"What are those people complaining about? We have a good life!"

EuroBankPutz Draghi and Frau Merkel share a Moment

Shame on Europe for betraying Greece -- William Wall for the UK Guardian

Yes, shame on "Europe," indeed. But in this case, "Europe" has a face. There are people behind those private snickers and guffaws and those masks of indifference at the plight of The Peripheral Peoples.

Let them "rise up!" We care not, neither do we tremble. The People? Piffle. We have a good life! We're Europeans! Let them -- "The People" ick -- be satisfied with our leavings! Not that we'll leave them anything in the end... HawHawHawHaw! Cretins!"

And so it goes.

Europe's Shame with regard to Greece in particular and The Periphery in general is that if Europe's Rulership would do this to its Lesser Countries and their... ahem... Peoples, they'll do it to their own. Cheerfully, consciously, and with extreme malice aforethought.

The whole situation is strangely Stalinesque, but at least Stalin could display flashes of charm from time to time. And the Old Soviet Union actually did have 5 Year Plans, and actually did set forth in struggle for the advancement of the working classes. These people, the Rulership of Europe, have neither charm nor grace, nor even the least flicker of decency in their quest to fill the insatiable maw of The Banks. No long-term objective is discernible whatever. It's merely a matter of shoveling the ruins of The Periphery into the Gaping Maw -- right now. It's about nothing else at all.

In America, of course, there's no thought, no mention of the People at all in the media. The story is solely about governments and banks and the horserace. To the extent there even are "people" involved, they are recognized solely as "rioters" looting and burning with abandon in Athens, which obviously proves they deserve what they get. And what they are to get is fewer scraps from their Master's table, and a much heavier burden to carry to get to the castle where the table scraps might -- or might not -- be forthcoming.

Take it or leave it. No, you can't leave it. You will take it. You don't have any choice! HawHawHaw! Suckers!

All Europeans, even the most rigidly spiteful and temporarily comfortable Germans, should recognize this sort of Rulership as utterly illegitimate. No explanation is necessary. By their deeds we shall know them, and their deeds serve no one. Only The Maw. The Gaping Maw of Sacred Finance; and to that Maw the Rulers will sacrifice literally everything and dismiss the outcries of the suffering People as merely Some Noise Outside the Gates.

They fear not, neither do they doubt their own wisdom and glory as they stumble forward on their Path of Doom.

For that is what it is, the Path they have chosen. The Bourbons and the Romanovs, if they were asked if they could speak, might be able to supply some advice and counsel, but as we see, they are not being asked, nor could they speak if they were. Why should they bother with the self-important clowns running Europe and Russia today in any case? After all Frau Merkel and the other Leaders of Europe's Sacred Core are the Elected Representatives of the People don't you see, and the various Ministries and August Bodies that are demanding and implementing the Requirements and Reforms and extracting everything of value they can find in the target countries are all the product of democratic principles and debate and perfectly proper procedural practices. These things are settled. What's done is done.

Yet the Path the EuroRulers have chosen is the Path of their Doom. At some point, it will not be possible to turn back. They are close to that point now, but if they see the looming abyss, more likely they will try to forge a new path to their chosen destination rather than turn back toward something like sanity.

What's striking to witness from the outside is how much the Rulership seem to be relishing the task of destruction and plunder and the misery and despair they leave in their wake. They say they "deplore" the riots and property destruction in Athens, but clearly they do not; in fact, I suspect they love the scenes of the immolation of Athens and the running street battles in Thessaloniki. Entertainment on an otherwise dreary day.

Hmmm. What will the rioters come up with next? I really wish they'd try something new next time... I swear I shall perish from ennui if I see yet another firebomb consume yet another of those cute little policeman. Can't they think of anything else? Tiresome!

This bizarre nonsense, indeed complete madness at the top, has gone beyond the Class Struggle of the past; we're now in uncharted territories. The old answers to such blind cruelty and exploitation won't do, and the new ones haven't been formulated yet.

Word of the Day: Purgatory

Say a little prayer. Couldn't hurt, eh?

-----------------------------
NOTE: This post has been slightly (but repeatedly) edited for clarity, bumbling syntax, typos, and the usual misbegottenness that comes with the territory... If you've seen slight alterations pop up and then change, it was the author attempting to clean up some of the messiness in the original post. -- Ché. Carry on.

"This is About Bailing Out the Banks"

Greece. Portugal. Spain. Britain. France. Belgium. Italy. Ireland. The EU monetary union is undergoing extraordinary stress, forcing various member nations into rigid austerity and/or IMF/EU bailout.

In every case, the Banks are paid off -- in full -- and the masses are squeezed to pay off the gambling debts of the High and the Mighty, over and over and over again.

In every single case.

Much the same has been under way in the United States since the Collapse began, only what's going on hasn't been quite as clearly stated or understood here as it has been abroad. The American People are angry and confused, and more and more every day are forced into poverty and suffering, but they generally don't know what or who to be angry at, can't quite figure out who is robbing them, and haven't clearly seen the policies that are driving their impoverishment and suffering.

Overseas, the People know. They know who is robbing them, who is being paid off, and to a surprising degree, they know why.

With very few exceptions now, Governments throughout the world are in complete thrall to the major banking houses. When the bankers say "Jump", every nation, with few exceptions, complies. They are servants of banking masters.

As one nation in Europe after another was gobbled up in the bankers' maw, Americans (as always) tended to follow the lead of the victim blamers. It is ever thus. When it comes to economics, it is always the fault of the one below you, never the one above. Of course Europeans can see that characteristic in Americans and say -- accurately -- that Americans are fools.

There is plenty of information available to Americans, but it has never been coordinated or coherent. American media has certain partisan obsessions that it cannot let go of. American media serves its own class, and surprisingly enough, that would be the Banker Class; American media does not serve the People -- except to propagandize them to "accept the inevitable." Propaganda on behalf of the Ruling Class and managing the expectations of the masses is the primary function of mainstream American media.

Alternatives are found in the alternative media.

While the problem with the Mainstream has been known and criticized and argued for ages -- it's one of the core arguments in American life -- the problem with the Alternatives does not get nearly enough scrutiny.

One of the severe problems that's emerging is the predominance of factional Libertarian cant (their so-called economic and political theory) on the Internets which is having a disastrous effect on perception and action.

Libertarianism is the recipe for mass extinction. Those Libertarians who can actually think, as opposed to those who simply parrot whatever is the Word or the Outrage of the Day, seem to understand the implications of what they advocating, and they seem to be OK with it.

I assume they presume they will survive, no matter what, and even flourish, and without all the Parasites to weigh them down, their Heaven will be nigh.

They will survive, so they think, no matter what happens to the rest of Creation and Mankind, and they will rule, finally, in majesty and splendor. By right.

As public policy makers almost universally follow the wrong path, by concentrating all their efforts on bailing out the banks, forcing more and more of their people into poverty and misery, Libertarians cheer. So long as they themselves do not suffer, or cannot recognize their own suffering, there is nothing to fret about, nothing to fear. As long as it is someone else being squeezed, what's to worry?

The more the banks are bailed out at the expense of the People, the better. The more the diplomatic cables expose the rank deception and hypocrisy of our Governmental Masters, and the more the People learn to loathe them, the better. The more poverty and misery, the better. The worse things are for the many, the better they are for the few.

And so on.

What's happening in Ireland is potentially a turning point for the comprehension of Americans. Of course many Americans have Irish roots, but more to the point, what's going on in Ireland looks like a Mob hit, and there are reasons why it looks that way. Irish society and culture -- as well as its government -- is set up a family and clan (ie: 'tribal') basis, with only a glossy overlay of Anglo-Euro Political Standards and Practices. The Model, in other words, of a standard parliamentary democracy has only a minor purchase in Ireland. Their system works somewhat differently.

And when the Government (which is in its own way a family/clan operation, supposedly on behalf of all the others) succumbs to the directives and orders of an outside agency (the Mob) to fulfill its demands forthwith (robbery, hand over the money), at the expense of everyone else, all hell will break loose -- as it has.

It is assumed that the Irish Government will fall. And it is predicted that the new government will void the IMF/EU extortion, and it is suggested that somewhat like Iceland, Ireland will go its own economic way -- essentially telling the Mob to Fuck Off. Not to put too much emphasis on it, but Iceland seems to have succeeded in getting out from under the burdens of the Financial Cartel.

There has been a tendency in the EU to submit to the robbery and extortion of the financial class, just as there has been in the United States. But if Ireland joins Iceland in resisting and rejecting the Plan, the resistance might spread.

If Americans rise up on their hind legs and say NO! when the New Model Congress begins its Austerity Drive (with the full complicity of the Hooverite White House) we may well see a Global Revolution, at least in how the Banksters are treated.

Yes but the Libertarian opportunists are always lying in wait, aren't they?

Which brings me to a consideration of the widespread defense of the Koch Brothers that came to the fore during the "You Smeared John Tyner!!!!!" controversy. Hmm. So many were willing to support the Kochs openly, something new in the firmament.

Since their efforts ARE the Libertarian Movement, we are quite likely to see some Billionaires fighting one another before too long. With Libertarians siding with the Kochs and the People siding with all the other Billionaires fighting against them.

But first, we must bail out the banks.

So the Big Guys are finally figuring out

that there's a Big Problem at the American Household level. (h/t to bystander at Greenwald's Place).



Reference material:

Krugman's NYT clolumn "Decade at Bernie's"

"Tracking the Household Balance Sheet" at the Baseline Scenario

Bill Moyers' disscussion with Simon Johnson

[It's really impossible to overstate the blind indifference and the gross incompetence of what passes for most of our Economic haute monde.]


Throughout this economic meltdown, it has been astonishing to me how utterly and completely -- and apparently deliberately -- ignorant economists and economic policy makers and general commentary about the economy in the blogosphere has been about the growing plight of American households.

That plight is easy enough to quantify, and it's been in plain view to anyone who would deign to look for years: household income has been flat or declining, household savings has been zero or negative, household debt has exploded -- based largely on phantom assets in real estate and pensions.

Real estate foreclosures have been a leading indicator of the household debt problem for years. And years.

And nothing is done about it. Nothing (much) is in the works.

Yet trillions and trillions and trillions of dollars are being paid or pledged to bail out the banks, and now hundreds of billions are pledged to be paid directly to corporate contractors as part of the "stimulus."

It is alleged that $50 billion is being set aside to deal with the foreclosure problem, but we've heard similar allegations over and over and over again throughout the tumult, and ultimately nothing is done on behalf of homeowners facing foreclosure, except that many of them get fleeced yet again. So people have a right not to believe any promise they hear now that "help is on the way." More than likely it isn't and it won't be.

And yet, as some are coming to realize -- too late, oh well, ha ha -- had there been help at the household level when the crisis first emerged, many of the titanic global issues (not all of them by any means) that we're facing now would have been mitigated or eliminated.

Of course Americans have to reduce spending, and they have done that smartly and substantially. Lack of household spending will continue for so long as households are crushed under a massive debt burden with no increase in income and no debt relief in sight.

That's where we have been stuck for (seemingly) years.

What to do about it? Easy:

increase household income substantially ($7.50 a week won't do it), and/or

relieve household debt.

Neither of which is in the cards in our lifetimes.

Or so the graybeards insist. And why is that?

Is there a serious economist in the building who can explain why household incomes cannot rise substantially (say so that they can make up, even partially, for the productivity gains of the last 30 years?) and why household debt cannot be substantially relieved (say on a scale equivalent to the gambling debt relief being applied to the banks and Wall Street?)

Most economists won't even deal with the question at all let alone provide an answer. The notion of doing something to ease economic distress at the household level doesn't even occur to them, so they have no answers, cannot rationally contemplate the issue.

It is too foreign to them.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is largely due to the Triumph of Milton Friedmanism and Neoliberalism -- which, in circular fashion, has brought us to this crisis.

And that is why conditions will continue to deteriorate for the middle and working classes, and why the economic predators will continue to be fed and funded and treated like Royalty.

Well, they are. Aren't they?

Neither So Big Nor So Bold -- and Not Very Fast, Either

There's been a whole lot of hooey about nothing at all (eg: Caroline, Burris, Blago, Richardson, et al) this festive New Year Season, a lot of Israeli propaganda about deadly events in the Middle East, and a curious and disappointing level of hype and "well, maybes" about the vaunted economic "stimulus" Mr. Obama is going to start off his administration with, bold and big, right out of the gate. Signing bills the minute he takes office, putting people back to work, back in their homes, back on their feet.

No wait. Well, maybe not. Miss McConnell over in the Senate House is throwing one of her patented hissy-fits yet again, demanding to know just why such and such is being done, and wanting account of every dime, every precious penny that is disbursed from the Treasury on Mr. Obama's Harebrained Schemes. Of course Miss McConnell was not at all concerned about the hundreds of billions and trillions that were extorted by the bankers of Wall Street without the least bit of accountability just a couple of months ago. But of course that was then, this is now.

But wait. That's not all. Rather than a stimulus that helps individuals, families, and communities, we're talking about a dribble, a few dollars a week to those who are employed, nothing to those who lose their jobs, in the form of reduced withholding, but only slightly reduced, and likely only temporary. Nothing at all to keep people in their homes and forestall foreclosure, just as there has been nothing at all to put a stopper in that part of the economic meltdown since it first reared its ugly head years ago.

There may be some infrastructure repair and construction funding, but that won't get under way in the middle of winter, and even when it does start up, it won't put more than a fraction of the unemployed back to work, and it was never intended to.

My bet is that a shift to a "Green Economy" won't happen, at least not so you would notice, in part because of Miss McConnell and her flounces.

Broad hints are being offered that the Bank Bailout will continue and even accelerate, hundreds more billions and trillions unaccountably down that rathole, with nothing at all to show for it, except that we ordinary folk are "allowed to live" one more day.

There may -- or may not -- be some loans to some states and localities to help cover some of their operating deficits for a limited time. But one can almost be certain that California's catastrophic budgetary implosion (and we recalled Gray Davis over something much smaller by comparison) will not be one of the candidates for Federal assistance.

I don't know how it is in your town, but the fallout from the economic earthquake that's going on is really showing up around me, and it ain't pretty. Businesses are closing right and left, some that have been around for a long time and are institutions around here. Car dealerships have almost completely vacated a long strip of suburban road where they once dominated. I was driving in a long-established neighborhood not long ago, and it seemed like every other house was in foreclosure, offered for auction or for sale by one of the foreclosure specialist companies. House prices in many neighborhoods -- not all -- have declined 40%-50%-even 60% from their peaks; but in some "exclusive" enclaves, prices have held steady or even increased slightly. What that says right there is that some folks still have plenty of money to live their ritzy lives, while as for the rest? Oh well!

The number of people living on the streets has increased noticeably, and this in the middle of winter. Not good. Homeless camps are springing up all over. Wherever there is some flat empty space and at least a hint of shelter. Police are being a little more tolerant of the homeless than in the past. But property crimes are increasing fast, burglary and robbery statistics showing worrying trends upward. I hear the sirens of police cars a lot more than I used to.

Helping agencies are running out of money and goods to help with and individuals are running out of resources to bulk up what's missing. It's a vicious cycle, and really there are few if any signs that this problem -- which continues to get worse -- will be addressed at all.

Nearly 2 million people lost their jobs in 2008 alone; that many or perhaps even more are expected to lose their jobs in 2009; the job creation programs Mr. Obama has talked about may never happen on a major scale at all, but even if they do, they won't get under way for months if not years.

In other words, things will continue to get worse while they get worse, and what the government intends to do about it -- at the level of individuals, families, and communities -- is the very least possible, with the bulk of what "help" there is continuing to go to the banks and Wall Street as extortion payments.

What's been revealed so far of Mr. Obama's Stimulus Package looks an awful lot like what Herbert Hoover was content with in 1931 and 1932.

Ain't we got fun.

Done Deal

YES! The Extortion will be Paid!

We're SAVED!!!!



Except everybody says that nothing is going to change, nothing is going to get better. The Recession is On, and there is nothing we can do about it. Cinch up and bend over.

Foreclosures will continue as before. Job losses will increase -- perhaps substantially. Credit will continue to be "tight" and will probably get "tighter." (It all depends on who you are and what you want the money for.)

There will be increasing economic hardship among the Lower Orders (anyone beneath the Billionaire Class). Those on the edge will fall off, those in the middle will be squeezed toward the edge and those who are sitting pretty will continue to watch, exploit, and to loot.

So let it be written. So let it be done.

Ah, the Pause that Refreshes!

Image: World War I Color Photos

So the Senate passed the Bailout, 74-25, their usual count on Important Issues, and this Christmas Tree of a bill will now go to the House, where something like it will be passed, and then it will go to conference committee, where something closer to the original Paulson Plan will emerge, to be quickly approved by both houses, and thence to the President's Desk, where he will sign it, and append a Signing Statement that will get it right back to the beginning and the Extortion will be paid.

Whew!

We know the way these things go.

Always.

Of course with President Barack they won't go that way, but that's different. All of a sudden, the right wing authoritarians who have been backing every Constitution shredding action of the Bushevik Regime will rediscover that tattered parchment, and amazingly will insist on Adherence ThereUnto, without let or hindrance, and the Dems, being Dems, will say "Uh, OK."

And for years nothing will really get done at all in Congress, and the Presidency will not be used in its current Autocratic Mode, but will be quiet and persusasive and try to convince recalcitrant Republicans to do what is best for the Public Interest.

So obviously, nothing will get done at all.

Despite constant and enormous crisis from every direction. If things continue on their current path, it could well be that the Natives Around the World will commence to throw off the Yoke of Hegemony, assert their own Public Interest with people like Putin and Morales and Chavez -- among many others -- to lead them on their way to Freedom, Justice and Dignity.

It would seem that Osama's Plan is working just fine.

And why in the course of these recent events was the focus once again on the Duality of either going along with the Paulson Plan or Doing Nothing? Have they learned nothing during the disasters of the past eight years? The choice is not limited to something terrible or doing nothing at all. And yet that all our Ruling Class seems to be able to see. Ever.

And so... The Decline continues.

Welcome to America.

[Followup: The House passed the Senate bill without amendment, so there was no conference committee. Bush signed it, so far without a signing statement. Clearly all that Treasury and the White House wanted was authorization to spend the money, and they got that. Everything else was just decor. Something needs to be emphasized: the process in Congress and through to the signing was just the way the legislative process is supposed to happen. Except for one thing: the People were and are deeply, fundamentally opposed to this measure. Consequently, the Congress, though following set procedure, and pretending to act in the interests of the public studiously ignored them, except on Monday when the House rejected the bill. But the conclusion was foregone. There was no chance at all that the Congress would reject the White House demands in the end. No matter what the People wanted. Which, in essence, is about as perfect a deonstration of the corruption and futility of our legislative process as you could want. -- Ché]

Fear! Terror! Pestilence! Panic! -- Holding Pattern

Have a refreshment while awaiting the Senate's pleasure.

As I have repeatedly said, there is not a whit of doubt in my mind that the extortion will be paid in full, probably with interest, and there is nothing whatsoever that the People can do to stop it.

As the WSJ econ reporter said on NPR this morning, it'll only take a call from banker or two from each district where a rep voted against the bail out to convince the obstreperous Congressmember to fall in line. There will be a bail out.

And the common wisdom is that, yes, the bad actors who have been so very bad up till now will get even richer. And there is nothing you can do about it. It's the way the world works. And if you're lucky, you'll be permitted to survive. So suck it up. Keep your trap shut.

Anti-populism is all the rage among the movers and the shakers. They were, apparently, stunned that the Rs -- their reliable servants -- went all populist on Monday and voted against paying the extortion. So now there is a full-court press throughout the media and the Ruling Class to denounce populism in all its forms and to "educate" the public about what's at stake here: your survival, in a very literal sense, not the subsidy to the rich. They're gonna get richer no matter what happens to you. But if you don't go along with the payoff, you can kiss your sorry ass good bye.

The Senate bill supposedly increases deposit insurance to $250,000 per account (for one year), extention of numerous business tax breaks, and a "fix" to the alternative minimum tax. These tweaks are intended to make the bill palatable to recalcitrant Republicans in the House. Meanwhile, Blue Dog Dems are against these proposals because they increase the deficit. So the Senate bill's provisions may force more Dems to vote against it, thus stalemating again.

At no time, whatever, is there any mention or "serious" consideration of the Progressive Caucus' proposal, nor is there any mention in the media of all the warnings and dissents from leading economists.

Our world is ruled by neo-conmen, Republicans and Blue Dogs.

Buddy, can ya spare a dime?

Cuh-rash!

Image: Plan59


There is much keening and rending of garments over the Democrats' cavage to the Bush Regime once again by their apparent agreement with the principal demand to fork over hundreds of billions of dollars to Wall Street in the Heist of the Millenium.

But what was expected? Dems had no intention of not caving, and the notion that somehow the Dodd bill was not cavage was nonsense. The Frank bill -- which will apparently be the basis for the "rescue", "bailout," "reform" measure -- is just more up front about it.

YES, the Dems would "cave." Except... they never opposed. They were already in the tank when the proposal popped up. They would do their rituals of fussing around the edges, but the Democratic leadership never intended to oppose the Extortionists.

They were always eager to please.

And so it is now.

Why is this a surprise? Why is it even a disappointment? What they are doing is what they do, it's who they are.

[Note: Chris Floyd explains it all for you. Perpend.]