Maximum Advantage in all Things: Bailout #5

Black Monday? Only for Scum (See "Ayes"). I'm shocked, and somewhat happy... And it was made possible by Republicans?

Credit crunch banker leaps to his death in front of express train. Now that's a good start!

It's worth every dime of my retirement to watch the banks go up in flames.

Maximum Advantage in all Things: Bailout #4

Back to form...

On the Presidential election:

Whomever wins, they will be a one termer, or even the last real President. A broken Federal Government will never have the same respect or legitimacy. How are they going to enforce their mandates? Neither candidate is up to the task of doing anything else but captain a sinking ship, and they'll damage state and local government in the process. Even corporations won't be immune to hyperinflation.

The political elites in this country are so out of touch. Those not physically inbred, like the Bushes, are intellectually inbred, like Paulson and Bernanke. They've spent so long only listening to money, that they cannot even conceive of the foundations of their power being undermined by their own actions. A bailout will make them hated, and they don't even know it. They confuse social isolation with acceptance. As a West African acquaintance said, "In any other country there would be a coup." (Or at least a General Strike.) It is hated by almost everyone of all political persuasion except the top 1% (at least the stupid ones). As far as I'm concerned, they can go bankrupt and die. They actually except us to take it bent over, just so we can still lend us money? What a priviledge: I can be screwed so they can screw me again! And on top of it, my earning power is reduced so I get screwed again and again. If they pass this bailout, this country is more doomed than it needs to be.

Maximum Advantage in all Things: Bailout #3

Typically, I don't mix work and art, but the Bailout and my work do intersect. Basically, this short discussion will illustrate why, unlike previous economic downturns, the government will not be spending its way out by building infrastructure. Anyone in the Construction Industry should take heed before supporting it: you are cutting your own throat.

Here's an excerpt from Reed Construction Data Chief Alex Carrick, a Canadian, has the Following to say about a bailout of the US Financial System:

This will be positive for the economy in the short run and will get businesses and consumers back into a “spending frame of mind” as credit becomes more available and worthless mortgages are purged from the system. But what will be the ultimate price?

The United States, having never been through such a massive government bailout before, may well have to face up to some harsher long-term realities. Here is what would seem to be the most likely scenario. And by the way, this is what some other countries have gone through when faced with enormous government debt.

The U.S. government will be anxious to reduce its debt load as quickly as possible. Wouldn’t you be, if you were in the hole by about ten trillion dollars? It will be hard to resist having higher prices take care of part of the problem. This means a likely pickup in inflation caused by printing more money. More inflation means higher interest rates.

More inflation also means a worsening of the trade deficit. This may lead to additional downward pressure on the value of the U.S. dollar. The huge trade deficit already in place has required China and Japan to keep buying treasury bills at interest rates that are unappealingly low. How long can this last? Furthermore, there is already some talk of a possible downgrade of U.S. government securities from AAA status to a lesser ranking.

The greenback versus the Euro is likely to suffer further indignity. Higher inflation, a falling dollar and rising interest rates are a terrible trinity. Recession will be hard to avoid. Policy makers might well be advised to ask what measures an international agency such as the World Bank or International Monetary Fund would require of a delinquent nation when its finances go into arrears.

If you think state and local government will fill the void, then think again. If Federal bonds are downgraded, then it would not be unreasonable to assume that state and local bond status would also suffer, and be required to yield higher interest rates as a result. In addition, one can expect that material, and other costs, will increase, perhaps dramatically as commodities are all priced in dollars (now), and overall inflation escalates. Also, if other investments are deemed more risky, commodities may experience cost increases due to speculation as was the case for crude oil last summer.

And that is one of the better scenarios.

Next time I'll return to my usual voice...

Maximum Advantage in all Things: Bailout #2

Propaganda, as disseminated through the press, often seeks to convey unity and consensus, even where none exists. Scare tactics are also employed to sway the doubters.

More lies:

“This entire proposal is about benefiting the American people because today’s fragile financial system puts their economic well being at risk,” Mr. Paulson said. Without action, he added: “Americans’ personal savings and the ability of consumers and business to finance spending, investment and job creation are threatened.
-Link.

Yet, most Americans have no savings! The motivation is simple: the rich crooks certainly do want to unload their investments before the inevitable crash, and they want you to pay for it. And a stupid, distracted public will likely let them. This measure will buy some time (and a whole lot of Swiss Francs). Meanwhile everyone else pays to bailout piracy. In a service economy, as pointed out by Paul Craig Roberts and numerous others, little or no savings is to be expected. Also we learn from our crooked, lying, warmongering "Dear Leader" that looting the treasury is noble, and that we must rise above politics in doing so. It also appears the slimy, craven congress will go along with some changes. Meanwhile, everyone else gets to experience massive inflation or even hyperinflation. (Of course, the books are cooked to make inflation appear lower, and therefore keep wages low by lying with statistics. But that is another story.) One way or another, their system will fail. The only question is whom it will fall on. If it falls on you, just don't forget who pushed it down.

Maximum Advantage in all Things: Bailout #1

Now that the initial shock has worn...

This Bailout could never be possible were the US, as a technological nation (note: I do not say society), not beholden to the technical morality. Thieves are bailed out, because, we are rationalized, doing so would be worse. And who are we supposed to trust, at their lying word, but the very same politicians who enabled these crooks in the first place?!? It's a simple a looting of the Treasury, but we should be reassured that it could be worse! Traditional and/or opposing moralities would find the notion repugnant. Yet, Federal Government Officials and the big money press, see no shame as their moral framework is that of the hollow machine. Their precious system might fail quickly rather than slowly. Thus they retain their position at the expense of everyone else. In an alternate moral scheme, many responsible would see serious jail time, instead we see golden parachutes and big Federal Pensions. They have created their own anti-natural Verbal World, and may therefore be counted upon to almost always aspire to the greatest errors.

Probable Result:

The Moral Authority of the Federal system is truly bankrupt. A government that robs from its citizens to pay thieves has sunk below the level of a Kleptocracy into outright banditry. As a result, respect for the law will be eroded until it crumbles. Consequently, they destroy their legitimacy.

For robbing me, I can at least be consoled that they will suffer far worse in the end. (As long as I never kid myself that it will mean justice.)

Hopefully, I can spit at them as they lie in the gutter (and tell them to go get a Job).

See Also & Also.

$700 Billion!?!

$700 Billion Is Sought for Wall Street in Vast Bailout. The biggest swindle in history is in the works. The government wants to bail out the crooks who started this financial disaster, and we're supposed to just bend over and take it?!? The political class is nothing but an enabler of thieves. Wall Street deserves to fail, and indeed nothing else offers any hope for the USA. The fact that rioting has not broken out shows the inherent cowardice of Americans yet again. Have fun starving, suckers.

Ideology sells solutions through collective consciousness. Unity is thus affirmed as the bad part of community.

LHC Compact Muon Solenoid Experiment Webcams.

Thanks: to herd or not to herd. I know I'll sleep great now.

Art is pointless without alienation, but not necessarily meaningless.

7 Years. RIP. So where is bin Laden?

Immediate survival demands immediate attention. Preparation requires mitigation. Anticipation lessens shock. The slow can be quick to react. Some loses cannot be bought. Mathematics is not a social science.

i. Subversion is not advocacy.

ii. Decadence can never be undermined, only eliminated.

iii. Reality represents intrusion by those cocooned within anti-natural concerns: a hungry stomach focuses attention even as it drains the mind.