel like you’re not quite in the US.   For as much culture shock as I experienced when I first moved down here from cold, efficient, clean, crime free,  marvelously developed and governed Minneapolis, I’ve learned to love my quirky home.  I really don’t feel right when I go other places these days.  It always feels like something is missing.   I come back again to New Orleans own brand of wonderful food which rivals its music and architecture for my love and adoration.  All of them are cheap, readily available, and wonderful.  For those of us that live here, those cultural things completely outweigh the lack of amenities and civilities found around the rest of the country.

Hurricane Katrina changed some things.  I was hoping that the aftermath would bring the best parts of this city to light so that we would be appreciated as the National Treasure that is New Orleans.  It seems folks were fascinated with us for awhile, but there’s always a new thing to distract our fickle media and citizenry.  For every celebrity and charity that is still hanging in here with our painfully slow recovery, there is now the old refrain that there is something ‘not quite right’ with us.

The first thing I would like to do is to ask Time Magazine if this headline is really necessary?  Is Baghdad Now Safer Than New Orleans? The article uses murder statistics around the world to compare to the level of violence experienced in Baghdad.  Even this quote shows the reach to meet the comparison.  It further dismisses the roots of our problems which are related to our huge problems with black-on-black crime associated with drug use, poor education systems, and basic lack of opportunity for inner city teenagers.  How do the problems of a largely ignored, poorly run and funded US city compare on any level with a city in a developing nation that we invaded only to unleash a set of bloody tribal wars?

Let’s go to the numbers: Caracas, with about 3.2 million people, is in a bloody league of its own, with an estimated murder rate of 130 per 100,000 residents according to government figures. Cape Town is about the same size as Caracas but nearer to Baghdad’s murder rate with 62 violent deaths per 100,000 people. New Orleans, with an estimated post-Katrina population of just over 300,000, is tiny in size compared to its rivals. But the number of murders is huge; figures vary, but even the low estimate puts the city on a par with Cape Town. By way of comparison, Moscow, one of the most violent cities in Europe, has an estimated murder rate of just 9.6 per 100,000 residents. New York City’s murder rate is 6.2, Washington D.C.’s about 32.

Today, the NY Times had a feature article on our goofball mayor, Ray Nagin who may have just achieved the lowest approval rating of all times, any where. Here’s the article: Term Limits Say New Orleans Mayor Can’t Return; Residents Say They Don’t Mind.

In a recent poll by the University of New Orleans, Mr. Nagin was cited as one of the “biggest problems” for the city, coming in third after crime and education. Just 24 percent of residents over all said they approved of the mayor, a drop from 31 percent the year before.

“It’s the worst approval rating we’ve reported since 1986,” when the poll was first conducted, said Robert T. Sims, the director of the university’s survey research center.

Among African-Americans, support dropped to 36 percent from about half of those polled last year. Among whites, who constituted much of Mr. Nagin’s voting base in his first election, the approval rating was 5 percent. (The survey’s margin of sampling error for whites was plus or minus five percentage points.)

Edward F. Renwick, a retired professor of political science at Loyola University and a pollster himself, said he found that figure surprising. “I have hardly ever seen 5 percent,” Dr. Renwick said. On the other hand, he added, “I have never met a white person who doesn’t hate him.”

That sentiment can be seen in a $2 bumper sticker that has become popular in the city’s souvenir shops. In vivid Mardi Gras colors, it says: “May 31, 2010: Nagin’s Last Day. Proud to See Him Gone.”

Punch Drunk on Tax Funded Bailouts

While the Right Wing is off having tea parties and screaming class war, there appears to be some legitimate soul searching going on  in left Blogistan about our “punch drunk” POTUS and his continual campaign like appearances.  A lot of the discussion is focused on his dogged support of Turbo Tax Timmy and his bailout of the Suckers who created this bad economy for the rest of us.  We’ve been overwhelmed with “heckuva-job-Timmy moments and distasteful ‘gallows humor’.  When is enough enough?

Meanwhile, those of us that can’t avoid our jobs by taking a permanent vacation in TVLand are watching the economy unwind in spasms of agony and ecstasy. The market, starved for specific plans and information, provided a big thumbs up on a bail out program that at best reheats Dubya’s.  If any one was punch drunk, it was the equity markets today.  The leaders were the  financials, of course, who will continue to provide profits to the market while writing their costs off to the taxpayer.  If you were looking for the fresh cold breath of reality, it wasn’t on Wall Street or on Pennsylvania Avenue.

Lucidity, however,  is on the rise in other places.   I’m finding it in interesting places like the second episode of South Park where the lampoon on the Dark Knight included this little back ground gem;  a satire of the famous Obama picutre with a deer-in-the-headlights appearing  Obama and the change mantra tagged by a bright red WHEN?

My answer to the when question is probably never.

Most left wing angst appears to be directed at Tim Geithner since the Light Bringer is still too new to the job to blame.  We continue to learn how involved both he and his staff at the NY Fed were in the AIG Bonuses.  In fact, the Obama administration is trying to scuttle the Excise tax on the bonuses while verbally denouncing executive greed on TV. We’ve also found out that Citibank has managed to insert similar language to protect its executive bonuses. Let’s see how much change we get on that one too.

Not only are right wing shrills like Fox’s Sean Hannity calling for the head of Timmy Geithner but Progressive Diva Arianna Huffington front paged the call on HuffPo today. When Hannity and Huffington carry the same headline, it’s time for more than a few campaign appearances on Leno and 60 minutes.  I’m not sure where all this shock and angst is coming from because it’s been rather obvious to some of us for some time that Obama represented rather narrow interests (not ours).  How can every Obama supporter be calling the AIG Bailout a travesty while knowing that the architects and enablers of AIG are continuing the task with the Light Bringer’s blessings and attaboys?  Well, Obama just mustn’t realize that it’s all Timmy’s fault and we need his head on a limited edition Obama inaugural platter.  But, wait, isn’t Obama the one with that great judgement ?  C’mon folks reconcile all this in your mental ledger. It really isn’t that hard.

In FDIC We Trust

I continue to read current economic thought on the state of the economy and the state of the Obama administration’s response.  I don’t’ know if you’ve ever made a trip to Project Syndicate, but it’s an interesting site where you can read contributions by brilliant people to newspapers around the world.  It’s another one of those places that I’ve found since I’ve completely given up on the US MSM’s ability to provide real news, insight, or criticism of the world today.

Joseph Stiglitz is a frequent contributor. He’s a 2001 Nobel Laureate Economist.  This is a contribution of his to The Guatemala Times from March 6, 2009.  It’s called How to Fail to Recover.  I’ve talked a lot about how the stimulus package isn’t big enough, that it contains too many tax cuts and that it is a bandage approach to a systemic problem that started in the financial system with bad lending practices egged on by Washington and greedy megainvestors.  I feel vindicated because that is Stiglitz take too.

The stimulus package appears big – more than 2% of GDP per year – but one-third of it goes to tax cuts. And, with Americans facing a debt overhang, rapidly increasing unemployment (and the worst unemployment compensation system among major industrial countries), and falling asset prices, they are likely to save much of the tax cut.

Almost half of the stimulus simply offsets the contractionary effect of cutbacks at the state level. America’s 50 states must maintain balanced budgets. The total shortfalls were estimated at $150 billion a few months ago; now the number must be much larger – indeed, California alone faces a shortfall of $40 billion.Household savings are finally beginning to rise, which is good for the long-run health of household finances, but disastrous for economic growth. Meanwhile, investment and exports are plummeting as well. America’s automatic stabilizers the progressivity of our tax systems, the strength of our welfare system – have been greatly weakened, but they will provide some stimulus, as the expected fiscal deficit soars to 10% of GDP.

In short, the stimulus will strengthen America’s economy, but it is probably not enough to restore robust growth. This is bad news for the rest of the world, too, for a strong global recovery requires a strong American economy.

The real failings in the Obama recovery program, however, lie not in the stimulus package but in its efforts to revive financial markets. America’s failures provide important lessons to countries around the world, which are or will be facing increasing problems which are or will be facing increasing problems with their banks.

The Blogzkrieg Bots

Axelrove must’ve sensed a disturbance in the force because I believe the Blogzkrieg Bots are back at work in sites where the Obamessiah’s economic message has been questioned.  Most of the frontpagers and bloggers that I know were chased off various blogs when they harshed the Obama mellow or dared suggest that Hillary’s campaign was better, not racist, and worthy of support. Recently, a set of anonymous email exchanges were released at Liberal Rapture.  One writer of the exchange has self identifed themself (James Kunstler) and verified the authenticity of the exchange.  Those of us who have dealt with the spam filter and comments in moderation can give our take on the Blogzkrieg under taken by the Obama campaign which apparently still is in full force to stop any potential anti-obama Buzzkill.  Here’s the relevant exchange from a former Obama supporter that I’d like to reference.

I can also say how shocked I became at the really dishonest tactics he used, from race-baiting to caucus fraud to paying cyber stalkers to terrorize pro-Clinton writers and website owners.

The cyberstalking continues.  Yesterday, I blogged about CNBC’s Kramer.  I have to say that I’m a value investor, unlike Kramer, and do not follow any of his individual stock picks.  I do think the man has an excellent grasp of and background in market psychology.  I started listening to him more when he came out on Ellen as a  Hillary supporter.  He made it clear he thought she’d be best for the economy. So yesterday, I wrote on his rant on cnbc.  This wasn’t his first rant but one the most eye-popping to date.  All last week he was talking about Obama-proofing your investment portfolio.

Billy O’Reilly’s mother would be ashamed!

Once again, an infamous journalistic bully with access to a prime time audience goes after a woman.  Famously arrogant and mean Bill O’Reilly of Fox news has nothing better to do than pick on elderly women.  He attacked veteran journalist Helen Thomas after the Obama presser monday night.  He spent nearly his entire program last night justifying calling her a “wicked witch” and even brought in the irrelevant comic Dennis Miller to take some of the heat.  Miller sang an incredibly off key and patronizing “You are So Beautiful to Me” for Thomas.

Veteran Journalist Bonnie Erbe, among others, have dedicated their columns and blogs calling down O”Reilly.

Bill O’Reilly mocks everyone—all right, I get it. He’s a venom-spitting curmudgeon and works hard to build that image and protect his niche. But calling veteran journalist Helen Thomas a “wicked witch” after her question to President Obama at his news conference last night was not only ugly, it was petty.

O’Reilly is living proof there are a lot of hateful TV viewers out there because they must get a rise out of watching an angry homunculus who’s outlived his useful life span. What else would prompt someone to watch his show? Quite frankly I’d have a better time parking on a freeway in rush hour and dealing with all the angry motorists, than watching Venom Boy spew. Can’t somebody recommend to O’Reilly a competent psychotherapist? But then where would angry TV news viewers go to watch highly-paid cobras?

Bernard Goldberg joined in the witch hunt later by saying “Helen Thomas’ 15 minutes were up during the Lincoln administration.”

Why are these guys allowed to get away with passing this kind of meanness off as news commentary?  Why are they even given airtime?  Is America that desperate for entertainment that picking on elderly women as means of ego gratification of the likes of O’Reilly yields huge salaries and audiences?    There’s a reason I don’t watch Tweety, KO, Rush, and O’Reilly.  What I want to know is why do people watch these jerks and why do they get paid money to spew sexism and play ground bully commentary?

Some Random Thoughts about the Sky Falling …

It’s one of those rare things in New Orleans. It snowed like crazy this morning and I essentially had a blizzard vacation today. My campus had about 7 inches of snow and the power went off  in Hammond. Down here in NOLA, there were these big huge wet flakes that dropped for several hours.  They iced up my hibiscus, my bananas, my avocado tree, and the roads. My 12 year old lab-mix Karma was a pain to try to walk today because she’s not used to snow. Actually, she wouldn’t walk at all. She just stood there wondering why the sky was falling.

Somethings are rare.  For one, the latest government corruption case has nothing to do with any one representing me. I currently have a state senator, several school board members, and a city council man doing time on bribery and corruption cases.  There’s a Louisiana Governor in Jail right now for the same thing.  My current congressman is just waiting for his trial. Frankly, I’d like to think this current IL thing will catch a few big fish but doubt it.  Most every in Illinois knew Governor 1 was being taped, watched, and followed.  Only Candidate 5 appeared dumb or greedy enough to potentially be caught by the Fed Web.   The exciting information will come if any one from this (including Rezko) turn snitch. If you think these guys may just sing like little girls to stay out of prison, just remember that Jimmy Hoffa’s body is still missing.  This guy may have been a close associate of Obama, Rezko, Axelrod, and Emmanuel (and basically all part of the Daley Machine) but I’m thinking  the press will be shy to admit they were wrong and could reconsider their fluffing for Obama during the entire election and now.  Also, I can’t imagine any savvy pol that was not careful about what they said to Governor Number 1 when they spoke to him because it was well known the FBI were after evidence for years. If Blagovich just refuses to go any where and continues to stay on the front page, will it help or hurt Obama?  Does it detract from all the problems confronting him or add to them? 

 In the Disrict, Hell freezes over all the time. We’re watching a Republican (supposedly Reagonomics-loving) administration attempt to nationalize its second industry this year.  Banks of course were first because of the general panic..  Now it appears we’re going to nationalize our barely functional auto industry.  My prostitute-loving radical right and moralist Senator David Vitter is threatening a filibuster once the rescue plan hits the senate floor.  Isn’t it interesting how the most self-righteous Republicans are always the ones that have the weirdest sexual proclivities?  Just google Vitter and diapers and you’ll get the idea.

Meanwhile, after MONTHS of being told we were guilty of using racist, right wing Republican memes if we dared use the one’smiddle name, the ONE has decided that he is going to take the oath of office and ensure all the inaugural fal-de-ral will include the Hussein word.  Does this strike any one but me as the least bit hypocritical?  Look for Left Blogosphere to completely ignore this one so that their computers and synapses don’t blow a fuse.  Frankly, I was thrown off blogs for using the one’s name while including Hussein.  It was considered racist and it implied I was pushing the right wing meme that he was a Muslim.  Has the rule changed now the Obama has embraced it again?  Any one?

Some time it’s the sky falling. Some time’s, it’s just that rare thing like a snowfall in New Orleans. Still other times, hell is freezing over and you want to be there with a camera.

UPDATED: Here’s a shot of the Music Building at South Eastern Louisiana University in Hammond.  Seven Friggin inches!!  Unbelievable!  I never would believe I’d have this kind of a snow day down here in the tropics!  The other pic at the top is of my street from my front porch.  Karma retreated to under the bed at this point.