Ever since the Chinese recently expressed - in simple and plain language that even a barbed-wire barricaded, trash-talking Texas trailer troglodyte could understand - their ability to topple the US economy (even though they also stated in "equally clear" banker's lingo that China would be "a responsible investor in the international financial market"), only in the United States is there still the delusion that America is the world leader.
Watching the housing markets collapse over the last couple of weeks has been an illuminating experience for those who choose to learn from what is, and who are not going to continue to swallow the press-release drivel of the neo-confidence world that never was. For those who still swallow the Bush kool-aid, this way to The Egress.
[Jeopardy theme plays for a few moments]
OK, now that the mindless have returned to watching loving paeans to Karl Rove on Fox, we can get to it.
Liam Halligan, writing in The Telegraph, states what is in language as understandable as that used by the Chinese to remind us of their economic clout. "The Western world has got itself into a mess, and is now squandering its long-standing role as the bedrock of global finance."
A commenter to Halligan's article puts it in more common terminology:
In the "old days", of not that long ago, it seemed you could sort of trust your banker, and your politician, perhaps even your stock broker. No-one should trust anyone anymore, when there are vast sums of money around, and an old boys club mentality of let's screw the little guy, ordinary people are going to get burned. It really is too bad, though, that the poor buggers who have to scrimp for a few scraps are also the ones who have to bail out the arrogant not-so-smart arses who abuse the system.
- Posted by Don Richards on August 20, 2007 10:37 PM
As the late Linda Ellerbee used to put it, "And so it goes."
Few in the domestic media are doing anything like real economic reporting, opting instead to parrot the trite and tepid lines issued to them by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson. Bu in the rest of the world, the business press reports are much more likely to report factually about what is happening to the incredibly huge investment sums shipped over to the American Babylon to keep our party going. The Australian of Sydney reports what the international investor really thinks (rather than attempting to tell them what to think), and published the following observation: "The contagion from the US crisis over defaulting sub-prime mortgages ... and the associated falls in global markets has spread faster, wider and on a more frightening scale than the experts ... predicted.
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Dave Nalle
I note that Realist is another one of those who doesn't like to have people respond to articles on his site - what a surprise that he's in the Chuck Adkins club.
Since he might read this here, I'd like to direct him to the article he links to in his article "Baghdad, Goodbye". The article from the anonymous contracter he quotes has a comments section to go with it, and in those comments a better informed contractor totally debunks the article and the various untruths it contains.
I realize Realist doesn't give a damn about truth, preferring to repeat propaganda, but he might vet his sources just a little if he doesn't want to look like a fool.
Dave
2 - Clavos
Meanwhile, new home sales rose nearly 3% in July, and orders for US-made manufactured goods were up almost 6%...
3 - STM
Bollocks
4 - Egbert Sousé
As the late Linda Ellerbee used to put it, "And so it goes."
She got that from Vonnegut's "Slaughterhouse Five."
5 - Dave Nalle
Clavos, don't forget that gas prices are also down, unemployment dropped to a six-year low, at the end of last month the Conference Board set their consumer confidence index at the highest level in 6 years.
Oh, and BTW, did I mention that GDP was up 3.4% for the 2nd quarter, and personal disposable income is up 5.1% for the year thus far, doubling last year's total income growth in hald the time.
Yep, it's all tragic around here.
Dave
6 - Howard Ross
I am with you all the way, although there will not be a major military conflict with China, a brutal money hungry economic powerhouse. The empire will travel the route of previous empires. Rome was not defeated by an external power. The legions that protected the outer reaches of the empire were defeated by hordes of barbarian tribes. In short, it was the internal contradictions that brought about the decline of Rome. America is following the same path and preparing for battle in the homeland against its own citizens.
7 - Clavos
AAaaarrrgggghhhh!!!!
8 - Dave Nalle
Howard, you ought to read my recent review of A State of Disobedience over in the book section (despite my effort to post it here in Politics where it belongs). You and Realist and a few others on here NEED to read the review and then read the book. Clavos, on the other hand, might actually enjoy reading it.
Dave
9 - Christopher Rose
Clavos, please don't try to fix people's coding errors. It doesn't work and I then have to delete your efforts too. Thanks.
10 - Clavos
I'll do as you ask, Chris, but it actually works at the point at which I do it--I've seen it over and over, including this time, when the words "close link" that I typed came up as not part of the link. Though Dave's post wasn't corrected, I DID stop it at my post.
11 - Lumpy
I wonder if realist spends his offline time rubbing a lucky rabbit foot and wishing desperately for the governmental collapse which will usher in a socialist utopia.
12 - Linda Ellerbee
Regarding the notion expressed in your blog of August 24, 2007 - that one can no longer trust one's leaders: I confess I can't recall a time when one could or, merely on princicple, should.
Of course the same can be said about those who would report on those who would lead us, and, I guess, about those who would quote those who would report on those who would lead us. I refer to the following line from the same blog:
As the late Linda Ellerbee used to put it, "And so it goes."
While the sentiment applies, the chronology does not. As fortune would have it, I remain on the right side of the grass.
Sincerely,
The Not-As-Yet-Late Linda Ellerbee
13 - Baronius
I think I read this article 15 years ago, about Japan.
14 - Dr Dreadful
Baronius #13: LOL and an astute observation. However, I think you'll find people have been making such Doomsday predictions about Japan since at least the 1960s.
One significant difference though: Chinese premiers tend actually to be able to find their arse with both hands.
15 - Clavos
Spot on, Baronius.
And we all know how THAT turned out...
16 - Dave Nalle
How ironic to see Egbert perpetuating the 'Linda Ellerbee is dead' urban legend, and how even more amusing to see the still kicking Ms. Ellerbee show up in person to prove she's still alive.
Dave
17 - RJ
Wow. A Bush-hating leftist who seems absolutely gleeful at the unlikely prospect that the US economy and military will collapse in the near future, to be followed by the rise of Red China in an alliance with Putin's Russia.
I'm shocked.
18 - Egbert Sousé
Perpetuating? All I did was copy and paste what was written in the article as I am a fan of Vonnegut's novel. It never occurred to me to verify Ellerbee's status as I wasn't dealing with that aspect. If anyone perpetuated the writer's false information, it would be whoever published the piece.
19 - Dave Nalle
I just looked to the last instance of the comment - and technically you were perpetuating Realist's prior perpetuation of the error.
Dave
20 - bliffle
How would one know that "Linda Ellerbee" is not simply another internet alias?
21 - Ruvy in Jerusalem
While it is entirely possible that the person who wrote in as "Linda Ellerbee" was a fake, the tone of the comments suggest quite differently.
I remember NBC Overnight rather well and Ms. Ellerbee cast a fish eye on the world, all done with class and a dry sense of humor. We see that precise same fish eye, with the same class and the same sense of humor, in these comments:
"Regarding the notion expressed in your blog of August 24, 2007 - that one can no longer trust one's leaders: I confess I can't recall a time when one could or, merely on princicple, should.
Of course the same can be said about those who would report on those who would lead us, and, I guess, about those who would quote those who would report on those who would lead us. I refer to the following line from the same blog:
As the late Linda Ellerbee used to put it, "And so it goes."
All Ms. Ellerbee did was to remind us all that she is not yet dead, and that a healthy mistrust of those entrusted with leadership, as well as those who would report on them (like us), is a good thing.
That sounds an awful lot like the lady I was privileged to watch over twenty years ago on NBC Overnight.
22 - Linda Ellerbee
Hmmm...How do I prove I am the person who came onto this blog claiming to be me?
A toughie, that.
Especially as I didn't know that the fact of my death was an "urban legend." Frankly, I believe I prefer the one about the alligators living in new York's sewers.
Number nine. Number nine. Number...oh, never mind.
Just take my word for it. I am Linda Ellerbee. Still.
And ruvy, thank you for the kind words.
Linda
23 - Clavos
I think most of us believed you, Linda.
Hell I even told my wife,
"Guess who just posted a comment on BC!!..."
24 - Dr Dreadful
Now we're just waiting for moonraven to tell us that you're really Dave Nalle.
25 - bliffle
Well, Ms. Ellerbee, let me take this opportunity to thank you for your several excellent TV appearances.