Layoffs hit at Disney World in Florida this week. They’re letting go some long-time, very loyal employees (including someone two people who are dear to me, unfortunately, which is how I came to hear of this news). This economy sucks more by the moment.
The Bailout oops! Rescue Bill just passed the House, 263 to 171. No word yet on whether they passed it with all that bloated pork the Senate threw into the bill…
It was a narrow defeat. The Dow is plummeting and world markets are getting hammered.
So much for McCain’s ability to lead. John McCain was supposed to deliver 100 House Republican votes. He only delivered 65. Democrats were supposed to deliver 120 House Democratic votes, they delivered 140.
Chris Matthews on McCain’s recent failed dramatics: “He called ‘charge’ and the Republicans retreated.”
Now, someone needs to go after this guy. Seriously, he’s a fraud. Here’s what he looks like — if you see him in the street, stay far away, as you don’t want to be there when karma evens things out for him — you might get hit by a lightning bolt, or a piano, or a giant loogie from the sky.
UPDATE: or this sleazoid.
Regarding Sarah Palin, the Young Earth Creationist herself… well, first check out comment #5 in this discussion. Arrrrgh! Don’t you just hate it when people contaminate their minds with knowledge? Gah! Anyone who doesn’t think the Palin/McCain administration would be a repeat of the Bush disaster need look no further than that for evidence to the contrary — let me say this again, people: knowledge and intelligence are good things! You wouldn’t hire a plumber who knows nothing about pipes, and you certainly want your surgeon to be well-educated in human anatomy — why in the hell are you willing to accept willfully ignorant and blissfully oblivious people at the helm of our country? Please, if you follow no other links in this post, at least read this one.
So, anyway, back to Sarah (who had a really big idea this week!), poor Sarah… she can’t decide if she’s going to play the role of Dick Cheney or George Bush, but would be good at playing either one: she may very well have lied to a judge, and she keeps lying even after she’s called on her BS.
And poor John McCain (check out his 83 lobbyists! — who may be running Alaska right now!)… he is so confused and has no idea what to do about the economy. And doesn’t know where Spain is. And he’s confused by the branches of the military. And he’s confused about presidential powers. And to make things worse, even his own staff is confused about who is at the top of the Republican ticket. And speaking of who is going to serve as president if this ticket wins, how is McCain’s health, anyway (really — this is a serious issue and it’s gotten really, really scary)? He’ll be preparing for the debate on Friday by taking a nap.
And then there’s health care. John McCain’s plan for America’s health care is to do to the health care industry what he and his cronies have done for banking. (Oh, yeah — and he wants to do it to Social Security as well!)
And speaking of banking, remember the Keating Five? It’s ba-ack! Also, Conservatism is a failure and its former proponents making like rats off a sinking ship. Time for an October Surprise?
And let’s not ignore the fact that this morning was given over to the hearings in Congress regarding the collapse of our economy (here’s a guide to understanding how we got into this mess). There seem to be a couple of things everyone agrees on: the people who brought us to this moment in our history shouldn’t be rewarded; and putting one guy with no oversight in charge of bailing out the people who created this crisis is a bit twisted. Main Street has been paying the price for Wall Street’s excesses for a while now. It’s time for Wall Street to chip in as well. And it would be nice if the people charged with getting us out of this mess weren’t the same people who got us into it. The era of corporate welfare is over. Other people weigh in here.
(In related news, I’ve got a bunch of worthless old crap in my basement — can I get the government to buy that, too?)
And finally, how’s this for a nightmare scenario? Also, there’s going to be a Grateful Dead/Allman Brothers/RatDog/Other Ones/Phil and Friends thing to raise money for the Obama campaign.
They got their tax cuts for the financial elite and their deregulation of just about everything. And look where it got us.
The week of January 22, 2001, the first of Bush’s presidency, the Dow averaged 10,659. Today, it closed at 10,917. In just about eight years of Bush, the market has gained less than 300 points.
And I think as of today, that gain has become a net loss for the Republican economy. And then consider the unemployment rate, the cost of gas, the mortgage crisis, the credit meltdown, the slowly collapsing dollar, inflation, the gradual failure of America’s health care system and you realize that the only people who have been doing well under the supervision of the Republicans are the robber barons.
- $83,100,000 – 2007 salary John Thain, CEO, Merrill Lynch (asking for Bank of America to save the company)
- $35,734,422 ($16,237,150 in bonuses) – 2007 salary of Alan Schwartz, CEO, Bear Sterns a year before JP MorganChase saved it from bankruptcy.
- $22,000,000 – 2007 salary of Richard S. Fuld Jr., CEO of the newly bankrupted Lehman Brothers. (largest bankruptcy in America’s history)
- $$please read$$ – Robert Willumstad, CEO, AIG (possible seeing the same fate as Lehman Brothers, bankruptcy. But won’t because its numbers are much larger then Lehman Brothers: Revenue and Net Income are twice as much, Total assets are three time more, and employees are 116,000 (AIG) to 26,200 (Lehman Bros.)
- $18.3 million – (2007 Take Home salary) Richard Syron, former chairman and CEO of Freddie Mac
- $11.6 million – (2007 salary, stock and other compensation) Daniel Mudd, former president and CEO of Fannie Mae
As much as he’d like to pretend otherwise, John McCain is running as a Republican. His party did this to this country, and they did it with his help.
“The point is, I was chairman of the commerce committee. Every part of America’s economy, I oversighted. I have a long record, certainly far more extensive of being involved in our economy than Senator Obama does.”
PS: aren’t you glad we didn’t let them privatize social security? Where would the nation’s retirement fund be after the last few days on Wall Street?!? And do you really want to put these Keystone Cops in charge of your health care?!?
Lehman Brothers. Merrill Lynch. AIG.
The Dow dropped over 500 points today — the largest one-day drop since the market reopened after the 9/11 attack seven years ago.
And here’s what John McCain had to say:
The “fundamentals of our economy are strong.”
It brings to mind the words of a US president back on October 29, 1929:
The fundamental business of the country… is on a sound and prosperous basis.
America’s robber barons are once again ruining America’s economy, and John McCain — in his $500 shoes, unmindful of how many homes he owns, after 26 years governing from Congress (if he really had any intention of doing anything to help this economy — or if he “got” the economy — why didn’t he do it in all his years as chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee?!?) — is asking us for four more years. That’s if he’s got four years left in him. (If not, we’ll be ‹‹shudder›› stuck with Sarah Palin.)
I’m thinking our answer should be “no.”
Even Greenspan thinks McCain isn’t up to the job.
Even McCain’s chief economic adviser says McCain will have to raise taxes.
And even turdblossom himself, Karl Rove, thinks that McCain is a liar.
And the McCain campaign apparently still thinks America is a bunch of whiners.
I read this a couple of days ago at Joe. My. God., and it’s been running through my head ever since. It’s from E. B. White.
There are roughly three New Yorks. There is, first, the New York of the man or woman who was born threre, who takes the city for granted and accepts its size, its turbulence as natural and inevitable. Second, there is the New York of the commuter — the city that is devoured by locusts each day and spat out each night. Third, there is the New York of the person who was born somewhere else and came to New York in quest of something….Commuters give the city its tidal restlessness, natives give it solidity and continuity, but the settlers give it passion.
Speaking of the City, an Ikea store just opened in Red Hook (amid some controversy), and to ease concerns about traffic congestion in the area, Ikea is offering free public transportation to and from the store. Eager consumers are already planning Ikea Hacks to take advantage of the company’s ground-breaking strategy.
But enough of the city and on to other random matters:
Hello! I'm Alice, which is my real name (most of the other names here have been changed, though, to protect the innocent). I live in an almost-100-year-old house in downtown Chattanooga, TN with my first husband, G-Dog (who is from New Canaan, CT), and a cockapoo named Nonnie (the moniker comes from a Laurens van der Post book). We have one kid (that we know of) -- a daughter, Emmie, who plays a supporting role on the blog. She's off being a student, but she pops in often enough to keep things interesting.
I originally hale from Batavia, NY, a quiet little town in rural western New York. G-Dog and I met while attending college in Carlisle, PA, and then moved on to Chapel Hill, NC together before finally settling in Tennessee. Other places we've lived in long enough to have a mailing address include London and San Francisco.
This blog is about a lot of things -- the places I visit, things I cook, people I meet, photos I take, things I read, and -- of course, politics. I'm an unrepentant, arugula-eating, progressive, liberal, lefty, euro-loving, educated elitist and I'm looking forward to an administration that doesn't raise my blood pressure quite as often as the outgoing one did...
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