I'd like to go into a bank and get a loan...
and for collateral - i'd like to use an old dr pepper bottle, some duct tape, half a security alarm control, and a guitar pick. Under the new rules set by the SEC yesterday - I value said property at $1,000,000,000,000.... so i'd like all the money you have, in small bills please... i'm going to be converting it into something REAL like gold soon enough.

Want to know why we're in this mess? That's why.

Fuck these people. Maybe the only answer really is to nationalize the banks.

"The US will continue to be the world's largest economy for a while longer, but it will be the new rising powers that, once the crisis is over, buy up what remains intact in the wreckage of America's financial system."

Couldnt have said it better myself. Note - the fed has gone ahead and decided to burn through $650b without congressional approval, without the lockdowns on executive pay, and without the oversight and rule changes that were in the bailout proposal. So I guess now we're really relying on the goodness of men to get us through this... good luck and god speed.

Happy Monday

Here's one that boggles the mind... I dont think the onion could do better.

I guess the only thing that would improve McCain's chances would be a Palin sex tape. Paris Hilton - you have a future in politics - and I'm afraid.

sigh...

Watched the debate...
somehow my sense of wanting to dance through them was a little different...

McCain's talk about Musharraf taking over in Pakistan when it was a 'failed state' resulted in me beating my head into a table... and a long series of "NO NO NO NO" with jake via IM... I was hoping Obama would just stuff his ass on it - but he didnt. Maybe the press will do the job instead.

Watched this excerpt from CNN...

i dont know... seems like Jack needs more caramelldansen in his life... but less happy tree friends...

Explaining some of this mess

Ok - I've found myself in a position of having to explain some of this fiasco a couple of times now... and i think charlie rose's show does a great job with the basics, and this forbes piece is a great flashcard primer...

But i want to point you at credit default swaps.

Primer
when they made regulation of this space illegal back in 2000 - they created an environment where people could play shell games with subsidiaries without govt oversight - this thing was a giant fucking confidence game - and it was passed in the lame duck session of the congress at the end of Bill Clinton's term - when there was almost no accountability for anyone's actions.

Buffet was right - this was an economic weapon of mass destruction - and maybe we need to hold the people responsible accountable for their actions. A new wing at gitmo for Harvard MBAs seems in order...

coolest job evar

"the company’s new chief executive, Alan H. Fishman, was in midair, flying from New York to Seattle at the time the deal was finally brokered, according to people briefed on the situation. Mr. Fishman, who has been on the job for less than three weeks, is eligible for $11.6 million in cash severance and will get to keep his $7.5 million signing bonus"

the more i read of this situation... the more i think these people should pay... and the less likely it seems they will...

I know it's wrong to hope for some outcomes... but damn.

So McCain suspended his campaign...

he was supposed to be on Letterman

Letterman is a little upset by all this... and, well, just watch it



and Bush giving his 'RUN FOR YOUR LIVES' state of the union pitch was terrifying.

i swear, after hearing about Lehman raiding the British offices for cash for payoffs to it's NY execs i find myself more and more in the 'seize their assets and soak the rich' camp. maybe letting the entire festering mess that is banking fail catastrophically is the right answer...

gonna need me a shotgun though...

an hour of your life (at least watch the first 20 min) that you should watch...
charlie rose and some very serious heavies explaining the financial crisis

i think The Economist article is a bit 'let's not overreact' for me, but when i think of trying for a consensus rational approach to this mess i cant help but think that's probably about as good a change to the system as I can hope for.

Why is it that Stewart is the only one acting like a fucking journalist.

Jake - I think I have the answer for Chomp Chomp Chomp...

See - what's funny here is that this really is how this works. NPR ran a story on this last night where they explained that some banks would have assets listed at 60 cents on the dollar on their books - and others might have the same sorts of assets at 8 cents... now in theory the govt is going to use a 'reverse auction' - where the banks offer their assets and lower and lower prices until they stop and the fed buys. What keeps them from stopping at 99% of their estimated value by collusion? Why.... ummm... nothing... and they're making noises that it wont just be bad 'financial assets' but any assets.

Paulson was terrifying on sunday... though the 'what's a hedge fund' people on fox and friends and 'i want my free lunch crowd' on the view this morning was almost as bad. 'we need to have the government pay off all our mortgages' - what the hell? freaking morons... There's 2 trillion in bad mortgages out there... someone is going to pay for that...

We're going to have to do something - honestly - that or i need to buy a shotgun and some canned food.

Just making sure people are aware...
according to one popular cable news show "John McCain wants to harvest the organs from sleeping toddlers"

We're doomed.

John McCain needs moar enemies...
apparently they're to be found in Europe...

Jake suggested that ManU might need new shirts...