And now, the news...

I am laughing rather than crying about this confluence of crises that is tearing apart the order of the financial world we thought we knew. This laughter is a matter of personal choice, and it is not ha-ha funny laughter. It is hoarse-throated, uncomfortably loud, and not at all jovial laughter.

Congress is shocked (really?) that the invisible hand of capitalism has reached its hand so far into the cookie jar, and tried to take so much from the people at the bottom of the food chain, that the jar is on the ground broken. So, lightning-quick, to the rescue, Congress develops razor-sharp legislation to help the criminals gather up all the cookie bits and leave us sitting in the shards of glass. Nice. "The only way we can save the system is to give them all they were grasping for and more" is the message I am getting from the televised (corporate) media. Solution: stop watching television.

What's a poor boy to do? Not at issue. Some sources of news that have really helped me inform myself into such a state:

Democracy Now - Thomas Geoghegan on "Infinite Debt: How Unlimited Interest Rates Destroyed the Economy"

Amy talks with Thomas Geoghegan from Harper's, see the recent article in Harper's (April 2009) if you have access. Essentially, with unlimited interest rates permitted by lawlessness, there is no longer an incentive to have low rates and a culture set up for everyone to succeed in paying the loan back. If you can get enough money from those just barely capable of paying you back, you can afford a lot of defaults!

Democracy Now - “The Zombie Ideas Have Won”–Paul Krugman on $1 Trillion Geithner Plan to Buy Toxic Bank Assets

The darkness is growing before my eyes...

Harper's Magazine - It’s Deja Vu All Over Again: Wall Street and Bill Clinton

Mommy, make it stop...

Mother Jones - Panning Geithner's Plan

"There's no place like home, there's no place like home..."

We are fortunate to have an LP radio station is Spokane, KYRS, with a wide array of opinions on public affairs and great music shows as well. I support KYRS and encourage you to give some shows a listen, and consider whether you could support this grass-roots information effort. Michael Reid has a show, "Does that answer your question?", that I have found uniformly insightful to the point of boredom (not really, sorry for the left-handed compliment, Michael). He just always nails it. Check out his blog too. Oops, that is really hard to log into. I am not sure he has it set up correctly yet. I will try to get that info to him. Definitely in the category of people I would like to have coffee or lunch with.

Well, thanks for letting me brighten your day!