Ediface Rex
Expert textpert choking smokers,
Don't you thing the joker laughs at you?
--I am the Walrus, The Beatles
The old soft shoe
He jumped so high, jumped so high
Then he lightly touched down
--Mr. Bojangles, Jerry Jeff Walker
Ooh, ooh that smell
Can't you smell that smell?
Ooh, ooh that smell
The smell of death surrounds you.
--That Smell, Lynyrd Skynyrd
Isn't it pretty to think so?
--The Sun Also Rises,
Ernest Hemingway
______________
Don't you thing the joker laughs at you?
--I am the Walrus, The Beatles
The old soft shoe
He jumped so high, jumped so high
Then he lightly touched down
--Mr. Bojangles, Jerry Jeff Walker
Ooh, ooh that smell
Can't you smell that smell?
Ooh, ooh that smell
The smell of death surrounds you.
--That Smell, Lynyrd Skynyrd
Isn't it pretty to think so?
--The Sun Also Rises,
Ernest Hemingway
______________
The more you think on it, the Phony War on Terror (PWOT ©) and the economic crisis and attendant stimuli are exactly the same.
Both are based upon illusion, false premises and a heapin' helpin' of unreal expectations. Smoke, mirrors, in fact, lies. Lies presented as obvious assumptions. Neither word belongs in policy or war making. We fancy we are a nation of warriors and consumers led by experts, but our experts are only masters of doublespeak.
They talk real pretty and look pretty nice, but a national life is made not of tap dancing and pretty words. The real estate bubble and bust was based upon predatory, faith-based lending and mortgage practices. The faith was in the outstanding aspect of America that allowed for limitless asset appreciation. The market could bear all. Bankers sold fairy dust and snake oil.
Both the home "owner" and the banker colluded in a commensal lie, and the balloon payment down the line got a nod and a wink. Denial and greed are the names for that most American of games. As Big Daddy asked, Didn't you notice the powerful and obnoxious odor of mendacity in this room?
The PWOT shares many of the same features. BushCheney & Co. sold the war to Congress (= mortgage) to Congress (= the buyer) on the lie that the war would not exceed $50 Billion. D'oh.
The figure was a lie and everyone knew it, but Congress bought the fiction like a good sub prime borrower and signed onto the interest-only mortgage (= the congressional authorization to use military force to execute the PWOT.)
The bill was further bastardized when the terms were changed without a complete renegotiation and refinancing of the note. The original mortgage was the invasion of Afghanistan. However, this was unilaterally expanded to include Iraq.
This type of switcheroo would be unheard of in a mortgage or loan situation, yet Congress accepted the term change without so much as a whimper. The media mavens didn't summon much concern, either.
The extension of the mortgage to include Iraq was sold as a predatory loan. Bush sold Congress and the people the idea that the war would be paid with a balloon note payable in Iraqi oil assets. Unfortunately, Bush didn't ask the Iraqis if they were on board with his diktat.
After the war was won in such a spectacular manner it became obvious that the initial mortgage would not ever be paid, as initially promised. What to do? Take out a 2nd mortgage, renegotiate the note and pass regular ersatz "Emergency Funding Bills" to cover the interest only. Sadly, as with the bad mortgages, the balance is still due and is beyond our ability to pay at this time.
The wars and the stimulus packages are based upon faulty logic. Yet we continue stalwart down that road, as it's the only one we know.
The government exists for one purpose: to provide for the general welfare of the citizenry, rich and poor. That is our social contract.Effective democracy is the muting and accommodation of the extremes; it is the middle ground, which is no longer terrain traversed by either party.
Both parties favor big business and finance to the exclusion of the middle and lower economic strata. The government has abrogated its mandate when it permits predatory behavior, as it has done in the financial sector and the war making sector. Yet we call this predation, democracy. If so, democracy is dead.
Ranger sees a realignment of the political parties reflecting the economic realities of the nation. Power to the people, if they can surmount their hysterical fealty to divisive issues like gun control and abortion rights.
America will survive by adapting and abandoning policies that harm the majority of the citizens. It remains to be seen whether the divisive Rovian tactics can be trashed in favor of a national ethos. If enough things break down, maybe the citizens will coalesce in a unity of purpose.
The welfare of America is not the welfare of corporate CEOs.
Both are based upon illusion, false premises and a heapin' helpin' of unreal expectations. Smoke, mirrors, in fact, lies. Lies presented as obvious assumptions. Neither word belongs in policy or war making. We fancy we are a nation of warriors and consumers led by experts, but our experts are only masters of doublespeak.
They talk real pretty and look pretty nice, but a national life is made not of tap dancing and pretty words. The real estate bubble and bust was based upon predatory, faith-based lending and mortgage practices. The faith was in the outstanding aspect of America that allowed for limitless asset appreciation. The market could bear all. Bankers sold fairy dust and snake oil.
Both the home "owner" and the banker colluded in a commensal lie, and the balloon payment down the line got a nod and a wink. Denial and greed are the names for that most American of games. As Big Daddy asked, Didn't you notice the powerful and obnoxious odor of mendacity in this room?
The PWOT shares many of the same features. BushCheney & Co. sold the war to Congress (= mortgage) to Congress (= the buyer) on the lie that the war would not exceed $50 Billion. D'oh.
The figure was a lie and everyone knew it, but Congress bought the fiction like a good sub prime borrower and signed onto the interest-only mortgage (= the congressional authorization to use military force to execute the PWOT.)
The bill was further bastardized when the terms were changed without a complete renegotiation and refinancing of the note. The original mortgage was the invasion of Afghanistan. However, this was unilaterally expanded to include Iraq.
This type of switcheroo would be unheard of in a mortgage or loan situation, yet Congress accepted the term change without so much as a whimper. The media mavens didn't summon much concern, either.
The extension of the mortgage to include Iraq was sold as a predatory loan. Bush sold Congress and the people the idea that the war would be paid with a balloon note payable in Iraqi oil assets. Unfortunately, Bush didn't ask the Iraqis if they were on board with his diktat.
After the war was won in such a spectacular manner it became obvious that the initial mortgage would not ever be paid, as initially promised. What to do? Take out a 2nd mortgage, renegotiate the note and pass regular ersatz "Emergency Funding Bills" to cover the interest only. Sadly, as with the bad mortgages, the balance is still due and is beyond our ability to pay at this time.
The wars and the stimulus packages are based upon faulty logic. Yet we continue stalwart down that road, as it's the only one we know.
The government exists for one purpose: to provide for the general welfare of the citizenry, rich and poor. That is our social contract.Effective democracy is the muting and accommodation of the extremes; it is the middle ground, which is no longer terrain traversed by either party.
Both parties favor big business and finance to the exclusion of the middle and lower economic strata. The government has abrogated its mandate when it permits predatory behavior, as it has done in the financial sector and the war making sector. Yet we call this predation, democracy. If so, democracy is dead.
Ranger sees a realignment of the political parties reflecting the economic realities of the nation. Power to the people, if they can surmount their hysterical fealty to divisive issues like gun control and abortion rights.
America will survive by adapting and abandoning policies that harm the majority of the citizens. It remains to be seen whether the divisive Rovian tactics can be trashed in favor of a national ethos. If enough things break down, maybe the citizens will coalesce in a unity of purpose.
The welfare of America is not the welfare of corporate CEOs.
Labels: bailouts, bill of goods, democracy dead, phony war on terror, PWOT, unity
posted by rangeragainstwar at 5:18 PM
7 Comments:
I like the analogy, there. As a free-market libertarian, I tend to blame everyone involved for the subprime crisis, just like I blame everyone for the current wars.
Have you ever looked at the inflationary measures of the Federal Reserve and how they engage in monetary expansion with a wink and a nod from the bankers, who make crazy profits off a stupid fractional reserve system, while standing up and saying that their scam is the backbone of the economy? It's a pretty interesting topic, and it's a Ponzi scheme that puts Madoff to shame. The deeper you look the more you see that the standard line given to kids in high school isn't really accurate (as it rarely is) and it's more scary than anything.
Going back to your point about how Bush embarked on a course of action with members of Congress on both sides going along with it, and a media cheerleading the whole thing along (everyone utterly failing to do their job of checking and balancing), do we still have a judicial branch? I haven't heard anything from them in awhile, and what I do hear doesn't disagree with the general sentiment that the government can do whatever it wants to you because "nyyaah nyyaah nyaah you can't stop them*."
*that may not be an actual quote from a judicial decision, but I feel like it might as well be.
"The government exists for one purpose: to provide for the general welfare of the citizenry, rich and poor...."
that is a Liberal concept my friend. there is only one of the two major political parties that can be described as Liberal (Liberal as in the Constitution and Declaration of Independence are Liberal documents).
While the New Democrats (Democratic Leadership Council/DLC per Clintons) do in fact immitate modern Republicanism in their economic philosophy, I do not believe the Democrats (current administration) are embracing the Laissez Faire "Free Market" nonsense of the Austrian School "Milton Friedman" genre..... that philosophy essentially evolves the function of government into being nothing more than a means to pump public monies into Corporate profit margins. Government essentially defaults to Corporatism as the result of an explicit underlying philosophy.
I think the Democrats and the American People are awakened to the error of "movement conservative", Republican economic philosphy, which was essentially a 30 year train wreck in slow motion.
Now, after the wreck, the Government can really do little else other than jack money into the system to give it a jump start. The numbers are mind boggling.... the Global aspect of the problem enormous.
This really sucks..... but I am very very very glad that the Republicans are no longer in charge..... I do not equate these Political Partys.
link
I'm going to agree with Ghost Dansing here. Ranger, you know I've never agreed with your "they're all the same" thesis, primarily because I think it's far too early to tell. I think you, just like the right wingers who are running around saying, "the socialists are coming, the socialists are coming," are being way too quick on the trigger.
It took 48 years—from Kennedy beginning the slide into shit in Vietnam, to Reagan and the supply side fantasy, to Clinton and the encouragement of criminal financial shenanigans, to Bush, who pretty much capped off the overall slide into criminality on all fronts, for this nation to get into its current fix. And after less than 90 days, you're lumping Obama in with all of his stellar predecessors?
Funny how so many people who post on blog like this and others are such learned economists and are so sure that what Obama's doing is so wrong.
Funny how many great military strategists there are on these blogs who are convinced that he's already committed us to a never-ending war in Afghanistan or, alternatively, should be hanged for treason because he's giving up in the brave battle against all those bad terrists.
I don't like some of the things that are going on right now, but I also realize that this administration is just trying to get its sea legs. And that it's had to hit the ground running because of the enormous amount of baggage it inherited. The financial shit troubles me, but I think we should all realize that this administration was not able to begin with a clean plate, and that it's in essence trying to perform alchemy and turn dross into gold.
Too much Chicken Little out there right now. It's going to be a long, hard slog. Give it a chance.
I have spent many years trying to make government change direction, and it's been my experience that it takes a lot of time and a lot of steps to overcome the massive inertia that's inherent in any large system. I realize that one might expect that process to be a little faster if one is the president of the United States, but the same rules of physics apply. Give the man some time!
The long-term solution to the economic situation may lie in regulation - is America ready to embrace that? Seems to me that's right up there with gun control and abortion....of course, I'm a Canuck and accustomed to all three. The left wing in America is still quite a ways to the right of the right wing in Canada. The American public is just waking up to the fact that they've been scammed big-time - maybe that will lead to a greater receptiveness to the notion of regulation, but I'm not (ahem) banking on it.
so far i've seen some stuff to like, and some stuff to be alarmed with from obama.
economically, i think he's spending far too much time and money trying to sustain the unsustainable, but, given the "i'll freeze government spending" stance of mcCain, there was no good, rational alternative to another cycle of sucker's rallies and phoney bubbles.
in foreign policy, i'm hoping that his experience last week in europe trying to drum up support for his "surge" in afghanistan might stir his pragmatic streak to walk away from the edge of that cliff. had bush done that with iraq we would all be better off right now.
here's the thing to remember though. both afghanistan and iraq were wars fought on credit cards. stopping the flow of money going into those two huge ass ratholes won't produce a "peace dividend" because the money never existed in the first place.
I don't see why you would say that the Austrian school of economic thought is "nonsense", or what makes you think that under that school of thought government is used to funnel public money to private people. I think you should check out some of the articles on www.mises.org to really get a grip on what the Austrian school is all about. It all derives from the action axiom, which states that humans act and know what it means to act.
The idea that government can pump money into the economy to "jump start" it is economically unsound at best and dangerous at worst. It rests on the assumption that government can create wealth by creating money, which doesn't work.
I also take issue with the belief that either party is anything but two sides of the wrong coin, and to blame Republicans for a "30 year slow motion train wreck" is, from my point of view, disingenuous.
I find that most people believe the use of force is justified to achieve their aims, and so government these days consists of who is going to force who to do what and which lobbyists are going to get a payoff this term.
As for this statement:
"The long-term solution to the economic situation may lie in regulation"
The most unforgiving regulator is the free market. It will punish you ruthlessly. It's the friggin' terminator of all regulators, but it can't be based on force.
I wish people would quit saying they like living in a free country, because its pretty clear they don't.
Publius,
I'm against chicken-little leadership and blogging.Further I confess and consistently remind readers that I am NOT an economist but just a simple man trying to muddle through the morass in which we are bogged. It's more than one can comprehend therefore we trust the wonks. In this i believe lies the rub-Paulson and Gaitner both favor big business over the taxpayers. Cut it as you may but the little guy is holding the bag for Wall Street and Dertoit.
If you remember your fathers face he was , as i understand it,a common soldier and citizen much like mine. My Dad was UMW/UAW his entire slavelike life and at one time the Demo Party actually pretended to care for this portion of their base. Now Labor/union must give up ground while the big Corps collect free get out of jail payments.That's the flip side of the coin.!! It's hard for you and me to feel this because we're fat, dumb and happy -unlike present day labor. Remember where we came from and the debt we owe to this class of worker, no war could be won without them nor would we be a great nation. It's the workers stupid!(not you Publius)
As for the bailouts- let them all go bankrupt and force them to be capitalists once again. This was the basis of our national life. If you don't get it then you don't get it.Simple. Nobody is too big or too small to fail.
As for the wars I cannot accept O telling the troops what a great job done in IRQ when he opposed the war. Does this mean he's accepting that he was wrong back then? It can't be both ways.
My focus has always been to stop the wars. Sorry if I sidetrack occasionally.
As always - it's nice hearing from you.
jim
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