Category: Good Writing

Krugman Nails It

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He hasn’t let the Nobel go to his head.

Read his Op-Ed.

He is saying that there is not much that the Fed can do by lowering interest rates, they are already at 1%, after all.

He is saying that they have shot their monetary wad, the classic phrase is “pushing on a string”, and that Congress needs to go with fiscal stimulus, meaning that Congress needs spend money on things like infrastructure, etc.

Think New Deal and the WPA.

Go read the shrill one.

Ph’nglui mglw’nafh Krugman R’lyeh wagn’nagl fhtagn!

Quote of the Day: Gail Collins

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Times Columnist Gail Collins

Remember how we used to joke about John McCain looking like an old guy yelling at kids to get off his lawn? It’s only in retrospect that we can see that the keep-off-the-grass period was the McCain campaign’s golden era. Now, he’s beginning to act like one of those movie characters who steals the wrong ring and turns into a troll.

During that last debate, while he was wandering around the stage, you almost expected to hear him start muttering: “We wants it. We needs it. Must have the precious.”

She owes me a screen cleaner.

Rolling Stone on McCain

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John Sidney McCain III must be walking funny (funnier?) after Rolling Stone got through with him, because they just cut him a new asshole, and from reading the article, it’s clear that if they were using the Jarvis Bung Dropper* (see picture), then they must have used the jumbo extra large model.

This article looks in detail at every aspect of John McCain’s life, and finds that the truth is much less than heroic.

They absolutely eviscerate his claims of service and heroism, and they don’t even have to go into the rumor that he caused the Forrestal fire.

*Full disclosure, I actually worked for Jarvis Products Corporation in the early 1990s, and actually worked on issues with the blade for the larger models of the bung dropper, which goes from chickens all the way up to bulls.†
†Yes, I have worked everywhere. Maybe I can’t hold down a job, but more likely this has been my role as “technical hit man”, where you are parachuted in to take care of a specific need.

What Do You Call This?

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The punch line is the same as for the joke that starts, “What do you call 100 lawyers at the bottom of the ocean?” (Answer at bottom of post)

The head of the Indian operations of Graziano Transmissioni, Lalit Kishore Choudhary, was beaten to death by employees he had sacked.

I have said on a number of occasions that if you want to go postal, go after upper management first, and it seems that these employees were of a like mind.

The quotes regarding this, show just how callous people are:

A spokesman for the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry said: “Such a heinous act is bound to sully India’s image among overseas investors.”

That is an unbelievably cold statement. Some dude got beaten to death, and the only comment is, “It’s bad for business.”

Of course, being the Times of London, they are wringing their hands over this, and note the violence at the location selected by Tata for a factory to manufacture its ultra cheap Nano, but refuse to mention the fact that the land in question was stolen from the peasant farmers who had worked it for hundreds of years.

Meanwhile India’s Labor Minister has apologized for saying that the murder of Choudhary should, “serve as a warning” to managers to treat workers compassionately.”

He was right the first time.

If you want to read a more full throated, and more eloquent endorsement of actions that might make senior executives think twice, you need to go no further than Exiled Online

Live by heartless officialese, die by heartless officialese plus a hammer upside the skull. Nothing could be fairer than that. Proceed with the mob beatifications as soon as we get their names. And somebody find that f@#$-you-Mr.-Cheney guy’s name too while you’re at it. Something about the politeness of the “Mr.” right after the “f@#$ you” really enchants us. This is a guy who understands the importance of human dignity. No doubt, with a little encouragement, he could put together a nice mob.

Damn good writing, and you should read the rest right now.

In conclusion, the philosophical foundation driving our current system is that the “entrepreneurial class” should be able to operate without any external limits on their behavior, and that they should operate without conscience or empathy, and this is a psychotic world view.

As to the riddle at the beginning of the page? The answer, of course, is “A Good Start.”

Comedic Genius

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This guy owes me a whole box of screen cleaners

Obama to Nation: “F$#@ this sh#@, I’m outta here”

September 19, 2008 at 12:21 am · Filed under political humor

In the wake of an epic financial meltdown that threatens to derail the U.S. economy for years, Barack Obama announced he was ending his run for President of the United States, declaring to a stunned nation, “Man, this is bullsh#@.”

In a boisterous and hastily-called press conference, Obama detailed his reasons for the decision. “I was prepared to fight global warming, reform the health care system, repair our crumbling roads, create a 21st century electric grid, find Bin Laden, end the war in Iraq, and bring peace to Israel and the Palestinians. But now you tell me I have to clean up the worst financial mess since the Great Depression too? One that’s going to plunge our economy into a recession for most of my administration while I take the blame? F$#@ that. That’s f$#@ing ridiculous. You guys clean up your own sh#@. I’m outta here.”

….

Read the rest, in all its profane glory, at the link.

A Very Good Read on the Economy

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Titled The End of Leverage. Money quote:

An enormous hoax has been perpetrated on global financial markets during the past 10 years. An American economy based on opening containers from China and selling the contents at Wal-Mart, or trading houses back and forth, provides scant profitability. Where the underlying profitability of the American economy was poor, financial engineering managed to transform thin profits into apparently fat ones through the magic of leverage.

This paragraph illustrates why I am such a bear.

In 1929, the US was an energy exporter, and the most robust manufacturer in the world.

Today, it’s all arbitrage with other people’s money….We have nothing left to fall back on.

Go read it.

John Sidney McCain III: Wrong on Everything

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I’m not sure what surprises me more, that someone in the press said this, that it came from the Startlegram (Fort Worth Star-Telegram my paper when I lived in Arlington, TX), or that the people who wrote this are senior members of the conservative CATO institute, which is heavily funded by the usual suspects, including Richard Mellon Scaife, but Ted Galen Carpenter and Malou Innocent get it completely when they say that , “Indeed, the record indicates that McCain’s own judgment is alarmingly bad.

They describe him as a, “Clear and present danger in the Oval Office.”

I’m wondering if conservatives are starting to tiptoe for the exits regarding the sick old man.

Nouriel Roubini Gets Profiled in the NY Times

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They call him Dr. Doom.

It’s a rather nice profile of Dr. Roubini, though I agree with Paul Krugman that his prediction of a housing crash was hardly unique, and that they missed what was special about his predictions, that there would be as Krugman says, “there would be large “knock-on” effects from the bursting bubble on the financial system”, i.e. the credit crunch as we are currently experiencing it.

Interestingly enough, it looks like the crisis will exceed Roubini’s most pessimistic projections, which is kind of scary.

The Big Picture From The Big Picture: False Foreclosure Bottom

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Barry Ritholtz of The Big Picture notes that the recent data showing a slowing in foreclosures is an artifact of changes in foreclosure law in a few hard-hit states:

  • California requires lenders to wait an additional 30 days after a homeowner misses the first payment before filing a default notice;
  • Massachusetts now gives homeowners a three-months grace period after they default on their mortgage before the lender can file to foreclose. (The law is credited with an 84% drop in foreclosure petitions);
  • New York passed a bill last week that requires lenders to send a preforeclosure notice to certain borrowers at least 90 days before foreclosure proceedings may be initiated;

Of course, the financial press is looking the delays caused by these changes, and running around saying, “Foreclosures are down, the housing crash has finally hit bottom.”

The only place with more false bottoms than financial Journalism is a Beverly Hills plastic surgery clinic.

The only thing that surprises me is that he links to an article that actually points out this fact, though it does have the prize quote, “Some cynics say the laws are designed to give the appearance that the housing crisis is easing ahead of the November elections.”

We cynics prefer to call ourselves the, “Reality Based Community.”