Related to the last post — Joshua Holland, “Naomi Wolf’s ‘Shocking Truth’ About the ‘Occupy Crackdowns’ Is Anything But True”
Via Angry Bear — Barry Ritholtz, “Examining the big lie: How the facts of the economic crisis stack up.”
Nicholas Kristof, “President as Pinata.”
Good links, Maha.
I certainly agree with Kristof, and the “big Lie” certainly hits the mark.
A big part of the picture regarding the housing bust that gets little mention was the corruption between local governments and developers. There was a fortune made by the builders in my county who bought up large tracts of land on the cheap, dug ponds, and promoted the properties as “water front”, and built “McMansions” with all the bells and whistles, and hefty HOA monthly fees. Many speculators bought two or more homes with the intention of flipping them in several months ( the market was way too hot). Many of those investors were from out of state, and didn’t realize that the prices they were hoping for were just not realistic, but damn the reality. The market crashed hard, and with so many vacant properties, and so great an “inventory”, it will be years before it comes back.
The featured economist on our local NPR station, Dr. Hank Fishkind, has predicted that Orlando will make a big gain in housing prices over the next several years due to the creation of high tech and medical research jobs in our area.
I hope he’s right. Sadly, Dr. Fishkind predicted a short and shallow recession, and stated ( just months before the Deep Water Horizon disaster) that deep ocean drilling was perfectly safe. Perhaps he’s into tea leaves or navel gazing? Or maybe he has a “Magic 8 ball”.
On the kristoff: Sure, each the GOP candidates pause in their attacks on one another to take a swing at Obama, but the fact remains, the GOP’ers have been ripping into one another over a dozen debates, and this deeply flawed bunch has been playing to choir so far– not to the electorate. Bain Capital and Freddie Mac will hang like albatrosses around the necks of Mittens and Newt. They are “the 1%”, and particularly odious members of that group.
Ritholtz’s work says much more than those who want simple answers to complex questions will ever bother to read. Same with simple solutions to complex problems.
OT – It’s not too early for OWS to submit their idea forl a baloon in next year’s Macy’s’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. I envision a guillotine about 7 stories tall, a banker-type in the place of honor. The plan should include hundreds of the smelly jobless people Newt has such contempt for to be the handlers who guide the baloon. There’s artist- engineer types in the movement. I’d love to see a serious design produced tongue-in-cheek with design copies submitted to the media and a serious copy of factual, sourced statistics on income and tax inequality. Journalism has been absorbed by the entertainment industry. For OWS to stay at the news forefront, they need to stay entertaining.
Along those lines, I understand there’s a reason for GOP oppoposition to bridge renovation where those bridges are unsafe, substandard and inadequate. The GOP feels it’s the responsibility of the people who live under those bridges (rent-free) to make improvements. If they don’t like the living conditions under their bridge, it’s not the job of government to provide them a big cushy cardboard box.
The best part of Kristoff’s column is when he quoted Clinton about the Republicans:
“…a political environment in the Republican primary that basically means you can’t be authentic unless you’ve got a single-digit I.Q.â€
So that’s explains one of the “9’s” that Cain’s been toting.
OK , in reality – maybe “6!”, but Cain sure couldn’t walk around playing up his 6-6-6 Plan.
Modern Conservatives – to the left of Neanderthals on the human evolution chart – ‘Homo Intolerncus Ignoramus.
Ritholtz’s ‘revelation’ was pretty much common knowledge to anyone who bothered to read the myriad of articles on the same subject written over the period from 2001 to 2008 and up.
Good lord, at least 30% of those with sub-prime mortgages couldn’t even make their first house payment.
When Clinton sent Glass into oblivion (thereby ending the bill that separated investment banking from commercial banking) there was little or no defense against speculation anymore in place.
If this latest crisis in capitalism mirrors the Great Depression aftermath, there will be (?) is political upheaval world-wide. Enter nationalistic demigods put in place by desperate citizens. (Looked at the Republican debate line-up lately?)
Felicity,
Yes, if we’re not already, we’ll soon be ripe for Dominionist Christians and Fascists waving American flags.
They’ve been infiltrating our country and government at all levels for decades, thanks in large part to the deal with the Religious Right that began “The Reagan Devolution.”
I’ve been warning for a long time that we may soon morph into “The United Dominionist Christian Corporate States of America.” “Corporate” sounds so much nicer than ‘Fascist’ – but there will be little difference, if any.
cund – speaking of fascist, it didn’t take too many years after the Crash before the event called Kristallnacht happened in Germany. That was the mass slaughter of Jews, but hey, any ‘other’ will do.
Felicity,
And in this land of “others,’ there will be plenty to pick from.
It could easily get very, very ugly here.
maha,
Nice job on Steve B’s site earlier today. You said what needed to be said.