After Receiving Bailout Money, Citigroup Buys new Jet

This is a bit of an old story, but Citigroup has decided to take delivery of a new Dassault Falcon jet so its executives can fly to Washington and ask for more taxpayer money. Citigroup claims that not taking delivery would have cost them millions...but they didn't turn around and sell the jet after taking delivery, did they?

Citigroup claims that it will save money by operating the new jet...because it's more fuel-efficient. I'll tell you what's more fuel-efficient and economical: commercial airlines. These bastards should be flying coach after getting TARP funds.

More Fraud from Lehman

It must be wonderful to be rich and connected. You get to fly around in private jets, screw the little people, and commit fraud without repercussion. Richard Fuld, who ran Lehman Brothers into the ground, is one of these people. Last month, he transferred his $20 million Florida mansion to his wife...for $100. Fuld might be trying to avoid having his mansion liquidated to pay for the many civil judgements he'll accrue in the coming months. And we let this guy run an investment bank?

Bailed-Out Merryl Gives Billions In Bonuses

It's unforgivable. An affront to society, to justice, and to Americans' trust in the integrity of financial markets. Merryl Lynch management, which drove the company into the ground (forcing an eventual federally-assisted acquisition by Bank of America), recipient of billions in federal aid and guarantees, accelerated its bonus schedule and doled out $4 billion to its executives at the end of 2008. That makes $15 billion in bonuses for 2008...a year that saw ML lose $25 billion. And much of that bonus money will be taxed as capital gains, rather than ordinary income...

I've often said that one of the main problems with America's version of capitalism is that it entails no risk for those at the top entrusted with making decisions. Pay packages for the CEOs of even mid-sized companies are large enough to make them comfortable for life, even if they perform poorly. This skews incentives...corporate "leaders" will take risks that others (employees, shareholders, and now the public) have to bear, in hopes of a gigantic payday. And sometimes, they get that payday even when they fail.

Change Is In the Air...Just Read It

President Obama's inaugural speech today was compelling, poignant, and hard-hitting. He gave no quarter for the policies of George W. Bush, and succinctly laid out the challenges and opportunities before this country. I was skeptical before hearing it, but the speech put me at ease in these troubled times. It's a speech that doesn't need to be dissected at this point, so here it is in its entirety:

---

My fellow citizens:

I stand here today humbled by the task before us, grateful for the trust you have bestowed, mindful of the sacrifices borne by our ancestors. I thank President Bush for his service to our nation, as well as the generosity and cooperation he has shown throughout this transition.

Forty-four Americans have now taken the presidential oath. The words have been spoken during rising tides of prosperity and the still waters of peace. Yet, every so often the oath is taken amidst gathering clouds and raging storms. At these moments, America has carried on not simply because of the skill or vision of those in high office, but because we the people have remained faithful to the ideals of our forebears, and true to our founding documents.

So it has been. So it must be with this generation of Americans.

That we are in the midst of crisis is now well understood. Our nation is at war, against a far-reaching network of violence and hatred. Our economy is badly weakened, a consequence of greed and irresponsibility on the part of some, but also our collective failure to make hard choices and prepare the nation for a new age. Homes have been lost; jobs shed; businesses shuttered. Our health care is too costly; our schools fail too many; and each day brings further evidence that the ways we use energy strengthen our adversaries and threaten our planet.

These are the indicators of crisis, subject to data and statistics. Less measurable but no less profound is a sapping of confidence across our land - a nagging fear that America's decline is inevitable, and that the next generation must lower its sights.

Today I say to you that the challenges we face are real. They are serious and they are many. They will not be met easily or in a short span of time. But know this, America - they will be met.

On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord.

On this day, we come to proclaim an end to the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn out dogmas, that for far too long have strangled our politics.

We remain a young nation, but in the words of Scripture, the time has come to set aside childish things. The time has come to reaffirm our enduring spirit; to choose our better history; to carry forward that precious gift, that noble idea, passed on from generation to generation: the God-given promise that all are equal, all are free and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness.

In reaffirming the greatness of our nation, we understand that greatness is never a given. It must be earned. Our journey has never been one of shortcuts or settling for less. It has not been the path for the faint-hearted - for those who prefer leisure over work, or seek only the pleasures of riches and fame. Rather, it has been the risk-takers, the doers, the makers of things - some celebrated but more often men and women obscure in their labor, who have carried us up the long, rugged path towards prosperity and freedom.

For us, they packed up their few worldly possessions and traveled across oceans in search of a new life.

For us, they toiled in sweatshops and settled the West; endured the lash of the whip and plowed the hard earth.

For us, they fought and died, in places like Concord and Gettysburg; Normandy and Khe Sahn.

Time and again these men and women struggled and sacrificed and worked till their hands were raw so that we might live a better life. They saw America as bigger than the sum of our individual ambitions; greater than all the differences of birth or wealth or faction.

This is the journey we continue today. We remain the most prosperous, powerful nation on Earth. Our workers are no less productive than when this crisis began. Our minds are no less inventive, our goods and services no less needed than they were last week or last month or last year. Our capacity remains undiminished. But our time of standing pat, of protecting narrow interests and putting off unpleasant decisions - that time has surely passed. Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America.

For everywhere we look, there is work to be done. The state of the economy calls for action, bold and swift, and we will act - not only to create new jobs, but to lay a new foundation for growth. We will build the roads and bridges, the electric grids and digital lines that feed our commerce and bind us together. We will restore science to its rightful place, and wield technology's wonders to raise health care's quality and lower its cost. We will harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories. And we will transform our schools and colleges and universities to meet the demands of a new age. All this we can do. All this we will do.

Now, there are some who question the scale of our ambitions - who suggest that our system cannot tolerate too many big plans. Their memories are short. For they have forgotten what this country has already done; what free men and women can achieve when imagination is joined to common purpose, and necessity to courage.

What the cynics fail to understand is that the ground has shifted beneath them - that the stale political arguments that have consumed us for so long no longer apply. The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works - whether it helps families find jobs at a decent wage, care they can afford, a retirement that is dignified. Where the answer is yes, we intend to move forward. Where the answer is no, programs will end. Those of us who manage the public's dollars will be held to account - to spend wisely, reform bad habits, and do our business in the light of day - because only then can we restore the vital trust between a people and their government.

Nor is the question before us whether the market is a force for good or ill. Its power to generate wealth and expand freedom is unmatched, but this crisis has reminded us that without a watchful eye, the market can spin out of control - and that a nation cannot prosper long when it favors only the prosperous. The success of our economy has always depended not just on the size of our gross domestic product, but on the reach of our prosperity; on our ability to extend opportunity to every willing heart - not out of charity, but because it is the surest route to our common good.

As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals. Our founding fathers ... our found fathers, faced with perils we can scarcely imagine, drafted a charter to assure the rule of law and the rights of man, a charter expanded by the blood of generations. Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience's sake. And so to all the other peoples and governments who are watching today, from the grandest capitals to the small village where my father was born: know that America is a friend of each nation and every man, woman, and child who seeks a future of peace and dignity, and that we are ready to lead once more.

Recall that earlier generations faced down fascism and communism not just with missiles and tanks, but with sturdy alliances and enduring convictions. They understood that our power alone cannot protect us, nor does it entitle us to do as we please. Instead, they knew that our power grows through its prudent use; our security emanates from the justness of our cause, the force of our example, the tempering qualities of humility and restraint.

We are the keepers of this legacy. Guided by these principles once more, we can meet those new threats that demand even greater effort - even greater cooperation and understanding between nations. We will begin to responsibly leave Iraq to its people, and forge a hard-earned peace in Afghanistan. With old friends and former foes, we will work tirelessly to lessen the nuclear threat, and roll back the specter of a warming planet. We will not apologize for our way of life, nor will we waver in its defense, and for those who seek to advance their aims by inducing terror and slaughtering innocents, we say to you now that our spirit is stronger and cannot be broken; you cannot outlast us, and we will defeat you.

For we know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness. We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus - and non-believers. We are shaped by every language and culture, drawn from every end of this Earth; and because we have tasted the bitter swill of civil war and segregation, and emerged from that dark chapter stronger and more united, we cannot help but believe that the old hatreds shall someday pass; that the lines of tribe shall soon dissolve; that as the world grows smaller, our common humanity shall reveal itself; and that America must play its role in ushering in a new era of peace.

To the Muslim world, we seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect. To those leaders around the globe who seek to sow conflict, or blame their society's ills on the West - know that your people will judge you on what you can build, not what you destroy. To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history; but that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist.

To the people of poor nations, we pledge to work alongside you to make your farms flourish and let clean waters flow; to nourish starved bodies and feed hungry minds. And to those nations like ours that enjoy relative plenty, we say we can no longer afford indifference to the suffering outside our borders; nor can we consume the world's resources without regard to effect. For the world has changed, and we must change with it.

As we consider the road that unfolds before us, we remember with humble gratitude those brave Americans who, at this very hour, patrol far-off deserts and distant mountains. They have something to tell us, just as the fallen heroes who lie in Arlington whisper through the ages. We honor them not only because they are guardians of our liberty, but because they embody the spirit of service; a willingness to find meaning in something greater than themselves. And yet, at this moment - a moment that will define a generation - it is precisely this spirit that must inhabit us all.

For as much as government can do and must do, it is ultimately the faith and determination of the American people upon which this nation relies. It is the kindness to take in a stranger when the levees break, the selflessness of workers who would rather cut their hours than see a friend lose their job which sees us through our darkest hours. It is the firefighter's courage to storm a stairway filled with smoke, but also a parent's willingness to nurture a child, that finally decides our fate.

Our challenges may be new. The instruments with which we meet them may be new. But those values upon which our success depends - hard work and honesty, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism - these things are old. These things are true. They have been the quiet force of progress throughout our history. What is demanded then is a return to these truths. What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility - a recognition, on the part of every American, that we have duties to ourselves, our nation, and the world, duties that we do not grudgingly accept but rather seize gladly, firm in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character, than giving our all to a difficult task.

This is the price and the promise of citizenship.

This is the source of our confidence - the knowledge that God calls on us to shape an uncertain destiny.

This is the meaning of our liberty and our creed - why men and women and children of every race and every faith can join in celebration across this magnificent Mall, and why a man whose father less than sixty years ago might not have been served at a local restaurant can now stand before you to take a most sacred oath.

So let us mark this day with remembrance, of who we are and how far we have traveled. In the year of America's birth, in the coldest of months, a small band of patriots huddled by dying campfires on the shores of an icy river. The capital was abandoned. The enemy was advancing. The snow was stained with blood. At a moment when the outcome of our revolution was most in doubt, the father of our nation ordered these words be read to the people:

"Let it be told to the future world ... that in the depth of winter, when nothing but hope and virtue could survive...that the city and the country, alarmed at one common danger, came forth to meet (it)."

America, in the face of our common dangers, in this winter of our hardship, let us remember these timeless words. With hope and virtue, let us brave once more the icy currents, and endure what storms may come. Let it be said by our children's children that when we were tested we refused to let this journey end, that we did not turn back nor did we falter; and with eyes fixed on the horizon and God's grace upon us, we carried forth that great gift of freedom and delivered it safely to future generations.

Thank you. God bless you. And God bless the United States of America.

---

Morning in America

Our long national nightmare is partially over. Today, my Bush Countdown Clock hit zero, Barack Hussein Obama II was inaugurated the 44th President of the United States, and for the first time in my life, I'm proud to call somebody my President.

Some might call me a political curmudgeon. It's easy to despise George W Bush, widely considered America's worst President in history. We've all lived the past 8 years of war, economic and environmental ruin, and abrogation of our Constitution.

Bush's reign of error caused a lot of people to long for the days of Bill Clinton. I call bullshit on that. It's too easy to love a scoundrel when you don't notice that he's violating you, and Clinton violated us repeatedly by doing far more to implement the Reagan agenda than Ronald Reagan ever did. Think about all of the worker & consumer protections we lost during the Bush era...think about the market fundamentalist policies that led to the long, steady decline of the American Middle Class...those policies were supported and further implemented by Bill Clinton, assisted by the Republican Congress of 1994-2006. DLC Democrats like Clinton share the blame with their troglodyte Republican counterparts for the woe we now face.

George H. W. Bush was inept (like his son), corrupt (like his son), and just plain evil. Never let a man who loves pork rinds, hates broccoli, and used to be the head of the Secret Police run your country. Why is it that every time a man named Bush becomes President, the economy goes to shit, and lots of innocent people die? Enough said.

Reagan, also known as Grandpa Caligula, has been canonized in the years since he died. And it's crap. Reagan hurt working people, wasted our national treasure on war toys and military contracts for his benefactors, and started the right's efforts to vilify anyone to the left of Hitler, working mothers, and non-Christians. He also violated the law...repeatedly...and got away with it. If we need to pin the start of America's decline, Reagan's election victory of 1980 may well be it.

Jimmy Carter...what can I say? The best ex-President America has ever had. Too bad he was a failure as a leader. Another reason to never let a Fundamentalist Christian run the country.

Gerald Ford pardoned Nixon. If for no other reason, that puts him down as a villain in my history book.

Finally, we come to the man who was President when I was born...the infamous Richard Milhouse Nixon. Need we recount this man's assault on our democracy? Watergate was just the tip of the iceberg. His history has been beaten to death, especially in comparison to George Dubya. I used to think that I'd rather have a dumb fascist in the White House than a smart fascist...now I'm not so sure.

So there you have it: the long, sordid history of fang-dripping, bought-and-paid-for occupants of 1600 Pennsylvania Ave that have sown their terror on the American people during my lifetime. Not a one I was proud to call my leader. And now that's changed. America's President is now a somewhat progressive, fiercely intelligent, relatively uncorrupted and honest black man with a funny-sounding name that makes xenophobes cringe. The racists are hot and bothered, their designates in the GOP in dissarray. It's time for change to come to America.

Countdown

Countdown

Countdown

Doonesbury Sums Up the Bush Administration

Duh: Security Cameras Don't Work

This is a rant about two things: security cameras, and the complete lack of journalistic integrity at the San Francisco Chronicle.

First off, some background: Four years ago, our yuppie archetype mayor Gavin Newsom installed "security" cameras at public spaces in hopes of reducing violent crimes at those locations. There are some parts of San Francisco (such as the 16th/Mission BART station) where there have been repeated problems with assaults, robberies, and other violent crimes. Newsom's plan was met with skepticism by civil libertarians and law enforcement alike. But Newsom's allies in the "business community" and at Hearst Corporation's San Francisco Chronicle applauded the effort, most likely because the city would be spending money with certain businesses to implement the system.

Now a study on those cameras has concluded that they're not effective at deterring violent crime. They seem to have a marginal effect on property crimes in the area of the cameras, but I suspect they just shift property crime to other areas. But the cameras were touted as primarily a deterrent to violent crime. That's where the Chronicle comes in. They were the cameras' chief cheerleader. And today their headline on the story read "Mixed Results for Security Cameras." (NOTE: I won't link to the Chronicle's site or story here. The last thing I want to do is promote a propaganda rag masquerading as journalism) Mixed results? Read the fucking study, people. I suspect Hearst Corporation had that headline queued up months ago. They've never let inconvenient reality change their editorial-driven "coverage."

Joe the Dumber: War is Hell, Reporters Should Be Banned

It's the gift that keeps on giving...between Sarah Palin and Samuel Wurzelbacher, the comedy shows are getting plenty of material in this almost-post-Bush era. The latest bit of comedy comes from Joe the Plumber Country Music Artist Blogger Author War "Correspondent". He's touring Israel during its latest offensive against Palestinian territories, and he apparently longs for the propaganda-driven newsreels of WWII:

I'll be honest with you. I don't think journalists should be anywhere allowed war. I mean, you guys report where our troops are at. You report what's happening day to day. You make a big deal out of it. I-I think it's asinine. You know, I liked back in World War I and World War II when you'd go to the theater and you'd see your troops on, you know, the screen and everyone would be real excited and happy for'em. Now everyone's got an opinion and wants to downer--and down soldiers. You know, American soldiers or Israeli soldiers. I think media should be abolished from, uh, you know, reporting. You know, war is hell. And if you're gonna sit there and say, 'Well look at this atrocity,' well you don't know the whole story behind it half the time, so I think the media should have no business in it.

I didn't realize Joe the Dumber was old enough to remember World War II, which ended in 1945. Oh, and I don't think they had many theaters with propaganda newsreels during World War I. The Wilson Administration didn't need to resort to that...they had the Espionage Act and the Sedition Act handy to put dissenters in jail. So I guess Joe really is pining for the good old days, where questioning or reporting on a war could land you a prison term.

I wonder if Joe sees the irony/hypocrisy of complaining about media coverage of a war while he's masquerading as a war correspondent?

An Appropriate Tribute: Brutish, Unnecessary, and Obsolete

In what is perhaps the most fitting recent tribute I can think of, the US Navy has commissioned the last of its Nimitz-class aircraft carriers and named it after George H. W. Bush. The new carrier...

cost $6.2 billion and took five years to build. It towers 20 stories above the waterline, has a flight deck of more than 1.8 hectares, and measures 333 meters long.

It's also the last in the line of Nimitz-class carriers, and is largely obsolete in a modern world where "force projection" against nation states is a thing of the past. A $6 billion dinosaur, floating the world's oceans, impotently touting American imperalism...what a fitting tribute to a one-term failure of a President who screwed up the economy, started an unnecessary war, and gave us a son who turned America into a third world nation.

Will the Supremes Attack Voting Equality?

The Bush Supreme Court has agreed to hear a case challenging parts of the 1965 voting rights act, which prevents states with a history of voting intimidation and discrimination from changing their election laws and procedures without federal approval. This provision was meant to stop these states from arbitrarily changing their laws to keep minorities from voting.

I don't know what's more disturbing...the fact that the Bush Court agreed to hear this case, or the rather amusing arguments put forward by the plaintiffs:

"The America that has elected Barack Obama as its first African-American president is far different than when" the law was first enacted in 1965, they said.

So Obama's election, on the coattails of the biggest economic collapse in three generations, as well as the negligence and malice of the GOP, means that discrimination is over in America? So we should just go about our business and trust in the good hearts of formerly racists regions in the South to let black folks vote...yeah, right. I can see the Bush Court using this as an excuse to overturn much of the progress made from the struggles of the 50's and 60's.

The Bush Recession: Worst Job Market Since the Depression

2008 ended as the worst year for job losses since the demobilization from WWII. The widely-stated (but wildly undercounting) U3 index jumped to 7.2%. Some economists are expecting annualized GDP decline of 2.5% for the next 18-24 months. Others expect U3 to hit 10%, which is roughly approaching depression-level numbers, since U3 discounts discouraged and underemployed workers.

We're in serious trouble here, folks. The rampant speculation, the bubble economies of the last 18 years, the financialization of the US economy, offshoring and the destruction of American productivity & value add have led us to this point. Our current problems weren't caused by dumb banks making bad loans to people who bought houses they couldn't afford...that's just a symtom of a larger problem. The real issue is that America doesn't produce anything...we haven't added any real value to the world economy for decades. Instead, we've let the corporate behemoths take advantage of cheap production of goods (and, increasingly, services) overseas, and we've invented bubble after bubble for the US economy, essentially borrowing to keep our living standards high. Ridiculously low taxes, especially on the wealthy, have led to budget deficits (financed by foreign countries), a complete lack of investment in infrastructure and education, a less productive (in real terms) US workforce, and a stagnation and shrinking of the middle class...all while the plutocracy enriched themselves. An ownership society, indeed.

Actually, the past 18 years look more like a giant Ponzi scheme. Bernie Madoff's got nothing on Reaganomics. Horation Alger is dead.

18 Inches?

A Twist of the Throttle

Discovery's got a new show out called Twist of the Throttle. They go around to various motorcycle factories, profile the company, and ride the back roads. Their second installment is about Ducati, and it's priceless. I need to go to Italy. I need to ride the Futa Pass. I need to visit the factory. If I sell crack in order to finance this trip, is that wrong?

Fortune Cookies: I

Continue your present conversation for some valuable insight.

Another Corrupt Democrat?

Is the sheen coming off the Obama juggernaut? Bill Richardson has withdrawn his name from nomination for the post of Commerce Secretary, citing an ongoing investigation into possible political pay-to-play during his term as governor of New Mexico. Richardson was one of a long string of Clintonites and corrupt Democrats that Obama has appointed to his cabinet after being elected. And there's more to come...Obama has apparently settled on Leon Panetta to head the CIA. The corporate media have played up the notion that Obama is dissapointing his progressive supporters, and to a certain extent that's true. And the Richardson fiasco exacerbates this view, however fair or unfair it may be.

I've said from the beginning that I'll give the Obama Administration a fair shake. If they govern progressively, they'll get my support. If they revert to Clinton-style triangulation and faux-centrism, I'll revert to my Green Party roots. So far, Obama's picks are mostly disappointing...but we'll see what happens. Our country is facing the most dire crisis in generations, and the type of free-market thinking that got us here will not get us out of this mess.

Thwarting the DPT...One Block At A Time

San Francisco's in a bit of a budget mess this year, so I guess this makes me a villain. But sometimes sticking it to the man just feels right.

I walked out today to go to Munroe Motors for some parts, and as I turned onto 15th St I noticed a lone DPT Cushman coming up the street, issuing tickets en masse. It's Saturday morning, so a lot of cars parked overnight and their owners haven't been able to come out and feed the meters. And the DPT just queues meter maids up right before meter hours start so they can maximize revenue. They've been tagging as many people as possible, issuing very questionable citations (Chris from MotoJava got one for not curbing his wheels...he was parked on a flat block) as quickly as possible, then scurrying off to the next victim.

Having been victimized by the DPT on several occasions, I saw red. But instead of getting in the guy's face and risking arrest, I decided to beat him at his own game. I fished out my coin holder, surreptitiously walked up to every expired meter, and started feeding in quarters. I even managed to cross the street several times to feed meters on the other side without being seen. After saving 7 cars from tickets between South Van Ness and Mission, I decided to continue my altruism all the way to Valencia. In that block alone, I managed to save 10 people from expensive tickets. I made it to Valencia, stood on the corner waiting for the light to turn, and the meter maid pulled up...By that time I had run out of quarters, and had used my parking cards to save the last couple of vehicles. I made sure I was holding those parking cards in plain view as the meter maid pulled up to the intersection, scowled at me, then went on his way. Score one more for the little people.

Fascism Demotivator

Happy 2009!

Let's face it, it's been a dismal year. Aside from a few high points (Barack Obama and Troy Bayliss come to mind, as does Anne moving in), 2008 will go out as the year that everything in our country fell apart. Let's hope 2009 brings better times.