Ha Ha, Fooled You!

The day after the Dow Jones Industrial Average crashed a record 777 points, it's rebounded with a stunning 485 point gain.

I think some of us expected that a rebound would be a hundred points or so; but the third highest gain in history?

It's time to stop panicking, and to start figuring out some realistic solutions to the economic challenges we're facing.  While we can't allow the market to collapse, it's acceptable for Wall Street to suffer a stinging loss once in awhile.  Everyone forgot for awhile that markets go down, too; even real estate.

Instead of handing over mountains of cash, we should look into helping the stable institutions absorb the failing ones, and we should make sure that the ones we save are in fact worth saving.  We should make sure that those who brought us to the abyss are removed; there has to be a penalty for fucking up this big. We have just received an abject lesson that they haven't been earning their massive salaries; time to reign in these out-of-control compensation packages.  While I agree that it's perfectly acceptable to be rewarded for increased profits, those rewards should be spread through the entire company; an executive is only as good as his employees, never, ever better.

And we need to go after those who set us on this destructive path but bailed out with their "golden parachutes."  They have stolen from all of us, and they have to return their ill-gotten goods.  They are no better than pirates, and should receive treatment no better than that.

House Republicans tells Wall Street to "F--- Off and Die!"

John "the bonehead" Boehner has just admitted that the bailout failed, not on its merits, but because the House Republicans decided to engage in partisan politics. According to CNN:

"I do believe that the vote could have succeeded," Boehner said in a news conference. "But the speaker had to give a partisan speech ... that poisoned our caucus."

Frankly, it is no surprise to anyone that the GOP would be willing to let millions of Americans lose their jobs and their financial security just to bitch-slap the Majority Party. Heck, you think Boehner's going to lose his home as the stock market plunges like the comet that killed the dinosaurs?

Shocking, isn't it? We're all about to lose our retirement packages because the assholes who precipitated this mess are feeling all pissy about it. House Republicans are punishing the entire country because Nancy Pelosi hurt their feelings.


Well, don't you believe it.

Only Boehner is a big enough asshole to vote down the bill simply because he hates the Democrats.

The rest of them voted against it because they just don't give a rat's ass that the economy is going in the shitter like burritos coming out of a Yankee in Tijuana.

"I fear that it is too much bailout and not enough work out."

-Rep. Jeb Hensarling,. R-Texas

“People’s re-elections played into this to a much greater degree than I would have imagined,”

- Rep. Deborah Pryce, R-Ohio

“This is a huge cow patty with a piece of marshmallow stuck in the middle of it and I am not going to eat that cow patty,”

- Rep. Paul Broun, R-Georgia

"If, like me, you came here because you believe in limited government and the freedom of the American marketplace, I urge you vote in accordance with your convictions..."

-Rep. Mike Pence, R-Indiana.

Well said, Mr. Pence. When your constituents are broke, unemployed ,uninsured and homeless, and need to come up with money to cover their medical bills, just remind them they are free to spend their convictions.

Conviction and $2 will buy you a cup of coffee. So far, anyway.

A Great Big Damned Expensive Nail

There's this old nursery rhyme, and it goes like this:

For want of a nail the shoe was lost.
For want of a shoe the horse was lost.
For want of a horse the rider was lost.
For want of a rider the battle was lost.
For want of a battle the kingdom was lost.
And all for the want of a horseshoe nail.

It's a medieval parable, warning against the failure to invest in the future; the price of a nail isn't all that much; it's only a sliver of metal, and the time to install it is a few brief strokes of the hammer.  But it's always tempting to save a little here and there.  A little adds up.  Until your horse throws its shoe, and within moments you've lost it all.

So here's a rhyme for the 21st Century:

For want of a bail-out, the insurance was lost.
For want of insurance, the claim went unpaid.
For want of a payment, the business was lost.
For want of a business, there was no job.
For want of a job, there was no loan.
For want of a loan, the home was lost
All for the want of a bail-out.

Here's the thing;

A lot of people say we shouldn't bail-out these companies in crisis; their fat-cat executives should be made to pay, and  they are right.  But the thing is, those fat-cat executives retired. They collected their fat salaries, and padded it with fat bonuses, and when the stockholders - and the Feds - got suspicious, they bailed out with their golden parachutes to break their fall.

By standing by and letting the market fail, we're not hurting those responsible.  They've already cashed out of the game.  They're sitting in one of their four or five homes, toasting each other.

So who do we punish by NOT supporting the bail out?  You. Me. Your grandparents. Your children.  Your neighbors.  Pretty much everyone.  We're screwing ourselves as thoroughly as the Fat Cats did.

But it's worse than that:

Here's something you may not know; just because you don't have a policy with AIG, it does not mean that you are not covered by an AIG policy.

You buy car insurance from Car Insurance Company (CIC).  They take a look at their books, and realize that they might be a little close to the edge.  What do they do?  THEY buy insurance - from AIG.  If too many of CIC's customers have accidents, CIC is covered; AIG  covers the loss.  Only you're about to let AIG fail.  When they fold, they take out CIC, too.

Now you have no car insurance.  And all the cheap companies just failed along with CIC and AIG.  Be prepared to pay a LOT more for insurance, for a lot LESS coverage.

Multiply this times a few million.  Scary, huh? 

It gets worse

Let's say your company doesn't have enought capital to buy into a project.  You only have half of what you need.  So you partner with a company;  you agree to split the costs. Everything's fine and dandy, you've been making money off of it. Then your partner goes under.  You have a choice; cover the other half, or lose the project  Of course, you only partnered because you can't afford it alone.  You not only lose every dollar you've put into it to date, you lose all future profit that had been part of your business plan.  You did everything right, by the book, and you're out of business too.  Mulitply this by a thousand.

So we really have to bail the bastards out. 

Sucks to be us.

Salary caps? Damn Straight.

There should be lots of strings and conditions; and we need to ingore Paulson's pleas against compensation caps.  Paulson argues that that it would prevent bank executives from participating in the bailout.  Well, DUH. That's kinda the point.  If they will go under without participation, they will say yes.  If participation is a CHOICE for the bank, the choice should be NO, because obviously then can survive.  Hey, Hank, these bastards are working for the Taxpayer now.  They want a fat salary for their incompetence?  Get rid of the debt and pay off this loan I'm backing.  Until then, they can shut the fuck up.

The days of rewarding executives lavishly for mediocre performance are over.