The next Great Presidential Debate will be held Tuesday night at the Blandings house!  Well, not the debate itself, of course – just the televising of it.  The Blandings are once kind enough to host a debate-watch party.  If you haven't watched with a group, you should attend:  it's a lot more fun than just watching two politicians not answer questions all by yourself.

We will hold a regular DL meeting on Thursday at Marcellar's, and I'll send out a notice about that tomorrow.

Cheers,
Dan

This Week:  A Special Humor Event

This week we'll be temporarily meeting as an unofficial, non-sanctioned Laughing Liberally chapter to watch the Vice Presidential Candidate debate!  Again, Karen and Spencer have been kind enough to volunteer their TV room for the event (address below).  The debate starts at 7pm.  If you come a little early, you can help us decide on a new location for our meetings (which discussion I missed last week, being late and all).  However, it looks like our plan to move permanently to the Blandings is working out nicely!

Everyone's pointed out what a disaster it would have been if the McCain/Bush SS privatization plan had been put in place back in 2005.  Near-term retirees who never saw this market meltdown coming would have been devistated.  Of course, not everyone was taken by surprise:

"Fratto insisted that the plan was not slapped together and had been drawn up as a contingency over previous months and weeks by administration officials.  He acknowledged lawmakers were getting only days to peruse it, but he said this should be enough."

So.  The Bush Administration has had this plan in the works for months.  They've known about the crisis, but didn't want us to know – most likely hoping that the markets wouldn't crash until after the election.  But that's the way they've always operated.  Remember how, for years, Bush told us we were winning in Iraq – right up until he unvailed a new plan for victory?  SOP.

But that's a subject for another time.  I wonder about something else.  Put on your conspiratorial tin-foil hats.

Wall Street is not stupid.  Those firms have departments that analyze, study, forecast, and audit.  They understand their portfolios better than anybody.  And they've known for years that they were pushing an unsustainable business model.  Several years ago it became obvious to all of them – the investment houses, the financial insurers, the integrated banks – that their growth and profits couldn't be sustained on the housing bubble and the associated derivative products ("credit default swaps").  They realized that those bundled subprime loans were over-valued and over-rated (since they had done the ratings themselves).  They also knew that the credit default swaps were trading way higher than anyone could justify, in a completely unregulated market (thanks, in part, to Clinton).  They also knew that there were no reserves to cover losses – also thanks to changes made in the late 90s.

In short, they knew that the true value of those assets and derivatives were more like Dutch tulips than sound investments.  They all knew that it was just a matter of time until a slight housing downturn would uncover the incredible weaknesses in the house of cards that they had built.  So what could they do?  They looked around and saw a huge pile of money, untouched by their hands:  Social Security.  A brand new source of income that could sustain their growth, increase their profit margins, float their golden parachutes, and hide their exposure to the overvalued housing bubble.

Lo and behold, following the 2004 election, George Bush announced that the "Social Security Crisis" was the number one domestic threat to America's future.  A problem that had to be solved immediately, if not sooner, because it was that important.  Bush was going to use the strength of his "mandate" to solve the SS problem forcefully.  Remember how all his arguments were shot down as totally baseless?  (And remember how every time Bush went on prime time to push the idea, it's popularity dropped?)  Nobody fell for it, because it wasn't really a problem.

So just why was Bush saying the problems was so dire?  Why did he fabricate an emergency where none existed?  Did the GOP's wealthy backers push the Bush Administration to put this minor issue on the front burner as some sort of major personal threat to the American public?  Was Bush shilling for Wall Street in 2005?  Would that be criminal behavior, if true?

Cheers,
Dan

Statistics

Action for the Week

Quotation of the Week

"Senator Obama and his allies in Congress infused unnecessary partisanship into the process.  Now is not the time to fix the blame.  It's time to fix the problem."
John McCain (at 2:25)

Translated Quotation of the Week

"It's Obama's fault. But I'm above blaming people."

Bonus Quotation of the Week

"With due respect and sympathy for the man, that was the picture of a beaten dog.  That was the picture of presidential impotence right there.  He looked terrible like his bell had been rung.  He looked drawn to me."
John Heilemann on Bush's press conference

Links of Glory

Schedule

We're organizing an event for TODAY after work to protest the head-long rush to bail out Wall Street.None of us really understands the crisis fully.  But there are a few things we do know:

• Conservative economic policy is to blame – the push for less regulation and the money lust that drives Wall Street firms are at the heart of the crisis.
• The Bush Administration is pushing for a quick solution that lacks fundamental protections and fairness for the American taxpayer
• The McCain campaign is using the crisis as a political weapon.
• The Republicans who are up for election will run against any deal – they are going to use any bailout package as an example of "another huge Democratic give-away to the wealthy elite."  It will help separate them from Bush and make them seem like populists – just when we need to hang the conservative GOP label on them.

This is a national event, with a large, biparitsan support.  On the left, it's being promoted by True Majority, Democracy for America, USAction, and United for Peace and Justice, among many others.Please join us at 5:00pm at the congressional offices on Memorial Drive.  Bring signs if you can.  It's urgent.  Don't let Bush rush us into another huge clusterf**k.Tell Washington to take its time and get this one right.See you there,Dan

Special Event:

This week we'll be meeting to watch the Presidential Candidate debate on Friday.  Karen and Spencer have been kind enough to volunteer their TV room for the event (address below).  The debate starts at 7pm.  If you come a little early, you can help us decide on a new location for our meetings.  Who knows – if we like it at the Blanding's ...

A great letter that is making me consider the virtues of plagiarism:

Cheers,
Dan

Statistics

Action for the Week

Quotation of the Week

"We must end the danger posed by companies that are 'too big too fail,' that is, companies whose failure would cause systemic harm to the U.S. economy.  If a company is too big to fail, it is too big to exist."
Bernie Sanders

Bonus Quotation of the Week

"Why do the McCain people think they can get away with this stuff?  Well, they're probably counting on the common practice in the news media of being 'balanced' at all costs.  You know how it goes:  If a politician says that black is white, the news report doesn't say that he's wrong, it reports that 'some Democrats say' that he's wrong.  Or a grotesque lie from one side is paired with a trivial misstatement from the other, conveying the impression that both sides are equally dirty.

They're probably also counting on the prevalence of horse-race reporting, so that instead of the story being 'McCain campaign lies,' it becomes 'Obama on defensive in face of attacks.'"
Paul Krugman

Links of Glory

Schedule

Lipstick and a pig.  Freightening, isn't it?  For another scare, see the first link below.

We had a great meeting last week.  One issue that was brought up afterwards was that we may be spending too much time on activities and actions and events, and not enough on plain old political discussion (I think some people had a lot to say about Palin - but we ran out of time).  That's one thing I want to discuss at this week's meeting.  How can we run things better?

And also, is it time to consider moving to a new location?  I love Marcellar's, but it's not perfect:  no food available, too noisy for some, it gets a bit crowded in the colder months as our attendance peaks.  If you have an opinion, bring it Thursday or email me.

Last week, on the anniversary of 9/11, we listened/watched Ani DiFranco's performance of Self Evident, and I said I'd provide a link.  So there you go.  If you weren't able to hear, or if you missed our meeting, I highly recommend a listen.

See you this Thursday!

Cheers,
Dan

Statistics

Action for the Week

Quotation of the Week

"So, the McCain campaign has decided to make Sarah Palin off limits.  Can't talk to her.  Can't talk about her.  Can't let any audience infer anything about her.  You must uphold her honor at all times, or the McCain campaign will rush to her defense and attack and punish you.  What does this sound like?"
Jane Smiley

Bonus Quotation of the Week

"This crisis was brought to you by conservative ideology.  Give 'em another four years and they might just do more damage than the rest of us can repair in a generation."
DarkSyde

Linky Goodness

Schedule