Fuck AIG

Another headline that will get me banned by nanny software in airports and libraries everywhere. Fuck 'em. This is one funny song.

FREE MONEY IN THE USA

I cant pay my bills, my cards are maxxed
but the same old greedy banker hacks
are taking million dollar bonuses from my tax
Busting laws and breaking backs
AIGee your dumb said the man in the suit
With his bonuses and his sack of loot
The same guys who caused the train to crash
Are the only people still making cash

AIG I'm dumb FDIC my thumb
Shoved up my BofA
Free money in the USA
I got no place to stay
I lost my 401k
Now it's all gone away
Free money in the USA

Binding legal obligations
In a broke and worthless paper nation
one six five million in bonus pay
Free money in the USA
The first banker to press that case
may win in court but will one day face
an angry mob that he will meet
coming through the gates of easy street

Cancel all bonus's or put them in jail
We're all to goddamn big to fail

With so many people out of work
I hear some wealthy banker jerk
Say they can't attract the brightest and best
Like the ones who got us into this mess
Without hundreds of millions in retention pay
Free money in the USA
Go down to the unemployment line
There's a lot of people who'd do just fine
To right this ship and fix your bank
For a decent wage and a hearty thanks
for some honest pay for an honest day
Fuck aig fuck BofA-holes

© Paul Hipp 2009

"Financial Crisis: The Musical"

Lyrics: B. Hopman Vocals: R. Hopman

The Shock Market is out of control!! Gall Street is crumbling!! Your savings have been 401KOD!! Just when you thought the economy has hit a low note, here comes a real chorus of gloom and doom. It won't take a degree in economics to enjoy this musical parody. Just a degree of humor. (Special appearance by John McCain.)

Hitting the Ground Running

President Bush walks with President-elect Barack Obama during a visit to the White House, November 10, 2008.
(Jim Young/Reuters)

Obama went to the White House on a mission to fix the economy. Will Bush act?

MSNBC First Read: The details on today's meeting

A source familiar with today's White House meeting tells NBC News that President-elect Obama focused on three economic issues during his conversations with President Bush this afternoon. The top topics: a stimulus package in the lame duck session, aid to the auto industry, and help for homeowners with adjustible-rate mortgages in order to prevent more foreclosures.

According to the source, Obama told Bush that action is needed on a stimulus package now - in a lame duck session - and cannot wait until after the inauguration.

Obama also urged help for automakers and encouraged the acceleration of the disbursement of $25 billion dollars for the industry.

On his third focus - housing - Obama voiced his concern that homeowners whose mortgage rates are about to go up will need aid to prevent more Americans from defaulting on home loans.

Clueless

John McCain said on Meet the Press yesterday that he and George W. Bush share a common philosophy. Obama pounced:



McCain = Bush and four more years of failed Republican policies.

Republicans Are Only Against Socialism for The Rest Of Us

David Gergen on redistribution of wealth as practiced by the Republican Party. Since 1979, the bottom 80% of the American population have lost $600,000,000,000 in wealth, and the top 1% has gained that $600 billion.

McCain/Palin are throwing "socialism" out there to keep that money from flowing back to the people.

New Obama Ad: "Barney"

About time. We loved Barney Smith's appearance at the Democratic National Convention in August:

Obama's Economic Rescue Plan for the Middle Class

Here's Obama's speech on his rescue plan for the middle class, from yesterday:

New Obama Ad: "Mills"

I love this ad.

Jobs making thread for American flags outsourced to Asia.

McCain called "Buy American" laws "Disgraceful"

This is the North Carolina version of the ad, which I just saw on Fox during the Dodgers-Phillies game with "America" substituted for "North Carolina" at the end.

Obama: McCain is "Erratic and Uncertain"

It's the economy, stupid, and the fundamentals of our economy are not strong.

Hillary: "Mavericks In Washington And On Wall Street Got Us Into This Mess"

John McCain and His BFF Charles Keating: The Real Story

From the new Obama website KeatingEconomics.com

It's The Economy, Stupid

PDF file, Phoenix Sunday Gazette, September 13, 1993
Charles Keating III and McCain, than a member of the U.S. House, celebrate their August birthdays [McCain's 51st] at the Keatings' beachside estate at
Cat Cay in the Bahamas [1987 photo]

Obama takes the gloves off and launches a new website: KeatingEconomics.com: John McCain and the Making of a Financial Crisis. The website will have a 13-minute documentary on McCain and the Keating Five, available at noon tomorrow. Can't wait.

McCain is trying to smear Obama with guilt by association.

McCain and Charles Keating is guilt by guilt. Charles Keating gave John McCain over $100,000 in campaign contributions between 1982 and 1988, went into business with Cindy McCain, wined and dined the McCains in the Bahamas: and John McCain tried to keep his friend and benefector from being stopped by federal regulators. American taxpayers ultimately lost at least $130 billion in the 1980s S&L scandal.

And John McCain has heedlessly championed deregulation ever since. This time it's going to cost taxpayers a trillion dollars.

Here's a preview:

"The Fundamentals of Our Economy Are Strong"

'The Fundamentals of Our Economy Are Strong"

McCain said that every time he was asked about the economy, all the way down the rabbit hole we're in now. Don't believe me? Listen to him:

New Obama Ad: "Same Path"

I've seen this ad several times on the Boston TV stations (which are the primary stations for most of New Hampshire.) It think it's very effective, showing Obama at his calm, wonky best.

Republicans Bail on Bailout Bill

Took credit for the bill before it passed; spent rest of day backpedaling furiously.

The massive Wall Street bailout bill failed, as only 1/3 of House Republicans voted for the bill. Democrats are shocked! shocked! that the Republicans (Lucy) pulled the football away again.

I'm not, but I expect nothing more than the worst from Congressional Republicans.

The stock market promptly fell 777 points, a one-day record. For want of a $700 billion dollar bill, Wall Street investors lost $1.1 trillion dollars. And that's just today. Hold on the reins, it's going to be a bumpy ride.

At least the media seems to realize that it is the Republicans who blew up the bailout bill, and the economy:

Chris Matthews, MSNBC:


Ed Henry, CNN:


John Boehner (Boner) claimed that Republicans couldn't vote for the bailout bill in the end because Nancy Pelosi gave an exceptionally partisan speech just before the vote. Barney Frank was incredulous at this explanation:


John McCain wins the McHypocrite award for this ridiculous statement:

"Now is not the time to fix the blame."
"Senator Obama and his allies in Congress infused unnecessary partisanness into the process."

Actually, he blamed first, then said no blame.

No blame. Blame. His head is spinning around like Linda Blair's in The Exorcist.

Anything to get you to ignore McCain's first statement of the day. From Politico:

McCain takes credit for bill before it loses

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and his top aides took credit for building a winning bailout coalition – hours before the vote failed and stocks tanked.

Shortly before the vote, McCain had bragged about his involvement and mocked Sen. Barack Obama for staying on the sidelines.

“I've never been afraid of stepping in to solve problems for the American people, and I'm not going to stop now,” McCain told a rally in Columbus, Ohio. “Sen. Obama took a very different approach to the crisis our country faced. At first he didn't want to get involved. Then he was monitoring the situation.”
McCain, grinning, flashed a sarcastic thumbs up.

“That's not leadership. That's watching from the sidelines,” he added to cheers and applause.

He'd say or do anything to win.

John McCain's Response to Financial Crisis: Katrina-Like

Obama nails McCain on the economy in Michigan yesterday:



Jed Lewison, HuffPo: Obama: McCain's Economic Crisis Response "Katrina-Like...Just Sorta Stood There"

"Senator McCain just doesn't get it. He doesn't understand that the storm hitting Wall Street hit Main Street long ago. That's why his first response to the greatest financial meltdown in generations was a Katrina-like response. Sort of stood there. Said "The fundamentals of the economy are strong." That's why he's been shifting positions these past few weeks, looking for photo ops, trying to figure out what to say and what to do."

I Hate The Bailout Bill - But I Support It

Yes, the bailout bill sucks. Yes, it sucks that Congress is going to throw $5000 of my hard-earned money at the Wall Street thieves that the Bush Administration let run wild over the past eight years.

But I support the bill. Why? Two reasons, mainly:

(1) I don't have a traditional pension, I have a 401(k) that is invested in the market, in bonds and stocks, in mutual funds and bond funds. I had a traditional pension 25 years ago, when my firm hired a smart MBA from Dartmouth who read the screw-the-workers financial papers and persuaded my employers that it would be cheaper to move the firm's pension plan into a 401(k) plan. Cheaper for them. Much more risky for me. So now I am exposed to the market. I'm in the market.

The bailout will cost me $5000, but a 20% drop in the market will cost me many times that.

(2) I don't know anything about macroeconomics except for a class I took in 1976. But Paul Krugman, an economist I respect, supports the plan. That's enough for me.

Side note, I turned on C-Span this morning to see my Congressman Jim McGovern running the House session from the floor for the Democrats. This makes sense; he's wildly popular in this liberal district and there's no way he loses his job for publicly supporting this hated bill. Plus he's got guts and does what he thinks is right.

Pearls of Palin Economic Wisdom

Watch her look at the flash cards in her lap near the end, as she flubs her line and says the bailout is needed to bolster health care.

You will notice that in the Alaskan gubernatorial debates (I watched one on C-Span) she always had flash cards. I don't think she really knows anything about anything, but she reads cue cards like any good sports anchor wannabee. That's the experience I want in the White House. Whee!

Yup

Jesus' General

McCain v. McCain

A Tale of Two McCains, a video by Jed Lewison showing McCain's all-over-the-map statements over the last week. Hilarious. Every time I see one of these things where McCain takes totally diametric positions, all I can think of is Spy Versus Spy from Mad magazine -- with John McCain as both spies. Fundamentals sound! Economy at risk! POW!