Rescued Bailout Plan to Save the World

Another week, another saga unfolds. I can only speak for myself but I am a strange mix of anger, frustration, confusion, and some other stuff all mixed into one. I will try to put some ideas down, and then off to the entertainment as it is indeed Friday.

All That Stands in the Way of The Mother of All Bailouts II is the November Election
I had mused last night that almost as soon as the ink was dry on the bailout bill, the theme would then focus onto the "We must do more" theme. I surmised that by late next week some new kind of giveaway would start making the rounds. I was glad to see this idea make the rounds today across many writing media (Krugman calls it Bailout 2.0, very nice!). On cue as the markets gave back all the day's gains and then some the good old folks at CNBC have begun cheer leading for more money. This weekend will see this amplified, and so on.

Folks, we were screwed royally on this past bill. Every single poll, every single person I talked to was firmly against this action. FIRMLY. The Congress decided they knew so much more than their constituents. Maybe they do and most likely they do not but the point is if you are going to ignore 70% of the voters and do whatever you want, we might as well move to Iran or something. I mean, why continue the charade of democracy if wooden arrow shafts and other pork make a dead bill on Monday become awesome on Friday? Why indeed.

In between the current fleecing operation and the next one is one important little event: The November Elections. I have already seen a few starter plans out there to rally support for opponents of anyone that voted for this bill. This is a good start. Special attention should be paid to the cowardly vote changers that changed their minds when presented with cash handouts. In the next few days I am sure a solid, well organized plan will take shape and I will be donating money towards this goal. I strongly suggest you do as well.

We must do this, and more. What's more is that a message must be sent here. No more bailouts. No more mismanagement of the economy and national finances. No more giving the voters the middle finger with no accountability. NO MORE.

If you are reading this blog and others like it I feel safe in assuming you have a good head on your shoulders. I will further state that I think most, if not all, are solid citizens just trying to do their best. Whatever your political leanings I would think you have strong principals and you do not like to compromise them. I understand this and I respect that immensely.

I am going to ask you to compromise it nonetheless.

What I want you to do is to identify all incumbents that are on your ballot for November. Then I want you to vote against every single one.(You may elect to keep any official that voted NO to the bailout.)

Now I understand that for many the thought of voting for a republican makes you ill. You may think Roe vs. Wade will be overturned the first morning of the new congress or that we will invade Canada or whatever. Get over it. You can always vote the next time for a democrat. This issue is the most important thing and all that other stuff can wait.

I get it that the thought of voting for a Democrat may make you want to take a shower. You may think the gestapo will be at your door the first morning of the new congress to take your guns and your gold. You might think that we will be forced to marry a gay person even if we are not gay or whatever. Get over it. You can always vote for a republican the next time.

I can guarantee that if a boatload of incumbent get sent down the river, the new congress is going to be especially keen on listening to their voters. Very keen. You may even find that with a new attention to the voices of regular people, the differences between the right and the left for ordinary folks may not be so large. I think it is worth a try, though in the immortal words of Grandmaster Jedi Yoda: "Do or do not. There is no try." Use the comments section to let me know what you are thinking.

Rescued Bailout Plan to Save the World
Despite the steep sell off of the markets (short sellers? Oops, guess not!) we have been assured that this mega money giveaway will cue what ails the US economy. President Bush said so, though he did caution that it may take "some time" to see results. Gee, maybe that info would have been good to know before the hurried vote. All across Europe they are drinking coca cola and wearing blue jeans to celebrate what I have dubbed the Yucca Mountain Toxic Paper Depository. It must be a good thing, right?

Will this really work? On a fundamental level, it simply cannot. There are much sharper minds out there than mine that have elucidated the details of why this bill accomplishes basically nothing, so I will not rehash that here. I only offer that fundamentals are useless in a market like this. Well reasoned analysis has no place in this show. Can the bill work? It might. You have to understand that a system based on terms like "perception", "confidence", "momentum", and "unicorns" does not require fundamentals to work. This bill just might allow the mythical "mark to model" mindset to return and things could improve. I do not think that will happen, but you must always consider both sides. I am of the firm belief that this will have limited effect, and thus we will see another money grab soon as I have detailed. You know what to do. Work on your friends and family. Show them this post and just ask for a favor. Bribe them if possible.

Friday Night Entertainment
After this week we need some fun and games, yes?

Hilarious Picture
Caught this one at Minyanville today. This is a protest sign in front of a big Wall Street bank. Likening the collapse to the great crash that kicked off the depression, this protester would like the bankers to jump out the windows just like on Black Monday (Sorry for the language!):


Absolute Must See
I was convinced that this video was fake, but after exhaustive research I can vouch for it. Check out this little Japanese kid playing the immortal tune "Crazy Train" (My all time favorite from the Tribute album) complete with a Randy Rhoades flying V guitar that is bigger than he is:


Book Passage
Tonight I have a classic work to share:
"The reaches of space-time cannot be numbered by man's familiar integers. They cannot even be honestly counted by orders of magnitude. To feel this fact, recapitulate:
"Leonora Christine spent most of a year getting within 1 percent of light velocity. The time aboard was about the same, because the value of tau only began to drop sharply when she was quite near c. During that initial period, he covered half a light-year of space, approximately five trillion kilometers.
Thereafter the decrease became constantly more swift. Aided by the higher acceleration now possible, she required somewhat under 2 more years, in her own measure, to get about ten light-years from Earth. That was where she me her grief."-From the novel "Tau Zero" by Poul Anderson.

Rock Blogging
Some good selections for the comments section. New commentor Norcalboon left a great live Megadeth video. Watchtower left a request for this song by Hank Williams Jr that seems to fit today's news. Check out "Country Boy Can Survive". And I know what a trotline is, heck I even know what "noodling" is!:


Try out a little The Who with Baba O'Riley, which I always thought was called "Teenage Wasteland"!:


To match the jungle like crazy world we are in right now, rock out with the classic Guns and Roses tune "Welcome to the Jungle":


Have a good night.