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).

Yea Science!

Recovery.gov

Let's hope this site - included in the House version of the stimulus plan - will actually share the information being promised (and I hope it makes Dylan Ratigan happy - see below!)

From The Sunlight Foundation Blog:

The Internet has been recognized as having a central — even fundamental — role in enabling oversight and public access. The gap between public expectations and legislative initiatives has become significantly smaller, as Congress and President Obama recognize that a recovery or economic stimulus without a public Web site would be an immediate public disappointment — car without a dashboard, or a school without grades. Beyond that, we’re even seeing lawmakers and staff explore the positive aspects of realtime disclosure.

Okay, I have a little crush on Dylan Ratigan, but I agree with him every time he's on Morning Joe talking about "Google for Government"...here's the clip I could find of him talking about it (skip past Jim Cramer, please! Dylan starts around minute 6:00).

And I thought $1 Billion for Georgia was a lot!

I've been on vacation, but just thinking about blogging and looked at my last post. It seems so naive now...

Where's this $$$ coming from?

Anyone? If Bush has an extra billion to throw around, I could think of some better ways to spend (invest) it!

President Bush proposed $1 billion in humanitarian and economic assistance on Wednesday to help rebuild Georgia after its short, disastrous war with Russia last month, but he stopped short of committing the United States to reequipping the country’s battered military.

Nice of him to stop short somewhere as he spends our money.

And how does McCain feel about this?

McCain's Mansions

In case you haven't seen this...



I'm back from a mini-vacation, but work is crazy, so I may be a little quieter for the next week or so...

Which country is exporting low-cost (and low-wage) goods to China?

That'd be us.

According to the new study from the Alliance for American Manufacturing and the Economic Policy Institute, "Economic theory would suggest that the United States should specialize in producing goods that intensively use high-skilled, highly educated (and highly paid) workers and import labor-intensive goods that use more low-skilled labor. In fact, low-wage commodity sectors were some of the largest exporters of goods from the United States to China."

You can read more here. But I do warn you it's depressing news.

Disclosure: My company works with AAM and EPI.

Learning about Phil Gramm

I haven't paid much attention to Phil Gramm since I saw him a few years back, so out-of-place at the old Black Cat (his son's band was playing). And once he left the Senate, I really didn't care what he was up to...Now that he's McCain's campaign co-chair and his top economic advisor, I'm glad someone has been keeping track! Read this whole post by Robert Scheer (it's not long):

The bookends of the Bush years are the Enron debacle and the federal bailout of bankers drunk on their own greed. And no two people in this country are more responsible for enabling this sordid behavior than the power couple Phil and Wendy Gramm.

Enron, lest we forget, was their baby. Then-Sen. Gramm sponsored the Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000, which allowed Enron's scamming to happen. As Ken Lay, who was chair of Gramm's election finance committee, put it quite candidly when asked for the secret of Enron's success, "basically, we are entering or in markets that are deregulating or have recently deregulated."

Part of that deregulation involved rulings of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, then chaired by Wendy Gramm, who upon retiring from that post became a highly compensated member of the Enron board of directors, serving for eight years. She even was on the board's audit committee during the time of the corporation's despicable financial shenanigans. While on the Enron board, Wendy Gramm also chaired an anti-regulatory think tank that received funding from Enron and other corporations that benefited directly from the policies her institute espoused.

Not someone I'd even invite to a BBQ...

UPDATE: Even more writings about Phil Gramm today. He tried to invest in porn films? Wow.

Clueless

From today's Washington Post: Bush May Try to Cut Corporate Tax Rates

I don't know why this news surprises me...but I do like Nancy Pelosi's response...

Appearing before cameras at the Treasury Department alongside his economic team, the president vowed to veto spending bills that exceed his targets, and he accused Democrats of plotting the largest tax increase in history to fund an additional $205 billion in discretionary spending over five years.

"Put another way, it's about $1,300 in higher spending every second of every minute of every hour of every day of every year for the next five years," he said. "Now, somebody is going to have to pay for it. And that, of course, will be the hardworking American people. . . . I will use the veto to keep your taxes low and to keep federal spending under control."

Democrats quickly returned fire, noting that Bush inherited a surplus that turned into a deficit and that he never vetoed a spending bill during the six years that Republicans controlled Capitol Hill, even as the budget grew by 50 percent.

"After six years of reckless spending in Washington, President Bush is the last person who should brag about fiscal responsibility," said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.). She accused the president of misrepresenting Democratic spending plans, which she said come in lower than his and have received some Republican support. And she said Bush wants "to spend $2,800 each second . . . to keep our troops in the middle of a civil war in Iraq."