altivo

Busy day, soggy weekend predicted.

There's got to be a big lesson in that silly business about United Airlines "rumored" bankruptcy causing its stock to tank, losing (undoubtedly) millions of dollars for investors. But when the truth comes out someday, will we learn that it was a deliberate manipulation? Someone better look and see just who was shortselling like crazy as the stock went down in flames...

So the GOP is all up in arms about Obama's statement that "you can't put lipstick on a pig" but of course, the barrage of screechy negative ads emanating from their general vicinity doesn't exist.

Face it folks, the US economy is in the crapper, and it wasn't 9/11 that did it, but rather the idiotic monetary policies that started during the Reagan administration. It's time to raise interest rates back up to where they belong even if the corporations scream bloody murder because they can't finance their executive jets and thousand dollar a plate luncheons any more.

Went to the garden to check whether more zucchini had inflated overnight. None had, but the pole beans are coming in with a vengeance. I hadn't taken a container with me (who needs a bucket to carry a footlong zucchini or two?) so brought back as many beans and snow peas as I could carry in my hands, which was actually quite a lot but didn't exhaust the available supply. Oh, and exactly one okra pod. But I'm sure there'll be more. Had stir fried veggies and rice for supper. *pats tummy*

Current Mood: full
Current Location: Home in the oak grove

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

lobowolf.livejournal.com

Uh oh, Zucchini season..better lock all your car and house doors or you're likely to be the unwilling recipient of excess zucchini!

I can't figure out what all the fuss is about..."You can't put lipstick on a pig" is a tried and true expression and had McCain said it, the members of the GOP would have laughed and clapped. Politicians are pathetic, but get even more so when desperation sets in.

I think the economy has gone to hell because big corporations want their cake and eat it too. They take their financials offshore and avoid taxes, they outsource customer service to India and manufacturing to China and then wonder why nobody is buying their product. Duh! People have to have good jobs to buy "stuff," but all the corporations that want you to buy their junk have "downsized" and eliminated all of the decent paying jobs. Not that I have to explain that to you, but geez...it doesn't take an economics major to figure that out.

Throw in the cost of energy, food, housing, the OMG huge deficit from war spending and the ever-increasing cost of healthcare, the whole housing and credit crisis (which has come about because people have been living beyond their means and have actively been encouraged to do so)..well...here we are.

Edited Date: 2008-09-12 03:29 am (UTC)

From:

altivo.livejournal.com

Politics? I want the right to vote "no" for any office, rejecting every candidate on the ballot. Quite seriously. If the majority of voters cast the "no" vote, then the office stays vacant until the next election. I'm dead serious about this, and believe it would force the nomination of qualified candidates instead of clowns and method actors.

Your points about the economy are on the mark too. But the reason this boardroom chicanery has gone as far as it has still goes back to Reaganomics and deregulation. In the historic balance, the Reagan era is going to be labeled as a major turning point, and not for the better. The only thing that has "trickled down" is misery.

The really disgusting thing about that is that the majority of American voters do not agree with laissez faire capitalism. They have been tricked into voting for it because politicians have campaigned on social conservatism and kept their economic agendas in the background. It's easy for lower income blue collar voters to support a ban on queers getting married, but there's no way in hell they would knowingly vote for having their own jobs outsourced.

From:

songdogmi.livejournal.com

I guess the whole UAL thing will turn out OK in the end. If you owned it last week and planned to own it for a while, then what happened this week was just a blip. It's almost back to where it started now. I bet the UAL executives need to up their doses of tranquilizers and blood pressure meds now, though.

But the dark side of this is, between the automated stuff that no one's watching and the business chicanery that actual humans are doing, well, it lessens my confidence in the whole system.

I do have to endorse your garden, though. Sounds very yummy.

From:

altivo.livejournal.com

I've had zero confidence in the economic system and especially the so-called "free" markets for a very long time now. It's all about legalized piracy and allowing wealthy crooks to suck the life blood out of the economy, giving nothing in return. While I agree that communism can't work on any but the smallest (family level) scale, Marx still had some very valid points.

From:

avon-deer.livejournal.com

Britain's economy is taking a nosedive as well. I think investors and the public have finally realised that we don't export anything, produce anything, or have any natural resources. The entire house of cards has been built on high house prices. Now that FTBs have finally been pushed to the place where they physically cannot afford to pay any more, its all crashing. All of a sudden the con is becoming obvious.

Of course being an unashamed left winger, I find all this schadenfreude hilarious. The quasi-nationalisation by the US of all nations, of Fannie and Freddie had me rolling on my back in tears of laughter (even though I am aware it always WAS the deal with these organisations.)

I hope, as I hope every time I learn that people are suffering as a result of the actions of wealthy ~~city traders~~ gamblers, that things will be different next time. That this time they replace the system with a market that while still reasonably free, has a close eye kept on it, and made to behave if it looks like it's getting out of control.

The poorest are always the first to suffer in an economic slowdown, whether they borrow responsibly or indeed not borrowed at all (just to blow THAT old falsehood out of the water.) This bothers me because having to bear their poverty impoverishes society as a whole. I am also acutely aware that I would join their ranks after only two missed pay cheques. Most of us are just a few quid from losing our homes, no matter HOW hard we work, or HOW carefully we borrow.

The situation as it is now suits the wealthy however. The more repossessions there are; the more cheap properties there are for the wealthy to add to their portfolio. If this were poker, they’d be called “chip-advantage bullies”

"You can't buck the market." -M. Thatcher

Yes, you can! People like you just don't want to try!

Edited Date: 2008-09-12 07:25 am (UTC)

From:

altivo.livejournal.com

Even the greedy fat cats are going to get fried in the end. I believe we're headed into a situation where there will be no one with money even to RENT all this property. Oddly enough, there will still be taxes on it, based on the inflated prices the now pervade the market. This has all happened before, but it was in the 1930s and therefore has fallen completely out of history and off the radar in the US. Seriously, the public schools aren't even teaching history that far back any more, and even the so-called leaders have forgotten it. As the saying goes, those who forget history...

From:

avon-deer.livejournal.com

Because the system is set up to keep the rich wealthy and the poor dependent, things have to get VERY bad before the wealthy start feeling any real pain. I'm talking "can't afford food" pain here. Not "can't afford my golf course subscription fees" pain. :D

What always makes me laugh is the way our society, so obsessed with homes as "investments" seem to treat housing (either rented OR mortgaged) as an optional extra rather than a life essential. There was a report on TV about the repossessions in America going on at the moment. They were interviewing some realtor who was saying

"with the pressure of gas prices, and rising food prices squeezing people from all sides, they will naturally drop their most expensive investment first."

It's completely crazy! You'd think the guy was talking about a luxury yacht rather than a place in which human beings shelter from the elements. No one should have to fear that someone is going to take away the place in which they live. It's just indecent.

If anything good comes out of this whole mess, it will be a re-evaluation of our priorities.

(sorry for the edit. I can't seem to spell today)

Edited Date: 2008-09-12 10:33 am (UTC)

From:

altivo.livejournal.com

Well, yes, that's how the system is set up. What has always puzzled me about it is the willingness of the poor to accept it, or else to aspire to being one of the fat cats at the top rather than trying to improve the whole thing.