ectoblog.com

I long for the days when Madonna’s splitting up with some English dude would have been front page news in the morning paper.

As far as Palin: I cannot imagine her as President. I don’t think she’s an idiot, any more than I think W is an idiot, but she won’t find herself talking to Alex Trebek in Final Jeopardy any time soon, either. She has gobs of confidence. In fact, she reminds me a lot of  W. Which is the actual reason why I never want to see her in the white house.

About Joe the Plumber: there’s “Joe the Plumber” the guy, who probably wishes he never invited scrutiny by positioning himself as an uncommitted voter who’d get hurt by Obama’s policies. What are the media supposed to do, give him a pass? Then there’s “Joe the Plumber” the populist ideal that McCain/Palin are using to try to connect with voters they haven’t been able to connect to any other way. Well: they probably should’ve found somebody who actually fit the ideal. Maybe Ed the Welder or Margaret the Interior Decorator. Somebody who would actually be hurt by Obama’s policies, somebody who was actually a welder or an interior decorator; somebody in danger of making over a quarter of a million dollars a year if they bought out their welding or interior decorating business.

I know some conservatives believe (and all the other conservatives profess to believe) they’re looking beyond the obvious short-term benefits of lowering taxes for the great bulk of US humanity to the place where the rich are taxed less and create more jobs for the poor than they otherwise would have. I know they think the argument is a little subtle, and they don’t expect those who aren’t rich to understand they would only be hurting themselves by trying to level the playing ground. They would be happy with fewer taxes and less regulation, and they think (or profess to think) that everybody else would also in the end be happier that way, even if they don’t know it because the argument is too subtle for them.

But it’s past the time when an argument for less regulation can be made competently. It’s about two months past that time. And it’s past the time when I’m comfortable having a CEO pick up an extra 20 million dollars just because his company’s stock shot up a dime, or, hell, even lost ten bucks. A CEO isn’t worth that. The sole reason that this is the current state of affairs is that everybody’s doing it. How’s that for a bonehead reason? The only way, apparently, to return to a state of affairs where everybody is no longer doing it is through taxation and regulation. And what if we return to a world in which it’s no longer feasible for CEOs, CFOs, et al to skim profit off the tops of their businesses and plow that money into yachts and caviar? Do they all take their marbles home and leave the economy to sink or swim without their magical hands to guide it? Fuck no; they stay in the game, make as much money as they can and grumble about socialism.

Again, I’m not for penalizing genius, and I’m not for penalizing hard work. I think Bill Gates deserves to be rich. But I don’t think he deserves to be 18 billion dollars rich, or whatever he’s worth now. But “Hell, that’s capitalism; if you can make it, you’re worth it.” Bullshit. At some point society has to step in and say there’s a limit to how stupidly rich one person can be. And that’s not only idealistic, that’s pragmatic. With wealth comes power, and with power comes the ability to become even wealthier. That’s the socialism of the rich: the ability to funnel more wealth to oneself merely because one has the power to do so. And when that becomes the order of the day, history tells us that revolution may not be far behind. Call me alarmist, but I think revolution, which is really the consequence of a complete loss of confidence in the fairness of a system, is possible. And it’s in nobody’s best interest to live in a society in which that is true. Least of all the rich.

Many economists heretofore believed that a Depression could never happen again, because we figured out why the thirties happened, and we put safeguards in place to prevent that from happening again. The thing that they didn’t address is that the Economy is basically one great big-ass confidence game, and when and if people lose confidence in it, for whatever reason, disaster can follow in the blink of an eye. They didn’t address that because to actually point out to people that the real underpinning of any economy is the people’s confidence in it is a scary proposition, and when you go around pointing out scary propositions, people might actually get scared, and the whole thing can come tumbling down.

Will Obama be able to turn it around if he’s elected? It’s hard to say. I think he will. I think McCain is much less likely to be able to.

I’m not a fanboy for all of Obama’s proposals. I personally think it’s a huge mistake not to go whole hog and create universal healthcare. I know the arguments against it: less competition, long waits, among others. But as an RN I saw the damage done by the incredible number of middlemen created by our current system, all of them extracting their percentage in the process of actually rendering healthcare to people who need it. As a worker with healthcare, I’ve seen the truly despicable practices that HMOs and their like use when deciding whether or not something is covered. Claims I have personally made have gotten returned for the most trivial of reasons. In fact, I’ve had some claims–and I can probably number the claims I’ve made in the last 10 years on two hands–returned in complete error; that is, for no other reason than the HMO made an “error” on its part in denying the claim. So it appears to me that this is part of an HMOs business plan: to rely on a certain percentage of claims returned to not be refiled by the customers, even when those claims are valid. Part of their profit depends on people being too frustrated or tired or sick to follow up on a claim denial. That’s not only legally suspect if they actually admitted to it, it’s morally bankrupt.

Another Obama position that I don’t agree with is the expansion of the military. I personally believe that the US is no longer in a position, by itself, to dictate to the rest of the world. I think that to go on trying to do so will hollow out our economy to the point that the whole thing will collapse like a house of cards. I don’t think this particular economic fiasco we’ve entered into is a consequence of that; this particular fiasco is a consequence of other things. The fiasco I fear as a consequence of trying to maintain our position as the world’s policeman is still a decade or two down the road. But I think if we don’t start encouraging like-minded democracies to pull a little of the weight themselves, we are setting ourselves up for the kind of economic meltdown we forced on the Russians back in ‘89. That’s my feeling.

I think some of the money we funnel towards defense should instead be funneled elsewhere. For example, I’m in favor of a Manhattan Project geared toward alternative energy, with an emphasis in creating a decent battery for electric cars. I’m absolutely tired of writing checks to the Saudis and the Venezuelans, and it needs to stop.

You know, I can imagine an alternative universe where conservatives are right, where their subtle reasoning is based on the way things really are, and not just on the way things need to be to allow them to feel good about screwing the rest of society sideways.  I just personally don’t think we live in that one.

Baskets full of puppies aside, the fear is that Barack and the Democrats will somehow snatch defeat from the jaws of victory in November. It’s a very familiar fear to any New Orleans Saints fan. In fact, I can’t think of a better metaphor for the Democrats of the last 10 or 40 years than the Saints.

I just hope that, this year, this time, we don’t have to break out the paper bags. Look; I’m a Democratic Saints fan who lives in Mississippi. Just give me this one.

Congressional committee lamblasts Greenspan – Oct. 23, 2008

“We are in the midst of a once-in-a century credit tsunami,” Greenspan told the House Oversight and Reform Committee.

Except that it hasn’t really been a century though, has it? What is this, one of those “100 year flood” or “trial of the century” things that happen every time I stop paying attention? Bonehead.

Enemies won’t test me, McCain says – CNN.com

He attacked Obama, his Democratic rival for the White House, for saying that “when you spread the wealth around, it’s good for everybody.”

That is “certainly not something I would ever do,” he said.

HOW ON EARTH DID HELPING THOSE WHO ARE LESS FORTUNATE BECOME SOMETHING SOMEONE RUNNING FOR PRESIDENT SHOULD SAY THAT HE WOULD NEVER DO?

The reasoning is, of course, that the economy and (as a consequence) everyone who participates in the economy benefits when people know that they get to keep all their money when they become rich. Because things trickle.

People who agree with this view are either rich, or have some asinine idea that they’ll one day be rich. They further think that this idea is subtle; that people who don’t hold this viewpoint are simply unable to grasp the complicated reasoning behind it.  Keep that in mind; they think they’re seeing behind the curtain.

These are the same people that believe they know how things really work, and you don’t,  while they check their horoscopes and rail against the eggheads teaching weird shit to their kids at the university down the road.

Republicans have a profoundly different idea about what the United States should look like than I have.

I’m not for penalizing genius, and I’m not for penalizing hard work. Genius and hard work deserve to be recognized by money. I am for managing luck. I believe the unlucky should be made less unlucky. The only way to do that is by taking money from the lucky and giving it to those without it.

Take Bill Gates: a hard-working genius. And a very, very lucky man. What is he worth, 18 billion dollars? Some absurd number that I refuse to look up. I’ll allow a billion dollars to him on merit. Maybe he deserves a billion dollars. The other 17 billion should be ripped out of his hands and given to the people who got sick, or shot, or made astute bets on the wrong horses. Because when lucky gets out of hand, society gets a little closer to revolution.

Given Old Man Blinky’s creepy performance last night, I think every American whose last name is not McCain or Palin can agree that we have entered the time when Obama cannot fail to win the presidency unless he is filmed eating a basketful of live puppies. I think most of us can agree that’s where we stand today.

Three months ago, in response to–well, nothing, really– I  reduced my 401k contribution from 10% to 5%, then to 1%, in order to reduce my exposure to non-money. Almost exactly a month ago, in response to a vague sense of God-help-us-all, I moved my 401k from various S&P/Moderate Growth/Zimbabwean Shekel tracking funds into T-bills and bonds.

As a result, my petite 401k is growing more petite at a much slower rate than it otherwise would have, and I’m allowed to play a ukulele while the US economy goes down like a big-ass barge made out of porous sub-prime wood instruments!

I AM A FINANCIAL GENIUS

As news has reared its ugly head recently, putinesque, one begins to realize we are living in interesting times. I’ve noticed that magazines and newspapers can’t keep up with the pace.  It’s one flaming brown sack of shit left on our stoop after another. Reading this week’s New Yorker is almost comical, insofar as they’re three sacks of shit behind in their reportage, and fading fast. The newspaper isn’t doing much better. Hell, the net can barely keep up; what chances do papers and magazines have?

And so, my friends, I’ve been searching desperately for calmer waters, where I can spend a little time in respite from the turmoil and strife of daily life; somewhere that I can recharge in order to face the next hour or half hour of gigantic, scary change. And I’ve found it. I’ve found it in Fred Thompson’s forehead.

Here is the picture that led me to peace:

Fred Thompson

Not very impressive, you say? Just some Republican/movie star hack who rose beyond his level of incompetence? Well, you’d be right, but you’re not looking at the big picture. Or rather, you’re not looking at a small part of the big picture that you should be looking at, viz:

Fred's head

The magnificence should be coming into view, but let me direct your attention closer:

Like ripples on a still, deep pond

And even closer:

Fred's rippling forehead

And now, a quick pull back, like that one tulip film that pulls back to show shocking thousands of tulips, to blow your mind and calm your fears:

Fredlines, peace be upon you and yours

When all seems hopeless, and misery and fear lurk in every shadow, Fredlines will be here for you. Good night.

Remember how a few years ago artists were employed to draw pastels of court scenes because cameras weren’t permitted in? I don’t know, I guess to protect the innocent, on the very off-chance that the accused were somehow found innocent? I think the same technique ought to be used in pictures inside the stock market exchanges. Because there’s bound to be one or two innocents among the perpetrators.

FiveThirtyEight.com: Electoral Projections Done Right

Probably the best resource for poll-freaking.

In other news, a mother of five’s skull was crushed in front of hundreds of horrified onlookers in St Louis, Missouri this evening. Details as they become available.

Sarah Palin on the campaign trail

“sarah palin” trainwreck – Google Search

168,000 hits. I tried to think of a search I could perform to see how many people thought well of her (“Sarah Palin” & intelligent, “Sarah Palin” & erudite), but those invariably get skewed by the pages hit that have the word “not” somewhere close by, so I gave up.

It’s not all bad for Sarah: “Moose in the headlights” only has 33,000 hits.