Archive for January, 2010

Middle Class Peanuts

Monday, January 25th, 2010

The Administration’s back with another round of minor, pointless middle class handouts.

We’re all pretend populists now!

A child care tax credit? Great if you have income, not refundable if you’re unemployed.

Allowances for caregivers? Wow, $102 million, less than 20% of a Citibank trader’s bonus, guess we’ll all be better off throwing grandma from the train.

Student loan caps? More people can go to school, graduate, and be unemployed, now that’s an outcome devoutly to be wished.

Meanwhile, things like health care reform, which would immediately benefit millions of people, or aid to the states, which would prevent millions of teachers, police officers, and fireman from being laid off, seem to be stuck in a doom loop of Democratic fear and Republican obstruction.

Meanwhile, the deficit, which should be climbing since the federal government is about the only place left in the economy where demand can be created, has become the latest bugaboo.

Meanwhile, the Fed does absolutely nothing about unemployment, nonexistent inflation is what makes phony hawks fly.

It’s difficult to know what to say about a government that doesn’t govern, leaders who don’t lead, and a citizenry that vacillates between pig ignorance and anger as their dreams, livelihoods, and families are destroyed.

Gorilla says: “There are more elephants in the room than we care to imagine, and the dung will keep rising steadily to the top!”

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And Take It With You

Monday, January 25th, 2010

The biggest real estate deal in American history has blown up!

And those left holding the bag are the creditors, who now get to run a massive NY apartment complex!

Those who got $3 billion in loans to buy are escaping diplomatically, no cramdown for them, just toss over the keys and walk away:

“Over the last few days, however, it has become clear to us through this process that the only viable alternative to bankruptcy would be to transfer control and operation of the property, in an orderly manner, to the lenders and their representatives.”

Gorilla says: “Gonna gloat all night, sunk the float all day! The Stuytown Coopers sing their song: oh, loan don’t pay!”

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Cutting A Deal In Kabul

Monday, January 25th, 2010

What’s been clear for at least a year is that the US and NATO want out of Afghanistan.

It’s a quagmire that can’t be resolved by military force alone. There’s no effective government in Kabul, and the countryside is more or less a lawless frontier.

So, more noises are being made about cutting a deal with the Taliban, assuming we can ascertain there is a Taliban to deal with.

The good Taliban, of course, is the one we seek: the one that wants to renounce violence and join the payroll most recently enjoyed by the Sunnis in Iraq.

The bad Taliban, of course, is the one that’s actually winning the war and is biding its time until the US gives up.

As in Iraq, once we go, then the chaos really begins.

But the fundamental question is whether this chaos threatens US national security.

Terrorism since 9/11 has been mostly hit or miss, with a handful of spectacular successes and many, many failures. It’s difficult to see why a few hundred fifth-rate nihilists, a few times getting lucky, at the cost of a few hundred innocent lives, is anything more than a middling policing problem.

Acceptance that the best we can do is prevent as much as we can, while retooling our military and intelligence community away from fighting World War II, is the first step on the way forward to a sensible national security framework.

Gorilla thinks: “Fewer aircraft carriers, and fewer market barriers, might make the medieval less mediocre!”

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Clueless In Port-au-Prince

Monday, January 25th, 2010

Well, the senior Italian relief official in Haiti isn’t happy about the international community’s efforts!

“A truly powerful show of force, but it’s completely out of touch with reality”.

“They don’t have close rapport with the territory, they certainly don’t have a rapport with the international organisations and aid groups.”

Not that this should be surprising, how’s the US military doing at nation building in Iraq and Afghanistan?

It also doesn’t help that US policy is aimed solely at preventing Haitians from coming to the US. You don’t win hearts and minds when your forces don’t speak the language, your politicians aren’t honest about their objectives, and cover your ass is what passes for leadership.

Gorilla says: “Earthquakes are not preventable, but Pentagon incompetence always has been!”

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It’s Still Illegal

Friday, January 22nd, 2010

Detention without trial, that is, the sort of thing you find in police states and other thuggocracies.

President Obama’s task force on Guantanamo is supposed to complete its report today.

Of the roughly 250 remaining “detainees” in Guantanamo, the task force reckons there are fifty that fall into the category: “can’t be tried, can’t be freed, can’t be returned, can’t be let go”.

Of course, this conclusion is being released on a Friday, the better to be buried by the banker story, or the health care story, or the Haiti story.

And it’s dead wrong: America is a country of laws and the rule of law must be observed.

So, everyone at Gitmo should be either released to their home countries (or offered asylum if they have a well founded fear of persecution upon their return) or tried in US civilian courts (not bogus military tribunals), and Gitmo should be shut down.

Federal prosecutors have a 90-plus percent conviction rate when it comes to terrorism, so there should be no fear of prosecuting.

We won’t be releasing those found innocent to wander the streets of America, conducting jihad, so there is absolutely nothing to worry about.

On the other hand, holding these people without trial means there is nothing, absolutely nothing, to stop any regime anywhere in the world from doing the same thing to Americans they may consider dangerous, and not just Americans who are captured on or near the battlefield: every American would be endangered.

As a county, we must accept that defending democracy means practicing democracy, no more and no less. That’s what the sacrifice of our soldiers is all about.

Gorilla says: “A mature democracy is as old as habeas corpus and it’s time our country grew up!”

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Quote Of The Day

Friday, January 22nd, 2010

“I think it is absolutely true that what we did this year didn’t produce the kind of breakthrough that we wanted and if we had anticipated some of these political problems on both sides earlier, we might not have raised expectations as high.”

The speaker is President Obama, but a more difficult task for the casual reader is figuring out which lack of breakthrough and which high expectation raising he’s talking about:

Climate change? Nope.

Health care reform? Nope.

Reining in Wall Street? Nope.

Afghanistan? Nope.

Unemployment? Nope.

Iran? Nope.

Nuclear non-proliferation? Nope.

North Korea? Nope.

Gorilla chimes in: “The correct answer is peace between Israel and the Palestinians, and alas the President’s not any more serious about that than he is about any of the others!”

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Gobbling Cobblers

Friday, January 22nd, 2010

As Krugman notes, the choice for the House of Representatives on health care reform is very simple:

1) Pass the Senate bill as is, come back and fix it later.

2) Pass nothing, forget about passing anything in the forseeable future, and be punished in November.

The Senate bill is lousy in many respects, but it’s the only bill on offer.

Now that the Republicans have a veto-enabling minority in the Senate, there’s absolutely no chance they’ll back any legislation of any kind for the rest of Obama’s term.

So, if you’re a Congressperson, you can run away and hide, wait for a diffident President to decide to lead, or hold your nose and vote for the first step towards comprehensive, universal health care.

Go to the polls, and you’ll find that most Americans support universal health care and are willing to make the sacrifices necessary to see it happen.

Are House Democrats ready to join them?

Gorilla says: “They’re all a load of cobblers, but 218 may decide to stick their neck out and gobble up a surefire vote winner!”

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Whirling Down

Friday, January 22nd, 2010

Helicopter Ben’s in big trouble, he may not get confirmed by the Senate!

If Ben goes down, it will mark the first time in years that a senior official having a large share of responsibility for an American disaster is actually held accountable!

Ben, you may recall, missed the housing bubble completely, then rescued the financial system from meltdown by guaranteeing the banks’ bad loans and creating the easy money conditions for the next bubble.

For this, he was rewarded with a renomination to be Fed Chief. Oh well, at least the Medal of Freedom’s on hold…

Gorilla says: “When Bernie Sanders and Jim Bunning put holds on the same guy, it’s a whole new wrestling match!”

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Jobs For The Taliban Boys

Friday, January 22nd, 2010

Afghan President Karzai’s offering money and jobs to any Taliban fighters who want to lay down their arms!

Alas, it’s not working, the Taliban say they want their country back and the foreigners out.

Gorilla suggests an alternative location for the new proposal: “With 10% unemployment in America, guess it’s time we all joined the insurgency!”

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Loan Us Your Drones

Friday, January 22nd, 2010

Pakistan can’t be bothered to go after the Taliban bases, but a few drones would certainly make them feel better about it!

Defense Secretary Gates says our relationship with Pakistan is all about building trust, and he’s right, because nobody trusts either the Pakistani government or the Pakistani military.

But a dozen drones won’t make a bit of difference, there’s a need for a large army to get the job done. That army’s currently astride the border with India, propping up Islamabad’s paranoid fantasies.

Gorilla thinks: “More drones, more loans, it’s all Baluchistan to me!”

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