Is it warm in here? Or did I just get the new National Review!
Let's see, they've already had Larry "ToeTapper" Craig, Mark "Texter" Foley, "Diaper" David Vitter, John "Schtupping the Staff" Ensign etc. etc. I suppose it was only a matter of time before the rightwingnutz went from Promise Keepers to Larry Flynt. But Jonah Goldberg! Ewwwww! Gack! Sorry, I just barfed in my mouth a little.
h/t to Wonkette
Must-read piece by Nobel Econ biggie Joseph Stiglitz in Vanity Fair.
(H)istorians will mark the 20 years since 1989 as the short period of American triumphalism. With the collapse of great banks and financial houses, and the ensuing economic turmoil and chaotic attempts at rescue, that period is over. So, too, is the debate over “market fundamentalism,” the notion that unfettered markets, all by themselves, can ensure economic prosperity and growth. Today only the deluded would argue that markets are self-correcting or that we can rely on the self-interested behavior of market participants to guarantee that everything works honestly and properly.
More via vanityfair.com
"It's a war between the haves and the have-nots and the fix is in." - Dr. Hunter S. Thompson
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Tweeting the Herd
The herd of investors is quick to forget the pain of the last two years' crash. So, that's why they have to relive it. So says Paul B. Farrell, founder of Financial News Network and columnist for MarketWatch. The short attention span, brain-numbing habits of the modern trader are honed to quickly forget the pain and re-engage in risky behavior. Farrell says here are those things traders will forget:
- You'll forget ... that economists misled us, and will again
- You'll forget ... new crooks are plotting to steal your money
- You'll forget ... that regulators are also political hacks in disguise
- You'll forget ... bankers are stupid, and will make stupid loans
- You'll forget ... that America's run by a powerful wealthy elite
- You'll forget ... that the news is just another Wall Street 'Terminator'
- You'll forget ... your anger, and you'll let them get away with it
- You'll forget ... nothing lasts forever (except Wall Street's hype)
- You'll forget ... what's really important as soon as the bull roars
- You'll forget ... you can fight back, but the will is gone
Farrell quotes Yale's Robert Shiller, who says: "We recently lived through two epidemics of excessive financial optimism. I believe we are close to a third episode, only this one will spread irrational pessimism and distrust -- not exuberance. If that happens, our economic problems will become much worse than they need to be, and our social problems will multiply."
The Greater Depression continues and the next leg is going to be much worse than anything we've seen so far.
JP Morgan Levitating the Market
Zero Hedge is reporting that JP Morgan is responsible for rallying stocks in the last half hour of each session, leaving the impression that real buyers are in the market. This manipulation may be done in order for the banksters to unload secondary offerings on the public. When will they be finished? Only the banksters know for sure. As far as we can tell, once the immediate bankster crisis was over, these criminals on Wall Street have gone back to their old ways---manipulating the herd and stealing money from them
More via marketclues.blogspot.com
Why "Markets"? Cuz "Markets" are people.
Interesting new (to me) site for econ info. And I was wondering what those last 1/2 hour market rallies were about. You knew the Big Boys in the Back were playing but I couldn't figure the game.
h/t to The Big Picture
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As usual, Juan Cole at Informed Comment has the story. He is the real deal on all Mid-East/South Asia politics, accept no substitutes.
Stealing the Iranian Election
Top Pieces of Evidence that the Iranian Presidential Election Was Stolen
More via juancole.com
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Max Blumenthal's explosive video of American Jews in Israel disparaging Pres. Obama is too hot for Huffington Post. They've scrubbed the video from the site. I've read many, many reports, all good, from Max Blumenthal and this is the only time he's been refused.
Max Blumenthal - Censored by the Huffington Post, Imprisoned by the Past: Why I Made “Feeling The Hate in Jerusalem”
On Wednesday, I walked around central Jerusalem with my friend, Joseph Dana, an Israel peace activist who has lived in the country for three years. We interviewed young people on camera about the speech President Barack Obama planned to deliver to the Muslim world the following day in Cairo. Though our questions were not provocative at all – we simply asked, “What do you think of Obama’s speech” – the responses our interview subjects offered comprised some of the most shocking comments I have ever recorded on camera. They were racist, hateful, and incredibly ignorant, and were mostly couched within a Zionist context – “this is our land, Obama!” The following day, we edited an hour of interviews into a 3:30 minute video package and released it on Mondoweiss and on the Huffington Post.
Within a few hours, I received an email from a Huffington Post administrator informing me he had scrubbed my video from the site. “I don’t see that it has any real news value,” the administrator told me. “For me it only proves that one can find drunk people willing to say just about anything. Especially drunk, moronic people.” For the first time, the premier clearinghouse for online news and opinions had suppressed one of my posts.
More via maxblumenthal.com
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The video with this article isn't very shocking for those paying attention to the dynamics of Israel/US power but it's still surprising to see the utter contempt that the Israelis and American Jews in Israel have for their protector and benefactor, the US of A. And don't dismiss this as drunken antics, the filmmakers don't.
Max Blumenthal - Feeling The Hate In Jerusalem on the Eve of Obama’s Speech in Cairo
Max and I (Joseph Dana, one of the co-creators of the video) went on to the streets of Jerusalem at ten o’clock on a Wednesday to ascertain the feelings of the young population about Obama’s upcoming speech in Cairo. As is often the case, the streets of central Jerusalem were not filled with native Israelis but American Jews. Doubtlessly anyone who has visited Jerusalem has encountered the droves of American Jewish kids that are sent to Israel to study for a period of time from Teaneck or Westchester. We asked people a simple question, “What do you think of Obama and Israel?” Most of the people that we talked to were dual American Israeli citizens. The answers in this video reflect the education and worrisome perspectives that many American Jews harbor towards Israeli politics. The sense of entitlement that the American Jewish community has when it comes to Israeli policy is on full raw display in the words of these young adults.
Based on our interviews these people were from high socio economic backgrounds and had developed thoughts about current Israeli politics
More via maxblumenthal.com
Obama's got a lot of work cut out to extract the good ol' US of A from this mishigos.
BTW - NSFW
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Countrywide Financial was the ultimate symbol of super-duper capitalism during the housing bubble with almost 20% of the entire US mortgage market and it's CEO, Angelo "The Man with the Tan" Mozilo, the ultimate symbol of the oily capitalist titan. Countrywide has since become the poster child of the mortgage meltdown and now "The Man with the Tan" has been indicted for FRAUD. Bookmark this article so you can show it to the braying assclowns of the rightwing when they cry "ACORN!" and "CRA!" It wasn't Col. Mustard with a candlestick in the parlor, t'was the banksters at the top what done the dirty deed, with an over-leveraged mortgage-backed security in the boardroom.
Countrywide exec often warned about mortgage risks | Reuters
John P. McMurray made it clear to his Countrywide Financial Corp bosses that they were playing a dangerous game with risk. But they didn't listen.
Even so, he is being called a hero.
Warnings from McMurray are cited often in a lawsuit filed by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission against Countrywide's co-founder Angelo Mozilo and two lieutenants.
McMurray was chief risk officer of the lender that became a symbol of some of the worst excesses of the subprime mortgage crisis.
Mozilo, now the most prominent defendant in investigations into the U.S. housing bust and subsequent financial crisis, was charged on Thursday with securities fraud and insider trading as he made profits of more than $139 million from share sales in 2006 and 2007. Countrywide's former president David Sambol and former chief financial officer Eric Sieracki were also charged with fraud.
via reuters.com
There'll be lots more on this story, believe it. It's the tale of the entire fraudulent Ponzi scheme of Rethuglinomics in a nutshell.
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From a McClatchy story.
Mustafa Ayad, 34 yrs, father of two, accountant:
"I think Bush has dragged the reputation of America into the mud by his aggressive actions, and that Obama is trying to recapture that former presence it had in the minds and hearts of people all around the world. But he asks us to forgive and forget – that is too much. Forgive and forget a million Iraqis killed over the period of occupation? Forgive and forget the indignities and the humiliation of having to scuttle over to the pavement for the "Lords" to pass us on our streets? Forget – and forgive Abu Ghraib? And the list is long. I cannot forgive and forget my relatives who were killed, displaced or detained and humiliated for mere suspicion. We lost our homes, our livelihoods and our families most of whom fled. But in spite of that I am willing to listen. I am willing to give Obama the benefit of doubt. It remains to be seen what he can do to put my country back together."
More via washingtonbureau.typepad.com
"But in spite of that I am willing to listen. I am willing to give Obama the benefit of doubt."
In spite of "a million Iraqis killed" and "the indignities and the humiliation" and "my relatives who were killed, displaced or detained and humiliated". That's more than we may deserve and I hope he can get what he deserves, "to put my country back together."
Our media is so bad, so dunderheaded and shortsighted that you are never reminded (or even really told the full story) of the terrible destruction the USofA has done to Iraq and the rest of the region. Our "reputation" is now lower than a snake's belly and fully deserved. The concept that someone like Mustafa, an Iraqi, would still have an open mind towards us? I'm astounded. And thankful. We may be able to regain our honor some day, if we are committed to it and we're damn lucky.
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