Bankruptcy and Post Punk... - 25/09/08

So I am not going to presume to be an expert on any of this, but something really rankles as I watch from across the pond as the Bush administration scurries to put a band aid on the slashed carotid artery that once was the American economy. I'm struck by a few things, and will present them in no particular order:

1) George W. Bush was touted as the first president coming into office with a Masters in Business Administration. Does it strike anyone else as ironic that under his stewardship, as guided by the principles of anti-regulation and Laissez-Faire policies, the economy has done a bigger nose dive than when Evel Knievel took his jump over the fountains at Caesar's Palace?

2) With great Fanfare, the "Personal Responsibility Brigade" reformed Personal Bankruptcy Laws in 2005 because it was believed that too many people were living irresponsibly beyond their means and then using Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 Bankruptcy in order to get out of the obligations that their profligate lifestyles had yoked them with. The Bernanke/Paulson Parachute, as I understand it, would have the US government buy up the bad debt of US Banks (who bought and sold loans and created and trafficked in bad financial instruments irresponsibly), freeing them (from their obligations to their debt and) allowing them to go about their business. Hmmm...

3) Republicans deplore Socialism. For most of them, it's worse than telling off-color jokes in front of their mothers or saying, "Thanks, but I'm really just not that big a fan of Apple Pie." So does anyone see the great turning gears of universal irony in a Republican Administration putting in place the single biggest piece of de facto socialism in the United States since Roosevelt's WPA?

4) Finally, too many words, not enough media makes for a dull post. Here's a music video for a buddy of mine's band, The Scotchgreens. The song's called "Professional". The lead singer, Zander Cox, and I used to hang -- when we could both count our ages on one hand. Listen for my favourite line: "And through this world I've wandered,/ I've seen a lot of evil men./ Some will rob you with a pistol,/ Others with a pen."

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