As Congress is once again about to be stampeded into a disastrous policy by a faith-based Administration that refuses to disappear before it wrecks our lives completely, yet another twist of the knife is being contemplated by our economic masters. They now want (this is no joke!), they really now want to not only take over the toxic mortgage debt generated by a wacky crowd on Wall Street, they now want (this is no joke!) to take over uncollected and probably-uncollectable car loans and credit card...

The above should be the headline for what Paulson’s Gang hath wrought today. In order to get ahead of a banking crisis hurtling down the tracks, our government has been tied to the tracks in front of this out-of-control train. When the markets (and much of the country) wakes up from the one- or two-day market drunk this move generates, truly horrid realizations will come to the fore. Here’s just one thing to keep in mind in the wake of this mad concoction put together by a panicked group...

The Federal Reserve is bailing out AIG to the tune of $85 billion. Ever wonder where the money to do deals such as this comes from? In this case the bailout will be paid for by a special bond sale by the Treasury to the general public. Or to put this another way, the full faith and credit of the United States of America is being used to raise money to support a company that no private investor would touch with a pole. Every payday I give this government 25-30 percent of my hard earned income in...

McCain and Palin are presenting themselves as change agents who will bring a new way of doing things to Washington. I’m not seeing it. On Iraq, they want to fight until victory is achieved. That’s the long-time Bush aim. They want to keep the Bush tax cuts that are so weighted to the rich. Where’s the change? They want to appoint the same-caliber Supreme Court Justices when vacancies open up. No change there. The major differences displayed to date by McCain and Palin when it comes...

I got it wrong in my last posting. At least, I got it partly wrong. I wrote then that Sarah Palin was unqualified to be Vice-President because she was unqualified to be President if the need arose. And that her selection on a McCain ticket was thus a grievous mistake. I still agree with the first part of that evaluation. She’s certainly not qualified. But as for the grievous mistake part, well, I missed that one by a mile. Let’s be honest. Whoever wins in November isn’t going...

A couple of election cycles back I decided to have some fun and ran my cat, Colette, for President. Her main qualification for the post, according to the press release that went out as part of this jest, was that she could work a room wonderfully. Everyone loved Colette. She was not only feisty but a real charmer, that cat. To put at rest concerns about Colette’s obvious lack of qualifications for the presidency I noted that she would be surrounded my top advisers on all matters, foreign and...

As the two major political parties stand ready to nominate their candidates for President, a thought suddenly occurs to me. Why would any sane, non-masochistic individual want this job? Burrowing out the foreign policy Augean stable that Bush and Cheney leave behind will take years, perhaps decades of remedial effort. Just cutting through its baked hard top crust would require the labors of a policy Hercules at the controls of a top-of-the-line Deere backhoe. It’s doubtful that in all of human...

Stock markets have rallied this summer on falling crude oil prices. But is this a sane and sensible response to what these falling prices actually portend? The answer to this question is this: Only if you happen to be a Wall Street trader and playing with OPM—Other People’s Money, my money and yours in mutual and pension funds. Crude prices are falling for two reasons: a weakening demand for oil and a rising US dollar. This weakening demand, however, is the result of faltering economies that...

John McCain has taken what seems in this highly energy-conscious election year a prudent view about energy. We have to use all our options, he says. Drill, drill, drill for more oil offshore. Use more clean coal. And yes, develop alternative energy resources if and when this seems possible. It’s a safe-sounding policy. But that’s all it is. A policy. A way to plod along as we’ve been plodding, and hope that one way or another things will gradually get better. Barack Obama takes...

Some people are horrified by tragedy and saddened by misery. Other people see opportunities in both. 9/11 was a tragedy for this country, but Bush and company used it as an excuse to do what they had wanted to do for a long time before this tragic event—invade Iraq. The misery at the gas pump Americans have been experiencing in recent months has provided yet another opportunity for Bush and the Republicans to promote an old idea that had little previous traction—offshore and ANWR drilling. Searching...

In case you missed news developments this part week, here’s a reprise: Obama greeted by cheering crowd of half million in Bulgaria. Mutters platitudes. Beautifully. McCain meets with Bulgarian-Americans in Duluth diner and eats cup of yogurt, promising nuclear arms for Sofia if elected. Democrats in Congress move to finish the job of bankrupting the country with neolib spending nostrums after Republicans almost succeed in doing the job with their own neocon economic and militaristic quackery....

About Iraq the dueling pair Have a very different take; McCain thinks ’twas a good idea, Obama a mistake. Barack says that if he gets in We’ll leave “I’ll set a day.” While John says he won’t get us out ‘Til Petraeus says O.K. So here’s the choice, one that’s quite clear Not hard at all to see: Move on from this unending quest Or stay, Come what may, And pray, For a day, We can call it victory. **********

Al Gore’s work to protect and preserve not only this country’s but the world’s natural environment has found a great many useful expressions. He is, in fact, the best-known spokesman in this realm. Yet, for reasons that seem incomprehensible to me, he still seems to be missing the key point that could advance this end far more effectively—the fact that environmentally sound behavior is almost always now also economically sound behavior. That making “the hard choices between...

Are you still making your monthly credit card payment in cash? Silly you. The really big borrowers in financial markets in recent years managed to get a so-called “toggle” feature worked into their own payment agreements with banks. Instead of making regular payments in cash, they’re allowed to make these payments in extra debt. Instead of coming up with, say, $1 million a month in greenbacks, they can just say “add a million to what I owe you.” And many companies with...

By now we’ve all heard how the surge strategy in Iraq has been a great success. Which raises the question whether the things that have made this “success” possible can be applied to problems in our own country. Here are a few tips in that regard. So-called “Awakening Councils” in Sunni areas of Iraq where we used to encounter fierce resistance have been largely pacified. How? We simply put the guys who were killing our soldiers and marines on the American payroll. We...

It’s interesting to compare the economic crisis behavior of two Federal Reserve chairmen—Paul Volker and the present holder of that post, Ben Bernanke. In 1982, while Volker (who is 6′6″ tall by the way) persided over a sluggish economy and raging inflation, running early that year at an 8.9 percent rate, many economists were wary of atacking inflation too strongly. They believed it might plunge the country into a deep recession. Volker knew the risk but acted decisively nonetheless. He...

One of the biggest meetings ever of the world’s top economic heavies took place this past weekend in Saudi Arabia. Finance ministers, oil sheiks, bankers, corporate CEOs, ever a few government heads, assembled to reassure the world that sky-high prices for energy could be kept under control. So why were so few people reassured? Frightened Little Men They met to shape our daily lives It’s basics and its graces, Our economic masters From near and distant places. The media were...

People who didn’t reach the stage of political awareness before 1980 probably think the “L” word, liberal, is a pejorative term. For more than a quarter century, since Ronald Reagan’s first term, virtually every progressive idea that came into the political arena was pilloried, and often outright trashed, when the dreaded L label was pinned on it. This was no accidental happening, no natural political turn of the wheel, no inevitable evolution. It was largely the product of...

(September 2007—May 2008) We’re firm in our convictions And we’ll stick with our priorities, For us a weak economy Will always cause the most unease, We’ll lower rates, if that’s the need To get an upturn into gear, And if this boosts inflation, well, That’s something we don’t really fear. (June 2008—Who Knows?) We’re firm in our convictions And we know our true priorities, For us when prices hit the roof We see this as the worst disease, So ‘gainst...

Experts are having a hard time pinning a label on the present American economy. It still has a few too many positive elements to fall into the traditional recession category. But it’s far too weak to be just a very mild expansion. And it doesn’t have the requisite combination of recessionary and inflationary markers to be tagged stagflation. Perhaps we need a new name for this strange beast. Perhaps when all the factors are considered, it might best be called “a regression.” What’s...

Now The Quest Is Put To Rest (Sung to the tune of “Try A Little Tenderness”) She never wearied, Though candidates get weary, Repeating a cheesy stump speech. She did it believing. The nomination was still in reach. She looked like a shoe-in, The cash, the clout all brewin’, It seemed such support couldn’t leach; Who could have figured That Bill her chances would impeach. All the chits the pair had gathered, Put a happy face on the start; Now all her early backers, Have found...

Portrait Of A Loss-Prone Party Once again this year the dubious political achievement award may well end up going to Democrats and their party for doing what seemed virtually impossible a few months ago—turning a sure victory this coming November into a very possible defeat. Who would have thought this could happen? Disgust about Iraq, sour job prospects and soaring inflation, a hugely unpopular Republican president, an apparently divided opposition party. How can one lose with these circumstances...

Gas prices paid by Western Europeans are much higher than those paid by Americans. But at least Europeans get something good back for their pain at the pump—first rate public transportation infrastructures. What’s our own return from gas prices that have risen almost a buck a gallon in recent months? In Praise Of Gas Taxes I know free markets generate A host of things desirable But when it comes to energy They’re kind of unreliable. The markets’ mix of greed and fear With oil...

Here are some new limericks that sum up some worries now facing markets and the economy generally. I. A Fed Chair once happily boasted “There is no inflation–its toasted” Then oil went wild The markets got riled And many folks hopes just got ghosted. II. “Reform” is the word often used When the poor and the old get abused A faux panic‘s created To “Reform” it is mated So entitlements can be refused. III. I never thought stocks were just wagers Another crap...

The Economist’s Song (Sung to the tune of “Try A LittleTenderness.”) They get derided, Economists get chided, Their predictions are so often wrong; But though misguided, Their reasoning is always strong. They seek no favors, For errors ask no waivers, Right half the time is enough; As for those bum calls, If you lost your shirt , that’s tough. It isn’t much to ask for, The cushy sinecures they seek; You gotta know it ain’t easy, Crunching numbers every week. So…. When they...