Posts Tagged ‘economy’

Kaus cuts to the chase

Posted: March 30, 2009 by datechguy in opinion/news
Tags: ,

Via Glenn Mickey Kaus bottom lines the political price of the president’s moves at GM and Chrysler.

…won’t Obama now “own” the GM problem? If the company shuts down in the near future, costing tens of thousands of blue collar jobs, it will be under executives implicitly or explicitly chosen by Obama. It will be Obama’s failure, not simply GM’s failure, no? A public sector failure, not just a business failure. Doesn’t that make it harder, not easier, for the administration to walk away and force the company into bankruptcy (if, for example, the company’s plans for “viability” continue to fall short after the new 60-day deadline)? And doesn’t that, in turn, make extracting the necessary concessions (by threatening bankruptcy) more difficult as well?

If you are going to be the man you are going to be the man. Economically this is a really nasty move, politically it is a really risky one, but it is the logical result of companies rushing to take federal dough and the strings that come with it.

Update: Talkleft notices a double standard.

Morning Joe VERY RELEVENT!

Posted: March 19, 2009 by datechguy in opinion/news
Tags: ,

These guys are loaded for bear today

6:05 a.m. They are already hitting Dodd, Frank and the administration and congress.

6:10 a.m. Joe points out that yesterday the US spent more money than the entire amount of the ENTIRE Iraq war.

6:12 a.m. Your eyes are not deceiving you this is MSNBC!

6:27 a.m. The Easter egg e-mail was priceless

6:39 a.m. OMG they are quoting Barney Frank from 2003. Lawrence O’Donnell is spinning furiously.

6:41 a.m. Barney Frank WILL NOT come on Morning Joe. This must be the only MSNBC show that he won’t come on.

6:43 a.m. They bring up that AIG was one of Senator Obama’s biggest contributes.

6:45 a.m. “Barney Frank has gotten away with murder.” no wonder he won’t come on. O’Donnell is still spinning.

7:02 a.m. Sports gave time to get the dishes washed and other stuff done. Back to the show.

7:08 a.m. They are going to have to get up at 1:30 a.m. EST to do the show on the west coast.

7:10 a.m. Well he is going to go to be on Leno during a crisis it’s not like he was going to play golf or something.

7:12 a.m. Apparently from now on we do have to pay taxes to be in treasury.

7:13 a.m. Tucker asks the forbidden question: “Would a Clinton administration have been this disorganized?”

7:15 a.m. O’Donnell should get combat pay for this appearance. He is spinning again, Mika backs him up.

7:28 a.m. Myers complements the president on keeping Gates.

7:30 a.m. O’Donnell hits Myers on Cheney, Myers defends. O’Donnell asks if he thinks Cheney thinks only he could have defended the country, Myers answer he should be proud of their record.

7:32 a.m. He points out that in theater the troops were full of confidence, while in the beltway it was all doom and gloom.

7:38 a.m. They didn’t quote a republican on that series of quotes.

7:39 a.m. This was in the bill that nobody could read. Cantor is putting the nail in the coffin.

7:44 a.m. O’Donnell is on full attack mode on Cantor it’s his only chance to fight back.

7:45 a.m. O’Donnell is still attacking but is looking very bad.

7:57 a.m. That was a low blow, her ancestry is polish.

8:00 a.m. Time is now spinning.

8:02 a.m. The 3d glasses make them all look like characters out of the doctor who episode The War Games.

8:07 a.m. How do you call saying I didn’t do something and then saying the opposite a “change in position”. Under oath that would be called perjury.

8:11 a.m. If Dodd has lost Tina Brown he’s lost the left.

8:19 a.m. Does Eric Idle get a buck for the Rutles reference?

8:28 a.m. Just to remind the president; Hamilton became sec of treasury 6 years after the Revolutionary war ended.

8:29 a.m. Oh and we can start the Geitner resignation watch now. When a president says he has “complete confidence” that means his days are numbered.

8:35 a.m. Elizabeth Warren is making a lot of friends on this show.

8:37 a.m. She makes the best case for regulation that I’ve heard yet.

8:45 a.m. James Mann on Reagan will it be an attack or a celebration?

8:52 a.m. Colin Powell didn’t want Reagan to say “Tear down this wall.” I’m so shocked.

Libby 1 Congress 0

Posted: March 19, 2009 by datechguy in opinion/news
Tags: ,

The head of AIG who came out of retirement for $1 to try to clean up the mess there tangled with congress yesterday and the result wasn’t pretty…for congress:

He also proved himself a cut above those who aimed to make cheap headlines at his expense. I’d pay to see him question Congress on its role in the economic mess.

Most important, he revealed the dirty little secret that much of Washington knew and approved of AIG’s promises to pay retention bonuses to members of its financial products unit. That revelation came early in Liddy’s testimony and punctured the hot air balloon.

Liddy’s matter-of-fact claim directly implicates the Federal Reserve, which he called the “gatekeeper” for the 80% of AIG owned by the taxpayers. He also said Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner knew of the bonus plan nearly two weeks before it became public.

Over to you, President Obama

Between this and the Dodd yes I did no I didn’t twist, the Fannie Mae Bonius’ and the questions about the actual congressional votes this is turning into a debacle and a half for the administration.

My economic plan is looking better and better.

Does it occur to anyone…

Posted: March 18, 2009 by datechguy in opinion/news
Tags: , ,

…that all this chest beating and telegraphing about “getting” AIG is setting up a situation where they can pass a “We’ll show them” bill so it can be done loudly and with great flair but can be quietly found unconstitutional or tweaked later.

I think this smells.

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