Are we still talking about the 2nd presidential debate? It must be a slowww news week. Me, I’m still watching the economy wander around like a drunk horse. Actually sink like a stone would be a better visual, but that hurts too much to even say it.
Stoking Wall St with a $700,000, 000, 000 viagra pill apparently isn’t getting things up. As every man should know, when you are nervous, then getting up it is difficult, frustrating and leads to depression.
The economy or Wall St isn’t responding for a number of reasons. People aren’t rushing out to shop, but hey, Christmas might show hope (I bet it won’t). Then those with money to invest are buying pillowcases instead, because they very nervous and unsure.
But this financial insecurity has one positive blessing. Oil prices are dropping, trying to find a natural level. By month’s end some of us might be pumping gas below $3. Why is that? Because the speculators have left the building. Next time, remember speculators when some BS artist tells you that speculation isn’t the cause.
According to pundits the hurricane-ruined oil platforms in the gulf would drive prices up… but that didn’t happen. Nothing else has changed to make the price drop, so why is it falling? No speculation. Alas, that will change. When people regain confidence in Wall St, it will be reflected in rising oil prices.
Again, while I agree that something needed to be done, the $700B gift package lacks 2 significant measures. Jail time and credit card reform.
America has long been addicted to irresponsibility and lack of accountability. Where there is no accountability or consequence for malfeasance or bad management, then the financial companies will revert to norm. The thought of a coupla years with big Bubba in a nearby bunk would at least give these CEOs pause the next time they decide to risk OPM… other people’s money. Ooops is not good enough.
Manywith mortgage problems, also have credit card issues… being that they sunk all their cash into the mortgages and had to use credit for daily living. Bailing out their mortgages isn’t really gonna take them away from the edge of the precipice.
Many others, w/o mortgages also have usurious credit card payments to deal with. You can point fingers at them and feel reeeeally sanctimonious a good deal of the time. Yes, some bought big screen tvs when they shouldn’t . But others are just buying the basics. Rampant inflation (which neither the government nor press is telling you) has wiped out purchasing power and credit cards are their only option. Credit card reform is a priority.
Which brings me to the ‘disappearing people’. In this election season, we hear about the rich, middle class and occasionally the working class (called Josephat 6-pack by Sarah Palin), but never the underclass… the dirt poor, the homeless, the indigent, the chronically unemployable, the ghetto youts, trailer parkers, those who would be joyous if they had income of $9,900 a year. And believe me there are many of them/us.
In the rival economic plans, they are not mentioned at all. I’ve heard nothing about protecting them, getting them jobs, health care, education, pension (lol) plans. It’s as if the underclass doesn’t exist, the disparu (fr.), the invisibles, those guys with signs “Will work for food”. Nothing!
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Ok. You twisted my arm, I’ll mention the 2nd debate which I actually did watch. Like the vp debate, neither candidate gave the election away (yawn)… but that much was to be expected. If anything Obama picked up a few more points, PaCain didn’t lose much.
A few of the questions were plain dumb. “Who do you have in mind for the next treasury secretary?”. Huh? Which genius thought up that one? “Well, sir, it would be presumptuous of me to select a treasury secretary WHEN WE HAVEN’T HAD AN ELECTION YET!”.
“Is the economy going to get better before it gets worse?”. “Well, the fundamentals of the American economy are quite strong”. Ohhh, we heard that one before. OK. “Well, WE ARE GETTING THE SHI KICKED OUT OF US AND YOU’RE STILL ASKING STUPID QUESTIONS?”.
Interestingly, the panel of 25 people who were keying in their emotions provided much of the ‘where did these dummies come from’ moments. “Well, I didn’t think the candidates were specific enough”. “Hey DUMMY, yes you. Focus. How specific can we get in 2 minutes on foreign policy? It’s a big world with many countries, DUH? And you don’t even understand basic legislative, economic language much less for us to roll it all out here without you going into a coma. THAT’S WHY WE HAVE WEBSITES! GET A MONKEY TO NAVIGATE IT FOR YOU!”.
Then when they who were supposed to be a conglomerate of democrats, republicans and independents who had NOT decided who to vote for as yet… when they were asked who did better, the vote was Obama 12, PaCain 10, three no responses.
But when they were asked who would they vote for at that moment, it was PaCain 15, Obama 10. Now, either I’m el stupido or they have already made up their minds. Obama can’t have won the debate but you would still vote against him, if you haven’t already made up your mind. Unless uhho… you are a racist, an idiot, or both.
There was 1 point where PaCain outflanked Obama… the same place that has caused me to withdraw my support (but not vote ) from Obama. Obama, perhaps anticipating that PaCain would follow, endorsed invading Pakistan to catch bin Laden. PaCain pointed out that that would be rash, and an invasion. Oops.
Let me point out why Obama’s position is folly other than the fact that it positions him squarely in George Bush’s bosom. A recent investigation by the American military concluded that a recent airstrike in Afghanistan killed 30 civilians, note civilians. Of course the Afghans claim a higher fatality but we won’t quibble. What’s 60 or more dead Afghans?
This is not the first time that American ‘bomb in a barrel from 10,000ft’ philosophy has failed, killing the wrong people. It sucked (moreso for the ‘bombees’ than the bombers) during World War II when it was first introduced, going through the Korean and Vietnam wars to today.
This idiocy undermines Obama as it does George Bush. There is no guarantee that the intelligence saying that bin Laden is ‘there’ is accurate. In both arenas of action, many innocent civilians have been killed by ‘friendly fire’.
Obviously, this would be a touch of insanity doing so inside a country “YOU ARE NOT AT WAR WITH!”. “Oops”, Mr Obama, isn’t good enough.
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Many people might not have noticed that the Wall St meltdown is having catastrophic effects on Iceland’s economy. The government there has been forced to rescue some banks.
The British government, using some anti-terrorism rationale, froze the assets of one of the banks ‘in order to protect British saver’s deposits’.
Who did Iceland call? The ghostbusters? No, they turned to Russia for a $5b loan. Nice round figure, because $5b is about the size of their economy.
Look at a map and see where Iceland is in proximity to the United States and Europe. Now kiddies, for homework, put this in the context of the recent Russia-Georgia skirmish, Venezuela and Mexico. To make it easy, you can even go back into a few of my blogs.
By the way, Iceland is a part of NATO, and is regarded as one of the world’s most egalitarian countries.
