What's up?
Whenever I read news reports foretelling of economic repercussions yet to come, like bank failures, I'm reminded of the great Depression era when many banks went out of business, the stock market collapsed and the unemployment rate was near 35%.
That remembrance though is the "glass half empty" remembrance of that era.
The "glass half full" view of that time is that millions of mortgages were not foreclosed, 65% of the American populace remained employed, many more banks survived than failed and for all the brutal beating the stock market suffered, it survives to this day at once never imagined value.
Are there some scary, spooky numbers being posted in our economic numbers? Won't deny it. But we still live and work in the largest, most productive economy in the world. We just need to rein in the government credit card with a couple of decades of paying off the debt.
Oh, and unhitching our economy from being the largest supplier of military armaments to one of being the largest supplier of green technology would also go a long way toward stabilizing not just our economy, but the world in which we live.
Posted by RickWn at March 26, 2008 01:39 AMRickWn-
Nice summary. I was feeling pretty gloomy, but you managed to get me in the half full frame of mind.
As an added bonus, we will get to stick Health care up the conservatives asses sideways just like FDR did with the new deal.
I am also hoping the GOP goes the way of the whigs.
Some silver linings I hope
Posted by SnarkyShark at March 26, 2008 01:57 AMJeeze, you guys! What's with all the hopefullness? How very American of you. Well, I have to join in. I liken the Bush Administration to a heroin addicted junkie. The traditional concept is that you have to hit bottom before you can find the motivation to turn your life around.
Cheney/Bush is definitely the bottom of America! The infestation of corporate control in our culture is comparable to that woman in the news lately, who had a cancerous tumor the size of a tangerine wrapped around a major artery. In order to operate on it. they had to remove her internal organs en masse and lay them out on a table. After the second surgical team cut out the cancer, they stuffed them all back inside and the prognosis for the woman is, "cancer free".
Between the K Street cesspool, corporate media control, a la Scaiffe, Moon, Redstone et al, and the revolving door between the defense industry and Washington, we have a truly intertwined carcinoma. It will take a decade to root out all the swine Reagan/Bush/Bush have inserted into the body politic.
If we can use this nadir of American democracy to FINALLY become a teaching moment, we may yet have our chance to face up to OUR generational challenge. Perhaps George's History books will judge us more kindly than contemporary circumstance will allow us to judge ourselves. Restoring genuine democracy, creating social justice (for the first time) curbing corporate "personhood" and creating a sustainable energy economy would be a nice legacy. From this point, just about every direction looks like up to me! Every direction NOT being urged by John McSame, that is.
Posted by DeminNewJ at March 26, 2008 03:07 AMI've noticed a marked silence from the usual TLC Clintonians concerning the Clinton lie about the Tuzla "attack". Clinton made up a story and sold it repeatedly on the stump to puff up her credentials, and was stupid enough to think no one would call her on it let alone show video of the perfectly uneventful scene at the airfield. Then she goes on Scaife's interview and fans the Wright fire. Perhaps eriposte could product a nice long article detailing the religious group Hillary is a highly ranked member in, you know, the secret one that no one mentions.
Posted by T2 at March 26, 2008 06:22 AMThat must be some Hillary imposter sitting next to Scaife. A true fighter would never demean herself by crawling to someone who accused her of murder just to cadge a few votes. Sheesh.
Posted by Tim H. at March 26, 2008 06:37 AMFocusing on the important issues right out of the gate today I see.
Why am I not surprised?
Posted by snark at March 26, 2008 06:51 AMWill Dr. Hulbe enlighten us with a few observations on the (partial) Wilkins ice shelf collapse in West Antarctica?
I wonder if she has done research there as well?
ANYTHING instead of arguing about the Democratic Primary.
Posted by Seven of Six at March 26, 2008 07:04 AMyou are so right snark....lets get a serious discussion going on some obscure Family Tree relations of all the candidates...oops, Turkana beat me to it.
Posted by T2 at March 26, 2008 07:04 AMIf that's the most important thing you can think to debate here then I feel for you T2.
Posted by snark at March 26, 2008 07:08 AM"...unlike other pre-election preperations...the separatist Shiites in the Iraqi executive branch sends 50,000 troops to Basrah to kill their rivals (the nationalist Shiites)."
snip
"This Shiite-Shiite fight is an excellent example of how the Iraqi civil conflict is a political/economic one not sectarian/religious conflict as the US mainstream media and politicians has been repeating for years.
Preperations For The Next Iraqi Elections by Raed Jarrar
In The Middle, Raed Jarrar's Blog, Tuesday, March 25, 2008
http://raedinthemiddle.blogspot.com/2008/03/preperations-for-next-iraqi-elections.html
Millions needlessly dead to balkanize Iraq and privatize its oil while our corporate media and its political errand boys and girls lie to us. Shocking.
Posted by Pvt. Keepout at March 26, 2008 07:27 AMWhy is the Rev. J. Wright's speaking tour being cancelled one event at a time?
Seven, I think the good doctor is laying low(only one post this year)...seems the satellite "Aqua"(launched in 2002) is bringing into question many of the models used to alarm people about man's role in climate change. Also seems the "Argo" program has been calling into question other assumptions made by these same models.
Posted by peter at March 26, 2008 07:45 AMHillary lied... her campaign died.
Posted by onar at March 26, 2008 08:07 AMPeter, Why isn't the media asking question about McCain's pastor Parsley? Liberal media bias I guess.
Posted by goose1 at March 26, 2008 08:17 AMWill Dr. Hulbe enlighten us with a few observations on the (partial) Wilkins ice shelf collapse in West Antarctica?
I wouldn't mind seeing more of that, too, SoS. Though I don't blame Christina for veering away from the pie fights. I saw the photos of the shelf yesterday, it's very scary watching millenia melt and wash away like that.
Posted by iamcoyote at March 26, 2008 08:30 AMThe "glass half full" view of that time...
Which is all well and good if you aren't in the part of the glass that gets poured into the crapper. Many of my family members are Okies that got caught in the Great Depression, losing farms, livelihoods and jobs. It doesn't appear to have been that much fun for them. Because of that I'm having a little difficulty celebrating the fact that only 30-40% of Americans will lose everything they own.
Pregnant thoughts: Some of the same economic forces we saw during the Great Depression are in play today. Unequal distribution of wealth, an economy buttressed by credit sales to the poor and middle class for the big ticket items of the time (cars and radios then, everything and houses now). There are some marked differences also. Our manufacturing base has fled to cheaper labor, leaving us much more service based than during the Great Depression. The costs associated with the hedge fund real estate debacle and resulting banking fraud are being transferred to the poor and middle class.
I've noticed a marked silence from the usual TLC Clintonians concerning the Clinton lie about the Tuzla "attack".
Okay, so she overstated things a bit. I personally thought the little girl reading the poem looked dangerous. Who knows, someone could have suffered a nasty paper cut if the little girl had gone postal. Thank God Hill's ego prevented her from telling the actual events of the day. Namely that that the pilots of the plane got some nasty trotts from bad egg salad sandwiches for lunch, forcing Hillary to land the plane while dodging sniper fire AND rewriting Sinbad's punch lines for the days performance. She then held some hand-to-hand combat training for the special forces guys in her contingent. You know, simple ninja stuff like disarming nuclear devices.
My question is what the hell was she calling herself at the time? Hillary Rodham...Rodham Clinton? Who knows. It just goes to show that you can always re-invent or even invent yourself in America.
Posted by phidipides at March 26, 2008 08:34 AM
I've noticed a marked silence from the usual TLC Clintonians concerning the Clinton lie about the Tuzla "attack".
I thought everyone was misspelling "Tulsa," but decided not to be a spelling nazi this week. Now that I know it's another stupid primary "issue" I'll continue to ignore it.
Posted by iamcoyote at March 26, 2008 09:04 AMThe "glass" is actually nine tenths empty, cracked, and leaking toxic water on the ice shelf causing it to collapse.
Regarding Hillary's "big lie", I have been telling people for years that I had a blonde girlfriend one summer who sported 44-Fs and was Playboy's June 1971 Centerfold. Imagine my shock when I looked her up on: http://playboymagazin.freeweb.hu/playboy/
and found she was actually Barbara Hillary, the April 1970 Centerfold.
So I know just how Hillary could have made this type of honest mistake.
Now please don't tease me for having been in bed with Hillary.
I thought everyone was misspelling "Tulsa," but decided not to be a spelling nazi this week.
Tulsa is where she saw the 900 foot tall Jesus telling her that if she didn't win the nomination he would call her home.
Posted by phidipides at March 26, 2008 10:09 AMI have been telling people for years that I had a blonde girlfriend one summer who sported 44-Fs
Are you sure you weren't dating the front bumper of a yellowish 1955 Cadillac?
Posted by phidipides at March 26, 2008 10:15 AMAre you still typing with your nose?
I actually had a 1955 Caddy, and you are right, from the front the Centerfold and the Caddy looked like twins of twins.
The difference was after 3 months the Caddy didn't turn into Clint Eastwood's girlfriend in "Play Misty For Me".
Posted by TIKI AL at March 26, 2008 10:39 AMLook at this video of Hillary talking about Gulf Coast with Pittsburgh Trib. AMAZING!! That's how a President looks like. Please watch.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_nO0qyJrvLc
Posted by ghost2 at March 26, 2008 11:54 AMTIKI, thanks for the mammary's.
Posted by Seven of Six at March 26, 2008 01:46 PMYes, 7, Bob Hope would be proud of that free Playboy site. He went on troop tours with some of them.
coyote: First they came for the misspellers of cities.
phid: I find the Jesus perched above the harbor in Rio to be more compelling than cowboy Tulsa Jesus.
Posted by TIKI AL at March 26, 2008 02:18 PMI dunno, TIKI, the Cheeto baby jesus looked mighty tasty before it was covered in shellac and boxed for the world tour!
Posted by iamcoyote at March 26, 2008 02:41 PMJust a few months ago the conventional wisdom was that President Bush would get his way on Social Security. Instead, Mr. Bush's privatization drive flopped so badly that the topic has almost disappeared from national discussion.
Hummm. Not seeing the part where petey thinks Krugman credits Bush with "saving" Social Security. You mean, because Bush failed in his effort to give Social Security to Wall Street, he ended up saving it? Whew. I guess that's what they mean by unintended consequences.
Posted by ann at March 26, 2008 03:00 PMThe applying of the sacred shellac will assure that Cheeto baby Jesus will "stay fresh" for another 2,000 years.
So the enlightened human race has THAT going for it.....which is nice. (lower lip hanging down on one side as I type)
Posted by TIKI AL at March 26, 2008 03:18 PMYou mean, because Bush failed in his effort to give Social Security to Wall Street, he ended up saving it? Whew. I guess that's what they mean by unintended consequences.
That's what I thought exactly ann. Thank you.