hahahaaha you're fucked now, capitalists

[metasynthie]

Oh wait, that includes all of us that live here in Global Capitalism too. Shit!!

This is some crazy times. The more fiscally conservative "no wall street socialism" wing of the Republicans and the more radical "how dare you give more money to rich bankers" wing of the Democrats have stymied this bailout at least temporarily. They're voting on it

Comments

[heinousbitca]

I just use an AmEx. Gotta pay it all at the end of the month, and it's timed to hit right around the paycheck that doesn't half go for rent.

Airline miles and financial discipline, even if it's a little forcible. Now what i'd love to know is how you get people who charge like there's no tomorrow to understand "i can't go out to thai food, i have no money." I mean, because i love Thai food and all, but 12 bucks worth of panang curry is not worth debt.

[annaclaire]

Agreed. I have a credit card that I use once a month for a regular purchase and pay in full. Luckily, I got started working for a credit card company right at the time that most people are doing crazy shit with credit cards, so I never got into any of that.

[tagonist]

Huh. I actually find that usually I agree with Kucinich more than I do here. What it sounds like here is the stuff you scream at your comatose, brain-injured, junkie friend since grade school who finally OD'd. You were such a good poet! You should have learned when Bob died! I told you to start carrying Narcan and stay away from the black tar guy! He's right- we shouldn't have built a debt-based economy. We should have health care coverage like every other industrial democracy in the world. We should have been worrying about this stuff back when throwing CEOs in jail would have made a difference. But cutting dividends is about as useful now as throwing Dan Mudd off a cliff, and only half as satisfying. There really isn't any way to rewind the clock and build a not-shitty America, and the bailout, hell, I don't think it matters too much (though I've been writing about a few advantages

[metasynthie]

Yeah, that's a very similar train of thought to what I had when I (too briefly) noted "but obviously, it's not real helpful to say 'good job, this is totally fucked, don't throw more money down that hole.'" Kucinich is more pissed off than constructive or offering helpful strategy that does more than say "Aughgh I toold you so!" I can't really blame him. At the same time it seems from reading aroudn that there are a lot of bailout alternatives (and maybe ones that make more sense than dividend garnishing, I dunno, not so good on analyzing and critiquing economic plans) floating around that don't involve saving a lot of investment banks from bankruptcy. It's just obvious why that's the option being pursued: politics <3 investment banks.

[kat_chan]

Remember, Kucinich was the man who, as Mayor of Cleveland, refused to sell off the city-owned electric utility to make payments on the city's debt and caused the city to go into default. Sure, Cleveland Public Power is now a model for city-owned utilities, but the defaulted bonds just about killed Cleveland Trust (which struggled along for about 10 to 12 years afterwards before being bought by Society Bank, now known as KeyBank). Many people in Cleveland were bitter that he let the city go into default at the time. He was (unsuccessfully) recalled, even. But it was a very brave thing that he did

[metasynthie]

Most of the holders of the mortgage-backed securities that would be bought in this bailout are hedge funds and most of the securities are derivatives, also known as "imaginary bullshit financial products." If propping up hedge funds and people invested in the hedge funds is equivalent to actually propping up our economy, then the economy is totally dead sooner or later. Fortunately there are a lot of people saying that wall street derivatives & hedges do not equal the main part of the economy -- I don't really know how to evaluate those claims and I agree something should be done. I don't knowwwww maybe buying up people's mortgages and actually regulating? It seems absurdly obvious from some points of view. Either that, or nationalize these goddamn banks. I have no problem with that, but then I'm a crazy socialist.

[locallibrarian]

I just love what this shows us about what constitutes a "panic" and a "crisis." Thought a = We're all going to die!!! Thought b = A bunch of us have been dying for a long, long time, and it's not a crisis until now?

We need more left/radical economist translators. It has been too hard to parse this shit without help.

[coyotesdaughter]

i agree on the credit angle.

once upon a time i decided to suspend my hatred of credit and get a credit card and... now... now i am twenty thousand dollars deep in credit debt.

fortunately being a whore in a capitalist society, even a failing one, pays well and the debt wont be around (or at least wont be substantial) for more than a year and for that i am grateful... but still.

you know, in most cyberpunk settings this reads a lot like the beginning of that point in the metaplot when the strong and growing east Asian economies prompt the purchase of America as the federal government goes bankrupt. now obviously this has as much to do with asiaphilia as well as xenophobic nonsense... but, still, it is stylish and so in the words of Shadowrunners everywhere:

Hoy, chummer!