3 months+

Facebook and Twitter have put a real damper on my blogging. It's so quick and easy to express a thought or opinion via both outlets that I have neglected taking the time to blog about anything. Time to make an effort again! In the coming days...

1) My thoughts on the current issue of Vanity Fair (read it cover-to-cover!).
2) Why did it take me so long to read Sex, Drugs and Cocoa Puffs?!
3) And probably something about my on-going crush on Dylan Ratigan (even though his Twitter feed is really sad!).

Angry yet?

No?

Watch this interview with William Greider (it also made me feel better - good ideas ahead).

I like this.

I'll be traveling on 4/11, but if I can find a local protest, I'll be there. "If it's too big to fail, it's too big to exist. Dismantle the power of the financial elite and make policies that keep a new crop from springing up. We want our economy and politics restored for the public."

Check out A New Way Forward!


And, read this Washington Monthly article for a little more on why breaking up the banks is a good idea.

UPDATE: If you aren't mad yet, check this out from David Sirota:

So the tab is now in - about $3 trillion of taxpayer resources have gone out the door to Wall Street banks (and that doesn't include trillions in additional loan guarantees).

Didn't We Vote for Change?

I'm finally worried.

I had high hopes for President Obama, but when it comes to the economy, I'm worried that he's just continuing more of the same. I don't know for sure that what he's doing won't work (who does?), but it really does seem like the same-old crowd who have messed up our economy are still running things, they are out of new ideas and they are just worried about saving the status quo.

I'm not so interested in the status quo...it's what got us here.

What if our auto companies can't be saved?

What if the big banks are really bankrupt and need to be broken into workable parts?

What if we just threw away $1 trillion that the taxpayers will never get back?

What if the plans we are putting in place will just continue to make rich people rich, while the rest of the country suffers?

I would feel better if the treasury's plans were being made in the light of day, with input from big thinkers of all political persuasions. I want to hear for myself the advice that is being given to the White House and Treasury Dept. I want to hear why we should save the banks. And why investors will be taking on some of the "toxic" debt with no real risk to themselves because my tax dollars will support them if their investments go south.

I am a capitalist. If a company can't survive, it should go under. Bad ideas should fail. There should be risk in the markets.

But I also have a soft spot for socialism...when it comes to people supporting people; but NOT when it comes to the people's money supporting failing, rich institutions.

I can't help but be worried when we are trusting the same people who got us into this mess to get us out.

I don't know if Geithner has the solution. I don't know if Paul Krugman can solve it. I don't know if James Galbraith is right that there is 'no return to normal.' Or if Noam Chomsky is as sure as he sounds:



But, I'd like to hear different opinions. We've all just been trusting those "in charge" for too long. Time to bring us all in on the solution (even if - especially if - that scares the bankers).

And why the press is important...explaining the mortgage crisis

I was so annoyed last week by the rant on CNBC by some guy named Santelli which was then repeated over and over and over again on NBC networks. I knew I was annoyed by a news person yelling about the federal help to stem foreclosures, but I was also annoyed that he wasn't actually explaining anything, just venting, like some crazy uncle at a family dinner who doesn't really sound like he knows what he's talking about. And that is not the role I think the news media should be playing - especially now when everyone is so worried about our personal and national future.

I came across this article from the Columbia Journalism Review, and I learned a lot more about the current foreclosure crisis. It really is amazing, and it points out that this should not be "reported" as neighbor vs. neighbor. The mortgage and banking industry took full advantage of as many people as they could, made A LOT of money for themselves and caused this mess. So, if Santelli wants to rant about something, maybe he should focus on all of our taxpayer dollars going to some of the institutions that caused this mess - with NO real consequences.

The boiling anger we’re seeing by citizen against fellow citizen is understandable given that the press still hasn’t fully told the story of the boiler rooms, “the crooked heart of the credit crisis,” as Audit managing director Dean Starkman called it.

That this burst of outrage erupted after homeowners got a (relatively meager) bailout rather than after Wall Street and the banks got their trillions ($10 trillion by Bloomberg’s count) with repeated trips to the trough illustrates as clearly as I’ve seen it the failure of the press to fully portray the real cause of this catastrophe.

Read the full piece for a decent explanation of the mortgage mess. (BTW, I was one of these people the mortgage people tried to talk into a bad loan...I had some cash to "put down" when I was looking at buying a condo in 2005 and was told that I should just finance the whole thing. I didn't move forward, but I felt very uncomfortable by the whole thing - and very confused!)

If this isn't enough, also read this critique of Santelli and his misdirected anger.

(Also, keep this article in mind while you hear about neighborhood "tea parties" being organized by people against foreclosure assistance...and against their neighbors.)