As the Ben Bernanke / Hank Paulson / George Bush Bailout Spending Spree (BS-S) continues, many folks in the media, particularly the corporate friendly CNBC and other similar outlets, are putting out the usual stuff:
- This is a once-in-a-century event
- The decline is too big and the government has to rescue the financial system, i.e. Wall Street
- Short Sellers are distorting the market...never mind that the same Wall Street banks invented short selling and its variants, and made a lot of money by selling these products, including puts and other derivatives
- Everyone will be hurt if the system is not bailed out
- The fundamentals are strong, and the downturn is a BIG buying opportunity
- Financials are a great BUY
- Investors should STAY THE COURSE
- and others
A country's prosperity depends on people working productively, creating new products and services, and making them efficiently. The finance industry exists to serve other industries and make those more productive. When the finance industry and associated industries become an end to themselves, the apparent prosperity needs to be questioned.
Ever since the Internet Bubble burst, George Bush and his crowd have used the finance industry (directly and through the housing industry and others) as the solution to all problems. As a professor I look at students and what they are picking for majors and where they go when they graduate. It has been very clear to me that the quality of work, quality of work life and of work benefits have been trending down over the past eight years. This is in addition to the 'real' degradation and decline in employment, not the fake numbers reported by BLS. When an engineer with a Masters degree loses a job at a high-tech firm and goes to work as a checkout clerk at a place like Home Depot (as a friend of mine did) for a quarter of his/her earlier wages, that is a significant degradation in employment. Several factors are at work- outsourcing, more competition globally for jobs, capabilities of our students not keeping up with those from other countries, increasingly more innovation happening abroad, and so on. When the best and brightest students are picking Accounting or Nursing or Education to major in, one has to ask the question why and ponder the consequences down the road.
When one looks at the budget of the U.S., it is clear that the Congress and the White House are putting more than thirty nine cents out of every 'discretionary' budget dollar on Defense. The implication is quite straight-forward- we are going to militarily fight our way and get what 'should' be ours. One has to wonder if we could get more remarkable results by spending the bulk of that money on education.
Perhaps far more significant than juicing up the financial industry is the culture that GWB and his team have created and spread like cancer. One can create a super-platinum disc based on this culture.
Bush and the Faithful's Greatest Hits - 2001-2008
The Band:
GWB, Dick Cheney, Karl Rove, Alan G., Ben 'Helicopter' B., and other supporting players
- Fear...Making people afraid- of foreigners, of muslims, of strangers, of liberals. This culture of fear has pervaded the air and clogs people's minds.
- Laws, Blahs....Ever since he came to power in 2001 through the Supreme Court intervention, GWB has shown complete disregard for the law and for legal procedures. Signing statements, destroying email, using private email for public matters, not co-operating with the Congress, (ab)using executive privilege as a birth right and having the villains get away and not testify before Congress, and many many more.
- Lie, Baby, Lie...
- A friend in need..can always get a job in the government
- Putting Compadre over Competence
- Exploiting faith for personal gain
- Science is a bad word
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