Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Hooray! The Surge is Working…Again

Nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public.

-H. L. Mencken
The previously discredited CNBC ace shill Jim 'Mad Money' Cramer has now become the point man for the regenerated Wall Street hydra, launching into a sleazy Rovian war with a real life economist who actually got it right in predicting the collapse Nouriel Roubini. Roubini, a man who was from the outset mocked, scorned and derisively labeled ‘Dr. Doom’ by the same type of four-flushing assholes who brought us Deep Capture has been declared public enemy number one and must be taken out with extreme prejudice for the big con to succeed. The oafish court jester of looter capitalism is now back with a vengeance as he according to this piece by Frank Rich of the damned liberal New York Times states in his recent piece Awake and Sing!:

“I am pronouncing the depression over!” declared CNBC’s irrepressible Jim Cramer on April 2. The next day the unemployment rate, already at the highest level in 25 years, jumped yet again, but Cramer wasn’t thinking about the 663,000 jobs that disappeared in March. He was thinking about the market. Mad money. Fast money. Big money. The Dow, after all, has rallied in the weeks since Timothy Geithner announced his bank bailout 2.0. Par-tay! On Wednesday, Cramer rang the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange, in celebration of the 1,000th broadcast of his nightly stock-tip jamboree.
Roubini appropriately dismissed the man who acts like a baboon on crystal meth:
But "Cramer is a buffoon", the professor countered, on the sidelines of a conference in Canada on Tuesday night. "He was one of those who called six times in a row for this bear market rally to be a bull market rally and he got it wrong. After all this mess, and after Jon Stewart, he should just shut up because he has no shame."

The latest rally will fail when it becomes clear the economy is not improving and that several banks will be unable to pass the "stress tests" currently being carried out by the federal government, Mr Roubini says.

"Cramer keeps insulting me personally and saying a bunch of lies," he told an Associated Press reporter. "He is not a credible analyst."
Which of course didn't stop the NYT from piling on Roubini in a Wednesday Op-Ed column by that unbiased source of wisdom William D. Cohan (a contributing editor for Fortune Magazine, the rag that featured a fawning hagiography back in the Depression years about Benito Mussolini and his fine corporate fascist system) that in upholding the finest traditons of Judith Miller poo pooed the questioning of the miraculous profits of Goldman Sachs as so much conspiracy theory even though Hank Paulson obviously had at best a conflict of interest in presiding over the TARP plan to socialize the losses of the looters to keep the big casino going. Similar sliming has been done to Nobel Prize winning economist Paul Krugman in the insipid Newsweek cover story of a few weeks back by hack Evan Thomas who openly and brazenly admits his bias: "If you are of the establishment persuasion (and I am), reading Krugman makes you uneasy.". Stenographers for the elite like Thomas are largely responsible for this disaster to begin with in that they failed to perform their constitutional duties in ensuring that a free press would ensure that power be kept in check but he and his ilk are more interested in careerism, sucking up to the establishment and ensuring that they keep get invited to cocktail parties. No wonder that the regular corporate media is getting its ass kicked by the alternative media and the blogs, you just can't trust the bastards on anything anymore.

But I digress...

It is asinine and childish to think that Paulson, the former CEO of Goldman Sachs did not abuse his position as the Bush regime's Treasury Secretary to favorably rig the big bailout for the benefit of his cronies, just look at how the AIG bailout was used to further shore up the big Kahuna of the street and ensure that the revolving door between the temple of avarice and the White House remains fully operational. Seems like the blood sucking jackals at the real center of American political power, Goldman Sachs is sending it's legal army after a Florida based blogger named Mike Morgan for daring to set up a website Info, Comments, Opinions and Facts About Goldman Sachs. The white shoe Wall Street law firm Chadbourne & Parke has been set loose upon poor Mr. Morgan for his daring to question these criminal pigs and their ongoing assault on the American economy - you know it's bad when they don't outsource their wetwork to India but somehow the site which as the delightful url of http://www.goldmansachs666.com/ has really but a bug up the pasty white asses of the house of Paulson and Blankfein.

I would recommend that everyone take the time to not only check out Mr. Morgan's site but to back him in his David versus Goliath stand against the mother of all moneychangers in Goldman Sachs. Let the buffonish tea baggers take to the streets at the behest of the deranged shill Glenn Beck, Dick Armey, uber crackpot Richard Mellon Scaife and the Texas oil Nazi Koch Foundation (see Think Progress for the scoop on who is really sponsoring this phony white populist mayhem) but the real enemy of America sits in the ivory tower at 85 Broad Street in lower Manhattan and it's toxic tentacles extend directly into the highest realms of the new Obama administration. Putting Timothy Geithner and Larry Summers in charge of economic policy along with other dubious appointments (or in the case of real progressives non appointments) are an early indicator that the only change for Obama is going to be chump change. The hedge fund hyenas and derivatives alchemists and their pushers are going to have free reigh while an exponentially growing number of Americans are being rendered jobless, homeless and exiled to tent cities...hell, at least Reagan gave people surplus cheese.

In a remarkable interview on the PBS program Bill Moyers Journal former S & L regulator William K. Black gets right to the heart of things:

BILL MOYERS: Is it possible that these complex instruments were deliberately created so swindlers could exploit them?

WILLIAM K. BLACK: Oh, absolutely. This stuff, the exotic stuff that you're talking about was created out of things like liars' loans, that were known to be extraordinarily bad. And now it was getting triple-A ratings. Now a triple-A rating is supposed to mean there is zero credit risk. So you take something that not only has significant, it has crushing risk. That's why it's toxic. And you create this fiction that it has zero risk. That itself, of course, is a fraudulent exercise. And again, there was nobody looking, during the Bush years. So finally, only a year ago, we started to have a Congressional investigation of some of these rating agencies, and it's scandalous what came out. What we know now is that the rating agencies never looked at a single loan file. When they finally did look, after the markets had completely collapsed, they found, and I'm quoting Fitch, the smallest of the rating agencies, "the results were disconcerting, in that there was the appearance of fraud in nearly every file we examined."

BILL MOYERS: So if your assumption is correct, your evidence is sound, the bank, the lending company, created a fraud. And the ratings agency that is supposed to test the value of these assets knowingly entered into the fraud. Both parties are committing fraud by intention.

WILLIAM K. BLACK: Right, and the investment banker that — we call it pooling — puts together these bad mortgages, these liars' loans, and creates the toxic waste of these derivatives. All of them do that. And then they sell it to the world and the world just thinks because it has a triple-A rating it must actually be safe. Well, instead, there are 60 and 80 percent losses on these things, because of course they, in reality, are toxic waste.

BILL MOYERS: You're describing what Bernie Madoff did to a limited number of people. But you're saying it's systemic, a systemic Ponzi scheme.

WILLIAM K. BLACK: Oh, Bernie was a piker. He doesn't even get into the front ranks of a Ponzi scheme...

BILL MOYERS: But you're saying our system became a Ponzi scheme.

WILLIAM K. BLACK: Our system...

BILL MOYERS: Our financial system...

WILLIAM K. BLACK: Became a Ponzi scheme. Everybody was buying a pig in the poke. But they were buying a pig in the poke with a pretty pink ribbon, and the pink ribbon said, "Triple-A."
In a nutshell the system itself is rotten to the core and Geithner, Bernanke and the rest of Mr. Obama's A Team of the best and the brightest are just more of the same dirty rotten scoundrels who have destroyed the global economy and are now being allowed to finish the job. For Christ's sake, Obama is actually going out on television and pushing refinancing as if most people really qualify anyway for the simple reasons that (a) the banks aren't lending (b) their existing loans are well in excess of the property value in most cases...and (c) you can no longer instantly qualify for a 400,000 loan if you have no job and about a million a month are being jettisoned as the real economy continues the freefall. I mean Jesus Fucking Christ, is this guy a president or a pimp?

Selling the Sizzle: The recent attempts to manage perception in order to reflate the bubble and save the squadrons of corrupt paper dealers is a propaganda masterpiece unseen since the bloodshed and chaos of the Iraq war was flushed down the memory hole courtesy of the great General Petraeus and THE SURGE. What is now going on is every bit as dishonest and even more monstrous in that the large scale thieves who run the system are using their media and pocket politicians to further entrap Americans in the shackles of debt slavery from which they shall never be free as long as the failure of unregulated looter capitalism is not dealt with and the cancer cut out once and for all. Don't believe anything, it's all a big lie of Hitlerian proportions, a public relations stew of deception that Goebbels would be proud of and you just have to love that little bumper sticker slogan Green Shoots.

Do NOT, I repeat do NOT put one nickel into the markets because in the end you will be sorry. I am advising people to take this postponement of the looming collapse as an opportunity to shore up your personal positions. Do not spend a dime you don’t have to spend, take all of your money out of your 401k once it has been reflated and put it into real assets. Pay down debt, start learning about how to garden, hey our grandparents did it didn’t they? Stockpile non-perishable food, buy a Lifestraw (provided you can find one) because they are coming to privatize your water soon, buy guns and ammo and most importantly be suspicious of anything that the assclowns who run the corporate media try to sell you with their propaganda.

Obama, tagged as the pope of hope by one blogger is just another errand boy for the big banks. Pope of dopes is more like it , it took Clinton and Bush years to cheapen the presidency but Obama has done it in record time, sliming around with the likes of Jay Leno on the electronic crackpipe, taking pot shots at cripples, escalating the war in Afghanistan, reneging on boatloads of campaign promises and in the absolute nadir shilling for the banks in imploring people to refinance their overvalued McMansions and other cheaply constructed shitboxes.

The Obamanoids eat it up too, they are legion and tripping over themselves in falling in line to shill for the most despicable of the Obama administration policies, like the failure to order the Justice Department to arrest Karl Rove for flouting subpoenas, continuing the illegal wiretapping, escalating the war in Afghanistan and most odiously as all choosing to back the banksters in the gutting of the American economy. Sure, there are the little feely good cosmetic changes like stem cell research and relaxing restrictions on Cuba (both by the way make economic sense and if there is one thing to commend Obama on it is the lack of ideology exhibited early on, which in a way is also damnable in that it only supports the status quo) and that ridiculous ‘pirates’ thing which is about as phony as Reagan’s defeat of that industrialized military juggernaut Grenada.

One thing is for certain though, no matter how well that Surge II works it is only going to make the inevitable collapse that much worse when it does come. And those vicious shitheads who worship the unholy trinity of Limbaugh, Palin and Joe the Plumber will only become meaner and more better positioned to take advantage when it becomes apparent that the only change that has occured is a new coat of paint on the whorehouse that is American capitalism.


The 'Cowboy' on Facebook

Media Conglomerates, Mergers, Concentration of Ownership, Global Issues, Updated: January 02, 2009

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15 comments:

Anonymous said...

Alright, let's face it. Greed is a mental disorder. These people are sick mofo's. I'm joining the minimalists, if there is such a thing. Get by with as little crap as possible. As Ken Kesey said,"Take what you need and let the rest go by."

Unknown said...

anony sez...

Greed is a mental disorder

The GOP is the party of greed. It has been demonstrated (Stanford Studies) that gops have more nightmares and night terrors than do normal folk. All of them, I believe are attracted to the GOP as cultists are attracted to cults. They seek comfort and 'support' with like-minded psychopaths. Carl Jung estimated that about 30 percent of any population was certifiably nuts. Thirty percent of the US population is GOP; Jung was RIGHT!

SadButTrue said...

I didn't know about the night terrors but it makes sense. Projection. Being capable of pretty much any evil that comes to their mind they see others as having the same lack of compunction and compassion. In their minds they inhabit a world of people as psychopathic as themselves. That must be scary.

Unknown said...

Stanford University did a convincing study of night terrors et al. I immediately connected their results with what Carl Jung had said about every population consisting of some THIRTY PERCENT who were psyhopathic. I had already concluded that goppers were --on the whole --both nutty and insecure by the time the GOP held their national convention in Houston. During the coverage, I heard one of them explain why they so adore and deified Ronald Reagan: "He made us feel good about ourselves!"

Certainly --idiots, psychos, liars, psychopaths and con artists are in desparate NEED of a Reagan, a Hitler, a Pol Pot to make them feel good about their sorry ass selves.

Rx said...

"During the coverage, I heard one of them explain why they so adore and deified Ronald Reagan: "He made us feel good about ourselves!" I listened a few days ago to Noam Chomsky on Democracy Now make a point about how close this country might be for the rise of a dangerous Hitler-like demigod. This is from that interview,

"As I say, the precedents are not attractive. Now, if—now even before the next presidential, if in the next congressional election the economy has not begun to recover, this kind of populist rage could boil over and could have very dangerous consequences. This country has a long history of being kind of ridden by fear. It’s a very frightened country. This goes back to colonial times.

I mean, we’re very lucky that we have never had an honest demagogue. I mean, the demagogues we’ve had are so corrupt that they never got anywhere—you know, Nixon, McCarthy, you know, Jimmy Swaggart and others. So they were kind of destroyed by their own corruption.

But suppose we had an honest demagogue, you know, a Hitler type, who was not corrupt. There’s probably—it could be unpleasant. There’s a background of concern and fear, tremendous fear, and searching for some answer, which they’re not getting from the establishment. “Who’s responsible for my plight?” You know, and that can be exploited. And unless there’s active, effective organizing and education, it’s dangerous."

In this society there is something ugly, vicious and dangerous which lies just beneath the surface. Lately, we can plainly see the form it takes, no speculation is necessary. Some of us, who have refused the spoon-feeding of myths about our exceptional nature and our god-given special place in the world, have always know this. If close-watchers such as Krugman and Stiglitz are right, and this momentary easing up of our financial troubles is ony that- momentary- and the fall to the bottom comes rushing upon us, get ready people.

Unknown said...

Rx said...

If close-watchers such as Krugman and Stiglitz are right, and this momentary easing up of our financial troubles is ony that- momentary- and the fall to the bottom comes rushing upon us, get ready people.

God bless the child that's got his own

--Billie Holiday

SadButTrue said...

I've been telling my friends (and anyone who would listen) that we haven't hit anything near the bottom economically yet. It's like someone falling off a mountain gets snagged on a branch part way down, but that branch is already cracking, and could give way at a moment's notice.

Unknown said...

SadButTrue said...

I've been telling my friends (and anyone who would listen) that we haven't hit anything near the bottom economically yet.Donald Trump recently said what most of us here have said from the 'get go'. The BAILOUTS went to the wrong folk. As I've said for years: WEALTH DOES NOT TRICKLE DOWN. That applies, as well, to bailouts. The 'banks' got a windfall; the monies DID NOT trickle down; the economy was NOT stimulated; the contraction of 'real money' continues.

Anonymous said...

"I listened a few days ago to Noam Chomsky on Democracy Now make a point about how close this country might be for the rise of a dangerous Hitler-like demigod."

Um, Glen Limbaugh? Rush Beck? I'd certainly suspect they would be the ones to listen closely to, to monitor for that kind of person to arise. They'll be the ones pushing such a person....

Yes, one could easily label this period as the Eye of the financial hurricane that has hit. The worst is yet to come.

Of all the abominations emanating from Obama's lips (obaminations?), I think this insistence that autoworkers and retirees must take wage cuts, and have the entirely worthless GM stock (valued at @ 3.4 times the selling price too, sheesh), taken as payment into their health care funding sources, to "save their jobs" while immediately after the agreement is announced that Pontiac is to go away, Hummer, Saturn too, thousands and thousands more jobs lost, plants to close, (some "saving" of jobs, eh?) while the "Bailout" monies go to bonuses on Wall Street, is the worst.

Too bad the UAW is composed of ball-less wonders these days: My grandfather fought Pinkertons in the street of Michigan to get the things like 40 hour work weeks, no child labor, etc. we all enjoy(ed?)

You'd think there would be ONE "union" leader to take a stand, but no.

Don't get me wrong: although I warned all that would listen (none) among my progressive/liberal friends and blogmates that I wasn't hearing anything reassuring from Obama in his campaign, just vague platitudes, I certainly wished him well.

Now, I wish him GONE. I wish the Republican party gone. I wish the Democratic party, and their "$87 billion war funding" scam gone.

Folks, we are spending over ONE TRILLION a year fighting the 30%ers imaginary boogiemen. Add up the budget, the 87 billion here, the 80 billion there, the Black Budget no one sees, and it may very well exceed one trillion dollars a YEAR!

For WHAT???

THAT gives ME nightmares.

Name me ONE other budget item we could cut by 3/4 trillion a year, and SAVE OUR Republic?

THAT IS WHERE WE MUST START.

We are hearing a projected budget shortfall of $363 billion for May and June: who is going to buy this debt from America? Who will EVER repay it???

Expect the deflation of assets and the inflation of your dollars to wallpaper to start ANY DAY NOW.

(please excuse the capitalization, I'm still an excitable boy at 53.)

farang

Anonymous said...

Cowboy, the last post/article on your blog/site is from April 15, 2009!

Being used to your (almost) daily input of new-articles I wonder if all is wel with you and your blog/site?!

Hope to hear from you soon!

jacobroodenburg@home.nl

Anonymous said...

It's too bad Americans are so addicted to main stream media. It would have been nice if Nader were elected, but the media has a death grip on our minds. "If my mind's messed up, my body don't care."
(Len's probably vacationing on some sunny tropical beach)

Unknown said...

'(Len's probably vacationing on some sunny tropical beach)'

: ) In this case, 'vacationing' is not what it's cracked up to be. More later.

Heraclitus said...

My colleagues/cohorts/comrades what have you were convinced 'they' got to Len. It's great to hear you're ok, Len! Be safe!

Unknown said...

Heraclitus said...

My colleagues/cohorts/comrades what have you were convinced 'they' got to Len.Not a chance, Heraclitus : ) Not a chance.

I am convolescing but --I promise --I will be back with a vengence.

The EVIL MOTHER FUCKERS ain't seen NOTHING yet!

I will be working toward and supporting efforts to HANG the mass murderers who killed JFK and engineered 911. I will name names.

REVOLUTION!!!!!!!

Anonymous said...

I hope you are back soon...You are one of the bookmarked sites I check every day.

Peace