So, I've gotten kind of impatient with waiting for Geithner or Bernanke or someone to explain exactly what they're going to do with the banking system.  I know that nationalization is way too scary to contemplate, despite the fact that the process the word actually refers to in this context has been ongoing with smaller banks and doesn't represent anything even remotely approaching permanent government ownership of these institutions, but what is the "public-private partnership" of which they speak? [Read more]

The U.S. Presidential election of 2000 still evokes uncomfortable memories of election regularities, former Secretaries of State waxing legal and some stodgy butthole named Chad.  Even though the whole debacle had to be appealed all the way to the Supreme Court, which seemed to take for-eh-ver, the resolution was reached in a tidy 38 days.

Well, we're now at day 112 of the ongoing legal circus surrounding election results for a U.S. Senate seat in the state of Minnesota.  While watching Norm Coleman and his team of legal, ahem, experts is certainly entertaining, I've begun to wonder how long this can really drag on.  On Thursday, the Coleman factor, a metric I have devised for measuring just how protracted this process is, will reach 3. [Read more]

This is the house that George built!
These are men who lie in the house that George built.
This is the war that killed the men
That lie in the house that George built.

This is the fraud that started the war
That killed the men that lie in the house that George built.
This is the Dick that contrived the fraud
That started the war that killed the men
That lie in the house that George built.

This is is the press, so naive
That trusted the Dick who did deceive
That contrived the fraud that started the war that killed the men
That lie in the house that George built. [Read more]

I am going to try and keep this as short as possible because I'm off on a biz trip tomorrow (expect a lot less blog activity from me for about a week) and have things I need to get done before then.

But I just had to comment on the statement released jointly this afternoon by the Treasury, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), the Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS), and the Fed.  [Read more]

In contrast to my last post, I'm going to keep this one brief.

There's been no shortage of lot of talk lately about bipartisanship as a way forward.  Of course, we all know that the President has made this one of his central themes in assuming office.  Over the course of watching the stimulus legislation, many pundits have been all too happy to pronounce this notion DOA.  If you want to be completely cynical about it, you could say that it was a naive notion to begin with. [Read more]

I usually hate happy endings in movies. They may be fine for movies like Rudy, but for many films, happy endings often ring false and feel like cheap cop-outs. Yet for reasons I explain in the video below, I actually enjoyed the ultra-gooey finale of Slumdog Millionaire.

Perhaps because America's economic story and outlook has become almost as depressing as the childhood of Slumdog protaganist Jamal Malik, it's somehow fitting that we allow ourselves to be gloriously deluded by inspiring, well-earned Hollywood ending bullshit. [Read more]

I can't stop stewing over the fact that the South Carolina sheriff decided to investigate Michael Phelps' notorious bong hit, with an eye toward possible prosecution.

I know, I know, the sheriff dropped the investigation earlier this week after deciding there wasn't enough evidence to convict Phelps, who wisely did not admit to smoking the funny weed but merely apologized for using 'bad judgment.' [Read more]

It is with great pleasure that I take the time to comment on the running clusterfuck that is California's state government.  Here at DagBlog, we've gone back and forth a bit about the possible ramifications of expansive fiscal policy that has now been signed into law by President Obama.  If you want a real lesson in when deficits get sticky, look no further than the Golden State.

I've previously indicated that I intend to deconstruct some of the ideology behind the economic debates of the day.  I can't think of a better place to start that discussion than right here in my home state.  California is a fantastic topic if you're looking for a microcosm of America.  In fact, what happens here often predicts what goes on in the nation at large. [Read more]

Turns out, even I underestimated the stupidity of Roland Burris, a feat, I assure you, that is as difficult as it is unexpected, seeing as how I've been criticizing him for weeks.

Here's the deal, Roland: if you promised to raise money for the governor while you actively lobbied to be appointed to a senate seat that the governor had put up for sale, YOU ARE NOT INNOCENT. It doesn't matter that you're a crap fundraiser or that money for Blago dried up as it became abundantly clear that he was unhinged. And it is not helping you, your party, your state, or your president to keep revealing the details in pieces parts. [Read more]

(Video below)

So Obama is signing the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 into law in Denver this afternoon. I've heard several pundits calling the $787 billion stimulus package the beginning of Obama's New Deal. In today's dagbuzz, I discuss why that comparison is foolish, and why we probably couldn't even afford a new New Deal even if we desperately needed one.

I know Obama isn't done with today's bill. Homeowner and banking rescue plans are in the works and coming soon, but everything I've heard so far suggests that what the administration is trying to accomplish falls far short of the broad scope and scale of FDR's New Deal plan. [Read more]

Defying expectations and confounding the critics one last time, George W. Bush is not the worst president ever according to C-Span's Historians Survey of Presidential Leadership. Bush beat out Millard Fillmore, Warren Harding, William Henry Harrison, Franklin D. Pierce, Andrew Johnson, and James Buchanan to place a respectable 36th out of 42. [Read more]

Sometimes, being right is cold comfort. 

As Genghis mentioned in his post, Roland Burris has "elaborated" on his testimony regarding his contact with Rod Blagojevich prior to his appointment to the United States Senate seat once held by President Obama. The Illinois State Senate is looking into whether he committed perjury and State Rep. Barbara Flynn Curie thinks it's "odd."

Odd? Really? I think it was totally freaking predictable. Burris is as self-serving as ever. My guess is somebody threatened to disclose it, so he disclosed some version of it first.  [Read more]

Senator Roland Burris (D) speaks...

Jan 5, sworn affidavit:

There was not any contact between myself or any of my representatives with Governor Blagojevich or any of his representatives regarding my appointment to the United States Senate.

Contact counter: 0

Jan 8, sworn testimony:

I talked to some friends about my desire to be appointed, yes...I recall having a meeting with ["Lobbyist 1"] Lon Monk about my partner and I trying to get continued business and I did bring it up, it must have been in September-maybe it was in July of '08 and you know, 'If your close to the governor, well let him know that I will feel certainly interested in the seat.'" [Read more]

The $789 billion stimulus bill passed today. As expected, the Republican leadership carped about the cost. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell complained, "We've heard a lot from our friends about the danger of deficits over the past few years...Americans are wondering how we’re going to pay for all this." In case this message was too abstract for average Americans, McConnell supported his point with a common sense analogy, "Any parent knows you don't buy a new car and plan the summer vacation before you set the family budget for the year."

The trouble with common sense analogies is that sometimes they're wrong. My father is a master of his family budget, but if we were to apply his maxims to the Federal budget, we'd quickly bury our ailing economy. [Read more]

The buzz today is focused solely on Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner's financial stability plan. My quick verdict is that the plan is woefully inadequate on details, and I just don't understand the rush to announce this plan without a more specific framework for implementation. [Read more]

Elkhart, Indiana, is a city of just over 50,000 people. Over its history, it's had a few key industries, but none so important as trailer and RV manufacturing that has been recently devastated by high gas prices and lack of credit for people still willing to buy. It's a city of hard-working, salt-of-the-earth types, most of whom vote Republican. It's middle America at its best and its worst. And it's not so very different from cities of its size all over the country.  [Read more]

Monday 2/9. The MS Wall Fox Times, a joint news venture created by various prominent media organizations, has revealed that President Barack Obama is not Jesus. A probing collaboration by numerous reporters, pundits, and editorial assistants has determined that Barack Obama bears little physical resemblance to the celebrated hero of Christian faiths worldwide and cannot walk on water. The article also casts doubt on reports that he was born of immaculate conception, quoting numerous sources, including Obama's own autobiography, to show that his father was a man from Kenya. [Read more]

OK, I don't know how many people actually listened to my first attempt at the Daily Buzz, but two people commented they liked it (with reservations), and that's all the encouragement the vain Deadman needed to continue the process. I think I solved the sunglass glare issue, and for whatever reason the slow-motion issue seems absent this time (tho the quality of the video is still atrocious and very dark - perhaps that's appropriate for the deadman, tho!), and alas the length is still too long at just under 6 minutes, though at least 20 seconds of the video is dedicated to showing off my new Snuggie.

Here are the Yahoo buzz! stories I run down: (The video is below) [Read more]

OK, so Obama's tough talking apparently worked.

The administration got three moderate Republican senators to agree to support the stimulus package and prevent a filibuster. In return, some $100 billion in spending from the package was removed while some Republican proposals for tax cuts and credits were adopted (most notably a $15,000 credit for homebuyers). [Read more]

Ok, so I am totally going to risk extreme personal embarrassment by doing this, but I decided to experiment with a little video rundown of some of the day's top stories as indicated by Yahoo Buzz!, which is a Digg-like service at http://buzz.yahoo.com. I basically put on my Unabomber/Deadman outfit, recap the top articles that interested me, and throw in a little commentary for good measure. [Read more]