Dammit, why are politicians idiots? The current Governor of Illinois sure seems to be an idiot. And it seems that the Senate seat recently vacated by Barack Obama will remain empty for a while, as Blagojevich is now under too much of a cloud to credibly appoint a replacement.
I'm not at all uncomfortable with Illinoians selecting their new Senator rather than a single individual doing it, in any case. I just hope they get to do so very soon.
In any case, I hope this gets handled gracefully quite soon. If the alegations against Blagojevich are true (as seems to be the case, given the evidence aleged to be available), I cannot believe the selfish bastard would risk besmirching the new president's previous office so soon after he vacated it! If the alegations prove untrue, I sure hope they nail whoever made them to the wall, as I'd suspect some Rovian-style guilt-by-association attempt to be in the works . . . Unfortunately, I suspect it's rather the former instead. :-p
Tuesday, December 09, 2008
Jack Black as Jesus!
It's almost enough to make a guy reconsider Christianity. <tears up>
And alas, it's a shame this video didn't have its intended effect . . .
And alas, it's a shame this video didn't have its intended effect . . .
Monday, December 01, 2008
The Recession is here (officially)
Well, it's here. That's not really a surprise. The question still lingering now is "How long?" How long will the deflation last before inflation comes back? And how wicked will the inflation be? If the inflation doesn't come back, when do they officially declare a Depression? And how long will that last? Perhaps you'll find me overly gloomy again, but I actually expect the guys in this video will prove to be too optimistic. Yes, I know it sounds nuts, but I think they're being really optimistic. Quite.
Here's some of why I think that: consumers' credit limits will soon be lowered massively. Yes, your credit card will quite likely soon betray you. Right at the moment when people are going to loose work and try to max out their credit cards to compensate, it won't be there. This will accelerate many current trends, most likely including deflationary pressures. I'd also expect at least one major bank to fail within six months. (My money is on Citigroup (AKA Citi), as they have been the most egregious predatory lenders among the big guys and they are almost certainly far more overleveraged than their competitors. My only first-hand experience with them was going to one of their creepy Primerica recruitment sessions once, though I thought it was all crap after about half an hour. I gather that's about the moral level of the whole thing, which points to the coming problem. Truly, it's a company that should never have been allowed to come into existence in the first place.)
In the end, I think everyone will have to acknowledge that all of this is a fruit of deregulation, particularly the deregulation of credit . . . Really, all forms of leverage in general. Here's hoping something like Senator Durbin's anti-usury bill from earlier this year actually gains some traction!!!!!! It's sorely needed!!!!
Here's some of why I think that: consumers' credit limits will soon be lowered massively. Yes, your credit card will quite likely soon betray you. Right at the moment when people are going to loose work and try to max out their credit cards to compensate, it won't be there. This will accelerate many current trends, most likely including deflationary pressures. I'd also expect at least one major bank to fail within six months. (My money is on Citigroup (AKA Citi), as they have been the most egregious predatory lenders among the big guys and they are almost certainly far more overleveraged than their competitors. My only first-hand experience with them was going to one of their creepy Primerica recruitment sessions once, though I thought it was all crap after about half an hour. I gather that's about the moral level of the whole thing, which points to the coming problem. Truly, it's a company that should never have been allowed to come into existence in the first place.)
In the end, I think everyone will have to acknowledge that all of this is a fruit of deregulation, particularly the deregulation of credit . . . Really, all forms of leverage in general. Here's hoping something like Senator Durbin's anti-usury bill from earlier this year actually gains some traction!!!!!! It's sorely needed!!!!
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