2009 archive
You Can’t Be Bipartisan with Partisans 0
From the Democratic Daily, on why President Obama’s attempt to foster bipartisan solutions hasn’t worked:
Republicans have turned on Obama, as expected, but, in so doing, they have sided against the American people. They will end up paying dearly in the end.
One can hope.
Afterthought: The Republican Party lives in a phony world divorced from psychological, economic, or historical reality.
Being sincere about it (to the extent that they are) doesn’t make their world any less phony.
One measure of the sincerity of their beliefs, I reckon, is the extent to which they lie make stuff up.
Video via D-Day.
Your Tax Dollars at Work 0
Emphasis added. Nothing else needs added:
“He is a victim who has suffered more than any human being should ever suffer,” said Clive Stafford Smith, one of Mohamed’s lawyers. “He just wants to go somewhere very quiet and try to recover.”
Analogies 0
John Cole on the Republican Party and the stimulus bill (emphasis added):
Put another way, it isn’t just dishonest, it is offensive. Having the party of Bush lecture you about out of control spending is like having a heroin addict chide you for putting too much sugar in your coffee.
Off To Drink Liberally 0
Later, folks.
The Free Hand of the Market 0
Why didn’t the free and unfettered market sort this out?
The syringes contained Heparin, a blood thinner, and saline, and were recalled in December 2007 after an outbreak of illnesses. Health inspectors identified bacterial infections in Colorado, Texas, Illinois and Florida.
Oh. I forgot. It did.
According to the lead (and, dammit, it’s “lead,” not “lede”) for the story (follow the link), not steriziling the syringes was a “cost-cutting move.”
Pay for Performance 0
Citibank falls for the Nigerian scam. Yes, it actually tried to wire the money to the scammers. It only got off because the transfer didn’t go through due to a typo.
Definitely bonus-worthy.
The scheme fell apart when the target banks could not process the transactions. At that point, either Citibank or the target bank attempted to contact the Bank of Ethiopia, which could not verify the transactions as valid. A warrant for Mr. Amos was issued; the man was arrested last month when he attempted to enter the US. The FBI, Citibank, and Ethiopia are obviously pleased with having caught the theft-in-progress, the ringleader is now in jail, and Citibank returned the complete amount of money that had been transferred from the National Bank of Ethiopia.
Via GNC.
Barbershop Duet 2
I couldn’t put off getting a haircut any longer, even though I come from the generation that believes that hair should be long and skirts should be short.
There’s Always the Sunday Breakfast Mission 0
Cookie Jill has more.
Hope He Pays His Taxes 0
Possible Secretary of Commerce nominee, according to the Left Shue.
Both Ends. No Middle. 0
The Booman points out why Republican Economic Theory brings only failure. Read the whole thing:
(snip)
What this really amounts to isn’t just a failure of imagination. It’s a life lesson in the non-rational nature of Republican ideology in general. It works in good times to a certain non-idealized degree, but it completely lacks situational flexibility. It becomes bankrupt and bankrupts the institutions it controls at the same moment that conditions make its basic irrationally manifest.
“First Nationalized Bank” 0
Bonddad looks at the “stress test“:
How is a big issue. The markets are already reeling from the threat of nationalization. Every time it gets brought up, the markets tank. This was cited as a primary reason for last week’s market instability. In other words, the actual process of shifting from private to public ownership is an issue.
Now enter the above plan. I would personally use the remaining TARP money to make one big bank. Then I would stress test all the money center banks at the same time and come out with a report on all of them at the same time. Force them to sell their good assets to the one good bank and let the dregs remain in the old banks. If you do this over a short time period — say 2-4 weeks — you can end this problem pretty quickly.
The main reason I like the idea of one big bank is there is only one bank to monitor.
I think that the reason that “the markets are already reeling from the threat of nationalization” is that, despite the fiction that “stockholders own the company” (and, for all practical purposes, it is a fiction), neither the companies nor the managements which have destroyed them want to pay the financial price for their misdeeds.
Too Stupid for Words 0
And quite willing to pander.
Pay to the Order of . . . 0
I wonder whether I should just make my next mortgage check payable to the United States Treasury Josh Marshall on Citigroup: