Now that the bail out and throwing money to Wall Street for bad debt isn't doing much, today we had a coordinated rate cut from central banks across the globe.
More money is proposed so Americans can go shopping instead of producing and AIG gets another $38 Billion.
Considering the magnitude of imminent Economic Armageddon, in last night's debate what do we get? Spend, Spin, Platitudes and our favorite distraction, tax cuts. I often think we would be better with static and noise emanating from the idiot box than this absurd, vague drivel or deflection through attack to avoid the specifics on what will they do.
Even worse, while John McCain actually presented a plan last night to use part of the $700 Billion bail out to buy mortgages under duress, re-finance them at a lower fixed rate and principle to let people keep their homes, the left is now blasting this idea.
But who had a similar idea who saw this entire tsunami coming?
John McCain's plan is Hillary Clinton's plan.
Obama's plan? Seems to be simply about blasting McCain versus offering a detailed plan. I guess the Obama campaign is fine with $700 Billion going directly to Wall Street but not $300 billion going to both Wall Street and Main street.
If anyone can point me to Barack Obama's plan to deal with the financial crisis, please let me know. I searched for a good two hours and I simply cannot find one which specifically addresses the tsunami of foreclosures, the derivatives, the CDSes, the credit markets or global financial contagion.
So, we have additional layers of muddle and meddle in terms of forwarding any realistic solutions where the left blasts a plan from the left because it was stolen by the right. Great, glad everyone is focused on the causes and real solutions, analyzing and debating on solutions and possible consequences and going from there.
Now look, I think John McCain is clueless on the economy. He believes offshore outsourcing U.S. jobs is great and simply spews the corporate line on making even more bad trade deals instead of reforming trade and being smart about it. The trade deficit must have a magic place in his ear that disallows the massive deficit from entering his brain. Manufacturing as usual is also the bastard child.
That said, when one sees a crack in policy where there might be acknowledgment that taking care of the people being foreclosed upon will have the best effect to stave off a crisis, one must give some credit.
Yet would anyone even contemplate jump starting the economy by jump starting production as our Manufacturing series and many others note? Hello all ye partisans out there, Americans need stable, high paying jobs and careers to pay for houses.
The Wall Street Journal confirms McCain's plan is a modified HOLC.
Comments
well right now it seems that our economic system
is more like Night of the Living Dead....or shall I say Night of the Living Debt? Oh that was just bad.
it's a blog post!
I like it because this is one major horror show. Works for me! When in doubt...Gallows humor!
Seriously, you can see I'm using more and more "far out" analogies and that's because this entire thing is absolutely insane at this point.
Although a modified HOLC, there are many economists recommending that and it worked in the 30's and made a profit so I'm just not going to play party politics with that idea.
So, the entire political scene right now I find to be Twilight Zone as well.
That's kind of it really
That is really the root of the matter when you get right down to it.
People around my neck of the woods (industrial midwest) aren't loosing their homes so much to subprime or irresponsible borrowing, they are losing their jobs, seeing their income reduced or have had some catastrophic event - such as a major medical cost, many more are forced to move to find work - worst of all worlds likely taking a pay cut AND taking a loss selling their home.
How can anyone with a straight face continue to spout the lie that somehow outsourcing and downsizing is a good thing? That is today's business "leaders" seem to know how to do - boost short term profit by chopping, cutting, closing, downsizing and offshoring. Where is the building, creating, inventing that made us such a productive people - pre "free" trade era?
The best and most lasting stimulous is to get people working in good paying jobs again - that means investing in R&D and infrastructure and giving our ailing US manufacturing base a big boost. What these "free" traders are either conciously ignoring, lying about or outright ignorant of is the impact a healthy manufacturing base has on wealth creation, prosperity sharing, tax revenue, as well as being our technology and innovation generating engine.
Why is it the rapidly growing economies of the world like china and india are doing it by building their infrastructure and manufacturing base? while we let ours languish and crumble?
As Alexander Hamilton once said (paraphrasing here as my Bartlett's isn't handy) - A healthy manufacturing base is vital to a nation's economic health and national security - these words are more true today than ever.
And it's not as if ready-made....
...giant industrial and infrastructure projects are not sitting there ready to provide thousands of jobs and good pay right here in America.
Google 'The Solar Grand Plan' to see just one. One which has the additional benefit of eliminating our need for oil as an energy resource. Yet, just today a post on a political blog took aim at ABC for refusing to run an ad attacking Big Oil for preventing such projects from becoming reality.
Big Oil, Big Pharma, Big Finance these are the real terrorists fo today. Does anyone out there think for an instant that Osama could engineer the loss of several Trillion dollars as Big Finance has?
'When you see a rattlesnake poised to strike, you do not wait until he has struck to crush him.'
Economic war
I truly believe we have an economic pilfering of the US middle class, although I do not believe Google is a benevolent corporate entity....for the structure itself means power for power. Just look at their behavior in China.
So, I don't think this is organized, conscious intent but the law, policies as well as the corporate structure and so on make multinationals more like predators because that is simply their nature.
We need strong legal changes in defining the corporate governance structure itself.
What I worry about is they have been so intent on destroying the US manufacturing base....that the advanced skills, know how is now lost. They paint manufacturing as a bunch of unskilled blue collars but that is hardly the case, it takes years to perfect advanced manufacturing techniques and many of these jobs are highly trained, skilled. If we don't use it...we lose it.
Good points
That is a common misconception that mfg is simply blue collar manual labor. The fact of the matter is the one guy putting in one bolt kind of assembly jobs have been gone for decades.
Todays mfg jobs require computer skills, abilities to set up and maintain automated equipment, program robots, knowledge and experience with specialty materials, processes and so on - very "high tech" yet these are precisely the types of jobs being outsourced by the droves. ironically, many of the jobs that remain are simple manual assemly type jobs that are not easily automated as well as products that could be easily damaged ot too costly to transport
The knowledge base if you will is evaporating as people retire, or seek relatively more stable employment in other businesses
Economic war
can't let those middle class people have too much wealth and power, what do you want - functioning democratic institutions?
Natural News today
Had a similar article: Is the Federal Reserve Engaged in Economic Warfare?
They liken the bailout to the infamous German Operation Bernhard from WWII- where millions of counterfiet British Pounds were printed in an attempt to ruin the British economy and cause massive inflation.
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Maximum jobs, not maximum profits.