3/25/2009

A Lesson Not Learned

From FDR to Reagan the pathetic Republicans remained out of power in the House and Senate. Why? Because all they talked about was the deficit and spending. Here's a flash: people under the age of thirty or thirty five don't give a rats ass about deficits (most don't even know what the word means) or spending (spending gets them something right now). The current conservative led discussion won't work at all. A budget busting budget will pass and the only thing Republicans will have to say is that it will bankrupt the country, not knowing or caring that a huge part of the population doesn't give a shit.

You must run a campaign that contains ideas, hope in a better future, and some principals. The GOP is coming off their turn at power as a corrupt bunch of liars that nobody believes. The deficit is boring. We are fucked.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Howard, I'd be interested in hearing your thoughts on followup. On 3/23 you pointed out a blue-chip rally and said we can not ignore this, though you also said it is not over. What do you think about the 3/23 rally now?
Thanks for your blog.

Howard said...

Same as then only because the major indexes have all turned up I feel more confident. I wouldn't do anything til the lows are tested.

Anonymous said...

At the root of the banks’ problems are the large losses they have undoubtedly taken on their securities and loan portfolios. But they don’t want to recognize the full extent of their losses, because that would likely expose them as insolvent. So they talk down the problem, and ask for handouts that aren’t enough to make them healthy (again, they can’t reveal the size of the handouts that would be necessary for that), but are enough to keep them upright a little longer. This behavior is corrosive: unhealthy banks either don’t lend (hoarding money to shore up reserves) or they make desperate gambles on high-risk loans and investments that could pay off big, but probably won’t pay off at all. In either case, the economy suffers further, and as it does, bank assets themselves continue to deteriorate, creating a highly destructive vicious cycle...

To break this cycle, the government must force the banks to acknowledge the scale of their problems...The IMF’s advice would be, essentially: scale up the standard Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation process. An FDIC ‘intervention’ is basically a government-managed bankruptcy procedure for banks. It would allow the government to wipe out bank shareholders, replace failed management, clean up the balance sheets, and then sell the banks back to the private sector. The main advantage is immediate recognition of the problem so that it can be solved before it grows worse.”