Jack,

Did you know that President Hoover was accused of advocating socialist solutions to the Great Depression? By FDR's running mate, John Garner.

Roosevelt attacked Hoover for "reckless and extravagant" spending, of thinking "that we ought to center control of everything in Washington as rapidly as possible," and of leading "the greatest spending administration in peacetime in all of history." Roosevelt's running mate, John Nance Garner, accused the Republican of "leading the country down the path of socialism".(from wikipedia)

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. We can pay them now, or we can pay them later.

The greatest academic tome ever written on the Great Depression was "The Great Crash 1929" by John Kenneth Galbraith. It's easy to find at places like Smith Family Bookstore or Powell's Books, Mister Tee, and I think you would find it enlightening.

Did anybody see the film footage of Bush taking random questions on the John Stewardt show? "The uh... house of cards... uh... got to big... and uh..." It was quite a contrast from the earpiece, well-rehearsed staging of Chimp referred to in this blog.

I'll look for that episode of Beavis and Butthead on C-SPAN.

Jack,
you seem to be a very intelligent man but why you go down the path of the Kool-Aid drinkers amazes me . Ilove your local politics but your national is very Kos orienteded

Ace:

Kool-Aid is supposed to really help with proofreading skills. Maybe you should give it a try.

One could make numerous substantive arguments against this particular plan, but the bottom line is this: Why believe a demonstrated liar? Go Obama.

Ace, as my comments policy clearly states, I am not interested in your review.

If nothing else, this doesn't have to be done this week. If it's all that important, it can take a few weeks. Obviously, there's some Bush or Paulson crony who's next in line to go down, and they don't have a month to wait. Too bad.

There has never been a time in my 39 years that I have been so frustrated and confused as I am now. Watching the news nearly bring me to tears.

Every talking head says something different. Every news source says something different. Who am I to believe? What the hell am I supposed to do?

MP,

If you're getting your investment advice from TV, you have plenty of reasons to be confused and afraid.

Even CNBC is in the business selling commercials, not advice.

I turned on the TV 2 minutes before Bush's speech about the economy and there was Bob Dylan on another channel singing:

"Pointed threats, they bluff with scorn
Suicide remarks are torn
From the fools gold mouthpiece
The hollow horn plays wasted words
Proved to warn
That he not busy being born
Is busy dying.

Temptation's page flies out the door
You follow, find yourself at war
Watch waterfalls of pity roar
You feel to moan but unlike before
You discover
That you'd just be
One more person crying."

Or perhaps something from later in the song:

"Disillusioned words like bullets bark
As human gods aim for their marks
Made everything from toy guns that sparks
To flesh-colored Christs that glow in the dark
It's easy to see without looking too far
That not much
Is really sacred.

While preachers preach of evil fates
Teachers teach that knowledge waits
Can lead to hundred-dollar plates
Goodness hides behind its gates
But even the President of the United States
Sometimes must have
To stand naked.

An' though the rules of the road have been lodged
It's only people's games that you got to dodge
And it's alright, Ma, I can make it."

Not having kids is really starting to pay off.

A few days ago you asked what people thought the October surprise would be.

I don't know if anyone got it right: "Surprise! We're all f****d!"

Friday Poem - Workingman's Blues #2, Bob Dylan

There's an evenin' haze settlin' over the town
Starlight by the edge of the creek
The buyin' power of the proletariat's gone down
Money's gettin' shallow and weak
The place I love best is a sweet memory
It's a new path that we trod
They say low wages are a reality
If we want to compete abroad

My cruel weapons have been put on the shelf
Come sit down on my knee
You are dearer to me than myself
As you yourself can see
I'm listenin' to the steel rails hum
Got both eyes tight shut
Just sitting here trying to keep the hunger from
Creeping it's way into my gut

Meet me at the bottom, don't lag behind
Bring me my boots and shoes
You can hang back or fight your best on the front line
Sing a little bit of these workingman's blues ...

I love your local politics but your national is very Kos orienteded

Ace, are you serious? KOS is at the extreme end of the nutbag scale. This blog is about as level headed as they come.

Not having kids is really starting to pay off.

My car title arrived in the mail today. Speaking of paying things off...

My dad gave me a great piece of advice for life. 6P: Proper Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance.

Let's do some proper planning this time.

...a long and painful recession" could occur if Congress does not act quickly...

This isn't a coincidence. Twice this week we've heard this word - first from Bernake, now from Bush. They both know we're technically already in one. And they both know that we know it (well, at least Bernake does).

Perhaps another peek behind the curtain? We won't hear the "D" word from them or anyone else in the administration or congress, because they can't say it without triggering panic in the financial system. But it's what they mean.

If the bailout happens, we go on to the next phase: "That 700 billion - closer to a trillion so far - was a good first step but it wasn't enough to stop the crisis. We're going to take another trillion as the bill allows us to do. We deeply regret this but if we don't that first trillion will just be wasted, because the crisis isn't over. Sorry, but we have to do this otherwise that first trillion will have died in vain."

Mission Accompli.... never mind.

If Obama were President, he could just waive his magic tongue and the recession wouldn't happen.

Yeah: he's that good.

Sorry, folks, this isn't the October surprise. This is just a little anticipatory spending so that Obama, when he takes office in January, won't have too much money to play with. The October surprise will be in the military domain.

I just hope all of the bad press surrounding Poppy Paulson doesn't hinder the city of Portland's attempt to hand over ~$100 million plus prime parkland to Junior Paulson over at PGE Park. Sure, it's a tiny bailout compared to $700 billion, but it will go a long way in helping the Paulson family, who are really hurting right now.

It is times like this when we really have to pull together to help out the ceo's and their kids.