In Need of Stimulation

As I prepare to see UW get its biggest test of the Big Ten season (against Purdue), a few quick hits on the new New Deal.

The real problem right now in the country is that no benefits from the alleged growth of 2001-2007 ever trickled their way down to vast majority of real people. So once the reality of "we're screwed and broke," sunk in, starting with the oil spikes this summer (which we can tell now were clearly caused by investor douchebag speculation more than any demand increase or supply cutback). So the answer is to get people back to a point where they think they will 1. Have a job, 2. Have that job be paid something and 3. Make it worthwhile to invest, because there's a better economic situation to look forward to in the future.

This is why the stimulus has to be spending and infrastructure based. Businesses will not look out for the right thing and hire folks because it might work out. They're more concerned with cutting ther losses and keeping their investors afloat- real workers come much later. And government is the best agent for pushing these new jobs in a certain direction, which is why green technology has to be a centerpiece. Once green technology is installed and shown to work, this will encourage others to take the risks to move that direction themselves, and the establishment of these projects gives the base to lead to economy-of-scale savings and advantages.

If there's something we've learned in the last 30 years of supply-side silliness, it's that corporations should never be expected to do the right thing. These are cold-blooded organizations that are designed to MAKE MONEY, and they will do it by any means necessary. This is why we have governments and law enforcement in the first place, becasue we understand that individuals do not always do the right thing, and that their mistakes have major impacts on other individuals, particular if the screw-ups sign your paychecks. You gotta have government go Warren G and Nate Dogg, and be the Regulators.

Oh, and if you're reading this Barack/ Axelrod- throw a few million Milwaukee's way. Our Mayor was smart enough to back you early, and we're freezing here. Help some of your Upper Midwest urban brothers out!

Edit: Disregard my ripping of Ben Sheets in my September post. Hey Benny- you're getting no bites, and the Crew needs a No 1 starter. Why not come back to Milwaukee for 1 year at $12 million and prove you can be healthy. If it works out, you get your multi-year paycheck and the Crew gets a big bonus at the top of its rotation, and might just be contender again. In econ, we call this a mutually beneficial exchange.

YES WE DID!

God, that was a CRUSHING by Obama. Maybe people actually have the sack to get it in America after all. I'm still occasionally yelling when I see him called "President-elect." Now, let's get to hammering these deregulation, tax-cutting fools and bring some reponsibility and growth back to this economy.

To paraphrase Frederick Douglass, "Verily, the work does not end with the abolition of (Bush and the Republicans) but only begins. (Supply-side and simialr foolishness) has been the great hindrance. It has stood athwart the pathway of knowledge and progress, dreading nothing so much as the enlightenment of (Americans). This old and grim obstacle removed, and jets of heavenly light will speedily illumine the land long covered with darkness, cruelty and crime."

Or as Winston Wolf would say, "let's not start sucking each other's dicks yet." Lot of work to clean up, and I have the utmost confidence Barack can get a group together that will do just that. Unfortunately, we still probably have a million more job losses to fight through in the next year or so. Hang on tight.

Dow up....to a 30% drop!

Sorry if I'm not breaking out the party hats for the Down getting back to 9000 today (and back within 2000 points of where it was....8 days ago). 10 years of being told by Boomers that the market always works in the long run, and I see the S&P down 10% since guys my age have been able to have any chance of investing. And thank God I don't own a house.

Ownership society? Fuck that. Give me a good-paying job and secure benefits, and I'll gladly take the extra taxes. You know why? Because there's no point in cutting income and capital gains taxes WHEN NO ONE'S GROWING INCOME OR CAPITAL GAINS ANYWAY! And this is leaving out the whole "being China's bitch because of our deficit," thing.

If you're the one non-Jake person reading this, don't be an idiot and vote McCain. Vote for the guy that actually has a clue about our problems, and some sort of coherent plan to fix it. It's not that hard, it really isn't.

Quick hit

The last 2 weeks have been rather unbelievable. Amazing what happens when you hire people to look the other way and let business and individuals be as reckless as possible. It's like folks never understood that Gordon Gekko's "Greed is good" was meant as a bad thing.

The amount of deficit and debt we will have to make up as a result of these last two-three months will take years and a heavy drawdown in growth along the way. Hang on tight to what you got, because payrolls are down over 750,000 so far this year, probably 1 million for the future, and no room for government to give the jobs or boost to get out of it. As a city employee, I have major fears over what will (or won't) be able to be passed down to state and local governments, which has already suffered greatly under this administration.

But in the meantime, I'll do my part to help Q4 GDP by being in bars for 6 hours before UW-OSU. I don't have much hope after last weekend's big meltdown in Ann Arbor, and the Brewers awful performance is no salve either, but I've been surprised before...

And it rolls on..

This is 1930s level. I am stunned at how badly this could be screwed up. These people on Wall Street need to be straitjacketed, and bent over hard.

Like most guys in my 30s, I have no expectations of Social Security or pensions, but I may as well pack it in and live close to the vest...or pick up a lot of bad habits so I don't make it past 75 (ah, it's your last 10 years that you add to your life anyway). I think I'll go with the bad habits.

And I hear that Ben Sheets is possibly asking out of another start early. SCREW HIM! The Crew has to win tonight and you're asking out. I'm almost at the "good riddance" point now.

STUNNER!

Wow, I'm just stunned and amazed that for-profit corporations decided to swindle folks and make bad bets in an attempt to make a few extra bucks. Just stunned and amazed....

Now I remember exactly why I wanted nothing to do with the financial services industry. Douchebag central. And you gotta love McCain trying to say "We caused this culture of greed and deregulation, and we're gonna fix it!" Of course, there's nothing ever said by the GOPpers HOW to fix it, other than silly platitudes about out-of-control CEOs (where the policy seems to be "you're a bad, bad CEO. Don't be bad again.")

And speaking of bad CEOs, what's with Carly Fiorina saying Sarah Palin wouldn't be qualified to run HP, but that she's OK for VP? Ummm, I'm guessing VP's a much tougher job, although I would anticipate Palin being every bit the screw-up at her job as VP as you were at your job at HP, Carly.

But the really annoying part of that statement is the illustration of entitlement CEO culture. These folks really believe that their little piss-ant company and their (usually inherited) position is somehow more valuable in the grand scheme of things than policy-making, diplomacy, and national leadership. The disrespect these people have for those who decide to serve and improve this country is appalling, and needs to be called into attention.

Barack's sharpening the tone in recent days, but I want to see more, and I want it on my TV screen.

On my TV screen now is the Brewers, who seem to be continuing their epic collapse despite the new manager. Gimme football season, it's gotta be better than this 26th straight year of post-season futility.....or my portfolio.

Bizzaro world

So let me get this straight. 6.1% unemployment, increased poverty, $600 billion deficits, and widespread Wall Street corruption (and the assocaited fallout on our portfolios) aren't a big deal, and the same policies that got us into it are the ones to get us out of it.

Asking questions about a female candidate's views and management abilities is sexism, finding irony in promoting abstinence-only education and the resulting pregnancy of a teenage daughter is "off-limits", and calling the promotion of these same awful ideas with a different packaging "lipstick on a pig" is somehow a personal attack? But ripping on the choice of millions of Americans to do social service work over prostituting themselves to the highest bidder is perfectly fine, and supposed to be proof that "those do-gooders" don't get it?

And people are falling for this crap?

And the ridiculousness of the GOPpers would be a mere annoyance if there wasn't a real threat of people being stupid enough to believe this bullshit. You wonder why me and a lot of others in our mid-30s see no point in trying hard, because if these folks are allowed to succeed, it proves the game is fixed, and not worth participating in.

In addition, I'm watching the Brewers choke their way out of the playoffs AGAIN, losing 7 of 9, including 4 of 6 the freaking Reds and Padres. I'm not even panicking as much as I am totally disgusted, so maybe that's carrying over into my political views. It's almost not worth it for me to keep up with the Crew, even if they make it.

Amazing how a lot of these fears and angers go away when I'm drinking with friends. Maybe there's a point to that which I need to follow. Ah, who am I kidding, OF COURSE that's the point. Sports and beer is real, politics and economics are not, and maybe that needs to be the attitude I should take for the next 8 weeks.