tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-53246864840716464.post1551177664681175357..comments2024-02-29T00:46:38.800-08:00Comments on Washingtons Blog: Congress: We Can't Help the American Public Because The Dog Ate Our HomeworkUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-53246864840716464.post-71423297120806186482009-10-30T08:29:57.774-07:002009-10-30T08:29:57.774-07:00Laws and regulations are worthless if they are not...Laws and regulations are worthless if they are not enforced. For example, There were laws and regulations already on the books that would have prevented the crisis from happening if the cops had been doing their jobs, and there are laws and regulations in place that would have resolved a great deal of the mess as soon as it began to develop. These laws and regulations simply were not enforced, either under the Bush or Obama administrations.<br /><br />Karl Denninger at The Market Ticket has been documenting this for years. His latest posts on the subject are damning.<br /><br /><a href="http://market-ticker.denninger.net/archives/1556-Is-The-Press-Waking-Up.html" rel="nofollow">Is The Press Waking Up?</a><br /><br /><a href="http://market-ticker.denninger.net/archives/1558-The-FDIC-Must-Be-Indicted.html" rel="nofollow">The FDIC Must Be Indicted</a>Tom Hickeyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08454222098667643650noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-53246864840716464.post-3974742949498024252009-10-30T08:11:27.470-07:002009-10-30T08:11:27.470-07:00I second Anonymous 5:46. Obama is an appeaser. H...I second Anonymous 5:46. Obama is an appeaser. He is in the grand tradition of Alan Greenspan, who eased us into the current mess.<br /><br />It's the only kind of politician that survives in our corrupt system, I guess. You get taken out by the Big Money otherwise.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-53246864840716464.post-16814212125889157372009-10-30T08:08:28.524-07:002009-10-30T08:08:28.524-07:00In pandering to big money, the government is ignor...In pandering to big money, the government is ignoring its proper job, to its ultimate peril.<br /><br />The government's primary purpose is to see that people have something to do. They can be peasants working the fields, they can be wage slaves tending machines, they can be cops with white gloves directing traffic. What people do isn't important, the fact that they're happy (or not) isn't important. The only important thing is that they're busy doing something. That's what counts.<br /><br />What the government - every government - must avoid are large masses of idle people. It makes no difference if the idle are happy or unhappy, rich or poor. The danger is simply that they're idle, and so are a tempting target for anyone who wants to whip them up & put them to his own use. Such as a charismatic "man on horseback" who uses popular discontent to dispose of the government & put himself in power at the barrel of a gun. <br /><br />As Thoreau said, "That governs best which governs least". Thoreau gives us the essence of the solution: The more the government has to employ people merely to keep them busy & off the streets (the Soviets, anyone?) the more the government is a collective nuisance to the rest of us. It is therefore clear the primary indicator of a government's success is not the GDP or Wall Street or the amount of money in circulation, but the (honest & true) unemployment rate. Combine this with median income & you have real indicators of national wealth. Not the phony recovery we see now.<br /><br />The American government was captured by special interests a long time ago. This problem did not start in the '70's or '80's as many suppose. Given the American Revolution was not a popular, broadly based revolt, the problem may go right back to our founding, so many years ago. <br /><br />So what kind of government functions best? A government of the people sounds like a good idea, but a government that fears its people is a lot better bet. A fearful government is a government that concentrates on its primary job. Which is keeping the masses fat & happy. Any way it can. This seems to have been forgotten. The Civil War was a popular revolt. No one wants to go through that again.Dave of Marylandnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-53246864840716464.post-45794721788744911352009-10-30T06:55:37.945-07:002009-10-30T06:55:37.945-07:00It seems clear to me, one of the first things need...It seems clear to me, one of the first things needed to be done, is to shut down the stock markets.<br /><br />There is no basis for allowing Wall Street to continue on with this massive fraud. Bankrupt companies are being pumped up with government money to look like they are solvent, when they clearly are not.<br /><br />The potential for and ongoing evidence of widespread corruption is simply far to great to allow the markets to remain open under this set of economic conditions including but not limited to the stimulus factors implemented by a partisan Executive fearful of and actively manipulating and muzzling the free press.<br /><br />This is nothing like what anyone ever bargained for.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-53246864840716464.post-61962941830815050252009-10-30T05:46:38.884-07:002009-10-30T05:46:38.884-07:00Simply: Obama is a weak man and an appeaser. He is...Simply: Obama is a weak man and an appeaser. He is not an FDR (or a TR, for that matter) and he will not take bold steps or oppose people of power.<br />Given that, what do we expect?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-53246864840716464.post-11201985867931089062009-10-30T05:25:37.744-07:002009-10-30T05:25:37.744-07:00There is a common fallacy that expresses itself in...There is a common fallacy that expresses itself in these sorts of discussions, one that should be repeatedly brought up. This is a good place to air that fallacy again.<br /><br />Just because a view is centrist, -or popular among the idiot masses- does not mean it holds water, has any viable capture of the truth, or a monopoly or even some verification of the moral course.<br /><br />In fact, most of these discussions are so far off base, the opposite -should be accepted as the overwhelming norm. <br /><br />Human competence at anything other than things like laziness, lying, sex and murder is a nearly completely captivating myth, -simply because of a common and vile human conceit.<br /><br />We are the "cretins" so often referred to -by those who toss out the term in an effort to make their own shit -appear to stink less.<br /><br />We all know the Congress is currently splayed, spread eagle in bed with the banks. That continuous sucking and slurping sound is exactly what you think it is.<br /><br />And yes, the word "whores" is appropriate to the vile occasion of this debacle.<br /><br />But to jump to conclusions and suggest that the "peephole" need their own bailout -to level the playing field- or -to deal with their own continued misery -is simply drilling another, -even larger- hole in the bottom of this rapidly sinking boat.<br /><br />This may come as a shock to some, and limit a lot of the silly plans being tossed about by others, -but folks-, -all these things cost money.<br /><br />And, the country is currently being run on borrowed money.<br /><br />Debt and insolvency are the well understood -if too often ignored- problem.<br /><br />The problem is NOT that the borrowed money is being given to the wrong people.<br /><br />The problem is the lack of any appreciation for how to gauge the problem of the total lack of human progress in the immediately preceding century, and then to look behind us even further to see where it was we left off on the path toward some sort of viable civilization.<br /><br />Plotting a cogent course is rarely accomplished by simply dropping everything and running away from our demons, -or- by picking up our scabbards and pitchforks and running after the scoundrels.<br /><br />Be smart, like Stalin, and simply invite the scoundrels to a meeting -instead.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com