Fortuna Faveat... may fortune favor us

I must point you to great coverage over at IrregularTimes of the “Joe the Plumber” story. Specifically, his name isn’t Joe, he isn’t a plumber and he doesn’t pay his taxes. Seriously, McCain, didn’t you learn anything from your failure to vett Palin?

McCain is so busy scrambling around, trying to lie his way into office, there is much more to write about him and his. That may make it seem like I’m giving Obama a free pass. I’m not. He sucks and I am still voting third party (and so should you, if you are in a foregone-conclusion-of-a-state like I am). His debate performance was, while calm and even, quite uninspiring.

I believe in going for the green, if you will pardon my golf metaphor. Obama is laying up in front of the green. I know he wants to win and I know I don’t want Sarah Palin to win, but he isn’t giving us what he could or even what he should and I find that disappointing.

We deserve better. We deserve leadership. We deserve independent thought. Really, we deserve Ron Paul.

Sarah Palin's chest, including her polar bear lapel pin
Image: Patrick T. Lafferty, YouTube

So, I was watching Palin whip her crowd into another frothing frenzy on Monday when I noticed her polar bear lapel pin. Evidently, I have been so discombobulated by the bullshit that oozes out of her mouth that I haven’t spent enough time staring at her chest. Let me assure you, I will not cease my staring at her chest for the duration of her time in the national spotlight. That is my pledge to you, dear reader.

Anywho…how the hell can anyone see her pin and not freak out? This is the woman who is trying to get polar bears removed from threatened status so she can drill for oil and natural gas. Clearly, she isn’t a fan of polar bears. I mean, hello? Their friggin’ terra firma is melting! If that isn’t threatened, I don’t know what is. (Edit: Just found a logical explanation for this. Palin must actually be a separatist.)

This woman is an abomination. She represents all of the worst characteristics of humanity. Personally, I think you should support the polar bears by purchasing the pin to the right (or a bumper sticker, magnet, etc).

For those of you that want to look just like this stalwart of American democracy, you have many options, too.

Not to be outdone by the AIG shenanigans, the oh-so-thankful brass over at Wachovia are still sending their top earners from their A.G. Edwards subsidiary, all 75 of them (plus spouses and significant others) on a lovely cruise of the Mediterranean and the Greek Isles.

“You must pay attention to what you do as a consumer. You must know where your dollars are flowing.”

The boat departs tomorrow, if you want to wish them bon voyage! To think, I was happy for the Wachovians when they were absorbed by Wells Fargo. No more of that! I hope Citi sues them all into the ground for breach of contract. After all, taxpayers are on the hook for $120 billion-ish of Wachovia’s bad debt.

I know this is “business as usual” for these companies, but when you come crawling to the government, asking them to rape the children of America so you can continue to send people on lavish cruises and oceanside getaways, I think “usual” goes out the window.

I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again: it is time to get really, really angry. We have reached the point where it truly is us against them. You must pay attention to what you do as a consumer. You must know where your dollars are flowing. Don’t bank with these people and don’t do business with people that do. What better place than here, what better time than now?

Aside from McCain’s new $300 billion bailout plan for homeowners, the AIG Junket was the big news of tonight’s debate for me. I missed this story earlier in the day. However, Jim Zarroli over at NPR seems to think it isn’t a big deal:

Obama talked about AIG executives on a junket which was apparently true, but they were from the clean side of the company, the insurance side, not financial products division. That’s an important distinction.Jim Zarroli
NPR

So, Jim would have you believe that the $85 billion bailout of AIG is going to be given only to the “clean side” of the company. Those dirty bastards over in financial services won’t get to see a dime of it? Uh, how about this, Jimbo: Bullshit! That isn’t how it works and you know it. If we had not bailed out the “bad” side, the “good” side would not have had the $443,344 to spend on the junket in the first place.

This is, pure and simple, you and I paying for $3 per minute (!) massages for the assholes that didn’t have the courage to stop their co-workers from running the nation’s largest insurer into the ground.

Not nearly good enough, Congress. Not nearly good enough, AIG. I want my money back!

Basically, McCain seems like a mean, out of touch, old man and neither he, nor Obama, seem specific enough about anything. These debates aren’t real debate. If I wanted stump speeches, I could get them anytime from the candidates’ web sites. I want actual, face to face debate where the candidates refer to each other by their given names and not as “my opponent” and “that one” and they actually answer real questions from a strong moderator.

I would honestly love to see us use the BBC’s Jeremy Paxman as a moderator for our debates. All politicians would quiver in their shoes at the thought of facing his *gasp* actual questions. We should force our candidates to put themselves to the hazard and that never happens in these debates. That is the very least that should be required to pass the public opinion gauntlet.

After the jump, some of Jeremy Paxman’s best. This, my fellow Americans, is what journalism can and should look like on television. Read more »

This video is making the rounds on the interwebs today and yes, it is a product of the Obama campaign. I present it to you not as an operative for Obama, which I am absolutely not. In fact, this is a piece of history that many in the United States just don’t know about or have chosen to forget. John McCain was at the heart of the last major financial crisis in America, the Savings and Loan scandal of the mid 1980’s. He was, in fact, one of the infamous “Keating Five“. Personally, I was too young at the time to be more aware of it than a passing recognition of the phrase. I figure that if I am unaware of it, you might be too. So, check out this 13 minute video that, while it is a political tool, contains much archival footage of McCain’s visit to the ethics committee. It is a worth-while refresher for a piece of history that today’s financial cheats would prefer we forget about, not to mention John McCain.

Thanks, Jen!

After the bailout sailed through the Senate on Friday, it took a bit of wind out of my sails. Thanks for noticing my absence. But after yesterday’s big drop in the Dow and the announcement today that the Fed is going to buy commercial paper, directly funding businesses, I found my voice again (Psst! You really should read that last link!).

As I write this (2:00 PM CST), the Dow is down 332.29, sitting at 9623.21. That is the lowest number in at least 4 years and it follows Bernanke’s announcement that the Fed will likely cut rates, an announcement that typically makes the market surge. Before I drift off on a tangent (ooh, it is such an important tangent!), I just want to hammer home the point that last Friday’s bailout was sold to the American public on the premise that it was “for Main St., not Wall St.” and that it would also increase liquidity in the credit markets. Why, then, is it necessary for the Fed to start buying short term debt from companies? As the New York Times puts it, credit markets have “all but dried up.” And what, exactly, is the Fed going to be buying from companies? Unsecured commercial paper. What is that? You might ask the Market Oracle and discover that it is the very same construct that got us into this mess in the first place! (Psst! You really should read that link, too!)

Is there any possible way this can be construed as a free market move? I think not. This is kleptocratic socialism of the highest (read worst) order. So, to sum up your situation as a American tax payer, you have bailed out the following organizations in the last six months (incomplete list):

1. Bear Stearns
2. IndyMac
3. Fannie Mae
4. Freddie Mac
5. AIG
6. $700 billion “Paulson” Plan (note: also available to foreign banks)
7. Federal Reserve CPFF (the Commercial Paper Funding Facility)

I defy anyone to explain this as anything but kleptocratic socialism. See my next post for the tangent I promised earlier in this post.

See, the kiddies at Wall and Broad tried to be petulant and stupid yesterday, but once they were put into timeout overnight, things didn’t look so scary.

Right now, it’s like the banks are playing “old maid”, except the old maid is a plague-ridden corpse and you can’t trust your neighbors at all. The economy is by no means safe or fixed or whatever “mission accomplished” euphemism one might apply here. But the sky is absolutely not falling. If the regulators would simply take action to increase transparency (and kill “mark to market“), things might ease up.

Riddle me this: if the title of this piece is true, why did I get notices from both JP Morgan Chase and Bank of America today informing me that they had dramatically increased my credit limits? I guess I should mention that I am not wealthy, by any stretch of the imagination. If they can afford to offer me thousands of dollars more of unsecured loans, unsolicited, why can’t they help these poor, legit, mythical businesses that “might not make payroll” this week?

I call bullshit!Patrick T. Lafferty
Raconteur; Proprietor, FortunaFaveat.com

There is ample liquidity in the market. The problem is that all of these fine, upstanding businessmen and businesswomen know how corrupt they are themselves and therefore aren’t willing to risk lending money to anyone else because “they” could be even more corrupt. It’s almost like a lack of transparency and regulation results in an inefficient market?