Monday, December 8, 2008
It's Amazing to Think that, Not too Long Ago, Thousands of People Trusted Merrill Lynch with Their Money
Take it away, Mr. Massie...
Freud/Sykes
Here's Charlie citing George Will's weekend screed against the Fairness Doctrine, or what he terms "the left's continuing obsession with regulating free speech," despite, in the words of Steve Benen, "no one is seriously trying to reinstate the Fairness Doctrine."Emphasis Benen's.
We've noted that there are more important things to worry about than clocking pundits on local radio stations (as have numerous others), but Sykes continues to display his persecution complex for either personal or professional gain.
That's when it hit me -- it's really hard to tell the difference between where the personal ends and the professional begins with Sykes ... or for any talk radio host, for that matter.
For several hours each day Sykes and his ilk are basically engaging in an act of public psychoanalysis. Instead of a couch, they pull up to the mic where a broadcast audience fills in for an analyst and to whom they yammer on almost in the stream-of-consciousness style of "the talking cure."
Freud would've loved talk radio.
These guys are professionals, but they're still subject to the same struggles between the conscious and the subconscious and that conflict occasionally manifests itself in odd ways. They talk smoothly and fluidly, so when they do screw up -- when they do trip up and let loose a "Freudian slip" -- it's very pronounced and easy to recognize (so easy that the talkers themselves are just as quick to recognize it and laugh it off before derailing the conversation).
Since Sykes' blog is essentially just a supplement to his radio show, I'd wager it's subject to the same rules of conscious/subconscious conflict.
One of the most popular "figures" to psychoanalyze over the years has been Shakespeare's Hamlet, but I think that psychoanalysts have a wealth of of material to sift through in the for
m of talk radio hosts. In fact, it might even be an opportunity to get back to the glory days of psychoanalysis when the budding field was butting up against the ethos of the Victorian Age (which the strict morality of some of the most extreme right-wingers seems to resemble at times). Charlie Sykes is the perfect Freudian case study. Sometimes is something as routine and benign as the whole persecution complex thing above, but then there's something a little more eye-opening like this hint of a castration complex ... to say nothing of how he is constantly examining issues related to childhood, parenting, education and the like.Oh, the places this little exercise can go! Even when Sykes is discussing public works projects his imagery conjures up a metaphor for anal retentiveness.
Freud is one of the unholy trinity of modern thinkers conservatives have spent much of the last 150 years trying to dismiss (Darwin and Marx being the others). He's been marginalized recently (and for good reasons), but maybe it's time to bring him back out of the moth balls. Besides, a little pop psychology is great at parties after a few beers -- it should be just as entertaining online.
So from here on in we're going to be subcontracting our commentary on Syke's nonsense to Dr. Freud, Professor emeritus at the University of Vienna.
Sunday, December 7, 2008
Sunday Night Link Orgy
*** The prank phone call that almost led to to war between India and Pakistan ... can somebody please get these guys a red phone/hotline?
*** The origins of piracy in Somalia ... and some tough, but reasonable, possible solutions that just so happen to include the best line I've read all day:
Water-skiing playboys in Lamu can stuff it.*** Isn't an enemies list just a bit too Nixonian even for this administration?
*** Great article on college radio in the New York Times.
*** The financial crisis has pummeled Wall Street, is bearing down on Main Street and is now set to ravage ... horse country!
*** Any bets on what the books are behind the President-elect?
I'm going with either a three volume collection of Lincoln's speeches and letters or the Federalist Papers.I kind of think it's pretty cool that he's doing these things from a high-rise. Apparently the transition offices are on the 38th floor of the federal building in the Loop. That's a pretty nice western-looking view of the city from that height.
Say it Ain't so, Amsterdam?
Terrible, terrible news...
Which begs the question: which city will pick up the slack?
I'm crossing my fingers it's Macau.
Which begs the question: which city will pick up the slack?
I'm crossing my fingers it's Macau.
Saturday, December 6, 2008
Welcome Back, General
I think this might be the most inspired cabinet nomination yet.
MORE:
Just a reminder:
MORE:
Just a reminder:
There were a few empty chairs at General Eric Shinseki's June 2003 retirement ceremony. U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld didn't make it to the event, which honored Shinseki's 4 years as U.S. Army chief of staff and 38-year military career. Neither did Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz, nor any of Rumsfeld's other close associates. For a four-star general concluding a brilliant career, it was a major breach of protocol.Hit the link up for the reason why -- in case you've forgotten.
Friday, December 5, 2008
What's the Worst Industry in America?
A totally subjective list only loosely grounded on dispassionate observation:
Airport security should be the very definition of clinical insanity. Every flight is oversold and I swear I've seen knife fights break out in terminals between travelers trying to just get the hell out of Memphis. (How did they get knives past the TSA? They didn't need to. They fashioned shivs from the trash bin at the Sbarro in the terminal. Modern airline passengers are either a.) goddamn resourceful when they are thrust into the Hobbesian States of Nature which are airport terminals, or b.) also know how to make pruno) If you are lucky enough to get on board the experience is simply miserable -- every archetypal fear on the emotional spectrum is pushed to the breaking point continuously over the course of the flight. Airlines used to serve food and drinks to help sooth passengers fears of heights and the rapid decent in a flaming aluminum tube there from. The food sucked, but it wasn't meant to be good -- just comfort food. Now that's gone and replaced with the stifling feeling of claustrophobia that comes with airlines trying to pack each plane with as many poor schumcks as possible.
By the way, I'm a very low maintenance traveler with a high threshold for transportational bullshit. I don't mind being inconvenienced from time to time. But every time I travel it's the same thing: stressed out employees at the gate and on the plane who think that their airport ID badge makes them a second Lieutenant in the army of Fuck You, long lines to check in the luggage/go through security, and fewer flights to choose from.
Yet despite these fewer flights, and presumably fewer planes cluttering the runways, I feel like I'm spending more time taxiing on the tarmac and can't remember that last time a flight I was on arrived on time.
It sucks. I hate it. Maybe flying is better in Korea, where apparently ejaculating champagne bottles are served gratis. I don't want to hear 9/11 excuses anymore. Every time I fly these days I'm resigned to the fact that traveling days will be miserable and there won't be anything I can do about it. I'd rather be slapped in the face as I board the plane rather than greeted cheerily. It would be at least a token shred of honesty in an otherwise miserable business transaction.
(Editor's note: If this were an objective list, the financial services industry would be number one with a bullet, as the kids once said, but the vast and ubiquitous damage this industry has done to the economy pales in comparison to my personal contempt for the airline industry.)
And that's just in the last five days.
Many papers have finally gotten wise to the fact that they need to shift their platform from hard copy to online, but they haven't figured out that the proliferation of news on the internet actually places a larger burden on them to report more local stories. I'd be so bold as to suggest that most papers ditch the AP services they subscribe to and focus entirely on local issues or come up with original content on national/world issues through a local lens. That requires more (or better) reporters, not fewer. Instead, they're shedding staffs and thinning their products. That's when the death spiral begins, eventually giving us this bleak future:
[MORE: Jesus, it's even worse than I thought...]
Go into the Exclusive Co. today and it's mostly DVDs and audio hardware ... and Atomic is closing down in February. No one buys records any more. It's all iTunes or file-sharing now, but even that doesn't seem to compensate for the dip in sales.
And there's every reason to believe that it's only going to get worse.
I thought that a friend who works for a record label (this used to be a sexy job, one she worked all of her life for, but she can barely bring herself to admit it to strangers these days) was joking when she said that the only way labels make money these days is from ringtones. She wasn't (though that might not even be true anymore). That's simply not a sustainable business or artistic model.
Pop music is not going anywhere, but like all arts it needs to be cultivated. When an industry is in decline and denial, it simply doesn't have the capacity or patience to develop talent. That's when the High School Musical Soundtrack becomes the best-selling album of the year -- and it would take a lot of sex and drugs to convince musicians that it's worth being that lame.
A family I know has not owned an American car since the early '90s when the Buick they owned started on fire. When the fire department completed the investigation they determined the official cause of the fire was -- and I'm not kidding about this -- "spontaneous combustion." Those words are actually on the official report. Apparently the insurance company, obviously thinking there was some kind of fraud afoot, needed numerous additional paperwork explaining the cause further.
This was the last American car this family ever bothered looking at.
Detroit is really up shit's creek. Three weeks ago I would have thought they were a lock to get their bailout cash, but now I don't think Congress would trust them to make change for a dollar. They screwed this up in almost the same way they screwed up their businesses: take a whole bunch of shit for granted (cheap gas/money from Congress) and aggressively ignore strategic thinking (I didn't hear any of the three CEOs talk about business plans after 2010). Bailout or no -- and let's face it, any bailout the auto companies get is likely to be just a stop-gap measure that prevents at least one of them from going under for x number of months -- Detroit is going to be a much smaller place in a few years.
There. I'm sure there are many more. Drop your suggestions for additional industries that suck in the comments below.
1.) The Airline IndustryI would rather travel in a rickshaw from Detroit to O'Hare -- nay, I would rather operate a rickshaw with passengers that consisted entirely of a family of morbidly obese manatees in the dead of winter wearing naught but my socks than get aboard a plane these days.
Airport security should be the very definition of clinical insanity. Every flight is oversold and I swear I've seen knife fights break out in terminals between travelers trying to just get the hell out of Memphis. (How did they get knives past the TSA? They didn't need to. They fashioned shivs from the trash bin at the Sbarro in the terminal. Modern airline passengers are either a.) goddamn resourceful when they are thrust into the Hobbesian States of Nature which are airport terminals, or b.) also know how to make pruno) If you are lucky enough to get on board the experience is simply miserable -- every archetypal fear on the emotional spectrum is pushed to the breaking point continuously over the course of the flight. Airlines used to serve food and drinks to help sooth passengers fears of heights and the rapid decent in a flaming aluminum tube there from. The food sucked, but it wasn't meant to be good -- just comfort food. Now that's gone and replaced with the stifling feeling of claustrophobia that comes with airlines trying to pack each plane with as many poor schumcks as possible.
By the way, I'm a very low maintenance traveler with a high threshold for transportational bullshit. I don't mind being inconvenienced from time to time. But every time I travel it's the same thing: stressed out employees at the gate and on the plane who think that their airport ID badge makes them a second Lieutenant in the army of Fuck You, long lines to check in the luggage/go through security, and fewer flights to choose from.
Yet despite these fewer flights, and presumably fewer planes cluttering the runways, I feel like I'm spending more time taxiing on the tarmac and can't remember that last time a flight I was on arrived on time.
It sucks. I hate it. Maybe flying is better in Korea, where apparently ejaculating champagne bottles are served gratis. I don't want to hear 9/11 excuses anymore. Every time I fly these days I'm resigned to the fact that traveling days will be miserable and there won't be anything I can do about it. I'd rather be slapped in the face as I board the plane rather than greeted cheerily. It would be at least a token shred of honesty in an otherwise miserable business transaction.
2.) Financial Services IndustryThanks guys.
(Editor's note: If this were an objective list, the financial services industry would be number one with a bullet, as the kids once said, but the vast and ubiquitous damage this industry has done to the economy pales in comparison to my personal contempt for the airline industry.)
3.) Newspaper IndustryIf you ever get a chance to read Editor and Publisher magazine -- the trade rag of record for the dead tree press -- these days, then you must know how it felt to read the published names of dead soldiers during the Civil War. See exhibits A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, P and Q.
And that's just in the last five days.
Many papers have finally gotten wise to the fact that they need to shift their platform from hard copy to online, but they haven't figured out that the proliferation of news on the internet actually places a larger burden on them to report more local stories. I'd be so bold as to suggest that most papers ditch the AP services they subscribe to and focus entirely on local issues or come up with original content on national/world issues through a local lens. That requires more (or better) reporters, not fewer. Instead, they're shedding staffs and thinning their products. That's when the death spiral begins, eventually giving us this bleak future:
"Fitch believes more newspapers and newspaper groups will default, be shut down and be liquidated in 2009 and several cities could go without a daily print newspaper by 2010," the Chicago-based credit ratings firm said in a report on the outlook for U.S. media and entertainment.Could the Oshkosh blogosphere pick up the slack if the NW went under? Not at first -- where's the local high school sports blog? Then again, I'd imagine that sooner or later part-time bloggers would eventually find a way to do what the pros did.
[MORE: Jesus, it's even worse than I thought...]
4.) The Music IndustryI have a theory -- explained over numerous pints of beer at watering holes across the country to various friends -- that the artistic health of pop music is directly proportional the health of the recording business. The RIAA dicked around for over a decade trying to fight internet piracy and it got them nowhere. Instead of working with the internet, the RIAA clung desperately to the CD model that made them very rich in the '80s. The problem with this model is that it requires brick and morter retail outlets. Sure, you had soulless places like Wal-mart that sold a ton of records for a while, or product-specific chains like Tower in the malls of America, but then you had regional chains like the Exclusive Co. or stores like Atomic Records in Milwaukee or Fifth Element in Minneapolis.
Go into the Exclusive Co. today and it's mostly DVDs and audio hardware ... and Atomic is closing down in February. No one buys records any more. It's all iTunes or file-sharing now, but even that doesn't seem to compensate for the dip in sales.
And there's every reason to believe that it's only going to get worse.
I thought that a friend who works for a record label (this used to be a sexy job, one she worked all of her life for, but she can barely bring herself to admit it to strangers these days) was joking when she said that the only way labels make money these days is from ringtones. She wasn't (though that might not even be true anymore). That's simply not a sustainable business or artistic model.
Pop music is not going anywhere, but like all arts it needs to be cultivated. When an industry is in decline and denial, it simply doesn't have the capacity or patience to develop talent. That's when the High School Musical Soundtrack becomes the best-selling album of the year -- and it would take a lot of sex and drugs to convince musicians that it's worth being that lame.
5.) The Auto IndustryHere's a story that I think illustrates the ills of the American auto industry quite well:
A family I know has not owned an American car since the early '90s when the Buick they owned started on fire. When the fire department completed the investigation they determined the official cause of the fire was -- and I'm not kidding about this -- "spontaneous combustion." Those words are actually on the official report. Apparently the insurance company, obviously thinking there was some kind of fraud afoot, needed numerous additional paperwork explaining the cause further.
This was the last American car this family ever bothered looking at.
Detroit is really up shit's creek. Three weeks ago I would have thought they were a lock to get their bailout cash, but now I don't think Congress would trust them to make change for a dollar. They screwed this up in almost the same way they screwed up their businesses: take a whole bunch of shit for granted (cheap gas/money from Congress) and aggressively ignore strategic thinking (I didn't hear any of the three CEOs talk about business plans after 2010). Bailout or no -- and let's face it, any bailout the auto companies get is likely to be just a stop-gap measure that prevents at least one of them from going under for x number of months -- Detroit is going to be a much smaller place in a few years.
There. I'm sure there are many more. Drop your suggestions for additional industries that suck in the comments below.
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Why Has the Right Side of the Cheddarsphere Been So Flaccid Lately?
Really, what's up guys?
I realize that losing elections tends to take a little pep out of one's stride, but in the last four weeks the usual suspects on the Right have been downright anemic. I'm willing to blame some of this on the hectic nature of the holiday season, but I've seen more confidence in pets that have been abused by previous owners than I have from the conservative Cheddarsphere these days.
Here's just a few examples of how bad it's gotten. Bare in mind that these are just from the last 24 hours. Symptoms include:
1.) Utterly Inappropriate Comments
From The Right View Wisconsin:
2.) Ridiculous Displays of Misspent Nostalgia
From Stepping Right Up:
The there's this bizarre line:
3.) Flogging Dead Horses
Both Freedom Eden and Right From the Right have posts on the authenticity of Obama's birth certificate. Eden says the citizenship issue "the topic isn't too wacko to discuss at this point," because -- and get this! -- because major news outlets like PRAVDA are looking in to it.
Let me just say that again and let it sink in: PRAVDA ... which actually has less credibility now as a Russian supermarket tabloid than it did when it was the official newspaper of the Communist Party.
Then Eden makes this asinine demand:
Same applies to you, Mr. Game.
4.) Taking up the "It's not our fault -- the voters are just retarded!" Banner
Really, Egg? You too, Mary?
If anyone thinks John Zeigler is going to lead conservatism out of the wilderness, let me suggest packing for a very long trip.
5.) A Literal Lack of Imagination (or an Abuse of Cliches)
From the Badger Blogger:
6.) Silence
The interesting (and responsible) conservative bloggers seem to have taken something of a break lately, while the shrill voices seem to have picked up their slack. That's not healthy. It doesn't enhance debate and it diminishes the brand. I'm not saying there should be an effort to silence the crazier elements of conservatism, but an attempt should be made to keep them from filling the void of quality commentary.
MORE:
7.) Missing the Point Entirely
I realize that losing elections tends to take a little pep out of one's stride, but in the last four weeks the usual suspects on the Right have been downright anemic. I'm willing to blame some of this on the hectic nature of the holiday season, but I've seen more confidence in pets that have been abused by previous owners than I have from the conservative Cheddarsphere these days.
Here's just a few examples of how bad it's gotten. Bare in mind that these are just from the last 24 hours. Symptoms include:
1.) Utterly Inappropriate Comments
From The Right View Wisconsin:
Actually, Zach, you're correct, I am implying Michelle Obama is a c*nt.I have no idea what this is in reference to, since the author didn't see it helpful to link to anything, but there's no place for this. Period.
2.) Ridiculous Displays of Misspent Nostalgia
From Stepping Right Up:
I was reading an interesting article this morning on WSJ from Daniel Henninger titled "America needs its Frontier Spirit" and it got me to thinking about Joe the Plumber.No, seriously. Usually when I think about the American frontier I think about the lack of indoor plumbing, but whatever -- it only gets better:
Clearly the Joe the Plumber spirit of wanting to carve out your own destiny has taken a hit. Joe the Plumber wanting nothing more out of life than to carve out his own destiny and embrace the American dream.The "Joe the Plumber Spirit"? Are we to now refer to the "Frontier Spirit" from here on in as the Joe the Plumber Spirit? It really doesn't have the same ring to it ... But if conflating a substantial part of the American mythos with a poor marketing gimmick (that failed big time) gets you through the day, then to each his own.
The there's this bizarre line:
Joe the Plumber's spirit of individuality, determination and hard work will rise again. I believe it, just like Ronald Reagan believed it.Carpenter's getting awfully close to equating Ronald Reagan with Joe the Plumber here ... when that happens, you can kiss the GOP good bye.
3.) Flogging Dead Horses
Both Freedom Eden and Right From the Right have posts on the authenticity of Obama's birth certificate. Eden says the citizenship issue "the topic isn't too wacko to discuss at this point," because -- and get this! -- because major news outlets like PRAVDA are looking in to it.
Let me just say that again and let it sink in: PRAVDA ... which actually has less credibility now as a Russian supermarket tabloid than it did when it was the official newspaper of the Communist Party.
Then Eden makes this asinine demand:
Officials should bring the damn thing out of that locked state vault in Hawaii. It would be so easy.They have. Here are the pictures. Please do a little research before making batshit insane accusations.
Same applies to you, Mr. Game.
4.) Taking up the "It's not our fault -- the voters are just retarded!" Banner
Really, Egg? You too, Mary?
If anyone thinks John Zeigler is going to lead conservatism out of the wilderness, let me suggest packing for a very long trip.
5.) A Literal Lack of Imagination (or an Abuse of Cliches)
From the Badger Blogger:
You can’t make this stuff up.From Peter "the Hitman" DiGaudio:
Folks, you just cannot make stuff like this up.From Janet Evens:
Another one of those "I couldn't make this up if I tried, " real-life political stories...These are three complete different stories, by the way -- all to mind-blowing to be believed, apparently.
6.) Silence
The interesting (and responsible) conservative bloggers seem to have taken something of a break lately, while the shrill voices seem to have picked up their slack. That's not healthy. It doesn't enhance debate and it diminishes the brand. I'm not saying there should be an effort to silence the crazier elements of conservatism, but an attempt should be made to keep them from filling the void of quality commentary.
MORE:
7.) Missing the Point Entirely
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Dad29 Discovers Comparative Literature
No Shit.
Pretty much every heroic journey story told in the Western tradition in some way, shape or form is influenced by Homer.
Here's another shocker that will blow Dad29's mind: Twain was also influenced by the Book of Exodus (Get it? Odyssey ... Exodus ... both journeys from one point to another ... ) -- Huck Finn being a kind of American Moses: taking a trip down a river (wasn't Moses found drifting down the river as an infant? and isn't Cairo both a city in Illinois and Egypt?) to free a slave(s) ...
Tune in next week as Dad29 wrestles with what James Joyce's 'Ulysses' was based on.
Pretty much every heroic journey story told in the Western tradition in some way, shape or form is influenced by Homer.
Here's another shocker that will blow Dad29's mind: Twain was also influenced by the Book of Exodus (Get it? Odyssey ... Exodus ... both journeys from one point to another ... ) -- Huck Finn being a kind of American Moses: taking a trip down a river (wasn't Moses found drifting down the river as an infant? and isn't Cairo both a city in Illinois and Egypt?) to free a slave(s) ...
Tune in next week as Dad29 wrestles with what James Joyce's 'Ulysses' was based on.
Proof that Peter DiGaudio has Lost His Mind
It's one thing to spend months in the lead up to the election posting raving, paranoid rantings on your blog only to cap it off by threatening to take out a hit on the president-elect of the United States while simultaneously soiling your own blog so badly that you have to start a new one, but when you start shilling for Josh Groban (!) ... that's when it's time for an intervention.
Can somebody please get this guy some professional help?
Can somebody please get this guy some professional help?
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Drew Rosenhaus
Say what you will about Drew "Next Question" Rosenhaus, the guy's apparently one bad-ass sports agent ... with an interesting clientele that includes Plaxico Burress.
Not much more to add here. The whole situation just reminded me of this great ad that the NFL Network ran a few years ago.
Enjoy!
Not much more to add here. The whole situation just reminded me of this great ad that the NFL Network ran a few years ago.
Enjoy!
Monday, December 1, 2008
Awards Season (or, Wherein I Lob Tony Palmeri a Softball)
Tony's up with this year's edition of the Tony Awards, which means that the first few Media Rants columns of the coming year will be devoted to the Most Censored Stories of the Year, per tradition. These tend to be stories that hit a little closer to home wherein the local media either dropped the ball or are somehow complicit in some misdeed or another.
Allow me to volunteer a suggestion...
Journal Communications, Wisconsin's largest media firm and the dudes that own the Journal Sentinel and WTMJ et al., run a series of websites that cater to their suburban readers in Milwaukee's collar communities. These sites generally fall under the brand of MyCommunityNow.com and are orientated to their particular markets with such spin-offs as BrookfieldNow.com and GermantownNow.com and WaukeshaNow.com and so forth. It's all local news directed at readers of each individual community and as a consequence is incredibly boring to anyone who does not live there (and probably not all that much exciting to those who actually live there as well, hence the need to liven things up a bit).
Each community has their own stable of local bloggers who vary according to opinion, subject matter and talent, but when a reader goes to FranklinNow.com he or she notices something odd: two of the four local bloggers are employed by the same state senator's office. One is State Senator Mary Lazich, the other is one of her legislative aides.
We here recently noted that this arrangement can lead to some confusion.
What we decided not to mention at the time -- and may as well bring up now -- is what the fuck?
Is this ethical by any responsible journalists standards?
Here's the rub:
Media outlets -- especially local ones -- are supposed to scrutinize local elected officials, not offer them platforms to project their agendas. If the NW, for example, gave a city council member -- any city council member -- a weekly column to use however he or she wanted there would be a chorus of heads exploding and hands grabbing pitchforks and torches across town.
That's basically what FranklinNow.com has decided to do: give a local elected official a venue to spout off whatever's on her mind (her blog, like most blogs on the site, is clearly not subject to any editorial control). By relying on Lazich for content FranklinNow.com -- and more importantly it's parent company Journal Communications -- JC is essentially giving her a pass by tying their lots together. How are we to expect JC to properly scrutinize someone who is ostensibly working for them? Would it not be rather embarrassing for JC, and essentially demonstrate poor judgment at best and complicitness at worse, if Lazich were discovered to be doing something improper?
Secondly, by providing Lazich with a her own blog JC is giving the state senator something of value. She may not be receiving any monetary compensation for her blogging, but she is getting some real estate under a local brand name and that's not exactly something to pooh-pooh. She's essentially being given a free permanent online advertisement. Last election cycle local blogger Jo Egelhoff thought it appropriate to sign-off on her own blog while she ran for office. Even though some locally saw more of a political motive in doing so, the DOJ didn't call the move absolutely without warrant -- and this was Egelhoff's own baby we're talking about here. Lazich's arrangement is far more questionable. Furthermore, Lazich is being given something of value here by a corporation and those contributions are illegal under state election law.
This is, admittedly, uncharted territory when it comes to the intersection of election law, technology and communications ethics -- but it certainly begs that such questions be resolved quickly.
Compounding this matter is the fact that one of her staffers also has a blog on the same site, doubly the impact of the Lazich's office to communicate with her constituents.
Let's get something straight here before we go any further: I'm not suggesting that Lazich or her receptionist should stop blogging or be silenced in any way. There are easy and cost-effective ways of blogging (i.e. Blogger) that can achieve the same ends (Lazich can even use her own official state senate web site for blogging -- so long as it's not used for campaigning). What I am suggesting is that because she and her staffer are doing so on the webpages of what is ostensibly an objective traditional media outlet that the sponsor becomes suspect because it appears to facilitate the opinions and agenda of a local elected official.
That's what official state media outlets do in countries with less than free presses.
At best this arrangement is ethically suspect and at worse it's illegal -- though I don't think there is anyone anywhere yet who can speak authoritatively about the legality of the arrangement because the courts and/or election boards simply have not had to deal with an issue like this before.
So what I'm suggesting is that media critics like Tony muse on this matter a little more and do what they can to bring it out into the public. I'd personally like to see someone like Dan Bice investigate this matter more closely, but since he works for another arm of Journal Communications, I'm not holding my breath. What I'd really like to see is someone like illusory tenant (and/or some of his friends at the bar) do some constitutional beta-testing through the proper legal channels.
Maybe I'm completely wrong here and this is not a big deal at all, but something instinctively seems pretty sketchy here and the best way to determine the way to go in the future is to start airing this issue out in public.
Have at it, Cheddarsphere.
Allow me to volunteer a suggestion...
Journal Communications, Wisconsin's largest media firm and the dudes that own the Journal Sentinel and WTMJ et al., run a series of websites that cater to their suburban readers in Milwaukee's collar communities. These sites generally fall under the brand of MyCommunityNow.com and are orientated to their particular markets with such spin-offs as BrookfieldNow.com and GermantownNow.com and WaukeshaNow.com and so forth. It's all local news directed at readers of each individual community and as a consequence is incredibly boring to anyone who does not live there (and probably not all that much exciting to those who actually live there as well, hence the need to liven things up a bit).
Each community has their own stable of local bloggers who vary according to opinion, subject matter and talent, but when a reader goes to FranklinNow.com he or she notices something odd: two of the four local bloggers are employed by the same state senator's office. One is State Senator Mary Lazich, the other is one of her legislative aides.
We here recently noted that this arrangement can lead to some confusion.
What we decided not to mention at the time -- and may as well bring up now -- is what the fuck?
Is this ethical by any responsible journalists standards?
Here's the rub:
Media outlets -- especially local ones -- are supposed to scrutinize local elected officials, not offer them platforms to project their agendas. If the NW, for example, gave a city council member -- any city council member -- a weekly column to use however he or she wanted there would be a chorus of heads exploding and hands grabbing pitchforks and torches across town.
That's basically what FranklinNow.com has decided to do: give a local elected official a venue to spout off whatever's on her mind (her blog, like most blogs on the site, is clearly not subject to any editorial control). By relying on Lazich for content FranklinNow.com -- and more importantly it's parent company Journal Communications -- JC is essentially giving her a pass by tying their lots together. How are we to expect JC to properly scrutinize someone who is ostensibly working for them? Would it not be rather embarrassing for JC, and essentially demonstrate poor judgment at best and complicitness at worse, if Lazich were discovered to be doing something improper?
Secondly, by providing Lazich with a her own blog JC is giving the state senator something of value. She may not be receiving any monetary compensation for her blogging, but she is getting some real estate under a local brand name and that's not exactly something to pooh-pooh. She's essentially being given a free permanent online advertisement. Last election cycle local blogger Jo Egelhoff thought it appropriate to sign-off on her own blog while she ran for office. Even though some locally saw more of a political motive in doing so, the DOJ didn't call the move absolutely without warrant -- and this was Egelhoff's own baby we're talking about here. Lazich's arrangement is far more questionable. Furthermore, Lazich is being given something of value here by a corporation and those contributions are illegal under state election law.
This is, admittedly, uncharted territory when it comes to the intersection of election law, technology and communications ethics -- but it certainly begs that such questions be resolved quickly.
Compounding this matter is the fact that one of her staffers also has a blog on the same site, doubly the impact of the Lazich's office to communicate with her constituents.
Let's get something straight here before we go any further: I'm not suggesting that Lazich or her receptionist should stop blogging or be silenced in any way. There are easy and cost-effective ways of blogging (i.e. Blogger) that can achieve the same ends (Lazich can even use her own official state senate web site for blogging -- so long as it's not used for campaigning). What I am suggesting is that because she and her staffer are doing so on the webpages of what is ostensibly an objective traditional media outlet that the sponsor becomes suspect because it appears to facilitate the opinions and agenda of a local elected official.
That's what official state media outlets do in countries with less than free presses.
At best this arrangement is ethically suspect and at worse it's illegal -- though I don't think there is anyone anywhere yet who can speak authoritatively about the legality of the arrangement because the courts and/or election boards simply have not had to deal with an issue like this before.
So what I'm suggesting is that media critics like Tony muse on this matter a little more and do what they can to bring it out into the public. I'd personally like to see someone like Dan Bice investigate this matter more closely, but since he works for another arm of Journal Communications, I'm not holding my breath. What I'd really like to see is someone like illusory tenant (and/or some of his friends at the bar) do some constitutional beta-testing through the proper legal channels.
Maybe I'm completely wrong here and this is not a big deal at all, but something instinctively seems pretty sketchy here and the best way to determine the way to go in the future is to start airing this issue out in public.
Have at it, Cheddarsphere.
Is Sean Hackbarth Completely Oblivious to his own Ideology?
Here's a breathless piece of advice that Wiscosnin's favorite DC-wanna-be Sean Hackbarth dispensed this evening:
While it's never had the reputation for being as erudite as the National Review, Human Events is still is a home for some of the bigger, or maybe louder, names in the conservative firmament. Here's how the publication describes itself:
What makes the Reagan endorsement so odd is that HE's most prominent and long-standing editorial positions has been a spirited and staunch defense of -- whom else? -- Joseph McCarthy!
Here's an editorial from back in 2004:
These kinds of demands for a correction by any media organization that criticizes McCarthy are de rigeur for HE.
Here's Pat Buchanan valiantly defending the legacy of McCarthy in 2003... and again here.
The Coulter doing the same in 2007 ...
And if that weren't enough, here's a lovely picture:
Here's what Phyllis Shlafley has to say about Old Joe from a piece written in 2003:
So, no, Bill Buckley did not kick the McCarthyites out of the conservative movement -- he merely kicked them off the pages of the National Review.
This isn't just an academic issue. During the last presidential campaign John McCain and co. used several variations on the McCarthyism theme. First they sought to hate on the media elites and culture of celebrity (of which Obama was adored by both), then it was the Ayers thing, but the one that finished the campaign and appeared to resonate the most with the GOP base was "Obama is a," wait for it, "socialist!"
So it's safe to say that this "phenomenon" that Gabler has merely "attach[ed] a nefarious character" to may be a little more than that -- though I'm happy to see that Hackbarth believes McCarthy to be "nefarious." Gabler suggests that it's the default position of the conservative movement -- and given the tiny amount of real estate in the L.A. Times he was given to make his point I think he makes a pretty compelling case.
Hackbarth thinks otherwise. He makes a few points contra Gabler, but none are pursuasive. Hackbarth is at his silliest when he points out the mutation in Gabler descent of conservative man -- Ronald Reagan:
After a while people pick up on this.
When was the last time he [i.e. Neil Gabler] wandered through wide stretches of the conservative blogosphere?The same can be asked about Hackbarth himself, who would do well to do some catch up at one conservative clearinghouse: Human Events magazine.
While it's never had the reputation for being as erudite as the National Review, Human Events is still is a home for some of the bigger, or maybe louder, names in the conservative firmament. Here's how the publication describes itself:
HUMAN EVENTS is the news source President Reagan called his "favorite newspaper" and we still hold high the Reaganesque principles of free enterprise, limited government and, above all, a staunch, unwavering defense of American freedom.Personally, I think HE is shit and many of my conservative friends are quick to agree with me (the word "tabloid" is frequently used to describe it). So far as any of us can tell, HE operates in one of two modes: 1.) putative bomb-throwing or 2.) hard-line orthodoxy enforcement -- both of which get really old really quickly ... but, hay, The Reagan says it's his "favorite newspaper" so it must have been doing something correctly, right?
What makes the Reagan endorsement so odd is that HE's most prominent and long-standing editorial positions has been a spirited and staunch defense of -- whom else? -- Joseph McCarthy!
Here's an editorial from back in 2004:
The style section of the Washington Post last week included a brief smear against Sen. Joseph McCarthy (R.-Wis.), the patriotic anti-Communist senator who first warned about Communist subversion in the U.S. government 54 years ago in a series of political speeches. In drawing attention to the coverage of Sen. McCarthy's famous Wheeling, W.Va., speech in the Wheeling Intelligencer, the Post noted that "Wisconsin Sen. Joseph McCarthy . . . inaugurated an era of ruinous gossip and innuendo." The brief one-paragraph item in the Post noted in closing, "A Senate committee later found no basis for McCarthy's claims." Despite the campaign of misinformation that liberal journalists and historians continue to wage against McCarthy, HUMAN EVENTS contributing editor M. Stanton Evans, author of several articles in HUMAN EVENTS over the years, and Ann Coulter in her book Treason, have exposed the distortions, fallacies and misrepresentations that continue to tarnish McCarthy's reputation.
These kinds of demands for a correction by any media organization that criticizes McCarthy are de rigeur for HE.
Here's Pat Buchanan valiantly defending the legacy of McCarthy in 2003... and again here.
The Coulter doing the same in 2007 ...
And if that weren't enough, here's a lovely picture:
Here's what Phyllis Shlafley has to say about Old Joe from a piece written in 2003:The easiest way to check out the biases of a history textbook is to look at its treatment of Sen. Joseph McCarthy. Standards, for example, which didn’t include a single word about Paul Revere, Thomas Edison, the Wright brothers, Albert Einstein, or Gen. Douglas MacArthur, inflicted 19 unfavorable mentions on McCarthy. Almost everything the current generation "knows" about McCarthy is false. Students and adults who want to learn the history that has been censored out of their textbooks should read Ann Coulter’s current bestseller, Treason. Her book does an awesome job of describing the widespread infiltration of the Franklin D. Roosevelt and Truman Administrations by a vast network of Soviet spies and agents. The official release in 1995 of the Venona Papers proves there is no longer any doubt about the massive penetration of important positions by men who served the interests of the Soviet Union. Coulter shows there is no longer any doubt about the willful, partisan coverup of this treason by the Democrats whose strategy was to target "McCarthyism" as the enemy and thereby deflect blame from FDR, who called Stalin "Uncle Joe," Harry Truman who said "I like old Joe; Joe’s a decent fellow," and Vice President Henry Wallace who was a blatant Soviet apologist.There are numerous other examples from other conservatives of varying degrees of celebrity -- none of whom, to the best of my knowledge are members of the John Birch Society -- available online, and if you're lucky enough to have access to a LexusNexus search you can sift through the entire archives to your heart's content.
So, no, Bill Buckley did not kick the McCarthyites out of the conservative movement -- he merely kicked them off the pages of the National Review.
This isn't just an academic issue. During the last presidential campaign John McCain and co. used several variations on the McCarthyism theme. First they sought to hate on the media elites and culture of celebrity (of which Obama was adored by both), then it was the Ayers thing, but the one that finished the campaign and appeared to resonate the most with the GOP base was "Obama is a," wait for it, "socialist!"
So it's safe to say that this "phenomenon" that Gabler has merely "attach[ed] a nefarious character" to may be a little more than that -- though I'm happy to see that Hackbarth believes McCarthy to be "nefarious." Gabler suggests that it's the default position of the conservative movement -- and given the tiny amount of real estate in the L.A. Times he was given to make his point I think he makes a pretty compelling case.
Hackbarth thinks otherwise. He makes a few points contra Gabler, but none are pursuasive. Hackbarth is at his silliest when he points out the mutation in Gabler descent of conservative man -- Ronald Reagan:
He recalls the Reagan optimism yet declares that unique to the 40th President. However he fails to acknowledge Republicans from all wings of the party seek it.So are Republicans to recieve points for simply trying to be optimistic? As long as they -- or even Democrats, for that matter -- mean well can they still resort to McCarthyism? As long as Republicans "seek" the Reagan optimism the party's good to go? The problem with that line of thinking is that thus far the only person to have actually found the Reagan optimism has been Ronald Reagan while just about every other GOP standard-bearer seems to have gone immediately for McCarthy-esque divide-and-conquer.
After a while people pick up on this.
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Until Something Interesting Happens in Wisconsin (Presumably after the Thanksgiving Holiday) You will Read About Pirates here at the Chief
*** A deal on the captured Ukranian ship carrying all kinds of old Soviet munitions is reached. Terms will probably not be disclosed any time soon, but the pirates were asking for $3 m.
*** More on private security contractors looking to hawk their services.
*** American shipping firms in Connecticut are monitoring the situation. (The entire shipping industry is hurting even without piracy right now)
*** Pirate communications.
*** No ties between pirates and al-Qaeda.
*** An interview with Santosh Patil (pictured being hugged by his mother below) after being released from pirate captivity:
*** Dutch ships now taking the long way around Africa.
*** Why Piracy Pays.
*** Why U.S. involvement in Somalia is counterproductive.
*** More on private security contractors looking to hawk their services.
*** American shipping firms in Connecticut are monitoring the situation. (The entire shipping industry is hurting even without piracy right now)
*** Pirate communications.
*** No ties between pirates and al-Qaeda.
*** An interview with Santosh Patil (pictured being hugged by his mother below) after being released from pirate captivity:
*** Dutch ships now taking the long way around Africa.*** Why Piracy Pays.
*** Why U.S. involvement in Somalia is counterproductive.
Saturday, November 29, 2008
More Pirate-related Links
*** Here's a pretty laudatory article -- dated Nov. 24th -- on a company called Anti-Piracy Maritime Security Solutions (APMSS) that is using non-lethal means to repel pirate attacks:
*** A look at the new leader of pirate-infested Puntland, Somalia -- a Canadian ex-pat who settled into a quiet retirement in Ottawa before going back to Africa.
*** Do the pirates give Barack Obama an occasion to start talks with Iran?
*** Pirates vs. Islamists (who have a history of harboring al-Qaeda).
*** Which country stands to be the most inconvenienced from Somali pirates: Germany.
*** The softer side of pirate-journalist relations. [via Gawker]
All of the APMSS methods are non-lethal. [APMSS President Nick] Davis says, "We don't carry weapons at all. We use acoustic devices, which are basically long-distance, very directional, loud hailing systems. And these emit…150 decibels over a distance of about a nautical mile…. And to give you an idea of…the human pain threshold for sound is 121 decibels. So, it's pretty excruciating when you get within a short distance of this equipment, firing warning tones and messages at you."
So far, he says that APMSS has been 100 percent successful...
Not bad, but...
*** Here's a not-so-laudatory article published five days later:
Three men who jumped off their ship to escape from Somali pirates in the Gulf of Aden have been identified as the vessel's security guards. But their employer is defending their actions.
The British-based security company AntiPiracy Maritime Security Solutions (APMSS) says the three men were not armed, and fled the Liberian-flagged chemical tanker Biscaglia on Friday only after mounting a "sustained" effort to repel the attackers.
Ouch.
*** Egypt is getting pissed at the pirates for forcing shipping companies to abandon the Suez Canal route through the Gulf of Aden, thus costing the country much lucrative revenue.
*** A look at the new leader of pirate-infested Puntland, Somalia -- a Canadian ex-pat who settled into a quiet retirement in Ottawa before going back to Africa.
*** Do the pirates give Barack Obama an occasion to start talks with Iran?
*** Pirates vs. Islamists (who have a history of harboring al-Qaeda).
*** Which country stands to be the most inconvenienced from Somali pirates: Germany.
*** The softer side of pirate-journalist relations. [via Gawker]
Friday, November 28, 2008
The Cultural Awesomeness of the Somali Pirates
They're everywhere. They're the hottest criminal enterprise on the face of the planet and it doesn't look like they're slowing down anytime soon.
*** They hijacked yet another ship, and on a day when they released a previously captured boat (which can only mean today's payday on the Horn of Africa).
*** They've taken to kidnapping journalists, thus enhancing the mystery behind their allure.
*** Some folks are positing that the pirates are actually operating under the auspices of the transitional, um, "government".
*** Here's the best one: an admiral in the Indian Navy isn't ruling out their involvement in the terrorist attacks in Mumbai, even though it's likely he's the only person in the universe who thinks this idea is anything but preposterous. So now they're receiving credit for dastardly acts they probably didn't even commit.
*** The pirates are hanging out with a "horse country socialite" who appears to be just as mysterious as they are.
*** Awesome 10 minutes YouTube story with interviews and shots of the pirate city of Eyl.
*** Here are few tips your company can learn from the pirates to optimize your business.
*** And now the pirates are looking to make a bid on Citigroup.
Well played, maties.
*** They hijacked yet another ship, and on a day when they released a previously captured boat (which can only mean today's payday on the Horn of Africa).
*** They've taken to kidnapping journalists, thus enhancing the mystery behind their allure.
*** Some folks are positing that the pirates are actually operating under the auspices of the transitional, um, "government".
*** Here's the best one: an admiral in the Indian Navy isn't ruling out their involvement in the terrorist attacks in Mumbai, even though it's likely he's the only person in the universe who thinks this idea is anything but preposterous. So now they're receiving credit for dastardly acts they probably didn't even commit.
*** The pirates are hanging out with a "horse country socialite" who appears to be just as mysterious as they are.
*** Awesome 10 minutes YouTube story with interviews and shots of the pirate city of Eyl.
*** Here are few tips your company can learn from the pirates to optimize your business.
*** And now the pirates are looking to make a bid on Citigroup.
Well played, maties.
Thursday, November 27, 2008
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
An Open Letter to State Senator Mary Lazich
Dear Madame Senator,
An electronic essay has recently come to our attention in which someone who claims to be a staffer in your legislative office advances the following proposition:
Your staffer's comments raise several questions that I would like answered as soon as possible.
*** First, do you plan on introducing legislation in the state Senate that would require voters in Wisconsin to pass an intelligence examination or achieve a certain degree of education before they are allowed to vote?
*** If so, what will the requirements be?
*** Second, who will be co-authoring and/or co-sponsoring this legislation with you?
*** Third, is the staffer in question speaking for your office?
Nowhere on his web site is there a disclaimer asserting that the opinions are his alone and that he is not speaking for his employer. In fact, in one recent post, he seems to trumpet the fact that he works on Capitol Square. Until we hear otherwise we will assume that what reflects published on your employee's web site is your office's official policy.
*** Lastly, and if the staffer is not speaking for your office, why is someone working for you who has a clearly demonstrable contempt for the voters of Wisconsin? Is this indicative of how you run your office? And, most importantly, is your staffer's behavior what you call "public service"?
We await your reply.
Sincerely,
The Chief
An electronic essay has recently come to our attention in which someone who claims to be a staffer in your legislative office advances the following proposition:
Ideally, fewer people, those who have actually studied and researched candidates and issues should vote. That may be a minority view, but it’s the correct view.This is not the first time this person has made this claim -- which sounds vaguely like the literacy tests black voters were required to take during Jim Crow. Needless to say, voters might object to the reimplementation of this policy.
Your staffer's comments raise several questions that I would like answered as soon as possible.
*** First, do you plan on introducing legislation in the state Senate that would require voters in Wisconsin to pass an intelligence examination or achieve a certain degree of education before they are allowed to vote?
*** If so, what will the requirements be?
*** Second, who will be co-authoring and/or co-sponsoring this legislation with you?
*** Third, is the staffer in question speaking for your office?
Nowhere on his web site is there a disclaimer asserting that the opinions are his alone and that he is not speaking for his employer. In fact, in one recent post, he seems to trumpet the fact that he works on Capitol Square. Until we hear otherwise we will assume that what reflects published on your employee's web site is your office's official policy.
*** Lastly, and if the staffer is not speaking for your office, why is someone working for you who has a clearly demonstrable contempt for the voters of Wisconsin? Is this indicative of how you run your office? And, most importantly, is your staffer's behavior what you call "public service"?
We await your reply.
Sincerely,
The Chief
Jonathan Krause Really Needs to do Better than This
After a winding and fairly foolish examination of the current financial crisis Jonathan Krause thinks he can solve the nation's economic woes:
That's right folks, Krause's solution to the problem is stopping buying shit.
Krause is taking a pocketbook approach to an enormous problem -- I've never had to factor a derivative into balancing my checkbook at the end of the month. It's one thing to drone on and on and on about one of Krause favorite themes -- personal responsibility -- but the problem here isn't just that people are buying iPod's when they should be buying groceries or paying off they're mortgage, the problem is that they have been told by the financial professionals whom they have paid good money for guidance that they can do both.
We're not just talking about credit cards and payday loans here, as Krause seeems to think, we're talking about commercial paper markets and credit default swaps and transfers of money that make the $15,000 limit on your MasterCard look like pocket lint.
We're not where we are now beacuse people couldn't save money, we got here because ordinary people with bad finances were encouraged to take out crappy loans because loan officers were encouraged to offer said loans so that the bank could bundle them up and sell them as securities to other financial institutions.
Long story short, it was in the incentive structure of the loaners to provides folks with bad credit with loans because the banks they worked for would never have to pay the consequences of a loan (or all of them) defaulting (... or so they thought). In fact, loan officers were rewarded for the number of loans they were able to process and not necessarily for their quality. That creates a pretty blatant conflict of interest that inevitably led to a culture of giving "free money' to people that shouldn't have received it.
Krause irresponsibly plays small ball with this post. This claim is utter bullshit and ifentifies its author as being someone without a fucking clue what's going on in the financial sector these days:
When banks started to realize that they were going to eat shit with all of these subprime loans the first thing they did was check and see how much money they owed to other financial institutions. Turns out that most banks owed a lot -- they were leveraged up the yin yang and needed to get cash quickly. Normally they would just go out and get a loan from another bank, but every other instituition was experience the same thing...
So what did they do?
Step 1.) Stop the bleeding.
No more loans. Period. After that, they looked around to how liquid they were. Not so much, was the answer. When banks stop offering loans, it's like the financial system stops breathing. When people stop breathing they start to panic and banks tend to opporate in the same manner -- that when they went to
Step 2.) Call in loans.
Get liquid in a hurry. Now who do you think they're going to go to for cash in this situation? The folks with the shitty loans who can basically walk away from their homes without any worries. Of course not! They're going to the folks with the money, the folks that, paradoxically, can actually grow the investment of the initial loan. When this happens the financial system basically starts working in retrograde: instead of money circulating throughout the economy it starts to flow back to a few central nodes (banks) in the system where it's horded to keep those banks above water at the expense of pretty much everyone else.
This is awfully close to a post-modern bank run, only instead of customers running to withdraw their savings, it's other financial institutions.
The thing that pisses me off about Krause's post is that it is completely devoid of even the slightest rudamentary knowledge of the subject he is discussing. Though he's talking about an economic issue, Krause ignores any actual discussion of, you know, economics in favor of grafting a populist-libertarian interpreatation of "economic fairness" on to the problem.
"Too many people too far in debt" is only a small part of the equation -- it's not a "root problem," in fact, it's actually a symptom of far larger institutionalized problems discussed above. Krause doesn't understand that because (apparently) it doesn't comport with his ideology. Well, there's a reason why economics is called "the dismal science" -- it's because pretty much nothing is fair.
The alternative to the "crazy bailouts" Krause so loaths is a catastrophic and instantaneous collapse of the American economy. The reverberations of such a disaster will ripple through even the most responsible of spenders. The social consequencies of such an economic armaggedon would be devestating and would take decades to recover from.
Krause's post reminded me of this post, the first thing I read off my RSS feed thins morning: Why CNN Struggles to Cover the Economic Panic. Krause is having the same problem, only where CNN has been clueless, Krause is being reckless.
So for the umpteenth time, I'll say that until we address the root problem of our economic mess--too many people too far in debt--we can just look forward to crazy bailout plan after pointless bailout plan coming from Washington.
That's right folks, Krause's solution to the problem is stopping buying shit.
Krause is taking a pocketbook approach to an enormous problem -- I've never had to factor a derivative into balancing my checkbook at the end of the month. It's one thing to drone on and on and on about one of Krause favorite themes -- personal responsibility -- but the problem here isn't just that people are buying iPod's when they should be buying groceries or paying off they're mortgage, the problem is that they have been told by the financial professionals whom they have paid good money for guidance that they can do both.
We're not just talking about credit cards and payday loans here, as Krause seeems to think, we're talking about commercial paper markets and credit default swaps and transfers of money that make the $15,000 limit on your MasterCard look like pocket lint.
We're not where we are now beacuse people couldn't save money, we got here because ordinary people with bad finances were encouraged to take out crappy loans because loan officers were encouraged to offer said loans so that the bank could bundle them up and sell them as securities to other financial institutions.
Long story short, it was in the incentive structure of the loaners to provides folks with bad credit with loans because the banks they worked for would never have to pay the consequences of a loan (or all of them) defaulting (... or so they thought). In fact, loan officers were rewarded for the number of loans they were able to process and not necessarily for their quality. That creates a pretty blatant conflict of interest that inevitably led to a culture of giving "free money' to people that shouldn't have received it.
Krause irresponsibly plays small ball with this post. This claim is utter bullshit and ifentifies its author as being someone without a fucking clue what's going on in the financial sector these days:
"Those who have been responsible the past few years have plenty of credit options available to us."Not so. In fact, many of the responsible players are getting screwed harder than anyone right now.
When banks started to realize that they were going to eat shit with all of these subprime loans the first thing they did was check and see how much money they owed to other financial institutions. Turns out that most banks owed a lot -- they were leveraged up the yin yang and needed to get cash quickly. Normally they would just go out and get a loan from another bank, but every other instituition was experience the same thing...
So what did they do?
Step 1.) Stop the bleeding.
No more loans. Period. After that, they looked around to how liquid they were. Not so much, was the answer. When banks stop offering loans, it's like the financial system stops breathing. When people stop breathing they start to panic and banks tend to opporate in the same manner -- that when they went to
Step 2.) Call in loans.
Get liquid in a hurry. Now who do you think they're going to go to for cash in this situation? The folks with the shitty loans who can basically walk away from their homes without any worries. Of course not! They're going to the folks with the money, the folks that, paradoxically, can actually grow the investment of the initial loan. When this happens the financial system basically starts working in retrograde: instead of money circulating throughout the economy it starts to flow back to a few central nodes (banks) in the system where it's horded to keep those banks above water at the expense of pretty much everyone else.
This is awfully close to a post-modern bank run, only instead of customers running to withdraw their savings, it's other financial institutions.
The thing that pisses me off about Krause's post is that it is completely devoid of even the slightest rudamentary knowledge of the subject he is discussing. Though he's talking about an economic issue, Krause ignores any actual discussion of, you know, economics in favor of grafting a populist-libertarian interpreatation of "economic fairness" on to the problem.
"Too many people too far in debt" is only a small part of the equation -- it's not a "root problem," in fact, it's actually a symptom of far larger institutionalized problems discussed above. Krause doesn't understand that because (apparently) it doesn't comport with his ideology. Well, there's a reason why economics is called "the dismal science" -- it's because pretty much nothing is fair.
The alternative to the "crazy bailouts" Krause so loaths is a catastrophic and instantaneous collapse of the American economy. The reverberations of such a disaster will ripple through even the most responsible of spenders. The social consequencies of such an economic armaggedon would be devestating and would take decades to recover from.
Krause's post reminded me of this post, the first thing I read off my RSS feed thins morning: Why CNN Struggles to Cover the Economic Panic. Krause is having the same problem, only where CNN has been clueless, Krause is being reckless.
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