IT'S STILL NOT SAFE!

Between Congressional banking industry stooges, arrogant, yet bungling party leaders, misinformed and very easily frightened Americans with 401k plans, and rapacious and desperate Wall Street shills like the Treasury Secretary, it is way too early to bask in the glow of the recent legislative smackdown of the No Banker Left Behind/Friends of Hank Paulson Bailout.

Now, if the Boston Globe can be believed, the Senate, a fat cats den if ever there was one, is set to lead the fight to defy the will of the people and turn over taxpayer funds in obscene amounts to the man who would be king, Henry Paulson. To all of you, (I hesitate to call you) people, out there, whoever and whatever you are, working hard to confiscate what is not yours for the purposes of bailing out Wall Street crooks, greed heads and imbeciles, prepare to reap the whirlwind. Prepare for a future where losing your office or your job will be the least of your concerns. No, I'm not kidding. Openly defying the will of the people on this one is going to cost all of you dearly. There's a little fear mongering for you. How do you like a taste of your own medicine?

GAME OVER!

Aren't they quite the collection, yucking it up as if someone just told a very funny joke. Well, the joke's on us. Barney Frank, front and center, is loving every minute of it, basking in all the attention, perhaps unaware of the overwhelmingly negative aspects of the occasion. Ditto for Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Treasury Secretary and erstwhile Wall Street shill, Henry Paulson, looks pleased as punch.

For a solid week, the halls of Congress have been bombarded with phone calls, faxes, and e-mails overwhelmingly and vehemently opposing the bailout as originally presented. Minor add ons and flimsy provisions that will not be adequately enforced, have been inserted in an effort to appear responsive to the public, but as the reports make clear, the core of the bailout as put forth by Paulson remains intact. Most knew the outcome of the week's wrangling was never in doubt, and the price for business as usual now will be much, much steeper. And even as it's clear that trust in the markets has been shattered over these last many months, a precipitous fall in trust in one's government is the next big shoe to drop. The will of the people has been defied on a life and death issue, and when the chickens come home to roost, and they will sooner rather than later, there will be hell to pay.

Amazingly, as reported on Bloomberg, foreign bond holders wanted this agreement so that they wouldn't feel compelled to dump U.S. debt instruments. If so, what a stupid lot they are. The economy is broken, and this deal will not put humpty dumpty back together again. Even if the highways and byways of the credit system are subsequently allowed to clear a bit, I maintain we are now firmly in the realm of pushing on a string. As such, the effect of this bailout will be the same as if there were no bailout, namely a massive slowdown in economic activity. This will cause tax receipts to plummet, which ultimately is exactly what foreign investors should be most fearful of. What's more, as a toxic add on, the currency will, by necessity, be debased as a result of the monetization of the financial instruments of mass destruction. So while the wrecking crew whooping it up in the photo may have bought themselves a brief respite, the coming epic shit storm will not be avoided.

Sara Palin Watch!

Ladies and Gentleman, Sarah Palin turns out to be an even bigger cad, a more horrendous rube than I thought was humanly possible. According to Mrs. Palin, Governor of the State of Alaska, and Republican Vice Presidential nominee, even though she has never actually visited Russia herself, the very fact that trade missions have occurred between the state of Alaska and the nation of Russia confers upon her legitimate foreign policy experience. Ladies and gentleman, it is one thing to be unqualified, it is yet another to not know one is unqualified, and it is yet another still to treat the voters as if they had no ability whatsoever to discern between a steaming pile of poo and a warm chocolate truffle.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080925/ap_on_el_pr/palin

Week of Nervousness.

This will be short and sweet. The Paulson putsch attempted by the Bush Cabal has, mercifully, become bogged down in Congress, perhaps fatally so. It is my view that perhaps enough of the citizenry have contacted their callow Legislatures and expressed their vehement opposition to the attempted fascist swindle, that maybe, just maybe, the blitzkrieg attempt at a Brobdingnagian swindle will fail.

As the week has progressed, my view has evolved such that I see no happy outcome with respect to Congress' deliberations. Even so, the worst of the worst outcomes would have involved a pusillanimous acquiescence to anything like Paulson's egregious terms. That seems to be by the boards presently, but as Congress is full of posturing weasels there is still time for the Congress and Senate to craft something deeply unsatisfactory if not downright treasonous. Stay tuned!

A FINANCIAL DICTATORSHIP!

Here are a few ideas for you to consider that I hope will persuade you to immediately contact your Federal legislative representatives to demand that they REJECT the passage of Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson's bailout plan.

The Plan, which is being hurried through Congress as I write, is, I believe, being propelled by fear similar to that which allowed the government to drastically subvert the nation's legal landscape after the destruction of the Twin Towers. Today the specter of an impending collapse is being used to extort and usurp absolute financial power. What is occurring right now is, for all intents and purposes, an old style fascist putsch. A putsch is defined as "a plotted revolt or attempt to overthrow a government, especially one that depends upon suddenness and speed." What could be more sudden than what is occurring now? And what could be worse than the likelihood that this is an inside job?

Be very mindful of who heaped the present desperate state of financial affairs upon the nation in the first place, namely the financial services and banking industry who were aided and abetted by elected officials from both parties. Now be equally if not more mindful of the fact that the same groups who engineered the original sub prime swindle are the very same ones who will most benefit from the plan now being foisted on a pliant Congress. No less a historian than John Steele Gordon has observed that..." Paulson is asking to be a financial dictator..." what with provisions in the bill that would bar courts from reviewing actions taken under its (Paulson's) authority. Think about that for a moment. Now think again.

THIS CAN NOT BE ALLOWED TO STAND. NO ONE CAN BE ALLOWED TO ACT WITH LEGAL IMPUNITY AS IT OPENS THE DOOR TO MASSIVE ABUSES, OR WORSE, AN ABSOLUTE USURPATION OF POWER. THIS IS THE VERY CORE OF FASCISM, THE RULE OF MEN OVER LAW. DO NOT BE PERSUADED BY ANY LANGUAGE IN "THE PLAN" REGARDING THE TEMPORARY NATURE OF THE GRANTING OF EXTRAORDINARY POWERS. A QUICK REVIEW OF HISTORY SHOWS THAT SUCH PLEDGES HAVE BEEN VIOLATED FAR TOO OFTEN TO GIVE ANYONE COMFORT THAT THIS TIME WILL BE DIFFERENT. I URGE YOU TO ACT IMMEDIATELY OR RISK SUFFERING APPALLING CONSEQUENCES!!!

WAKE THE &%$# UP!

ATTENTION, AMERICAN PEOPLE! YOUR GOVERNMENT, IN THRALL TO THE CORRUPT PLUTOCRATS OF WALL STREET, IS ABOUT TO BAIL OUT WHAT IS LEFT OF THE FINANCIAL SERVICES INDUSTRY AND, WHO KNOWS WHO ELSE. YOU ARE GOING TO PAY IN WAYS YOU NEVER DREAMT OF IN YOUR WILDEST NIGHTMARES.

IF YOU DON'T TAKE DRACONIAN ACTION NOW, HERE IS WHAT IS GOING TO HAPPEN:

THE U.S. BOND MARKET, THE PLACE WHERE THE GOVERNMENT RAISES ESSENTIAL FUNDS TO PAY FOR THE DAY TO DAY RUNNING OF GOVERNMENT WILL BE DECIMATED. WHY? HOW?

LET'S START WITH...

1.) YOU THE TAXPAYER, HAVING VERY LITTLE WHEREWITHAL, WILL, GOING FORWARD, PROVIDE SHRINKING TAX RECEIPTS TO THE GOVERNMENT.

2.) FOREIGNERS, SENSING THE PARLOUS CONDITION OF OUR NATIONAL COFFERS, OVERBURDENED AS THEY WILL BE WITH NEW, CRUSHING OBLIGATIONS, (AND DISLIKING US ANYWAY) WILL CEASE TO PONY UP AT THE BORROWING TABLE.

3.) THIS WILL NECESSITATE MASSIVE MONETIZING-PRINTING MONEY- BY THE GOVERNMENT IN ORDER TO PAY FOR ALL THAT THEY HAVE NO FUNDS TO PAY WITH. THIS WILL IN TURN LEAD TO HYPER-INFLATION. IN A HYPER-INFLATION, SUCH AS EXISTED IN WEIMAR GERMANY, BONDS CAN NOT BE PROPERLY PRICED. THAT SPELLS AN END TO OUR CREDIT MARKETS. WHEN THAT DAY ARIVES, WE WILL WELL AND TRULY BE A FINANCIAL AND ECONOMIC BACKWATER.

GAME OVER!

An Open Letter to Barney Frank!

Dear Congressman Frank,

Today you were reported to say,

"It will be the power — it may not be a new entity. It will be the power to buy up illiquid assets," Frank said. "There is this concern that if you had to wait to set up an entity, it could take too long."

The illiquid assets you refer to are illiquid for good reason. They are worthless. There is no market where there is no value What, pray tell, do you propose to pay for these worthless assets with since the funds do not exist to pay for them? In any case why would you pay money for something the rest of the world treats as worthless? From the start this initiative reeks of a catastrophic boondoggle for all but Wall Street and the financial industry in general. From what coffer do you propose to shower enormous sums of money on Wall Street in exchange for the worthless paper? The funds aren’t there, which means you will have to endorse monetization for the purchase of worthless paper. This will have the purpose of cheapening the value of the U.S. dollar which will adversely effect hundreds of millions of people who are blameless in Wall Street’s self inflicted debacle. Finally you run the very great risk of imperiling the U.S. Bond Market as your proposed action almost guarantees a downgrade of U.S. Sovereign debt. Please reconsider your present course of action. It is neither fair, efficacious, or sound.