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Desperado's Outpost

Monthly Archives: December 2008

Corrupt. Arrogant. Stupid. Blagojevich Is Three for Three

10 Wednesday Dec 2008

Posted by Craig in Obama, Politics, Uncategorized

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Blagojevich, corrupt, governors, Illinois

Corrupt politicians are nothing new to Americans, and are as familiar as an old pair of shoes to the people of the state of Illinois when it comes to their governors. Consider Rod Blagojevich’s four immediate predecessors.

George Ryan (1999-2003) was convicted of 16 charges of conspiracy, fraud, and lying under oath, and now makes his home in federal prison. By the way, the prosecutor who put Ryan in the crossbar hotel was none other than Patrick Fitzgerald. Does that name ring a bell, Blago?

James Edgar (1991-1999) was indicted, but not charged, with giving a sweetheart deal to a major campaign contributor.

James Thompson (1977-1991) appears to be the cleanest of the recent lot. He never had any legal problems, but his law firm did represent Ryan. By comparison to the other governors, that would make Thompson Snow White.

Daniel Walker (1973-1977) was sentenced to 7 years in a federal prison for participating in a savings and loan scandal after he left office.

So if Blagojevich goes to jail the state of Illinois will be 3 for 5 in governors spending time behind bars. And before anyone screams “liberal Democrats” just for the record the corruption is bi-partisan, Blagojevich and Walker are Democrats, Ryan and Edgar are Republicans.

But corrupt is one thing. Corrupt, arrogant, and stupid is the trifecta that will ensure some serious time in the federal pen, and on these counts Blagojevich is 3 for 3. Consider that he said this on Monday:

 

Blagojevich made these remarks knowing that; (a) he has long been in the cross-hairs of the US Attorney who put his predecessor behind bars, and ( b) that US Attorney has a well-established reputation for being a pit bull when it comes to prosecuting corruption involving public officials.

Corrupt, check. Arrogant, check. Stupid, check and checkmate. Congratulations Governor Blagojevich, the next position for you to sell to the highest bidder will be that of cell mate.

Paul Krugman: “What Do You Mean We”?

01 Monday Dec 2008

Posted by Craig in Election 2008, Obama, Politics, Uncategorized

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Lawrence Summers, New York Times, op-ed, Paul Krugman, President-elect Obama, Timothy Geithner

With all due respect to Timothy Geithner, Lawrence Summers, and the rest of President-elect Obama’s economic team, there is one name I would like to have seen included on that list–that of Nobel prize winning economist Paul Krugman.

Here’s why. From a Krugman op-ed piece in the New York Times recently:

“A few months ago I found myself at a meeting of economists and finance officials, discussing — what else? — the crisis. There was a lot of soul-searching going on. One senior policy maker asked, “Why didn’t we see this coming?”

There was, of course, only one thing to say in reply, so I said it: “What do you mean ‘we,’ white man?”

Seriously, though, the official had a point. Some people say that the current crisis is unprecedented, but the truth is that there were plenty of precedents, some of them of very recent vintage. Yet these precedents were ignored. And the story of how “we” failed to see this coming has a clear policy implication — namely, that financial market reform should be pressed quickly, that it shouldn’t wait until the crisis is resolved.

About those precedents: Why did so many observers dismiss the obvious signs of a housing bubble, even though the 1990s dot-com bubble was fresh in our memories?

Why did so many people insist that our financial system was “resilient,” as Alan Greenspan put it, when in 1998 the collapse of a single hedge fund, Long-Term Capital Management, temporarily paralyzed credit markets around the world?

Why did almost everyone believe in the omnipotence of the Federal Reserve when its counterpart, the Bank of Japan, spent a decade trying and failing to jump-start a stalled economy?

One answer to these questions is that nobody likes a party pooper. While the housing bubble was still inflating, lenders were making lots of money issuing mortgages to anyone who walked in the door; investment banks were making even more money repackaging those mortgages into shiny new securities; and money managers who booked big paper profits by buying those securities with borrowed funds looked like geniuses, and were paid accordingly. Who wanted to hear from dismal economists warning that the whole thing was, in effect, a giant Ponzi scheme?”

Put more succinctly by Upton Sinclair:

“It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends upon his not understanding it!”

Mr. Krugman’s conclusion, and one I hope is heeded by the Obama administration, is that now is the time not only to focus on the short-term crisis, but to make the long-term fixes that will prevent the next one from occurring.

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