The wonderful blog CreditCrunchedUK provides us today's winning entry in our FUBAR competition.
It goes like this: Using taxpayer money, and probably through third-party entities, the big banks(you know, the ones we are rescuing from their toxic assets?) are evidently planning to participate in both sides of Geithner's newest bail-out plan, by bidding up one another's worthless trash that will be absorbed by the taxpayer.
Crony Capitalism=Moral Hazard
If we fail to factor in people's essential depravity into every plan we make, we end up unpleasantly surprised, and looking foolish.
Most small bankers, and small business people, seem to understand that intuitively.
Does common sense just get beaten out of students in MBA programs?
Friday, April 3, 2009
The Definition of a Blue-Dog Democrat
Yes, once again, we have our good Congressman John Tanner playing the ends against the middle.
The 'Guest Columnist' insertion in the local paper was a piece submitted under Rep. Tanner's name (seriously, friends, listen to the guy talk; hard to believe he can write anything of this length with correct grammar).
The title? Drum-roll, please! We Must Restore Fiscal Responsibility
The Honorable Member then explains how everything that has gone wrong was the fault of the evil Republicans; easy to do, since a lot of it can be laid at their feet. He intones that 'The borrow-and-spend policy down which our country has begun poses at least two serious threats', and goes on to name the spectre that the Chinese might not want to buy our T-bills(They expect to get paid back!), and our weakened place in the world and its foreign policy implications.
So, this would be a reason to not vote for the TARP, the 'Stimulus' and a budget that runs well over ONE TRILLION in deficits into the endless future, right?
WRONG! He then goes on to explain that despite all these things, he just had to vote for the 'Stimulus Bill'--he had already voted for the TARP(he just 'had to', you know), and signalled that he would be voting for the 2010 budget.
And, indeed he did!
So, what's the definition of a Blue-Dog Democrat?
He howls at the moon, declaring his fealty to the conservative values of his district. But when his masters(Pelosi, Frank, Reid, and Obama) command, he rolls over and plays dead.
Check his congressional home page:
Cries of outrage against the mounting national debt, and never a mention of his votes that make it possible.
Our grandchildren will curse our memories for allowing him and his to get away with this.
The 'Guest Columnist' insertion in the local paper was a piece submitted under Rep. Tanner's name (seriously, friends, listen to the guy talk; hard to believe he can write anything of this length with correct grammar).
The title? Drum-roll, please! We Must Restore Fiscal Responsibility
The Honorable Member then explains how everything that has gone wrong was the fault of the evil Republicans; easy to do, since a lot of it can be laid at their feet. He intones that 'The borrow-and-spend policy down which our country has begun poses at least two serious threats', and goes on to name the spectre that the Chinese might not want to buy our T-bills(They expect to get paid back!), and our weakened place in the world and its foreign policy implications.
So, this would be a reason to not vote for the TARP, the 'Stimulus' and a budget that runs well over ONE TRILLION in deficits into the endless future, right?
WRONG! He then goes on to explain that despite all these things, he just had to vote for the 'Stimulus Bill'--he had already voted for the TARP(he just 'had to', you know), and signalled that he would be voting for the 2010 budget.
And, indeed he did!
So, what's the definition of a Blue-Dog Democrat?
He howls at the moon, declaring his fealty to the conservative values of his district. But when his masters(Pelosi, Frank, Reid, and Obama) command, he rolls over and plays dead.
Check his congressional home page:
Cries of outrage against the mounting national debt, and never a mention of his votes that make it possible.
Our grandchildren will curse our memories for allowing him and his to get away with this.
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Capitalists@Work: Scoop:Is Britain planning on joining the Euro?
Truly, truly chilling news from a reliable source, Capitalists@Work.
Capitalists@Work: Scoop:Is Britain planning on joining the Euro?
This means that an unelected Prime Minister will be surrendering Britain's multiple centuries as an independent nation to the tender mercies of mainland Europe: you know, the folks who brought us Napoleon, Karl Marx, Kaiser Wilhelm, Hitler, Mussolini, De Gaulle, Quisling, Franco, all this in just the last 200 years.
Maybe that has been his intention all along? Maybe that's why he greeted Daniel Hannon's fiery words with that cocky smile?
Hannan's earlier quotes from Richard II seem especially cogent:
This land of such dear souls
This dear, dear land is now leased out
(I die pronouncing it) like to a tenement or a pelting farm.
Prevent it, resist it, let it not be so;
lest child, child's children cry against you 'Woe'.
Capitalists@Work: Scoop:Is Britain planning on joining the Euro?
This means that an unelected Prime Minister will be surrendering Britain's multiple centuries as an independent nation to the tender mercies of mainland Europe: you know, the folks who brought us Napoleon, Karl Marx, Kaiser Wilhelm, Hitler, Mussolini, De Gaulle, Quisling, Franco, all this in just the last 200 years.
Maybe that has been his intention all along? Maybe that's why he greeted Daniel Hannon's fiery words with that cocky smile?
Hannan's earlier quotes from Richard II seem especially cogent:
This land of such dear souls
This dear, dear land is now leased out
(I die pronouncing it) like to a tenement or a pelting farm.
Prevent it, resist it, let it not be so;
lest child, child's children cry against you 'Woe'.
Rumblings from the Left--They're not buying Obama/Geithner either
The Atlantic Monthly boasts a loooong tradition as a linchpin of the East Coast Liberal Establishment. How interesting then, to see the editors feature this article by Simon Johnson, the former chief economist of the International Monetary Fund.
His conclusion is sobering, namely that we are on the way to becoming a banana republic (and I don't mean the hip retailer), characterized by an unholy alliance between the political leadership and the heads of the banking establishment.
(Have we noticed that our President had a friendly sit-down the with heads of the banks on Friday, and fired the CEO of GM on Sunday? Have we even wrapped our heads around the fact the the President of the United States fired the CEO of General Motors?)
It isn't just the so-called 'right-wing-nut-cases' saying this. Those guys can easily be dismissed, if one is in the mood not to listen. Simon Johnson, you can't dismiss; he's been there, done that, and has the chilling tales to tell.
In my mis-spent youth, I worked in a banana republic(a country south of here, not the retailer). I was shocked daily by the grinding poverty of so many, the flaunted wealth of so few, the families in the middle running full tilt just to stay in place, and the rampant cynical corruption that permeated the entire society.
The IMF had to be called in when things totally broke down, as did our Treasury. The cost of meltdown was deemed to be too high, and the proverbial Day of Judgement was postponed for about fifteen years(in other words, until now).
Trust me, we don't want to live that way. The article is worth the time you'll spend reading it.
Again, it's not about a weak economy driving culture astray; it's about cultural decay driving the economy over the cliff. It's the only place a decayed culture can drive an economy.
His conclusion is sobering, namely that we are on the way to becoming a banana republic (and I don't mean the hip retailer), characterized by an unholy alliance between the political leadership and the heads of the banking establishment.
(Have we noticed that our President had a friendly sit-down the with heads of the banks on Friday, and fired the CEO of GM on Sunday? Have we even wrapped our heads around the fact the the President of the United States fired the CEO of General Motors?)
It isn't just the so-called 'right-wing-nut-cases' saying this. Those guys can easily be dismissed, if one is in the mood not to listen. Simon Johnson, you can't dismiss; he's been there, done that, and has the chilling tales to tell.
In my mis-spent youth, I worked in a banana republic(a country south of here, not the retailer). I was shocked daily by the grinding poverty of so many, the flaunted wealth of so few, the families in the middle running full tilt just to stay in place, and the rampant cynical corruption that permeated the entire society.
The IMF had to be called in when things totally broke down, as did our Treasury. The cost of meltdown was deemed to be too high, and the proverbial Day of Judgement was postponed for about fifteen years(in other words, until now).
Trust me, we don't want to live that way. The article is worth the time you'll spend reading it.
Again, it's not about a weak economy driving culture astray; it's about cultural decay driving the economy over the cliff. It's the only place a decayed culture can drive an economy.
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Such a strange tale, it must be true...
This article should give us all pause, encourage humility, and discourage hubris.
It's the first-person account of the obscure geek who wrote the software that allow banks and brokerages to turn all manner of financial trash into AAA-rated securities.
It wasn't that everyone was making money hand-over-fist; it was that everyone developed a belief that they were bullet-proof, that nothing could go wrong in the system they had built.
If we think that we 'obscure' people can't have an enormous impact, for good or ill, on the world around us, this man's story should cure us of that particular illusion.
It's the first-person account of the obscure geek who wrote the software that allow banks and brokerages to turn all manner of financial trash into AAA-rated securities.
It wasn't that everyone was making money hand-over-fist; it was that everyone developed a belief that they were bullet-proof, that nothing could go wrong in the system they had built.
If we think that we 'obscure' people can't have an enormous impact, for good or ill, on the world around us, this man's story should cure us of that particular illusion.
Monday, March 30, 2009
Have We Become Numb?
Calculated Risk continues to be a wry voice of reason in the sea of conflicting voices about the culture and economy, as does Bearwatch.
This just posted this evening, about yet more of our children's future earnings being shoveled to GM and Chrysler.
The President of the United States has just fired the President of GM.
Has Himself ever done anything with a car except drive it around?
Did our predecessors freeze at Valley Forge and storm Okinawa for this?
Have we just become numb to it all?
You know, we could just bring this all to an end: GM and Chrysler forever on our auto-purchase blacklist. A year from now, something/someone else will begin to emerge who can provide vehicles we can both drive and afford.
This just posted this evening, about yet more of our children's future earnings being shoveled to GM and Chrysler.
The President of the United States has just fired the President of GM.
Has Himself ever done anything with a car except drive it around?
Did our predecessors freeze at Valley Forge and storm Okinawa for this?
Have we just become numb to it all?
You know, we could just bring this all to an end: GM and Chrysler forever on our auto-purchase blacklist. A year from now, something/someone else will begin to emerge who can provide vehicles we can both drive and afford.
Sunday, March 29, 2009
BACHanalia: Music for the soul of a city
Friday evening, March 27, 2009 was an extraordinarily good evening for Nashville, as Christ Church Cathedral hosted its annual six-hour marathon of the music of J.S. Bach.
Two hundred performers(many of them professionals), a very conservative official estimate of 600 in the audience (I counted a lot more), and some fifty volunteers all converged downtown for an evening of extraordinary music-making.
Only Bach's music speaks in every setting, be it performed on harps, or a trombone choir from the balcony, or a double-reed ensemble, or solo English Horn, along with the more traditional performances by organ, harpsichord, choir, and continuo. A twelve year-old boy held the house spell-bound with his treble rendition of Schlummert ein from the cantata BWV 82. Complete presentations of the 'Coffee Cantata' and the motet 'Jesu Meine Freude' were heard for the first time in recent memory. The evening ended with brilliant jazz renditions for soprano saxophone and piano, performed for the brave souls who stayed to the end, and for the volunteers.
The first notes, played at 5:00 on the harp, were heard by about 200 in the pews. As the evening progressed, the pews filled, and soon the house became SRO, with the little café in the Parish Hall abuzz with audience taking a quick supper break before heading back for more music. There were teenagers, young families with children, buttoned-down banker/lawyer types, bohemian artist types, taking it all in. Musicians came early to hear their colleagues, and stayed late after performing. You could hear a pin drop during the performances, and the applause was warm and long.
Professional musicians can be a prickly, territorial, and self-absorbed lot. Susan Dupont, the event's organizer, has the gift of inviting all these people to donate significant hours of practice, drive miles, and lend instruments; all for the privilege of participating gratis in a Bach marathon, together. Corporate sponsors and private donors stepped up generously in the throes of deep recession. This would not happen for for a Haydn or Mendelssohn marathon; as great as they were, their music wouldn't survive performance by a saxophone quartet. There is a universality, a (Dare it be said these days?) spiritual transcendence to Bach's music not found anywhere else in Western culture; and the more we look toward the source of his inspiration, and his lifelong response to it, the sooner we may regain our own cultural soul.
Thankfully, there was a photographer present, and he posted a few shots here:
The solo image on page 4 summarizes the evening brilliantly.
If you're in the area next Spring, set the evening aside, and join in.
Plan to arrive early; I suspect the crowd will grow dramatically.
And, if you live elsewhere, perhaps this is worth pursuing in your own part of the world.
Just a thought…
Two hundred performers(many of them professionals), a very conservative official estimate of 600 in the audience (I counted a lot more), and some fifty volunteers all converged downtown for an evening of extraordinary music-making.
Only Bach's music speaks in every setting, be it performed on harps, or a trombone choir from the balcony, or a double-reed ensemble, or solo English Horn, along with the more traditional performances by organ, harpsichord, choir, and continuo. A twelve year-old boy held the house spell-bound with his treble rendition of Schlummert ein from the cantata BWV 82. Complete presentations of the 'Coffee Cantata' and the motet 'Jesu Meine Freude' were heard for the first time in recent memory. The evening ended with brilliant jazz renditions for soprano saxophone and piano, performed for the brave souls who stayed to the end, and for the volunteers.
The first notes, played at 5:00 on the harp, were heard by about 200 in the pews. As the evening progressed, the pews filled, and soon the house became SRO, with the little café in the Parish Hall abuzz with audience taking a quick supper break before heading back for more music. There were teenagers, young families with children, buttoned-down banker/lawyer types, bohemian artist types, taking it all in. Musicians came early to hear their colleagues, and stayed late after performing. You could hear a pin drop during the performances, and the applause was warm and long.
Professional musicians can be a prickly, territorial, and self-absorbed lot. Susan Dupont, the event's organizer, has the gift of inviting all these people to donate significant hours of practice, drive miles, and lend instruments; all for the privilege of participating gratis in a Bach marathon, together. Corporate sponsors and private donors stepped up generously in the throes of deep recession. This would not happen for for a Haydn or Mendelssohn marathon; as great as they were, their music wouldn't survive performance by a saxophone quartet. There is a universality, a (Dare it be said these days?) spiritual transcendence to Bach's music not found anywhere else in Western culture; and the more we look toward the source of his inspiration, and his lifelong response to it, the sooner we may regain our own cultural soul.
Thankfully, there was a photographer present, and he posted a few shots here:
The solo image on page 4 summarizes the evening brilliantly.
If you're in the area next Spring, set the evening aside, and join in.
Plan to arrive early; I suspect the crowd will grow dramatically.
And, if you live elsewhere, perhaps this is worth pursuing in your own part of the world.
Just a thought…
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Words for Our Times, and All Places, from Daniel Hannan
Like so many millions around the world, I was mesmerized by Daniel Hannan's public disembowlment of Gordon Brown in front of the European Parliament this week.
The God of Providence smiled upon us again, as this week one brave man stood up and said the things that needed saying, at just the right time and place, and those words were heard around the world.
They are words that merit repetition in every workplace, restaurant, church, civic club, golf course, and school athletic event in these United States. And every soul in any position of authority, be it in government, academia, business or the ecclesia, needs to hear them repeatedly, from all quarters.
These words from last week aren't the only moment of eloquence from Mr. Hannan. I've taken the liberty of transcribing his ninety seconds of truth-telling at the European Parliament on March 11, 2009.
I hope Mr. Hannan doesn't object--they are his words, after all, and he owns them. I've taken care to transcribe accurately, and I urge you to follow the link to his YouTube posting, and hear him speak them as well.
His words carry weight whether read or spoken--the true sign of a wordsmith. His poetical references are derived from Richard II.
Hannan's words now follow:
Once again, Madame President, we are indulging the fantasy that you can spend your way of out debt and legislate against recessions.
At best, we are engaging in self-deceit; at worst, we are deliberately perpetrating a deceit against our electorate.
The truth is that nothing can stop this correction. Interest rates were held too low for too long, and now that the air has been pumped into the balloon, it's going to come out again.
We could try and rescue some of the victims, but instead we engage in this pretense that we can stop the thing happening;
and the debt will paid by our children yet unborn and unbegot;
and nowhere more than in my country, where every child is now born with a debt of thirty thousand pounds,
because the incompetence and incontinence of its government.
As our national poet says:
This land of such dear souls
This dear, dear land is now leased out
(I die pronouncing it) like to a tenement or a pelting farm.
And now on top on that national debt, we are expected to
contribute to these European recovery programmes!
I close again with the words of our national poet:
Prevent it, resist it, let it not be so;
lest child, child's children cry against you 'Woe'.
[end transcription]
The God of Providence smiled upon us again, as this week one brave man stood up and said the things that needed saying, at just the right time and place, and those words were heard around the world.
They are words that merit repetition in every workplace, restaurant, church, civic club, golf course, and school athletic event in these United States. And every soul in any position of authority, be it in government, academia, business or the ecclesia, needs to hear them repeatedly, from all quarters.
These words from last week aren't the only moment of eloquence from Mr. Hannan. I've taken the liberty of transcribing his ninety seconds of truth-telling at the European Parliament on March 11, 2009.
I hope Mr. Hannan doesn't object--they are his words, after all, and he owns them. I've taken care to transcribe accurately, and I urge you to follow the link to his YouTube posting, and hear him speak them as well.
His words carry weight whether read or spoken--the true sign of a wordsmith. His poetical references are derived from Richard II.
Hannan's words now follow:
Once again, Madame President, we are indulging the fantasy that you can spend your way of out debt and legislate against recessions.
At best, we are engaging in self-deceit; at worst, we are deliberately perpetrating a deceit against our electorate.
The truth is that nothing can stop this correction. Interest rates were held too low for too long, and now that the air has been pumped into the balloon, it's going to come out again.
We could try and rescue some of the victims, but instead we engage in this pretense that we can stop the thing happening;
and the debt will paid by our children yet unborn and unbegot;
and nowhere more than in my country, where every child is now born with a debt of thirty thousand pounds,
because the incompetence and incontinence of its government.
As our national poet says:
This land of such dear souls
This dear, dear land is now leased out
(I die pronouncing it) like to a tenement or a pelting farm.
And now on top on that national debt, we are expected to
contribute to these European recovery programmes!
I close again with the words of our national poet:
Prevent it, resist it, let it not be so;
lest child, child's children cry against you 'Woe'.
[end transcription]
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