And from taking sociology courses in the topic (and been in the working world, including a great deal of temping, for a decade or two), people at an underhanded organization generally know what’s going on. There shouldn’t be too much of a presumption of innocence.

More comparisons of drug forfeiture laws and government bailout policies is a fruitful line of inquiry.

I have an impression of a flood-tide of well-organized position papers, PR feeds, “news” items, video feeds, etc., all with right-wing framing, being pumped relentlessly into the news stream by these outfits, and on “our” side, I see nothing remotely comparable.

I had some hope with the formation of the Rockridge Institute, but they slipped under the surface and sank recently and that’s kind of it as far as progressive lobbying groups, at least that I’m aware of.

What we need is a Scaife of our own: a filthy rich progressive who’ll bankroll a think tank of lefty “scholars” who can write, persuade, engage, and get the message out. For starters, I’d nominate Spocko and Cliff Schecter as key “scholars” because they both have given lots of thought to framing and communications isues.

Unfortunately, though, I’m not a Scaife. (Look, here I am contributing to a stone-cold thread, that’s how sharp I am!)

The timing of the government intervention of Indymac bank is somewhat similar. It’s not accidental. It’s not a natural response of problems. It’s intentional political intervention at a specific time to achieve a specific goal.

Did Chuck Schumer’s letter cause Indymac to fail? No. They’ve been sinking ever since they began to make bad loans, just like all the other stupid lenders.

So, what’s next?

I expect the Housing Aid bill to be passed by the House and Bush to sign it and the housing market to slowly recover over a period of a couple of years. The scum who have used it to make money have put a hell of a lot of people through the wringer and stolen all their pennies. Bush smirks.

The next major Bush problem is oil prices. His regulator has stood by and watched as the oil prices have been jacked up by the ICE market and Bush smirks.

The upcoming oil markets regulation bill (whatever it’s name) will face some opposition from House & Senate Republicans, particularly in the senate where not all are up for reelection this year. It’s going to be hard for House Republicans to vote against a bill which might bring gasoline prices down. But, some will make an effort. In the senate there were a bunch of Republicans who simply didn’t show up or refused to vote against the Housing bill, so I suspect they will also show opposition to the bill. Can they rustle up enough R votes to stop it? I doubt it, but their stunt (not voting on Housing) shows they’re certainly willing to pass the buck to the House reps and let them take the heat. Nice bunch of thugs.

You can bet Bush and his oil market thugs will pull out the stops to take advantage while they can. If the Fanny & Freddy thing is an indicator they’ll be doing some pretty despicable things with regards to oil just as the Dem regulatory bill comes up for a vote.

Thing is these Republicans who *might* side with Bush aren’t going to get anything for that loyalty. Bush policy is to use and stab in the back anybody who might be handy. Dems can campaign with recent behavior to let the public know just whose side those Repubs are on (Dubya’s).

Finally, it’s gonna take time to be rid of Bush and the effects of his horrendous administration (and those who have died are lost forever). In the mean time the ride is gonna be bumpy and he’s gonna make more people suffer for his own benefit (and that of his friends). All we can do is fight fight fight and push the Congressional Repubs away from Bush to divide & conquer and for the nation’s good and for the good of a 2-party system. Minimizing Bush is critical despite the wild demonstrations he and his friends can make (see Freddy & Fanny). There’s just not much we can do about those things.

Bush is a weenie and he’s gonna go down hard. It’s just gonna take some time.

As an economist, if I were fealing all free market magicky, I would be obliged to say that if correct incentives were in place, they woudl appear spontaneously with the property rights and free market magic, and there would be a crtiical mass of bankers who would strive to succeed and increase prosperity in ways uniquely different from their peers. But Keynes was smarter and knew more than me, and he was very doubtful about that, at least without a lot gummint regulation. When they can do anything at all, such a banker beast is mythical and doesn’t exist -sort of like a Machiavellian prince who is hated and not feared. They bite the dust so fast, for all practical purposes they are nonexistent.

The other theory is called “The Kondratieff Wave.” It’s a phenomenon that seemed to be held off by liberal capitalism. Now that LC is gone from America’s economy and the so-called “free market” has taken it’s place, the clock is again ticking. Not good.

We’ve just come out of the Spring Inflationary Growth Phase of the wave, evidenced by the growth of stock market prices. We are in the Summer phase of the wave, marked by Stagflation. Because the economy lacks its old government-based circuit breakers, the only thing preventing the rest of the cycle is Adam Smith’s old invisible hand… except with so much economies of scale working in the negative direction now (ie., near monopolies), I think that hand isn’t just there but invisible; I think it’s plum disappeared.