A couple of pieces

[solarbird]

elfs has a post worth reading here, noting most importantly a report that White House Deputy Press Secerary Antonio Fratto says this "emergency" plan has been put together over months, and concludes that this is exactly the raw looting you think it is.

Also, check out the popular impression of the economy numbers here, particularly the 0% responses in the economic sector. I've never seen that before. You can usually get 1-3% of people to say anything, and they had no people saying the economy was getting better and no people saying their household financial situation was getting better. Nobody. When these numbers show up in the official consumer confidence stats, it's gonna get even uglier.

Comments

[elfs.livejournal.com]

I saw that 0% rating last night, but was too tired to follow up on it.

Oh, and I worked like mad to take out my usual lightheartedness. I almost left in a tag about "Have I shown my elitism by using the word Augean in a sentence?". But my friends have told me that dilutes my anger. I don't do anger very well. But in this case, it's absolutely necessary.

Gods, I'm so mad.

[maellenkleth]

Well, it is truly, grossly, Gahd-awful looting without any pretense at all any more. I begin to suspect that the Congressional/Senatorial protestations are just a smoke-screen for benefit of later deniability, and the greedy bastards will, indeed, sign off on the plan before Friday.

Hey, come north. We welcome people willing to roll up their sleeves and do some country-building, as note our last great southern influx in the late Sixties/early Seventies. Still lots of room in the Kootenays, etc.

[wiredhound.livejournal.com]

FWIW, I'm seeing a number of MSM articles doubting the bailout plan. For example:

MarketWatch (http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/echoes-iraq-bushs-handling-mortgage/story.aspx?guid={EB54967E-258D-4650-BE95-2203FCA64AAA}&dist=TNMostRead)

plus editorials in NY Times, Boston Globe, Washington Post, etc. We can hope that the legislative branch won't cave quite as eagerly as they did with FISA.

[wrog]

I like this version

[peakoilchaplain.livejournal.com]

I still have my fingers crossed the Congress still wants there to be more than one branch of government, and thus will kill this bailout plan. Do I have too much faith?

This whole mess has turned really and truly ugly.

[solarbird]

I like this:



and this:

[silussa.livejournal.com]

As I've said before, the major problem here is a failure of confidence. What we're now seeing, I think, is the failure of confidence in the Government itself, which in some respects isn't a major surprise given the wonderful bailout program they came up with.

I really don't want to think about what comes after confidence in the government collapses.

[solarbird]

No, we also have an actual solvency problem. It's not liquidity; it's not just confidence. Solvency is an issue. This solvency issue is being made worse by confidence crisis, absolutely - much worse. But both are real.