The shoe throwing incident has me conflicted. For one, it's an embarassment to W., which I support. At the same time, I have to admit that he handled the whole thing very well. But, I'm also disturbed that the POTUS was basically assaulted. That's just not good.
But, I'm back to being outraged at W. after reading that the Bushies quietly rewrote the bailout bill to pretty much strip out the executive compensation limits.
While on the topic of W.'s awfulness, Newsweek has an article about an intelligence employee who leaked the NSA wiretaps to the NYT. Naturally, he's being tormented by the Feds for being a whislte-blower.
In news of other Repugnancy, Rove is trying to make the fight against Eric Holder a rallying point for the GOP. He hasn't been successful at much lately, though.
Going from the nefarious to the ridiculous, in an article about Blago, the NYT notes that he refers to his favorite comb as "The Football," as in the briefcase that contains nuclear launch codes.
On a promising note, Obama's defense folks are talking the talk about trying to cut back on the Pentagon's largesse. We'll see if it actually happens.
In more Obama news, he's planning an honest to goodness whistle-stop tour before the Inauguration. Cool.
Finally, some great news: the members of the Electoral College will be meeting in state capitols today to officially elect Barack!
Showing posts with label bailout. Show all posts
Showing posts with label bailout. Show all posts
Monday, December 15, 2008
Friday, December 12, 2008
Detroit Bailout Failure
UPDATED INTRO: Since Krugman's still in Sweden getting his Nobel, I'm practically panicked about where to look for a sound analysis.
Okay, I'm leaving up my previous post, which features a fake ad mocking the Big 3 bailout, for posterity's sake, but it certainly appears that the failure of the bailout package could mean nasty, nasty ripple effects for the economy as a whole, with the large auto parts supplier industry getting hit first. Yikes.
Right off the bat, markets worldwide are falling rapidly because of the failure. So far today, the Dow's down about 80 points.
Now, people are asking about next steps. The White House is saying that it may use some of the Wall Street bailout package to help Detroit.
People are also looking at why the bailout failed. Basically, some financially conservative hardliners, on both sides of the aisle, voted it down because they wanted to see a quick reduction of wages and benefits to the level of non-union car factories in the "right to work" South. As Kevin Drum points out, it really came down to timing. Detroit and the UAW agreed to the cuts, but DeMint and Co. wanted them to hit 18 months sooner.
TNR is drawing comparisons to, you guessed it, the Depression. Their point is that the economy was nudged to a complete failure by incremental blows landed by ideologists.
Okay, I'm leaving up my previous post, which features a fake ad mocking the Big 3 bailout, for posterity's sake, but it certainly appears that the failure of the bailout package could mean nasty, nasty ripple effects for the economy as a whole, with the large auto parts supplier industry getting hit first. Yikes.
Right off the bat, markets worldwide are falling rapidly because of the failure. So far today, the Dow's down about 80 points.
Now, people are asking about next steps. The White House is saying that it may use some of the Wall Street bailout package to help Detroit.
People are also looking at why the bailout failed. Basically, some financially conservative hardliners, on both sides of the aisle, voted it down because they wanted to see a quick reduction of wages and benefits to the level of non-union car factories in the "right to work" South. As Kevin Drum points out, it really came down to timing. Detroit and the UAW agreed to the cuts, but DeMint and Co. wanted them to hit 18 months sooner.
TNR is drawing comparisons to, you guessed it, the Depression. Their point is that the economy was nudged to a complete failure by incremental blows landed by ideologists.
A Little Humor on a Day of Yet More Bad Economic News
To everyone in the Sassy community who works for BOA, my fingers are crossed for you.
Anyhow, in the spirit of distraction, here's a new ad for the Big 3. Although, given that the bailout failed, it's a little premature. Another example of poor planning by Detroit, I guess.
Not sure if you can read the fine print. It says: "You probably thought it was a smart idea to buy a foreign import of superior quality, with better mileage and resale value. Maybe you even thought that years of market share loss might prod us into rethinking our process and redesigning our products with better quality in mind. But you forgot one thing: We spend a shitload of money on lobbyists. So now you're out $25 billion, plus the cost of your Subaru. Maybe next time, you'll buy American like a real man. Either way, we're cool."
Anyhow, in the spirit of distraction, here's a new ad for the Big 3. Although, given that the bailout failed, it's a little premature. Another example of poor planning by Detroit, I guess.
Not sure if you can read the fine print. It says: "You probably thought it was a smart idea to buy a foreign import of superior quality, with better mileage and resale value. Maybe you even thought that years of market share loss might prod us into rethinking our process and redesigning our products with better quality in mind. But you forgot one thing: We spend a shitload of money on lobbyists. So now you're out $25 billion, plus the cost of your Subaru. Maybe next time, you'll buy American like a real man. Either way, we're cool."
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Morning Roundup
Here's what's going on in non-Blago news today:
Looks like the Senate GOP might just block the auto industry bailout. I've looked to Krugman for help on this one, but he's in Sweden accepting some award. Dammit! What am I supposed to think? I seem to remember, though, that while he was a little skeptical of bailing out Detroit, he did think that failures by such large businesses right now could be really bad.
Barack picked his energy/environment team. I can't say I've heard of any of them, but his Energy pick, Steven Chu, is a Nobelist. Nice to have a respect for science in the White House again.
On that topic, the politcal hack W. put in charge of NASA, Mike "The Jury's Out on Global Warming" Griffin, is petulantly refusing to work with the Transition Team.
W. also made a mockery of Human Rights Day, yesterday, by giving the Presidential Citizens Medal to Chuck Colson. Colson, as Nixon's Special Counsel, hired thugs to beat up peace protestors and Daniel Ellsberg, and plotted to raid or firebomb the Brookings Institution.
But, let's end on a good note: the nation's very pleased with Barack's work so far. A number of polls show him having a tremendous approval rating.
Looks like the Senate GOP might just block the auto industry bailout. I've looked to Krugman for help on this one, but he's in Sweden accepting some award. Dammit! What am I supposed to think? I seem to remember, though, that while he was a little skeptical of bailing out Detroit, he did think that failures by such large businesses right now could be really bad.
Barack picked his energy/environment team. I can't say I've heard of any of them, but his Energy pick, Steven Chu, is a Nobelist. Nice to have a respect for science in the White House again.
On that topic, the politcal hack W. put in charge of NASA, Mike "The Jury's Out on Global Warming" Griffin, is petulantly refusing to work with the Transition Team.
W. also made a mockery of Human Rights Day, yesterday, by giving the Presidential Citizens Medal to Chuck Colson. Colson, as Nixon's Special Counsel, hired thugs to beat up peace protestors and Daniel Ellsberg, and plotted to raid or firebomb the Brookings Institution.
But, let's end on a good note: the nation's very pleased with Barack's work so far. A number of polls show him having a tremendous approval rating.
Monday, November 24, 2008
Morning Roundup: Nothing keeps Sassy down, not even a real job
Nate projects that Franken will win.
Feds bailout Citi and take a stake in the company. Does that mean as taxpayers, since we now have stake in all these companies, we'll get bonuses this year along with the execs?
Obama to name his economic team (which is getting flack for being a bunch of Clinton retreads) this morning and to provide more details on his economic recovery plan. On the morning shows yesterday, Sen Schumer said that Congress expects to have a legislation on Obama's desk on Inauguration Day--a "new new deaL" to the tune of $700B.
This is for Dave: A great little article in Newsweek drawing comparisons between FDR's transition to the presidency and Obama's.
5 who didn't make the cut in the Cabinet. Includes this rationale for giving Richardson a post (which frankly irritated me but I'd forgotten that he was an early supporter):
Bill Richardson, State — New Mexico’s governor and former Clinton U.N. ambassador-cum-Energy secretary dearly wanted State. And Obama owed him big-time, both for his primary endorsement and for Richardson’s now-forgotten decision to swing his delegates to Obama during the Iowa caucuses. If he’s upset, though, his tears will apparently fall on the Cabinet table. He’s reportedly the new Commerce secretary, and was apparently offered Interior too.
Feds bailout Citi and take a stake in the company. Does that mean as taxpayers, since we now have stake in all these companies, we'll get bonuses this year along with the execs?
Obama to name his economic team (which is getting flack for being a bunch of Clinton retreads) this morning and to provide more details on his economic recovery plan. On the morning shows yesterday, Sen Schumer said that Congress expects to have a legislation on Obama's desk on Inauguration Day--a "new new deaL" to the tune of $700B.
This is for Dave: A great little article in Newsweek drawing comparisons between FDR's transition to the presidency and Obama's.
5 who didn't make the cut in the Cabinet. Includes this rationale for giving Richardson a post (which frankly irritated me but I'd forgotten that he was an early supporter):
Bill Richardson, State — New Mexico’s governor and former Clinton U.N. ambassador-cum-Energy secretary dearly wanted State. And Obama owed him big-time, both for his primary endorsement and for Richardson’s now-forgotten decision to swing his delegates to Obama during the Iowa caucuses. If he’s upset, though, his tears will apparently fall on the Cabinet table. He’s reportedly the new Commerce secretary, and was apparently offered Interior too.
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