Spengler harshes what buzz you have left:
Paulson's dreadful scheme will become law, because Americans love their bankers. The bankers enable their collective gambling habit. Think of America as a town with one casino, in which the only economic activity is gambling. Most people lose, but the casino keeps lending them more money to play. Eventually, of course, the casino must go bankrupt. At this point, the townspeople people vote to tax themselves in order to bail out the casino. Collectively, the gamblers cannot help but lose; individually they nonetheless hope to win their way out of the hole....
The homeowners of America hope against hope that somehow, sometime, the price of their one only asset will bounce back. The character of Mortimer Duke in the 1983 film Trading Places comes to mind. After losing his fortune in the frozen orange juice futures market, Duke screams, "I want trading reopened right now. Get those brokers back in here! Turn those machines back on! Turn those machines back on!" If a reverse takeover of the US government by Goldman Sachs is what it takes to turn the machines back on, the American public will support it. Sadly, there is no reason to expect the bailout of bank shareholders to have any effect at all on American home prices, which will continue to sink into the sand.Ah, Spengler, the sort of fellow who comes to the party only to dump ice into your hot tub. The kind of fellow who is always asking the uncomfortable questions you don't want to ask yourself.
Alas for the gamblers of America: they will tax themselves to keep the casino in operation, but it will not profit them. Where, oh where, is America's Vladimir Putin, who will drive out the oligarchs who have stolen the country's treasure and debased its currency?Such a person might arrive on the scene, but if so let's hope it's before the economy reaches the "canned goods and ammo" stage. Posted by Vanderleun at September 25, 2008 12:05 PM | TrackBack
Ah. Didn't know you had been in my basement lately.
Just got back from hunting. Two days.
Catching up has been devastating.
Posted by: TmjUtah at September 25, 2008 9:44 PMSo it happens once again--Spengler is yodeling through his turban, because the American proletariat is exceedingly unhappy with the bailout.
Posted by: Dai Alanye at September 29, 2008 8:45 PM"It is impossible to speak in such a way that you cannot be misunderstood." -- Karl Popper N.B.: Comments are moderated to combat spam and may not appear immediately. Comments that exceed the obscenity or stupidity limits will be either edited or expunged.
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