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If you’ve always wanted to know what it looks like when two crazy people get together and have a conversation on national television, here’s your opportunity.
BECK: Now, how is the legislation coming? Is Nancy Pelosi even going to put it up there?
BACHMANN: Well, we don’t have a hearing scheduled yet. But we didn’t have trouble getting co-signers. We’ve got at least 30 members of Congress onboard and I anticipate we will have more.
BECK: Hey, hang on just a second. I can’t believe that you’ve only got 30 cosponsors. I mean, how is it you can walk around and go — this is just "Hey, save the dollar." And only 30 people are saying, "Hey, that sounds like a good thing. Let’s give that a shot."
Actually, the fact that 30 wingnuts signed on to this dingbat’s stupid bill is nothing short of remarkable.
BECK: OK. And that’s, you know, the group of the 20 big countries that will get together and say, "Hey, look at us. We’re important. Let’s make decisions here." And then nobody really listens to them.
But this is critical because what they’re going to do at the G20 is they’re going to talk about new financial global institutions.
BACHMANN: Yes. That’s right.
BECK: They’re going to talk about new framework. How scary is this?
BACHMANN: Well, there’s no authority that has been given from the United States Congress to the president to create transnational global financial authorities. And that’s one concern that I had with my legislation, because we heard from Russia, China, South Africa, Brazil, India — we’ve heard from a number of different countries calling…
BECK: France, Germany…
BACHMANN: France — calling for this new expansion of the International Monetary Fund for moving the dollar as the standard of exchange. If that happens, again, the United States will lose its position as the premier financial authority.
Right, because crashing the global economy through fanatical Republican deregulation and lack of oversight and greed hasn’t hurt us a bit.
BACHMANN: Would you categorically renounce that the U.S. moving away from the dollar and going to a global currency as suggested this morning by China and also by Russia, Mr. Secretary?
TREASURY SECRETARY TIMOTHY GEITHNER: I would, yes.
BACHMANN: You categorically — and the Federal Reserve chair?
BEN BERNANKE, FEDERAL RESERVE CHAIRMAN: I would, also.
GEITHNER: We’re actually quite open to that suggestion, but you should think of it as rather an evolutionary building on the current architecture rather than moving into a global monetary union.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BECK: I mean, this is amazing. That was Congressman Michele Bachmann from Minnesota who’s with us. Congresswoman, it was a one-day spread between. You asked him first. The next day, he said that.
BACHMANN: It was less than 24 hours that we saw the complete contradiction. So the question is, which treasury secretary do we believe? The one in front of the committee or the one in front of the Council on Foreign Relations?
So—creating a currency for international exchanges means the good people in Houston will be forced to buy their pork rinds at Walmart with bright red bill emblazoned with a portrait of Mao.
Bartender, another.
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Right, the US shouldn’t discuss settlement mechanisms for international trade, we should just tell trading partners to use dollars.
Why they think this says dollars would o longer be used in the US is beyond me.
Thanks, BT!
I can’t personally stomach either of those one minded two!!
and i’m sooooo sorry to make an OT statement here,
but2
WTF IS ANDREA MITCHEL DOING SUBBING FOR Rachel Maddow?????!
who IN HELL made THAT decision?
again, BT, sorry, but I’m just p.o.’d here.
i look forward to about 2 hours a day of REAL TIME COVERAGE and when this happens and I gotta look at Mitchel’s face and hear her chit, even tho it’s “well scripted” for the show (what a ho!), I’m just livid…..
sorry. will now go read your write, and come back with a related comment.
sheeeeeesh!@!!!!!!
WHO THE HELL IS IN CHARGE THERE?
daaaang!
I kept hoping Rachel would show up. I would change the channel and then go back and there was dumb Mrs. Greenspan.
Am I missing something? The U.S. might have a lot of influence in matters of global finance but if all the other economic powers were to decide they want a new standard, what difference would a bill by some exceptionally dim U.S. congresscritters make? Perhaps Michele sees her seat in Congress as a mere stepping stone to becoming Empress of Earth.
i expect that they don’t understand the difference between national currency and global reserve currency. which, as i’ve said, is probably true of most americans (i’d bet even most dems in congress) as the dollar is now both for us.
but this bit:
is, i think, true. at least in part.
The G20 story seems to be that Obama is a rock star. Nothing more substantive.
That has pretty much been the extent of the coverage in this country anyway.
I confess to feeling less embarrassment now that we have a president who is fluent in at least one language. I do hope he doesn’t wait too long to delegate the task of picking gifts for foreign heads of state to someone competent.
fixed it for you.
Yep. As much as I think Obama’s on the very wrong road, I am proud that he and Michelle are now the reps of the U.S. abroad. Political diffs for me do not stop at the water’s edge (salt water fallacy) but happy that a moron is no longer my face overseas.
I believe I read somewhere that the Queen actually has an iPod. Now she can share. :)
They prefer the sort of oversight they can do with their eyes closed.
sad!
it’s just WAY SAD.
i cannot believe Rachel is OK with this!
and it certainly puts MSNBsleeeeze in a familiar light for me.
i’m insulted.
i mean, it’s ONLY the G-20 reporting, etc., etc., etc………..
DANNNNNNNNNG!!!!!!!!!!eleventy!!!111!!!!
The US has been on the verge of seeing that happen for the better part of a decade. OPEC would love to switch to the Euro instead of the dollar because then their product would be worth a lot more, as the Euro’s a lot stronger. (Or at least that was the case up until last fall.) One of the triggers for Bush’s invading Iraq was Saddam’s moving from the dollar to the Euro for his oil exports; among the first things the CPA did in Iraq was make the dollar the official Iraqi oil exchange currency once again.
If you’re depending on the American so-called news media to provide you with anything “more substantive” than that, eCAHN, one can well understand how you might arrive at that observation. And even if that *were* the only news resulting from the event, I’ll take that over the last forkin’ idiot who couldn’t even figure out how to open a forkin’ door, thank you forkin’ very much.
Thus ended the rant.
Psah on the euro. The EC could well break up over the economic debacle. The U.S. benefits mightily from the least bad phenomenon.
Actually, it sounds like he did do one pretty good thing there:
Obama first sat down with Sarko, then with Hu, then brought them both together for a compromise proposal that saved the day.
It received little mention but I thought the autographed Richard Rodgers songbook was a pretty cool gift. Of course, as long as Queen Elizabeth has been around, she might already have one.
What does the other media report?
It’s sobering to realize that — just as was the case in the 1930s — America is actually better off than most of the rest of the world.
Low hanging fruit. Not to mention that I await real results, meaning that pols in all developed countries are bribed to overlook tax havens. Not that tax havens are the crux of the problem anyhow.
Certainly got Sarko’s knickers in a twist.
i don’t think the euro has anything at all to do with what’s going on now (and i’m with ecahn on the EC). this is about the UN commission recommendation.
omg!!!
HERE!HEAR!!!!!!!!!
it always just ticked me off that he not only got the “respect” of being an American President, but he GOT TO LIVE IN MY WHITE HOUSE, and use government funds to fly around and so forth.
THEN,
there’s the whole insult of him supposedly “representing” ME!!!!
it was suckage like i’ve never known before in my life or the lives of my ancestors!@!!!
chiiiit!
and, incidently, i totally BLAME Pelosi, and congress for that atrocity to have continued, and the supreeeemies for allowing it to BEGIN WITH!!!!!!!!
any independent confirmation on that? iow, was it kabuki or for real?
selise,
I’m in transit (round trip) when the employment numbers come out tomorrow, so my diary will be delayed, potentially to late afternoon.
damn. there was a president before obama? i can’t seem to remember any…. hmmm… must be selective memory loss. maybe my brain is trying to protect me from a painful memory. *g*
You don’t suppose Obama walked into the conference and said, “Greetings from the world’s biggest polluter!”
ok. thanks for the heads up. call me if i can be of assistance (html-wise)
And speaking of the sh*tty US media coverage, did anyone else get the feeling that the constant attention today about Ms. Obama touching the Queen had an underlying racist tone of “Look at that stupid, ignorant ****** who doesn’t even know how to act around royalty”? Maybe my tin foil hat needs adjusting but after one’s listened to the same breathless attention to that detail multiple times per hour on and on and on, it’s a wee tad hard *not* to start drawing conclusions.
Every pol needs a handle in his own country. I’m not current on Sarko’s issues, but I’d guess he’s playing to some internal dynamics, and that’s all.
dugg
Nah, they think that about all Americans. Anyway, the queen’s staff has issued a statement advising the press to get over it because the contact was mutual and welcome.
I understood that the U.S. media was riffing off the U.K. faux outrage. Think it wasn’t racist, rather trying to make a mountain out of a mole hill. Not every flaplet is racist.
Just making an observation about the quality of *our* media…….which descends into lower and lower suckatude every day.
That’s true. He is very unpopular at home. You might recall that he was elected as the “pro-business” candidate. The French seem to be experiencing a case of buyer’s remorse. His recent transformation to being pro-regulation is undoubtedly motivated at least in part by political self-interest.
Not to mention the sleavage.
Who does she think she is, Carla Bruni?
please excuse the OT. BargainCountertenor, who really knows this stuff, has taken a look at the three single payer healthcare reform bills active in Congress and written a diary and is now taking questions.
Single Payer Bills in Congress: First Impressions
Lower than a caterpillar in a wagon rut…
Fits with the bits & pieces I know about Sarkozy. Can’t imagine that a Hungarian would remain popular in France when his weltanschaung (or whatever the French word is) is suddenly on the wrong side of the evidence.
lol!
yeah,
what would “i” do in his sitchy????
lol!
I used to have biceps that were the talk of the female nation. Kudos to Michelle.
Evening, brother rat -
Neglected to mention that it is the *US* media acting that way. Every time an American talking head was conversing with a Brit about the protocol, every single last one of the Brit’s acted like it was *our* media who were making a mountain out of a molehill. Have no idea what the English tabloids are saying about the subject; I would give them as much credence as I do the paper trash that lines the check-out isles of our grocery stores.
No laughing matter. Is the first Q to ask when assessing other HOS (Heads of state) statements. Otherwise u end up as delusional as Hillary and Madeline.
NOoooooooo … and thanks for the warning, siri !
… or perhaps, Captain of the USS Enterprise !
Just wait until Beck&Bachmann get a load of what the US Mint is planning for the “Puerto Rico Quarter” (right after they finish the 50 state quarters).
First US coin with spanish, but contrary to rumor the motto “In God We Trust” is not going to be replaced with “Allahu Akbar!”
Sarko was groomed by Mitterand …
They also said that the Queen had an iPod mini and that she requested the iPod, which Obama gave to her.
in related news, via ubetchaiam’s diary, i understand our congress, led by barney frank, has just replaced mark-to-market with mark-to-myth. here’s what bernhard has to say:
Having entered global politics in the last few years, could you explain what that means?
Well, if Francois felt like grooming it would HAVE to be on someone else.
Not that this is surprising, but they’re completely missing the underlying technical reason why the world needs to move away from the Dollar as the reserve currency, and more importantly why it’s good for the U.S. that we do so too.
When Glenn Beck lost his mind about risks of hyperinflation I had two words in response: Liquidity Trap.
When Glenn Beck fails to understand the need to move away from the Dollar reserve system, two words: Triffin Dilemma.
What I find more disparaging than the fact that these two people don’t understand what they’re talking about; is the fact that they have an audience. Which means their viewership understands even less.
I remarked on that change, and the stock market boost it engendered, earlier today as the passage of the U.S. into the true Wonderland.
Pffft … Madeleine Albright could Leg Press 400 Pounds, ten times ! *g*
Which is what?
When Zbigniew Brzezinski told Morning Joe that his knowledge of international affairs was so superficial that he (Brzezinski) found it embarrassing to listen to him he could as easily have been referring to every other TV host.
‘evening, all-
For those of us unschooled in these things, would you mind elaborating on:
Liquidity Trap
Triffin Dilemma.
‘preciate it.
mitterand? who ok’ed the terrorist attack on greenpeace’s ship killing one of the crew? about whom stephen kinzer had this to say re genocide in rwanda?
not my favorite politician.
Wow, that’s nearly half a Limbaugh Unit.
Try teh google
Liquidity Trap refers to a diaper, doesn’t it?
Of course. My apologies.
and this is supposed to give us confidence? for me it does just the opposite.
After Sarko was elected, I read on a European website that Sarko(Conservative) was groomed by Mitterand(Socialist)
The meaning of the article was, that a French Conservative is not even kissing cousin to an American Conservative.
I cannot remember where I read it but found it shocking since Sarko’s opponent, Segolene Royal was herself purportedly groomed by Mitterand.
LOL. I haven’t tried that with my Fidelity reps, who started calling me when the market bottomed.
First paragraph from the wiki entry.
Here is a link to the wiki on the “Triffin dilemma.”
Depends !
Good idea to change them once in awhile, lest your grocery shopping result in market saturation.
Gnite all!
G’nite eCAHN.
ding ding ding!
had to look that up after i read zhou’s statement (which was after i read the UN commission report). did not know that keynes had proposed something along those lines.
Niters !
oops. should have included links to statement, recommendations. please excuse my laziness, but they are all in a diary from last week.
i wonder if bachman is proposing any other legislation to deal with imaginary currency conspiracies, and when is she finally going to tackle the imaginary bug problem??!!
good nite.
i’m out too. later all.
This faux news discussion is kind of like two geezers discussing the good old days when all you had to do was say commie to win an election….
Born too late these two.
They coulda been contenders in the eighties.
‘night, selise.
Tax havens probably figure into the problems, given how many subsidiaries the [federally-owned] banks and insurance companies have. (They seem to favor Bermuda and the Caymans.)
The set of arrangements in exchange where there’s a single national backing a single reserve currency (for all practical purposes outside some encroachment by the Euro), creates a condition where to meet the world demand for liquidity the U.S. has to run balance-of-payments deficits. In a functional system, to maintain credibility and confidence in the currency the U.S. would also have to run balance-of-payments surpluses. It can’t do both at the same time.
The result has been a perverse condition where the fiscal credibility of the U.S. is essentially papered over by world demand for liquidity. Nobody really bothers to blink at conditions that should normally cause a crisis of confidence in the U.S. Dollar, because they’re utterly dependent on it for international trade. It’s an unhealthy arrangement that creates a feedback loop where international trade between the U.S. and the rest of the world becomes continually more dependent on U.S. debt, not less, in perpetuity to sustain growth.
In so far as I understand it.
In short, the dependence on a single reserve currency backed by a single national at least incentivizes, if not mandates, unhealthy trade relations to maintain global economic growth.
See my response @79 to eCAHN for a basic description of Triffin’s Dilemma, and for an additional boost look about half way down this page:
href=”http://www.imf.org/external/np/exr/center/mm/eng/mm_sc_03.htm
A liquidity trap is a condition where providing additional money supply to the market doesn’t actually get money to move through the economy, and thus never produces inflation; let alone hyperinflation.
how many IMF world government Special Drawing Rights can we raise by auctioning off the salvage rights to Bachmann-Beck’s long-missing brain (yes, that is ‘brain’ singular)? Would Hu bid? Would Sarkozy? The organ in question must have potential for use as WMD.
I’d like to note that I hardly expect anyone to already know the details of these things, and that my commentary on viewership was directed more generally at the fact that people like Glenn Beck say enough completely baseless and ridiculous things on topics that are more approachable; that it should immediately call into question essentially everything else they say about anything.
In this particular case, the means by which to point out his buffoonery just happened to be extremely concise when matched with a trusty ol’ Google search :-)
Cheers!
Maybe they ought to call the international monetary units something new, like, say, ‘credits’. Just so it’s clear to the wingers that it isn’t really money that you can use in a store.
And what about the right wing survivalist calls for returning to the Gold Standard? Is she really saying that she would forbid the “Ron Paul Dollar” from being legally exchangeable currency in the US?
There are a lot of problems with the Gold Standard.
First, it doesn’t actually ebb inflation, which is what Gold Standard folks seem to consider the big boogey man. This is evident in half the reason Nixon depegged the Dollar from gold in 1971 (lookup Nixon Shock).
Second, there aren’t enough gold reserves, nor capacity for more gold production, to fulfill the global need for liquidity. In other words, all the gold in the world doesn’t amount to enough money for global economic growth. You’d have a liquidity crisis, and a massive contraction of economic growth worldwide. The only way to adjust that is to continually devalue currencies against gold. So you’d get your pick from crippling deflation or crippling inflation, depending on how you decided to face the liquidity crisis while trying to prop up the Gold Standard.
The entire diary doesn’t really fit, and there’s a fair bit of speculation on behalf of present-day possibilities, but it does contain a historical synopsis of some of these issues, and might help as a jumping off point for extra research: http://oxdown.firedoglake.com/diary/4415
There are some interesting competing ideas to deal with this problem:
Zhou Xiaochuan (2009): a basket of currencies approach.
Robert Triffin (1960): a universalized unit that added to global liquidity that would be drawn against in national currencies. Essentially an informal description if what was proposed by Xiaochuan.
John Keynes (1943): a basket of commodities approach.
I’m personally more in favor of the Triffin/Xiaochuan approach, as it dispenses entirely with any possibility of a liquidity crisis due to shortages in the underlying commodities, but Keynes was on the right track in his search to neutralize co-dependence whilst universalizing exchange.
Is that a picture of Bachman? I would never have recognized her. It must not be recent, because the Bachman I’ve seen has freaky wide open eyes. She must have got them lifted recently. Maybe she went to the same doctor as Kanye’s mom. That would explain the brain damage.
Beware of a gradual subversion of the DFH Progressive message(s). It can happen to a blog with a new Libertarian writer or a successful t.v. show whose host is unavoidably unavailable for a show and then after a while the replacement has it all.
Also beware of spam filters which don’t let legitimate posts get through! Censorship at it’s worst.
Have you ever seen a Barbie doll journalist which has a pullstring and message, “Asking questions is hard!”
I’m guessing one of the laws Bushies required of the CPA was to leave the dollar as the official oil exchange currency.
If we’re to move off oil as our number one liquid fuel, then we don’t need as many dollars in circulation.
If our currency is counterfeited too greatly, then our Fed loses control of the currency — perhaps the reason we don’t see M3 published.
As many countries develop we would have to print more and more dollars and having EVEN MORE of them ‘held hostage’ in many countries (as they are in Chinese banks) would give the world tremendous leverage over us.
Too many dollars in the world crowd out other currencies which need to be somewhat free to dominate regional economies so they can grow.
In short, the world has grown up (since WWII) and we can’t and shouldn’t try to dominate it any more. That would be unhealthy in many ways.