Without getting into too much (if any) statistical analysis, it just feels as though America is getting busy again. New-home starts jumped last month, fewer jobs have been lost than usual, consumer confidence is rising - heck, even our level of personal savings has increased since Barack Obama took office.
It appears, then, that the recovery will be taking place from the ground up. Wall Street still suffers, loudly, and without shame. The banks are still feigning credit paralysis despite all the injections of taxpayer cash. Now even the wealthiest among us are feeling like targets, and some are, like Rick Wagoner.
Wagoner, the former CEO of General Motors, was more or less forced to resign over the weekend. Great government pressure is being brought to bear upon GM (and Chrysler) as the wheedling automakers keep coming back to Washington with Prada hats in hand.
Conservatives are aghast at this development, but then, they've never seen a failure they didn't like. Wagoner managed to lose about $70 billion for GM over the past two years; it's a wonder shell-shocked shareholders hadn't demanded his ouster before with pitchforks and torches.
For all the predictable right-wing protest, the White House is doing exactly what we elected them to do, which is to clean up this financial mess. Bailout money means at least partial public ownership, and nobody in this country should have to pay Rick Wagoner or any other fiduciary flop another dime.
The only regret is that financial institutions are not being forced to choke down similar medicines. As well as losing some degree of control in the operations of their companies, GM and Chrysler may well end up in bankruptcy court, which is perhaps where they belong.
Reorganization would allow them to dissolve their contracts with the United Auto Workers - an outfit despised by conservatives even as they say they want everyone to make as much money as they can. But even that unhappy prospect isn't enough to make these people feel good.
All of this merely demonstrates that Obama and the Democrats are taking a responsible, non-ideological approach to the problems that have vexed Detroit for so long. And it proves again that conservatives are consistent only in their duplicity and their scorn for American labor...
Which doesn't matter one whit. The American worker doesn't care about the GOP any more than the GOP cares about them. Republicans and their greedy little fistful of core constituents can enjoy the view and wait for the recovery to trickle up.
As for the hefty minority of suckers supporting that whole cabal with their mindless voting habits, well, there's always a talk-show host around who'll take their call. Why not? It's toll free. Here at the end of the age of excess, it's the only thing left that they can afford.
pH 3.3o.o9
Monday, March 30, 2009
Monday, March 16, 2009
Damn, We're Generous
So, citizen, are you enjoying that four-fifths of a big-league insurance company that we all own now? That $165 million bonus package that AIG executives just received (which the government says it will block) shouldn't shake your confidence too much. Overall, we've pumped more than $170 billion into that sinkhole so far.
Hard feelings, dirty looks and rampant indignation can be found on both sides of the aisle. This white-collar bloodbath topped all other stories in today's newcasts, and it's easy to find an opinion on the subject no matter where you look or listen.
What's scarce is any constituency that supports, or even likes, AIG. The Web is alive with gripes about auto insurance claims, or old folks bitching about not being able to access their annuities... Can't get too sympathetic about that, I guess, but there is a grim side to to the AIG story.
Way back in '92, the company denied claims on homes that had been damaged by smoke when a nearby Safeway store (insured by AIG) caught fire in Richmond, Virginia. Smoke damage, they said, was actually a form of air pollution. In 2007 AIG had to be sued in Florida by PSCU Financial Services over identity theft claims to the tune of $2.4 million.
AIG recently refused to pay for a spinal fusion for mixed-martial arts fighter Tito Ortiz after a back injury, and they were in court earlier this year for not paying on a policy taken out by the Catholic Diocese in Brooklyn against pedophile priests. What won't these guys insure?
I suppose when you don't really intend to pay on a policy you'd be likely to write one up for damn near anything. So one can understand how insuring globally-dispersed mortgage-backed securities in a bubble market wouldn't make them flinch. Nothing really does.
In 2000, AIG went after a homeless man named Jesse Maxwell in Massachusetts for $9,000 worth of workmen's compensation, going so far as to pay an investigator to follow him around. Maxwell attempted suicide in 2001. But then AIG never claimed to be a good neighbor.
That's what we're in bed with, citizen, like it or not. Good night. Sleep tight.
(Don't let the bedbugs bite.)
pH 3.16.o9
Hard feelings, dirty looks and rampant indignation can be found on both sides of the aisle. This white-collar bloodbath topped all other stories in today's newcasts, and it's easy to find an opinion on the subject no matter where you look or listen.
What's scarce is any constituency that supports, or even likes, AIG. The Web is alive with gripes about auto insurance claims, or old folks bitching about not being able to access their annuities... Can't get too sympathetic about that, I guess, but there is a grim side to to the AIG story.
Way back in '92, the company denied claims on homes that had been damaged by smoke when a nearby Safeway store (insured by AIG) caught fire in Richmond, Virginia. Smoke damage, they said, was actually a form of air pollution. In 2007 AIG had to be sued in Florida by PSCU Financial Services over identity theft claims to the tune of $2.4 million.
AIG recently refused to pay for a spinal fusion for mixed-martial arts fighter Tito Ortiz after a back injury, and they were in court earlier this year for not paying on a policy taken out by the Catholic Diocese in Brooklyn against pedophile priests. What won't these guys insure?
I suppose when you don't really intend to pay on a policy you'd be likely to write one up for damn near anything. So one can understand how insuring globally-dispersed mortgage-backed securities in a bubble market wouldn't make them flinch. Nothing really does.
In 2000, AIG went after a homeless man named Jesse Maxwell in Massachusetts for $9,000 worth of workmen's compensation, going so far as to pay an investigator to follow him around. Maxwell attempted suicide in 2001. But then AIG never claimed to be a good neighbor.
That's what we're in bed with, citizen, like it or not. Good night. Sleep tight.
(Don't let the bedbugs bite.)
pH 3.16.o9
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Israeli Gears
The Israeli pot has boiled over again, this time in the White House kitchen, although most of us missed it. The story did not involve any missile strikes, or suicide bombers, or homes being bulldozed. There were no sensational claims of war plans being handed over to Jewish spies. Not this time.
What happened was rather low-key: A man named Charles Freeman was appointed by President Obama to be chairman of the National Intelligence Council. AIPAC and others in the pro-Israel lobby raised all manner of opposition, on account of Freeman's past views on the Middle East, specifically on Israel's role - or lack thereof - in the peace process.
Before too long, Freeman had to withdraw from consideration, but not without firing off a public letter decrying the nature of his own high-tech lynching. So the story isn't really about Freeman, but about the way in which most any criticism of U.S.-Israeli policy inevitably results in a cry of anti-Semitism, whether such is warranted or not.
When I was just a kid, I saw a photograph in the newspaper that blew me away. An elderly Palestinian man was on his knees in the street with his hands bound behind his back. An Israeli soldier was swinging a baton toward his head.
Clearly, I thought, They Have Forgotten. Over time, as the situation evolved (mostly for the worse), it became apparent that the people of the Jewish state considered this to be a struggle for survival. Geographically and demographically speaking it is precisely that.
The Palestinians have gone two generations now living in the kind of desperation that leaves them open to the radical influences of religious fanatics. It doesn't take much more than the obvious to convince them that suicidal martyrdom makes sense. The sheer paucity of their existence fuels those hellish fires.
Freeman's sin was his belief that Israel has utilized "high-handed and self-defeating policies". Does that make an anti-Semite out of him, or out of Jimmy Carter, who goes so far as to define the current situation as a form of apartheid? Doesn't the overuse of that accusation in dealing with differences of opinion dilute the very horrific and shameful nature of the historical persecution of Jews?
Ironically, a much more liberated discussion of this subject takes place every day in Israel, where the population is closely divided as to which path to choose. This was demonstrated in the recent election in which Tzipi Livni, the candidate more likely to pursue peace by actually peaceful means, was narrowly defeated by the hawkish former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
But we've seen this 'Yahu before, after Yitzhak Rabin (the only man to ever seriously pursue peace with his neighbors) was assassinated, in Israel, by a right-wing Jewish militant. "Bibi" was less than effective then, and was replaced by the more concession-minded Ehud Barak, who also got nowhere with the Palestinians.
The story remains the same. Only the writers have changed. No solution is in sight, and even the pursuit of one is tinged with suspicion and hostility, wherever it takes place. The hearts, minds and souls on each side have hardened to the point where neither can agree on anything, to the point where none of them have any business living in what they so sincerely call the Holy Land.
pH 3.15.o8
What happened was rather low-key: A man named Charles Freeman was appointed by President Obama to be chairman of the National Intelligence Council. AIPAC and others in the pro-Israel lobby raised all manner of opposition, on account of Freeman's past views on the Middle East, specifically on Israel's role - or lack thereof - in the peace process.
Before too long, Freeman had to withdraw from consideration, but not without firing off a public letter decrying the nature of his own high-tech lynching. So the story isn't really about Freeman, but about the way in which most any criticism of U.S.-Israeli policy inevitably results in a cry of anti-Semitism, whether such is warranted or not.
When I was just a kid, I saw a photograph in the newspaper that blew me away. An elderly Palestinian man was on his knees in the street with his hands bound behind his back. An Israeli soldier was swinging a baton toward his head.
Clearly, I thought, They Have Forgotten. Over time, as the situation evolved (mostly for the worse), it became apparent that the people of the Jewish state considered this to be a struggle for survival. Geographically and demographically speaking it is precisely that.
The Palestinians have gone two generations now living in the kind of desperation that leaves them open to the radical influences of religious fanatics. It doesn't take much more than the obvious to convince them that suicidal martyrdom makes sense. The sheer paucity of their existence fuels those hellish fires.
Freeman's sin was his belief that Israel has utilized "high-handed and self-defeating policies". Does that make an anti-Semite out of him, or out of Jimmy Carter, who goes so far as to define the current situation as a form of apartheid? Doesn't the overuse of that accusation in dealing with differences of opinion dilute the very horrific and shameful nature of the historical persecution of Jews?
Ironically, a much more liberated discussion of this subject takes place every day in Israel, where the population is closely divided as to which path to choose. This was demonstrated in the recent election in which Tzipi Livni, the candidate more likely to pursue peace by actually peaceful means, was narrowly defeated by the hawkish former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
But we've seen this 'Yahu before, after Yitzhak Rabin (the only man to ever seriously pursue peace with his neighbors) was assassinated, in Israel, by a right-wing Jewish militant. "Bibi" was less than effective then, and was replaced by the more concession-minded Ehud Barak, who also got nowhere with the Palestinians.
The story remains the same. Only the writers have changed. No solution is in sight, and even the pursuit of one is tinged with suspicion and hostility, wherever it takes place. The hearts, minds and souls on each side have hardened to the point where neither can agree on anything, to the point where none of them have any business living in what they so sincerely call the Holy Land.
pH 3.15.o8
Saturday, March 7, 2009
Lost in the Woods
It is an old expression, yes, but one that has not lost its value or luster through the ages: Never interrupt your enemy when he is in the process of hanging himself. That should really be a private experience.
At the same time, though, one cannot help but laugh out loud as the Republican Party keeps slipping on banana peels. Look no further than Louisiana Senator David Vitter, who continues to excoriate the values of Democrats, and whose name was found in the D.C. Madame's little black book. He is, and always will be, a microcosm.
President Barack Obama has also taken note of these little ironies that keep popping up out of right field. He is absolutely correct when he says that these are simply not the folks to be lecturing anyone about economics (or much of anything else) these days.
Legislatively speaking, the GOP is dead in the water. Their titular heads, RNC Chairman Michael Steele and talk-show host Rush Limbaugh, have tilted lances several times. After standing united for so long, such divisions have become major weaknesses, with no light at the end of the tunnel.
Their Next Big Thing, Louisiana Governor Piyush "Bobby" Jindal, laid an egg in his televised response to Obama's recent address to Congress. Think Mister Rogers, only without a nice bone in his body.
Other young Turks include Florida governor Charlie Crist, House Minority Whip Eric Cantor and, of course, Alaska's own Sarah Palin. For her part, Palin will always be considered the cleavage of the Republican Party, bringing nothing more to the table than an ideological quarterback controversy.
It is obvious that "The Base" loves her (in a way that is perhaps not entirely healthy). They think she should have been the nominee instead of John McCain last year. The Party leadership considers her to be poison. They believe she dragged the ticket down with equal parts inexperience and schlock.
Somewhere in between those two camps lies the forest in which conservatives are doomed to wander for at least the foreseeable future. Their stances against the environment, the economy and the working people of this country aren't helping their image, either.
Are there any solutions for them? Of course there are, but I'm not about to start giving them advice. It's not what they want to hear. And besides... They're busy right now.
pH 3.o7.o9
At the same time, though, one cannot help but laugh out loud as the Republican Party keeps slipping on banana peels. Look no further than Louisiana Senator David Vitter, who continues to excoriate the values of Democrats, and whose name was found in the D.C. Madame's little black book. He is, and always will be, a microcosm.
President Barack Obama has also taken note of these little ironies that keep popping up out of right field. He is absolutely correct when he says that these are simply not the folks to be lecturing anyone about economics (or much of anything else) these days.
Legislatively speaking, the GOP is dead in the water. Their titular heads, RNC Chairman Michael Steele and talk-show host Rush Limbaugh, have tilted lances several times. After standing united for so long, such divisions have become major weaknesses, with no light at the end of the tunnel.
Their Next Big Thing, Louisiana Governor Piyush "Bobby" Jindal, laid an egg in his televised response to Obama's recent address to Congress. Think Mister Rogers, only without a nice bone in his body.
Other young Turks include Florida governor Charlie Crist, House Minority Whip Eric Cantor and, of course, Alaska's own Sarah Palin. For her part, Palin will always be considered the cleavage of the Republican Party, bringing nothing more to the table than an ideological quarterback controversy.
It is obvious that "The Base" loves her (in a way that is perhaps not entirely healthy). They think she should have been the nominee instead of John McCain last year. The Party leadership considers her to be poison. They believe she dragged the ticket down with equal parts inexperience and schlock.
Somewhere in between those two camps lies the forest in which conservatives are doomed to wander for at least the foreseeable future. Their stances against the environment, the economy and the working people of this country aren't helping their image, either.
Are there any solutions for them? Of course there are, but I'm not about to start giving them advice. It's not what they want to hear. And besides... They're busy right now.
pH 3.o7.o9
Monday, March 2, 2009
Taking Inventory
Scarcely forty days have passed since Barack Obama took the oath of office, replacing George W. Bush as president of the United States. Whereas most presidents are given about a hundred-day honeymoon, Obama had to prove a little more, and spared no feelings out of the gate.
One of the higher priorities of the new administration is the federal funding of embryonic stem-cell research. Another is the development of "green" technology. Right off the bat we understood that Obama's progressive credentials were not exactly tin stars.
Belief in science: Restored.
Then came Obama's Rooseveltian plan to provide debt relief to people who are in jeopardy of losing their homes. Refinancing at lower interest rates will soak up bad mortgages, suturing the foreclosure artery and freeing up consumer capital. His designs on universal health care (basically an extension of Medicare benefits to all Americans) are also aimed at preventive medicine, which experts believe will save us billions of dollars.
Fiscal responsibility: Restored.
Obama, coming from a large midwestern city, understands the problems that have beset the rust belt for so long, problems that were abjectly ignored by the Republicans when they were in power. After months of pounding that cold pavement, two of my siblings are finally getting call-backs, from Barack Obama's Social Security Administration.
Worker confidence: Restored
One of the more recent - and controversial - moves that the new Commander in Chief has made involves the returning mortal remains of our soldiers who were killed overseas. Under Republican rule, photographs of this somber reality were forbidden, so the public never had to confront the consequences of our actions. Obama lifted that rule (provided the families of the deceased give their permission).
First Amendment: Restored
Equally noteworthy is the fact that Obama has repeatedly stated that America does not torture. Combined with his aspirations to close the detainee prisons at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, our policies are changing at a rate of 180 degrees.
Our good standing in the world: Restored.
Now the president has laid out his plan to remove U.S. forces from Iraq by the end of August 2011. This would, after so many lives and years have been lost, signal the reversal of the worst foreign policy blunder ever to plague this great nation. This will allow us to focus on more troublesome Afghanistan in hopes of preventing it from becoming the next Vietnam.
Hope for peace (if handled properly): Restored
That's an awful lot of forward motion, which was absolutely necessary, in less than six weeks. Stay tuned, unless you happen to be a conservative, in which case we'll come along once in awhile and water your head which is stuck so firmly in the ground. With any luck, one day, it will bloom.
pH 3.o2.o9
One of the higher priorities of the new administration is the federal funding of embryonic stem-cell research. Another is the development of "green" technology. Right off the bat we understood that Obama's progressive credentials were not exactly tin stars.
Belief in science: Restored.
Then came Obama's Rooseveltian plan to provide debt relief to people who are in jeopardy of losing their homes. Refinancing at lower interest rates will soak up bad mortgages, suturing the foreclosure artery and freeing up consumer capital. His designs on universal health care (basically an extension of Medicare benefits to all Americans) are also aimed at preventive medicine, which experts believe will save us billions of dollars.
Fiscal responsibility: Restored.
Obama, coming from a large midwestern city, understands the problems that have beset the rust belt for so long, problems that were abjectly ignored by the Republicans when they were in power. After months of pounding that cold pavement, two of my siblings are finally getting call-backs, from Barack Obama's Social Security Administration.
Worker confidence: Restored
One of the more recent - and controversial - moves that the new Commander in Chief has made involves the returning mortal remains of our soldiers who were killed overseas. Under Republican rule, photographs of this somber reality were forbidden, so the public never had to confront the consequences of our actions. Obama lifted that rule (provided the families of the deceased give their permission).
First Amendment: Restored
Equally noteworthy is the fact that Obama has repeatedly stated that America does not torture. Combined with his aspirations to close the detainee prisons at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, our policies are changing at a rate of 180 degrees.
Our good standing in the world: Restored.
Now the president has laid out his plan to remove U.S. forces from Iraq by the end of August 2011. This would, after so many lives and years have been lost, signal the reversal of the worst foreign policy blunder ever to plague this great nation. This will allow us to focus on more troublesome Afghanistan in hopes of preventing it from becoming the next Vietnam.
Hope for peace (if handled properly): Restored
That's an awful lot of forward motion, which was absolutely necessary, in less than six weeks. Stay tuned, unless you happen to be a conservative, in which case we'll come along once in awhile and water your head which is stuck so firmly in the ground. With any luck, one day, it will bloom.
pH 3.o2.o9
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