Congress Listens for Once

I'm thrilled the House has voted down the bailout package. From what I've heard, there are new proposals being floated as an alternative to simply handing over a trillion dollars to foolhardy Wall Street sharks. They're taking their time, and I couldn't be happier. Get it fucking RIGHT!

Cottle-ing Palin

There's a really great piece about Republican tactics in the culture war over at The New Republic. Go check it out.

For God's Sake, Congress, Take Your Fucking Time

So now we have Paulson and Bush arguing that Congress needs to shove through a legislative response to the markets right fucking NOW OH GOD NOW DO IT NOW, the exact same way it shoved through the Authorization for Use of Military Force in 2001. You know, the document that was meant to justify a war with the Taliban and instead authorized seven years of American forces occupying a large chunk of the Middle East? Oh, and let's not forget the USA PATRIOT Act blitzed through Congress in 2001 as well, which has been used to justify all sorts of unconstitutional dragnet surveillance on the domestic population of America.

Quick action in a committee is almost never good idea because something inevitably gets fucked in the process. To respond to such a massive paradigm shift in the American market with a quick fix is unconscionable.

For god's sake, Congress, take your fucking time drawing up that rescue plan, and don't let the lame duck quacking in your ear rush you into a poor decision.

Titans Falling

Well, that's it. There are no more major private investment banks in America. So long, free enterprise. Welcome to the New Capitalism.

How much will it cost taxpayers? We don't know. This is a particularly thorny issue. Putting a specific value on the fallout requires pricing the securities that are collapsing, and the securities are collapsing precisely because their value is difficult to determine.

Expect more updates.

Socializing the Economy

"America privatizes profit and socializes loss." The current plan for an $800 billion bailout is an atrocity that will only encourage investors to take more and bigger risks in the future. I'm no free market dogmatist, but this is plainly bad policy. More as events develop.

Wow

Funniest. Photoshop. Of. McCain. EVER.

Interesting Palin Info

Seems like not all of Palin's constituents cared for the way she governed. This is good information from an informed citizen who has apparently had her eye on Palin for some time.