One Utah

Good article on the economy from Joseph Stiglitz.
The money quote (no pun intended):
Our tax policies need to be changed. There is something deeply peculiar about having rich individuals who make their money speculating on real estate or stocks paying lower taxes than middle-class Americans, whose income is derived from wages and salaries; something peculiar and [...]

We are well and truly screwed.
At this point the recession train has left the station; the financial and banking crisis train has left the station. The delusion that the US and advanced economies contraction would be short and shallow – a V-shaped six month recession – has been replaced by the certainty that this [...]

Well that’s depressing.
Between 10/9/07 and 10/08/08, the Dow lost 4785.63 points - 34.08% of its value.

A new Gallup poll finds that just nine percent of the American public are “satisfied with the way things are going in the United States” — the lowest such reading in Gallup Poll history.
The previous low point for Gallup’s measure of satisfaction had been 12%, recorded back in 1979, in the midst of rising prices [...]

Two weeks ago we wrote about a survey of economists preference for our next President.
Criticism from he right-wing readers was predictable. Bias they screamed. “Economists are almost all academics” said one (RO). As if academics are liberal because they tend to be well-educated.
Now the prestigious Economists Magazine has done another survey in [...]

The savagely wrong so-called bailout bill now passed by both houses of Congress, like the Iraq war, which is not incidental to our economic melt-down, is the worst thing we’ve done since waging the wrong war with the wrong people in the wrong way. Same crowd of fools and knaves. But this time we get [...]

Did the late Illinois Senator Everett Dirksen ever say, “A billion here, a billion there, and pretty soon you’re talking real money”? (or anything very close to that?) Perhaps not. According to one account, Dirksen said, “A newspaper fella misquoted me once, and I thought it sounded so good that I never bothered [...]

It’s pretty much undeniable that the Bush administration was asleep at the switch as it allowed the current financial crisis to occur. So, naturally,the latest right-wing talking points are all about how the Democrats and the victims of mortgage fraud supposedly caused the rash of home foreclosures and ensuing credit freeze that now threatens [...]

This is the best conversation about what is happening right now with the economic crises and the ‘bailout’.
By: John Amato on Saturday, September 27th, 2008
The ‘Bailout’ must be stopped and this is why.

Part II

I spent whatever free time I have had today sifting through the coverage of the financial mess. Despite the way the Masters of the Universe are running around with their hair on fire (or maybe because of it), most Americans seem to be regarding the situation with a somewhat cold eye.
Public opposition to the [...]

It’s been an awful eight years. As Bush presided over the biggest loss of jobs since Herbert Hoover, the right-wingers told us never mind, the markets are doing fine. As the gap between rich and poor widened, they said it’s OK, the wealth will trickle down.
Via Think Progress, here’s Bushonomics in a nutshell. [...]

I’ve been trying to get a handle on today’s events. Based on what I’m reading, I think most people are a bit in shock.
Here’s what happened:
The bailout failed to pass the House.
The Dow crashed 777.68 points.
I don’t think anyone really has any idea what to do now.
House Republicans had a crazy ass plan (TM) [...]