The root of all money
Weird. I took off about noon and the market was up a couple hundred points, came home and it was down a couple hundred then looked again just now and saw it closed up 430 points. More fun than going to an Indian casino, but it makes me glad I liquidated my portfolio and put it into utilities. Yep, this is a good time to have your electric and phone bills paid up.
Interest rates, btw, are close to zero which means for regular folks there’s no money available to borrow. Wait until they get it back up into double digit interest rates and there’ll be plenty to go around again, especially after they pass some more bankruptcy reform to make sure your kids have to make good on your debts.
[I tried to shop a friend's business loan a while back, but as soon as the banker would hear that she didn't own the building her business was in, that was the end of the conversation. You catered U2? So? You're catering Sade and John Legend tonight? (yawn) Truly, this is the entrepreneurial spirit that has made bankstering what it is today. Why invest in Bedford Falls before it officially becomes Pottersville?]
In other news I see that Apple has passed Exxon as the U.S.’s most valuable company. I guess there is no such thing as peak computer.
More:
Digby on debt-downgrade cheering Teabaggers
Strange, but if you listen to the right, Obama succeeded Bill Clinton….
emptywheel with more on how Rummy tortured whistleblowing contractors
Scott Horton on how Obama’s DOJ is following in Rummy’s footsteps
Otoh, there are no shortage of assholes who make Obama’s DOJ look good by comparison
Also, torture had nothing to do with finding bin Laden
Ian Welsh on London burning [more from Avedon Carol]
Barbara Ehrenreich writes a new afterword for the 10th anniversary edition of Nickeled and Dimed
Health insurance profits up(because when you collude to keep your rates high, why would’t they?)
More background on that billion dollar bet on S&P’s downgrade (and the PIMCO angle – warning, video way down the page starts automatically (assholes))
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For some reason no one’s asking Mitt Romney about Warren Jeff’s life sentence. Why not? Mitt’s grandfather founded a polygamist colony in Mexico, and Mitt’s dad, former Michigan Governor George Romney was born in that colony.
When it comes to anything related to polygamy, I would expect the media to make Mitt their go-to guy. That doesn’t seem to be the case, and I really wonder why.
The L.A. Times says that Michele Bachmann wants to repeal the Renaissance (if you think they’re exaggerating, you need to read the article and then learn more about the late Pastor Francis Shaeffer, Bachmann’s Cleon Skousen). [video of Bachmann being Bachmann]
Hilarious: Bachmann’s people whined about the picture Newsweek used, soNewsweek released all the outtakes to prove she looked that way in all them! (partly it appears to be really dreadful use of eyeliner) But the catch of the day goes to Brian Lambert for this pull from that New Yorker story on Bachmann:
“Bachmann usually describes herself vaguely as a ‘former federal tax litigation attorney,’ but, in part because she was new, she didn’t do much litigating. I talked with six of Bachmann’s former colleagues in the small I.R.S. office where she worked. Three of them still work there. No one would speak on the record, but they all said that Bachmann was not on the job long enough to gain much experience. Two of Bachmann’s five children were born while she worked for the I.R.S., and all six former colleagues said that the primary fact they remembered about Bachmann was that she spent a good portion of her time on maternity leave — the I.R.S. had a fairly generous policy — and that caused resentment. ‘Basically, the rest of us that were here were handling Michele’s inventory,’ one former colleague said. ‘In her four years, she probably didn’t get more than two, two and a half years of experience. So she was doing lightweight stuff.’ A second colleague said, ‘She was an attorney here, but she was never here.’ (Bachmann declined a request to respond.) Many of the cases she worked on were settled without going to trial, and there is only one Bachmann case on file that ended up in a courtroom. According to court documents, in 1992 Bachmann sought six thousand dollars in taxes from a Chippewa Indian who failed to report three years of income from Youth Project, Inc., a community-organizing nonprofit dedicated to ‘social justice and peace.’ Bachmann doesn’t like to say directly that she worked for the ‘I.R.S.,’ but she often cites her work in the tax office as part of the reason she’s qualified to be President. The job, her campaign Web site declares, ‘solidified her strong support for efforts to simplify the Tax Code and reduce tax burdens on family and small business budgets.’ ”
The more the media learns, the less kind they’ll be. I think every Tea party leader should run for president as it’s the only time the media will actually scrutinize them, kinda.
In other politics:
Paul Ryan is trying to say the S&P downgrade is vindication of his proposed bill but Glenn Kessler’s The Fact Checker says Ryan’s being “too cute by half”
If you can’t go after someone for being Mormon, what the fuck is the point of talking about religion at all?
Lots of talk but no links to Rick “the Texecutioner” Perry because he’s the biggest hard on in the Republican field, a cold-blooded murderer who ignored sound science to execute Cameron Todd Willingham who was convicted on bullshit evidence provided by a good ol’ boy fire inspector
The more you learn about Joe Walsh, the worse he looks
When Mike Ditka speaks, political reporters MUST COVER IT!
Does the right ever get anything right? [are they ever wrong about anything?]
I’m not a podcast guy, but Daily Kos radio will feature the legendary Armando and I might just have to tune it in sometime
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Etc.:
Embezzler ripped off the Mark Twain House & Museum in West Hartford for $1 million
Digital is saving publishing (but maybe not in a way they really appreciate)
Hmm, here’s a church school in Florida Katherine Kersten should look into
Slow news days on the local front has the media in a lather over a dead pit bull that some think looks like a chupacabra
Statute of limitations saves pervogelical preacher (meanwhile, in NJ, a disgraced former governor makes amends by ministering to state prisoners— no, wait, he’s gay so never mind)
I should be nice but I’m glad the South has gone to hell
Another illustrated guide to what an asshole you are for commenting online (that pretty much ignores the whole whaddya do when some troll tries to dump bullshit in your comment thread because not every angry commenter has a problem, imho)
Rolling Stone says new fuel standards for trucks is a big deal
Rock Beyond Belief: finally, areligious troops get their own show
Lobsters must have the world’s worst karma
Norwegian Shooter’s traffic settles back down
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Never heard of him before today, but if he played bass for Johnny Cash, his passing is worth a mention.
Hey, thanks for noticing. I’m trying to get back to regular posting. Take care.