Reading this article will make you furious. In a recent article for Rolling Stone , titled "Obama's Big Sellout," Matt Taibbi eviscerates the Obama White House, saying that President Obama has . . . more
What do we do in response to a financial crisis due in no small part to the systemic risk posed by institutions that by their very size prove essential to a functioning financial system? Gorge them on taxpayer funds so they get even bigger, while smaller banks without the benefit of implicit government guarantee are allowed to fail (as all insolvent businesses should):
From TARP Oversight Report via TBP.
 | Cool infographic over at The Detroit News about the Cash for Clunkers program by state . Michigan is a clear outlier with a high ratio of buying American instead of foreign cars. Other states are spread . . . more |
 | Minnesota is one of 23 states borrowing money from the federal government to cover its unemployment benefits obligations. This is simply their state obligations, which is independent of the federal . . . more |
 | Federal prosecutors filed a civil complaint on Thursday to seize 4 mosques and a Fifth Avenue skyscraper owned by the Alavi Foundation , a Muslim nonprofit long suspected of having ties to the Iranian . . . more |
 | President Obama gave a moving speech yesterday as a eulogy to the 13 US Army soldiers who lost their lives in the Fort Hood shootings on November 5th. You can watch the memorial service video here (Obama's . . . more |
 | Over at CNN Bob Greene has a nice Veterans Day thank you piece - about how much we owe those who sacrificed in the past and are currently serving so that you and I enjoy lives of unprecedented security . . . more |
 | 34 years ago today, on November 10, 1975, the SS Edmund Fitzgerald - aka "Mighty Fritz," - foundered and sank during a storm on Lake Superior. Launched on June 8, 1958, the Edmund Fitzgerald was . . . more |
 | President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela ratcheted up the brinksmanship to extreme levels today as he mobilized 15,000 troops and sent them to the border Venezuela shares with Colombia. The leftist dictator . . . more |
A good article in The Guardian's Observer section about the possibility of California becoming America's first failed state - and reasons to hope that this won't happen.
Although the initial hysteria over swine flu subsided, fear and uncertainty has been building recently concerning swine flu . . . more
On Tuesday, former President Jimmy Carter claimed that GOP U.S. Representative Joe Wilson's outburst during President Obama's . . . more
Thousands of people descended upon the nation's capital yesterday in protest of what is believed to be higher taxes, increased government spending, and expanding . . . more
The best line about the Tea Party march on Washington that I've read thus far comes from Nate:
Kibbe wasn't "in error", as Malkin gently puts it. He lied. He did the equivalent of telling people that his penis is 53 inches long.Simply phallacious.
President Obama is planning to make a speech to a joint session of Congress next Wed, September 9th. Thus far the effort at health care reform has suffered from a failure of leadership from the Oval Office, and the open dialogue about this complex issue that I had so naively hoped for has devolved into the typical polarization of American politics, with disinformation, confusion, outrageous claims, and dangerous hyperbole taking the place of intelligent, reasonable discussion.
Obama was hands off at the beginning of this process, putting the legislative onus on Congress. Perhaps unsurprisingly, that strategy has failed miserably. Echoing Nate's thoughts on the matter, I agree that Obama needs to deliver a major address to the nation to firmly establish what his administration stands for, dispelling incorrect notions and actually sell a plan to the American people, which certainly hasn't happened over the last few months.
I look forward to having POTUS take the helm again. It remains to be seen whether he can steer us out of this storm.
From today's Daily Dispatch, courtesy of CaseyResearch.com*
I just thought it was a nice design for a straightforward chart. I'm beginning to understand where all these Ron Paul types who want to abolish the Fed are coming from. You can read the newsletter online here (Doc, you will get a kick out of the image in the section on gun control - scroll down a ways.)
*A word of caution: I subscribe to free emails from CaseyResearch. I am extremely skeptical of any type of paid investment newsletter, and I do not recommend paying for anything from Casey or anyone else. In fact I am firmly convinced of the exact opposite: investment newsletters exist for the sole purpose of enriching the publisher. However, a lot of the stuff I have read has been interesting and quite different from much of the mainstream media stuff out there; some readers might find it intriguing as well. Politics, the economy, investing, even the odd music recommendation find their way into these missives. (Regular readers may recall Casey got my ire up in an earlier edition.)
There's an excellent article in the latest Economist about the possibility of California holding a constitutional convention sometime in the next few years to rewrite their current mammoth guiding document (it's longer than the U.S. Constitution). Strict rules for tax and budget legislation; gerrymandering; posturing extremists in the legislature on both sides; overreaching direct diplomacy with numerous wacky referenda in recent decades; all coming to a head in the current financial crisis with California's finances shot - huge budget deficits looming amidst plummeting tax receipts and a bond rating that counts for dead last of the 50 states.
It'll be interesting to see how this plays out. I like the idea of selecting convention members from the jury pool - how much more democratic can you get? (Although I wonder if there will be as many excuses to get out of convention duty...)
A cartoon from the Chicago Tribune, 1934. The refrain sounds so familiar, doesn't it? (Click to enlarge.)
Via the increasingly indispensable Big Picture.
