You are currently browsing the monthly archive for July, 2008.
A print anthology of web literature: makes me wonder how threatened print culture really is by the growing online publishing movement (it still is). It looks like a good way to survey some new online journals and see some great work (I hope – it’s still in the mail). It’s hard to find a lot of journals, especially as the go up and shut down so frequently.
I’d be happy to see a web version of this kind of thing online for free. Maybe I’ll do something like that myself over the next year. Labor of love.
The article “Numbers Racket: Why the economy is worse than we know” (official graphless html | repost with graphs, claims to be incomplete) by Kevin Phillips, published by Harper’s Magazine in April 2008, came to my attention this morning while I was searching for real information on employment and inflation statistics. This should give a you a more realistic view of where this economy is than the CNBC or Bloomberg.
This post is just another in my series of posts about the economic crisis in America. Some friends of mine I just beginning to look at the economy now with the dread that has been bothering me for almost a year now. I hope this means a lot of other people–those who aren’t already unemployed or homeless from all of this, that is–are beginning to wake up to this too.
Then read this article at CounterPunch : “Why the Bail Out of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae is Bad Economic Policy” by Michael Hudson. I’m not familiar with the author, but looking at the descriptions of a few of his books (Super Imperialism and Global Fracture: The New International Economic Order), he sounds right up my alley.
Here a central passage from the article:
For lawmakers there are two possible policy responses. The first and seemingly most logical response would be to re-set bad debts at levels that can be paid. This write-down would be in keeping with the direction of legislation since the 13th century to favor debtors more than creditors. After all, bankruptcy laws have replaced debtors’ prisons, enabling debtors to make a full start. Truth-in-lending laws, anti-usury laws and similar legislation have sought to balance what people earn and what they can afford to pay for housing and other debts. This is the balance that would be restored by writing down bad debts – or to put it another way, writing off bad loans.
This is not the path that Congress is taking. Instead of bringing debts within the ability to pay, its banking and real estate committees are trying to find a way to re-inflate housing prices. The hope is to enable existing mortgage debtors who have defaulted, or are on the brink of doing so, to get into a position to sell out or to borrow the money due on even easier terms from the Federal Housing Administration (FHA). This would leave government agencies rather than Wall Street holding junk mortgages. It would give security not to home owners and mortgage debtors but to the lenders and speculators holding the $5 trillion in mortgages guaranteed by the Federal National Mortgage Association (FNMA, “Fannie Mae”) and the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp. (“Freddie Mac”), as well as the default-insurance companies on the hook and whose IOUs have now sunk to junk status themselves.
[...]
Congressional banking committee heads are simply behaving as politicians traditionally do by giving priority to their major campaign contributors in the financial and real estate sectors. Led by Democratic senators Charles Schumer from Wall Street and Christopher Dodd from Connecticut’s insurance industry, and supported by Congressman Barney Frank from the real estate sector, Congress is seeking to bail out the bubble’s sponsors, not its victims. The plan is to re-inflate the housing bubble at least long enough for the largest banks and other financial speculators to dump their riskiest holdings. Book values on these mortgages – and the real estate that backs them – are purely fictitious, despite the AAA whitewash from bond-rating agencies which themselves are now under investigation for the fatal Arthur Anderson-style conflict of interest between their research and sales arms.
I know, that’s a lot of quoting, but the issue is complex and needs a little time to put together. Hudson does an excellent job laying out not just the criminal workings of banks and corporations in all of this, but the long-standing and intentional role played by the government (in this case Democrats somewhat more than Republicans) in creating this scandal and benefiting from their donors’ appreciation. This article is well worth your time.
At this time I’m still pulling for Nader, but I watched McKinney’s acceptance speech (and her running mate’s) on C-SPAN this weekend and now I’m having some doubts as to where my vote will be going. As usual, Wikipedia has a well-done overview of Cyntia McKinney and her political career for those of you unfamiliar. Especially important is her work to open up real investigations into the 9/11 incidents and her work in Congress to help Katrina and Rita victims (Right to Return, etc.).
There is a lot of disillusionment going on this year with both major parties. The economic and environmental crises, domestic wiretapping, kowtowing to corporate interests in all areas of government, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan: none of these can be blamed solely on the Republican party, as much as Democrats would like to see this happen. A lot of blame is be be laid upon the criminals occupying the White House, sure; but those in Congress who have repeatedly and without hesitation continued to support the wars and this administration’s other failed policies with continued funding and lack of real oversight are guilty too.
I think McKinney and the Green Party might do better than Nader, if only because the Green Party has such an intensely environmental platform (see their entire platform here), something which may appeal to all of those suffering from the effects of Global Warming that become more obvious and threatening each year. I also think their focus on developing local infrastructure (for food, energy and political authority) is a step in the right direction when dealing with the situation our country now faces.
Again, I haven’t made my mind up. I’m keeping my eye on both of them.
With the help of WebMD I’ve self-diagnosed myself with hypomania, which I am considering a good thing :)
Some of the grand projects I’ve set myself upon lately are: conceiving of/designing computer interfaces for poetic collaboration; listening to as much avant-garde music as I can (free improvisation, Tzadik label, other experimental composition); getting myself to improvise freely and fluidly on my trumpet; learning how to make ambient and noise music with Csound.
From cSounds.com:
Csound is a sound design, music synthesis and signal processing system, providing facilities for composition and performance over a wide range of platforms. It is not restricted to any style of music, having been used for many years in the creation of classical, pop, techno, ambient, experimental, and (of course) computer music, as well as music for film and television.
And, of course, the software is free for any and all to download. I’ve heard that it isn’t easy to learn, though, so wish me luck.
I’m not sure than anything will come of these projects right now, but it’s great starting things, eh?
It’s good to see some hope, however small and fragile it may be.
So, for as long as there is still freedom of access and expression on the internet, there is this site, Wikileaks, to help expose the crimes and lies of governments, corporations, universities, and other institutions in bad need of increased scrutiny.
Thank you Ryan Singel of Wired.com (read his article) for reminding me that this site is still going strong. With all the crap out ther on the internet, it nice for a site like Wikileaks to demonstrate how, at this historical moment (and I’m not referring to the Obama thing), the internet is one of the greatest hopes we have for a better world.
