Ron Paul Is A Dope

So are his libertarian/free market pals.

A moment ago I finished watching the latest Real Time with Bill Maher.* Like his cohorts in delusion, Paul maintains we should let the banks go bankrupt. End "corporate" welfare. Prevent passing the bailout/StimPak^TM cost onto "future generations." This one I like the best -- exercise even less government oversight & regulation. In brief, blow up our whole economic model.

In a year somehow the US economy will magically right itself. The rest of the world will be either unaffected or greatly changed for the better.

Yeah, right. I won't waste time arguing this dogma's abject stupidity. However, they completely whiff on several assured major repercussions. Not the least of these is the libertarian/free marketeers operate as if forced bankruptcies of Citibank, Bank of America, etc., will be a free ride. They forget about the lil' thing called the FDIC. We've just never had to use it.

Once the banks go bankrupt, taking the money of depositors with them, the Federal Government has insured, has guaranteed, a huge chunk of our cash. FDIC is bound to pay as much as $100,000 for all deposits except retirement accounts i.e. IRAs which are insured up to $250,000. Anything over those amount is gone. Effectively removed from our economy.

Under Ron Paul's criteria is this not another form of "welfare"? Where would the money come from? Does Ron Paul believe this FDIC bill wouldn't be passed on to "future generations"?

Further proof Libertarianism is stupid and a reliably unrealistic posture. There's little or no chance their ideology will ever be employed wholesale. As such it affords them the ultimate out. It's not their fault when "it" doesn't work. When "it" does work they carp on and on about how it would work much better if only we'd only listen to them.

-AF
*Standby for a whole heap of They Said It I Repeat Its.

No Plane For You!

President Obama puts the hammer down on Citigroup's jet deal.

President Obama. I do so love the sound of those words.

-AF

Do You Feel Used, Rep. Tiahrt (R-KS)?

Very. Nice. Ride.

Earlier this month Rep. Todd Tiahrt (R-Kansas) had a "no corporate jet" provision tossed from the Troubled Assets Relief Program Reform and Accountability Act of 2009. At that time Tiahrt described the jet ban to The Wichita Eagle thusly:

"That is a bad signal for Kansas (and) a bad signal for the industry. This sends the wrong message that you cannot use a productivity tool like corporate aircraft. It says you can't use modern technology."

Rep. Todd Tiahrt (R-Kansas) didn't want to risk layoffs at the Canadian-owned Bombardier Business Aircraft factory in his district. By now Tiahrt should have known these bailed-out banks are always one step ahead in their fucking of the American people. Oh-so-predictably, Citigroup then turned around and blew $50 mill on a French jet.

Do you feel used, Todd (R-Kansas)? I know I sure do. Not just by CitiGroup either.

If you had done your homework job Rep. Tiahrt (R-Kansas), you'd know that there was no reasonable expectation these banks would buy American. You'd have learned over the last ten years Citi had bought only French-made Dassault Falcon 900 EXs. Then, maybe then, you'd have thought to ensure that any such planes bought by banks receiving TARP cash would be required to buy American-built planes.

Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.

Think Progress has the lowdown.

-AF

P.S. I first moved to NYC almost 18 years ago and opened an account with Citibank. I can testify that they are the absolute worst in every possible way.

Newsflash: Andrew Sullivan Is Still An Asshole

(Above: Andrew Sullivan strikes a sensitive pose)

Almost skipped reporting the latest antics of this humble blog's idiot namesake, Andrew Sullivan. I wasn't sure I could stomach transcribing his nonsense. There's something about Andy's misdirected animosity, condescension and all around chicanery makes me sick.

Last Friday, Real Time With Bill Maher's panel consisted of will.i. am, The Shock Doctrine author Naomi Klein and our zero, Andrew Sullivan. Klein happened to be the sole guest qualified to discuss the ramifications of free market capitalism. She's also consistently ranked high on various lists of top global smarty pantses -- a group old Andy need not fear of ever joining.

The first topic was the economy. Natch. Sully was immediately on the offensive. And I do mean offensive. From jump he was dismissive of and openly hostile to Naomi Klein. "Free Market" Andy attacked her calling her a "socialist." In fact, he called Republicans "leftist" and "socialists" too. But he saved his most vitriolic verbiage for the American People:

The American People have had since the ‘70s have had stagnating incomes so they’ve decided to get something for nothing. And their government never told them they couldn’t...

Ordinary Americans are as complicit in this as Wall Street and as complicit in this as the government.

I can't make this shit up. Yes, we bear plenty of blame for this mess. But I find it curious how "Free Market" Andy refused to point a finger at deregulation, predatory lending, the financial sector's extremely aggressive marketing efforts, his one-time soul mate George W. Bush's "ownership society" con, Wall Street's dubious accounting practices, etc. He talked over anybody who did. More from Sully the economist:

This doesn't validate Noam Chomsky, it validates Ron Paul.

Hey, if you can't outsmart them, out-weird them. That's what I always say. Now Naomi, whatever you do, don't you dare call free market economics an ideology to "Free Market" Andy's face:

The free market is not an ideology. It's just the best way human beings have ever discovered of creating wealth.

Technically, Sully's's right. Free market economics is not an ideology. However, he glosses right over the reality that it takes a whole lotta, whole lotta ideology to create free market conditions. Andy must have slept thru that part of the class.

The absolute pièce de résistance was when Sully gets all choked-up talking about "our" Constitution and invokes Patrick fucking Henry(!?!):

To throw our Constitution out the window for the phony idea of security is crazy. Give me liberty or give me death, OK? The first Americans would say to al Qaeda "Come and kill us. We will never give up out freedoms. Never. That's why we came here."

Carefully calculated to get maximum applause. Ron Paul fans are definitely Digging it.

But hold on. What's with this our Constitution shit, Andy? It's The Constitution to you, lad. Last I checked one Andrew Sullivan is still a British citizen.

It can be awfully confusing. Because when it's to his advantage, Sully willfully misrepresents himself as an American citizen. This is the guy who scored his greatest hit repeatedly intoning "I voted for Bush in 2000 but I wouldn't vote for him again." That 2004 whopper opened the door for all the liberal love he's received since (including his Time gig).

The nerve of a Brit trying to school US about "Freedom" with an ab-zurd first Americans vs. al Queda analogy. That takes brass ones. Perhaps our early pioneers would tell al Queda to "Bring it on!" They'd soon learn that a musket is no match for an M136-AT4. As for poor abused Patrick Henry, I can't decide whether he's plain rolling over in his grave or ROIHGL* at this clown.

-AF

*Trans: Rolling Over In His Grave Laughing