The best commentary I’ve seen was by Stephen Colbert.
People can work up a good anger at CEO bonus payments, corporate jets.
Understanding the REAL big picture is too complicated. Too boring. The real problem is far worse than fat cat executives cashing in. A quarter of a billion dollars is chump change in this crisis.
“A single death is a tragedy; a million deaths is a statistic.”
— Joseph Stalin
The US economy is screwed.
News gets worse and worse:
… the Congressional Budget Office’s new projection that, under the current economic rescue plan, annual deficits will force the federal government to borrow fully a third more than the administration had earlier forecast. …
One bit of good news is this guy, Ben Bernanke. I was very impressed in this 60 Minutes TV interview on YouTube.
Bernanke Fed Chairman Discusses Recession, Financial Rescues And Recovery In Wide-Ranging 60 Minutes Interview by Scott Pelley.
You might say it’s partly his fault for not regulating the banking system SOONER.
But if not Bernanke, who instead should be saving the US economy?
One guy created a viral video sensation singing about wanting Alan Greenspan’s FED Chair job. A job that George Bush gave to Ben Bernanke instead. Watch that parody based on the Police hit: Every Breath You Take on YouTube.
It might take your mind off the economy.
He loves it here. And the economy is so much better than his own country.
Sounds like he’s looking for work:
… Bush, who left office with one of the lowest approval ratings of any president in history, chose the safe haven of Calgary, perhaps second only to Houston or Dallas in terms of friendly territory, to test-drive his new speaking career.
His praise of free trade and free markets played well to a crowd of nearly 2,000 business and oil executives who paid a minimum $400 a plate to hear him speak.
“This is my maiden voyage,” a folksy Bush said of his first public speaking engagement. “I can’t think of a better place to give it than Calgary, Canada.” …
Bush’s first speech as ex-president well received in Calgary
Bush Gets Warm Reception As Protests Rage Outside
The locals welcomed him …
AIG plans to pay millions in worker bonuses, a move that has angered lawmakers who have given the insurer bailout billions. Lawmakers weigh the options in dealing with AIG.
Watch the first few minutes of the video broadcast – Obama, Congress Blast AIG Plans for Employee Bonuses
Tip of the iceberg.
As soon as you hand out “free” money, the system is broken.
Better to have let this insurance company go into bankruptcy. Only the banks should have been propped up.
Or should they?
The Canadian banks are OK.
Royal Bank, Canada’s biggest bank by assets, is now seventh-largest in North America after tripling assets in the past decade, according to data compiled by Bloomberg from company filings. …
Toronto-Dominion, Scotiabank and Bank of Montreal rank eight, ninth and 10th.
Canadian banks have remained profitable, outperforming their peers, because of tighter government restrictions on lending and capital requirements. The country’s six biggest lenders reported less than $20-billion in debt-related writedowns since the credit crisis began in 2007, about 2% of the US$887.1-billion recorded by banks and brokerages worldwide. …
While New York-based Citigroup Inc. lost US$17.3-billion in the fourth quarter, San Francisco-based Wells Fargo & Co. had a net loss of US$2.55-billion and Bank of America Corp., the biggest by assets, lost US$1.79-billion, Canada’s six largest banks were profitable in the quarter ended Jan. 31, and each beat analyst estimates.
Canada’s performance has been noticed. U.S. President Barack Obama said in a February interview with Canadian Broadcasting Corp. that Canada has been “a pretty good manager of the financial system and the economy.” In October, the World Economic Forum ranked Canada as the soundest financial system.
What a hero!
If only we had listened to this patriot?
Dana got a copy of the viral email with these details:
It was 1987 and Lt.Col.Oliver North was testifying at the ‘ Iran contra hearings’ during the Reagan Administration.There was Ollie in front of God and country getting the third degree, but what he said was stunning!
He was being drilled by a senator: ‘Did you not recently spend close to $60,000 for a home security system?’
Ollie replied, ‘Yes, I did, Sir.’
The senator continued, trying to get a laugh out of the audience, ‘Isn’t that just a little excessive?’
‘No, sir,’ continued Ollie.
‘No? And why not?’ the senator asked.
‘Because the lives of my family and I were threatened, sir.’
‘Threatened? By whom?’ the senator questioned.
‘By a terrorist, sir’ Ollie answered..
‘Terrorist? What terrorist could possibly scare you that much?’
‘His name is Osama bin Laden, sir’ Ollie replied.
… By the way, that senator was Al Gore!
Does that sound like right-wing alarmist turd slinging?
It is.
North himself debunked this email and laid out the facts in 2001:
it was $16,000, not $60k it was lawyer John Nields, not Al Gore the terrorist was Abu Nidal, not bin Laden (who was on the US paycheque at the time)
I had nothing to add to the media coverage of the inauguration.
AND … I did not want to brag.
I’ve posted this before.
But a short video called The Hidden Cost of War is more graphic. And succinct.
In 2003, Donald Rumsfeld estimated a war with Iraq would cost $60 billion. Five years later, the cost of Iraq war operations is more than 10 times that estimate. So what’s behind the ballooning figures? Joseph E. Stiglitz and Linda J. Bilme’s exhaustively researched book, The Three Trillion Dollar War: The True Cost of the Iraq Conflict, breaks down the price tag, from current debts to the unseen costs we’ll pay for many years to come.
What a stupid, stupid mistake this war has been.
The last hurrah of the USA.
This is what I’ll remember about the past year.
I first learned about him due to the buzz online 2-years-ago. In that short time he’s become the most powerful man on Earth.
Amazing.
Rick McCharles 