Wed 2009-12-16 15:37 EST
we are staunch believers that Uncle Benny and Co's wild monetary adventures will result in massive inflation down the line...at the moment, regulators, the media and some portion of the public are more concerned about the prospects of deflation...The purpose of this post is, instead, to hypothesize about what would happen if SuperInflation does indeed come to pass, as we expect it will.
Jesse's Café Américain Wed 2009-12-02 18:58 EST
..the longer cycle of 38 years and some others, is that they involve what people call 'generational memory.' People as a group essentially forget the lessons of the past, and human nature being what it is, events based on bad judgement and reckless behaviour seem to recur at these intervals. If there was any 'tell' for the current crisis, it was the general overturning of the safeguards for the financial system that had been put in place in the aftermath of the financial panic of 1929 and the Great Depression that followed, culminating in the eventual overturn of Glass-Steagall and the ascendancy of extreme leverage using exotic, unregulated instruments. This is why we call this a generational change. This is no slump, no recession. And it is far from over. We are experiencing some major changes that are easily lost when one only looks at the day to day moves, listens to the description of events on the mainstream media, and of course, have a lack of memory, a knowledge of history, of things that have happened to their grandfathers and great grandfathers. The arrogant ignorance of so many still in place is a sure sign of greater chastisement to come, until the lessons of history are learned again, and the system is brought back into a sustainable balance.
naked capitalism Fri 2009-10-23 09:50 EDT
William K. Black -- professor of economics and law, and the senior regulator during the S & L crisis -- says that that the government's entire strategy now -- as during the S&L crisis -- is to cover up how bad things are (''the entire strategy is to keep people from getting the facts'')...PhD economist Dean Baker made a similar point, lambasting the Federal Reserve for blowing the bubble, and pointing out that those who caused the disaster are trying to shift the focus as fast as they can...Economist Thomas Palley says that Wall Street also has a vested interest in covering up how bad things are...The media has largely parroted what the White House and Wall Street were saying...One of the foremost experts on structured finance and derivatives -- Janet Tavakoli -- says that rampant fraud and Ponzi schemes caused the financial crisis. University of Texas economics professor James K. Galbraith agrees...Congress woman Marcy Kaptur says that there was rampant fraud leading up to the crash...Black and economist Simon Johnson also state that the banks committed fraud by making loans to people that they knew would default, to make huge profits during the boom, knowing that the taxpayers would bail them out when things went bust.
Crash; Financial Crisis; Guest Post; lead; naked capitalism; Ongoing Cover; truth.
naked capitalism Wed 2009-10-14 12:03 EDT
...the dubious reporting object lesson is the New York Times, on what is supposedly its most prized beat: Washington DC political reporting. The Times ran two articles that verged on sycophantic in its coverage of the health insurance industry as it moved its chess pieces on the health care reform game board. The Times acted as close to a PR outlet...The Financial Times reports tonight that the health insurance industry, after its great show of making nice to the Obama administration, backstabbed it on the eve of a key vote. Do we see any coverage of this duplicity in the US media, much less the New York Times? [excellent commentary by kevin de bruxelles ``Washington General'' and DownSouth ``political theater, perfect dictatorship, and junkyard dogs'']
action; Health Insurance Lobby Duplicity; missing; naked capitalism; New York time.
Jesse's Café Américain Sat 2009-10-10 11:50 EDT
The breakdown of US dollar reserves being held overseas in the attached article of news is interesting, even though estimated. I am curious to see when Kevin Phillips and Chalmers Johnson start speaking to this as this sort of historic change is in their respective ballparks. Of course, there is always the option to listen to those in the American financial media who dismiss the internationally respected and well-connected Robert Fisk as a commie crank, a liberal web spinner, and a tinfoil conspiracty theorist.
De-dollarise; implications; Jesse's Café Américain; oil markets; plans; rooted.
The Realignment Project Tue 2009-09-22 12:31 EDT
One of the rhetorical strategies of the economic right's cultural politics is to associate the free market with individual pleasure, aesthetic beauty, and technological progress, while associating the public sector with the oppression of the crowd, the spartan ugliness of ``civil service issue,'' and general associations with low-quality, outmoded, cheap machinery...the car, a luxury commodity associated with wealth and prestige, is an extension of your (now much cooler) person, it's fast and futuristic, and it's well-designed and new...By contrast, the dominant media image of mass transit plays up its worst qualities as a social nightmare: it's crowded, claustrophobic, there's no privacy and people and bumping into you, it's noisy and smells terrible, maybe it's dangerous, you're getting delayed again, this is what you take to get where you have to go, not where you want to go. And part of the cultural work of the left in championing the cause of the public must be to counter-act this kind of imagery. Because the public can and should be beautiful.
Jesse's Café Américain Thu 2009-08-27 10:45 EDT
Welfare for Wall Street is just another phase of the 'trickle down' approach that seems to be so popular with the financerati. If "Cash for Clunkers" had involved subsidized loans for cars administered by the banks it would have been touted as the greatest thing since sliced bread by the coporate media and mainstream infomercials, instead of being slammed on a daily basis as a troubled, pointless giveaway program.
Jesse's Café Américain; new deal; Programs Subsidizing Subprime Lenders; Wall Street.
Fri 2009-07-24 00:00 EDT
Tue 2009-04-21 00:00 EDT
``What it comes down to, apparently, is a leadership elite across all sectors -- politics, business, academia, media -- that is incapable of processing the truth, and then conveying it to the broad American public.''
Thu 2009-01-15 00:00 EST
``It was looting, and it is high time the media starts describing it in those terms.''
naked capitalism; New York Times Pulls Punches; Wall Street Bubble Era Pay.
Fri 2008-07-04 00:00 EDT
by Chris Hedges; "The popular media are courtiers...They are the smiley faces of a corporate state that has hijacked the government and is raping the nation."
5; AlterNet; makes; Real Journalists; years.
Sat 2008-05-17 00:00 EDT
Bush's visit to Israel's 60th birthday celebration preceding Saudi visit guaranteed cool reception; Saudi's may gain influence by increasing production AFTER US election
Divergent Readings; Media Rorschach Test; naked capitalism; Saudi; Wee Production Increase.
Thu 2008-05-15 00:00 EDT
Jesse's Café Américain: We Can't Handle the Truth? Volcker testimony coverage on Bloomberg cut; ignored by other media outlets
Sun 2008-05-04 00:00 EDT
by Robert Parry | The Smirking Chimp; Reverend Sun Myung Moon "has invested billions of dollars in financing the U.S. conservative movement and put fat wads of cash into the pockets of many prominent Republicans, including members of President George W. Bush's own family." Rev. Moon's lurid sex scandals, espionage, media empire, drug trafficking, gun-running
