Ho hum. And so the recession deepens, along with the plot.
Now we hear from TARP Special Investigator General Neil Barofsky that the cost of the financial bailout could reach $23,700,000,000,000 (twenty three thousand, seven hundred billion, or twenty three point seven trillion dollars). I remember the day when a billion was a rather large sum, but it seems the Government can now print 23,700 of them without turning a hair, and still speak optimistically of "little green shoots". http://dailybail.com/home/barofsky-financial-bailout-tally-could-reach-237-trillion.html
Yes, George W. Bush has left us a legacy that really does move into uncharted territory.
I see in the news today that the stock market is doing well. Caterpillar are being praised for their performance, because they are doing better than they predicted. Funny thing, nobody seems to have noticed that their profit is down 66% on last year. It seems that a lot of these "little green shoots" are somehow related to companies making awful estimates, then marginally beating them. While their performace is abysmal compared to last year, for some reason the fact that they can beat ridiculously low forecasts is regarded with great optimism.
So the secret to successful management seems to be, make really dismal predictions, then marginally beat them. You will still be hailed as a hero of the depression.
Your Government in action .....
Meanwhile, my friend Tom sent me this gem of a website.
Just to make sure that you understand clearly, with no illusions, that oversight and investigations are truly dead, this video explains that concept from the Oversight People themselves. Not only do they not do oversight, but what was the question?
The lady under the gun is Elizabeth Coleman, Inspector General for the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve. Here is her bio. She has years and years of experience. http://www.federalreserve.gov/oig/oig_bio.htm
I like the bit best which says " The OIG achieves its legislative mandate through audits, evaluations, investigations, legislative reviews, and by keeping the Chairman of the Board and Congress fully informed."
Now for Tom's video. Here is Elizabeth answering questions to the elected officials who are responsible to the voters for ensuring the country is properly run. http://dailybail.com/home/there-are-no-words-to-describe-the-following-part-ii.html
So now you know what "fully informed" means to Congress. I hope the Chairman of the Board, Mr. Bernanke, is getting briefings as thorough as this. My, no wonder he is doing such a bang-up job.
I understand they have these same kind of informative briefings for Congress on torture, slavery, moonshining, and foreign wars. I hope they are all equally as informative.
I can't believe he said that!
Now for the gem. As a follow-up to the Matt Taibbi article about that vast, corrupt empire, Goldman Sachs, we now have a wonderful video from Max Keiser, commenting on Goldman Sachs. His opening remarks gently remind is that these people are scum, and then he elaborates. His bio is here: http://maxkeiser.com/about/
