The Free Market that ain't ...

King Henry goes ape ...

The cultural ideas and norms of recent times — ideas and norms invented and perpetuated by the capitalist system, the billionaires that it serves, their media, their schools, their hierarchy where most of us work and their political system — have not prepared us to act in our own interests in concert with others.

Workers World | What will YOU do about the worst capitalist crisis since the 1930s?

OK, so King Henry's October Surprise, favoring McCain and — supposedly, the global economy, destroyed whatever faith I had in market economies as impartial geo-political checks or balances on unfettered power. Yesterday's late 890-point surge in New York, coming in the face of bottom-of-the-barrel housing prices and near-suicidal consumers, showed them to be little more than passive instruments in the hands of an increasingly brazen totalitarian elite.

A result of recent and ongoing meetings between central bankers and their political masters worldwide, yesterday's onslaught ran contrary to every sense of reason and unreason. It was a calculated, computerized run, targeting 9,000 on the Dow at the close.

It's simple enough to do but, beyond laying the ground for today's planned rate cut, why do it? Because, in terms of policy and legislation (Emergency Economic Stabilization Act) rammed through the farcical system pretending U.S. democracy, they can.

Thousands have spent significant portions of their lives serving jail terms for offences amounting to small-fry insider trading. Now, rather than 'saving' or 'rescuing' the global economy, King Hank — ensconced in the financial capital of the world, Washington D.C., has decided it needs 'fixing'. Will he, the ever-retiring Helicopter Ben, and the rest of the President's Working Group on Financial Markets — read 'The Goldman Sachs' Old Boys Club' or 'Plunge Protection Team', be hauled before the beak?

Hell no. Like Brownie, they'll be praised for a job well done.

Hey, I'm a disinterested observer. I've nothing to gain and nothing to lose on the markets. It's just that rigging rather than influencing them runs contrary to the principles supposedly governing them. In short, it makes a mockery of any notion that Western markets are any freer than those of China or the former Soviet Union.

These guys are not, in the long run, going to resurrect the corpse. Fostering an increasing disconnect between the 'financial' and 'real' economies, they're shilling false hope, prolonging the pain, and denying the grieving process. And they're doing so in collusion and with the blessing of the G20.

More, they boast about it.

Before mounting yesterday's onslaught, the Plunge Protection Team (from which we hear too little) put out a press release.

"Our primary focus at Treasury is to strengthen U.S. financial institutions and restore the flow of financing that is necessary to support and build our economy." ... "Since March, the PWG has worked to ensure implementation of its recommendations, and issued an update just over two weeks ago on progress to date. We noted that, while no single measure can be expected to place financial markets on a sound footing, implementation of the recommendations is an important step in addressing weaknesses. Substantial progress has occurred, and more progress has been made in some areas than in others as efforts have been prioritized to address the most immediate problems. The pace of implementation must be balanced with a need to avoid exacerbating strains on markets and institutions. Still, further effort is warranted, and the PWG is continuing to carefully monitor markets and implementation and will not hesitate to make recommendations if necessary."

U.S. Treasury 28 October 2008

Trust them. They will do whatever it takes. Unfortunately, in so doing, they will take with them a fundamental freedom, i.e. a somewhat-free market. As consumers heading towards a real-economy credit crunch, we'd be better off considering practical solutions to what is now an unfolding train smash.

As for yesterday's rally, please don't tell me — given record housing and confidence lows, every trader working the U.S. markets decided that 2 p.m. ET was just the time to buy.

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin proposed on Tuesday that Russia and China gradually switch over to national currency payments in bilateral trade, expected to total $50 billion in 2008. "We should consider improving the payment system for bilateral trade, including by gradually adopting a broader use of national currencies," Putin told a bilateral economic forum.

RIA Novosti | PM Putin suggests Russia, China ditch dollar in trade deals


220 points in five minutes, an hour after the rate cut. Weird?

I must say it's pleasing to see that even the mainstream and network media — using their ever-neutral, color-coded language, find the Dow's upward lurches a trifle dodge — today it preceded a toxic hedge-fund offload, cushioning its effect to break even at the close (8,990.96).

And I far prefer my "Indian moon shots" to ABC's "NASA rocket" (see post below). When will these people ever get round to calling a spade a spade?

Despite a continuing spate of negative economic news, stocks soared yesterday, with nearly 11% increases in the Dow Jones Industrials and S&P 500. The AP reports Wall Street "had another astounding advance Tuesday, with the Dow Jones industrials soaring nearly 900 points in their second-largest point gain ever as late-day bargain hunters stormed into the market." The DJIA "rose 889.35, or 10.88 percent, to 9,065.12." Broader stock indicators "also surged Tuesday. The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 91.59, or 10.79 percent, to 940.51, and the Nasdaq composite index rose 143.57, or 9.53 percent, to 1,649.47."

While some reports highlighted the economy' continuing downside negative consumer confidence and continued volatility other media sources portrayed the surge as an indication that the credit markets are unfreezing or that equities have finally established a new floor. ABC World News reported, "Despite a flurry of bad economic news today, lower home prices, consumer confidence at an historic low, the market took off like a NASA rocket. ... Some traders explained today's monster move by pointing out the good news, including strong markets overseas and an anticipated cut in interest rates tomorrow by the Federal Reserve," but the "irony was there was just as much bad news today." The CBS Evening News noted that "since the collapse of Lehman Brothers six weeks ago, we've seen the biggest point gain and the biggest point loss ever and 29 sessions when the Dow was up or down in triple digits." NBC Nightly News also noted that "consumer confidence has plunged to its lowest level in 41 years in all of the years that it's been measured."

The New York Times reports the story under the headline, "Even As Dow Soars 11%, Skeptics Lurk." The Times says that after "four mostly miserable weeks, a powerful afternoon rally left traders wondering if it was time to buy again. ... Many other investors, however, remained unpersuaded." USA Today reports the gains "restored $1 trillion in stock value, taking some of the sting out of the $6.6 trillion that's been erased from stock portfolios this year, according to the DJ Wilshire 5000." But analysts "cautioned that this could turn out to be the sixth in a string of failed one-day rallies in less than a month that lured buyers in only to shred more wealth."

USNews | Dow's Dramatic Surge Met With Wariness

Needless to say, the unquestioning business media are flailing around in the dark. The closest they get are "program trading" and King Henry's "'new normal'".

Even the featured panelists at the media event, who are among the brightest in the investment business, are uncertain. "Talk to 10 people, and you’ll get 10 different answers," says indexing guru Gus Sauter of Vanguard Group. "Maybe 11," chimed in Lee Kranefuss, global chief executive officer of iShares, Barclays Global Investors.

One theory for the late-day swings is that mutual funds and hedge funds are selling (or, like today, buying) stocks later in the trading session to cover expected redemptions, or inflows. Another theory is that active managers and hedge funds are meeting margin calls. Maybe it is a result of program trading.

I’m surprised no one has a concrete answer. What is your take on the late-day swings? Why is this happening now? Will it ever end, or is this part of the "new normal"?

BusinessWeek | Explaining the Late-Day Market Trading Surges (and Declines)

Bursting Bubbles

Over the falls ...

"Men, it has been well said, think in herds; it will be seen that they go mad in herds, while they only recover their senses slowly, and one by one!"

Charles Mackay

Over the past couple of weeks I've been intrigued by the counterproductive behavior of meddlesome politicians eager to 'rescue' or 'save' the global economy. They've fueled the panic driving the VIX to new highs. High-profile speeches and meetings have led to obscene amounts of public money being used to pay off the wealthy and prop up a patently defective system.

Perversely, the Americans paid the private sector to buy government.

While the fat cats might now gleefully bound off to their private banks, the system is all-too-obviously beyond resuscitation. It has been as dead as the proverbial parrot since the housing bubble burst to reveal a gigantic Ponzi scheme built on deceit, greed, and deception.

Wealth generated in real economies around the world has, though the abuse of derivatives, been leveraged and leveraged again to create an illusory prosperity sustained only by ignorance. It does not exist. If you handed your money over to people promising future fortunes, forget it. It's gone.

I know these things are sometimes difficult to swallow but, face it, you were had. Those same charming, sincere snake-oil salesmen boasting economic qualifications every bit as useless as outdated MCSEs or CCNEs took your money and spent it. You bought them their Mercs and houses overlooking Camps Bay.

In short, and bar a few trillion dollars worth of toxic debt still clogging up or sloshing around the system, the market has corrected itself.

That's all there is to it. Now get a life and get over it.

We are witnessing the great unraveling; a massive deleveraging of markets over-inflated with "funny money". For Paulson, Bernanke, and their global counterparts to run around like headless chickens in search of bulls capable of recreating the bubble that passed as the global economy is beyond criminal. It's psychotically absurd. These people — for that is all they are — have recited the 'crisis of confidence' mantra for so long they're incapable of letting it go.

In fact, I believe they believe they can revive the dead.

They can't. Nor is it a debt crisis. Or a credit crisis. It's a fucking implosion the like of which has not been seen before. Such is the nature of a crash. It's seldom undone at the speed at which it was engineered. Unraveling three decades of graft in a year is like walking into a wall at thirty rather than one kilometers an hour.

Serious injury or death is inevitable.

Ninety percent of the world's population could tell the remaining ten percent that you cannot spend that which you do not have. They could also teach them that when it's gone, it's gone.

Being poor has its upside.

Sure, the markets will regain some bounce. Today, despite consumer confidence and housing prices plummeting to record lows, the main indices took off like Indian moon shots — London, Paris, and Sydney have since returned to Earth, but Frankfurt, Hong Kong, and Tokyo remain right up there. Upswings may even gain traction and sustain themselves a while. But we're not looking at 14,000 on the Dow or 34,000 on the JSE anytime soon. That money has gone — chiefly because it didn't exist in the first place.

The recession starts now.

Bar notable exceptions, economic commentators have covered themselves in vainglory. The most amusing, yet irritating, are the so-called market experts dragged in from battered corporates still touting the bedraggled remains of disreputable wares now being beaten to death on trading floors around the world.

Our local radio station, 567 CapeTalk, uses Dawie Roodt, chief economist of the Efficient Group, to pontificate on matters economic. Whenever I hear Dawie's voice, I think "Enough already. Why can't this guy do anything but mouth platitudes? He's supposed to be an economic analyst, for Christ's sake."

He offers nothing substantial. Sometimes I get the feeling these commentators are drawn from the mob who were forced to take accounting at school. It was the intellectual equivalent of woodwork.

For now, and as market volatility and unreason rule, we will continue to have meaningless meetings about meetings. This morning, I heard the November 15 G20 crisis summit described as a meeting of minds. It's being chaired by George W. Bush.

When it comes to the Davos divas, irony is irresistible.

Mike Whitney and Michael Hudson have been notable among the notable exceptions to prevailing media idiocy. I've thoroughly enjoyed their writing since the economy ousted U.S. imperialism and its failed wars from centre stage some two years ago.

But these guys tend to write as informed journalists au fait with the intricacies of economic finagling and the jargon used to disguise it. We've long needed a concise exposition capable of communicating the casino nature of the markets.

BusinessWeek's Michael Mandel delivers it. If, like me, you're a fiscal dummy and, unlike me, have money invested in the markets, read It's Not a Crisis of Confidence before transferring that which you have left into your most accessible bank account.

It's the only sensible thing to do.

But what if the Bernanke-Paulson view is wrong? What if financial stress is a symptom, not a cause?

What if we face a wrenching readjustment of the global real economy rather than a crisis of confidence rooted in the financial system? What if Bernanke and Paulson are treating the wrong problem? What if investors, realizing that their long held assumptions about the global economy are wrong, are rationally bailing out of stock markets in almost every country, at least for now?

In fact, there's good reason to believe that the current crisis reflects a growing realization: Long accepted patterns of cross-border technological transfer, foreign trade, and global finance are simply not sustainable.

Michael Mandel | It's Not a Crisis of Confidence

Billions pumped in across the Dow saw a sustained two-hour rally stride inexorably 890 points up the board to close at 9066.95 (10.9 percent), a near all-time record-breaking surge.

The sheer brutality of the swathe carved upward through the mining, energy, manufacturing, consumables, transport, and automotive sectors — not to mention the NASDAQ (9.5 percent) and SPX500 (10.8 percent), leaves more questions than answers, i.e. "What the hell was that?"

Sadly ...

... he realized it was too late to bail out ...

The good news? Home sales are rising. The bad news? The prices fetched.

Hedge funds are still driving markets down as they unload shares to acquire liquidity to pay off debt, analysts say.

This scorched earth strategy has seen hedge funds drop more than 10%, losing $210bn in the third quarter on a worldwide share portfolio put at $1.72 trillion.

"Part of this industry is dying, maybe half," said Eric Galiegue, director of analysts Valquant.

"So they are liquidating their assets as an emergency, in an animal fear, taking no account of economic news."

Fin24 | Markets brace for crucial week

Last week, banks borrowed a record $437 billion per day, topping the previous week's $420 billion per day a week earlier. Hundreds of banks cannot meet their capital requirements without regular low interest loans from the Federal Reserve. The banking system is in shambles. The FDIC needs to determine which banks can be saved and which need to be shut down, otherwise the insolvent banks will use the money they get from the Treasury on risky bets to dig their way out of bankruptcy. Without restrictions on how they can issue credit, many of the banks will engage in the same reckless behavior and speculation that brought on the current calamity.

Mike Whitney | Down For The Count


.... and was wiped out.

The Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index, “the Fear Index”, surged to 79.13 on Friday, the highest in its 18-year history, while the Dow clawed its way back from 500 points down to a 312 point loss on the day. The massive blow-off in stocks is mainly the result of ongoing deleveraging among the hedge funds which are dumping shares in at a record pace to cover the dwindling value of their asset base. According to the New York Times: “Hedge funds lost an estimated $180 billion during the last three months and some are near collapse. Investors are demanding their money back, and Wall Street is bracing for a shake-out in the $1.7 trillion industry.” If a large fund, like Citadel, goes down, it will create a black hole in the financial system, similar to the loss of Lehman Bros. and, once again, the US Treasury will have to come to the rescue by providing a multi-billion dollar taxpayer bailout.

Mike Whitney | Meet the World’s New Reserve Currency

Davos organizers also say they failed to play tough with the financial-industry bosses, opting to accept their funding and let them turn Davos into a rave-up for Wall Street excesses.

"The partying crept in," says Klaus Schwab, the 70-year- old WEF founder and executive chairman. "We let it get out of control, and attention was taken away from the speed and complexity of how the world's challenges built up."

[...]

Each January, global financial titans and their entourages gathered in the Alpine hamlet. A band of fluegelhorns wandered in hotel lobbies, heralding the arrival of delegates such as Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. CEO Richard Fuld Jr., Freddie Mac CEO Richard Syron and U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, along with actresses such as Angelina Jolie and Sharon Stone.

Bundled in cashmere coats and goose-down parkas, the WEF's 2,500 "global leaders" set off to attend a medley of 500 public and private sessions designed to isolate economic problems, clarify disturbing market trends and forge innovative solutions.

[...]

As for the merrymaking, Schwab vows "it won't happen again." Unlike Bretton Woods, companies will still pay as much as $750,000 each in annual fees to send executives to Davos.

William Browder, founder of Hermitage Capital Management Ltd. in London and an eight-year WEF veteran, isn't so sure Schwab can pull it off.

"An exercise in moderation is something the private sector doesn't do very well," Browder says.

Bloomberg | 'Out of Control' CEOs Spurned Davos Warnings on Risk

America's no democracy and as a result of the meltdown and the surrender of our power to Wall Street's new Disaster Capitalism we are morphing into what one WWII dictator called "corporatism," a "merger of state and corporate power," kind of like what's going on now with Goldman Sachs' ex-boss as de facto president.

MarketWatch | Wall Street's 'Disaster Capitalism for Dummies'

Steady As She Goes?

Trading in futures on the Standard & Poor's 500 Index and the Dow Jones Industrial Average was limited to prevent contracts from further declines after drops of more than 6 percent. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index sank 7.5 percent and the pound slid the most versus the dollar since 1971 after the economy shrank for the first time since 1992. South Korea's Kospi Index slumped 10 percent as the country's economy grew at the slowest pace in four years.

The MSCI World Index lost 3.8 percent to 876.16 at 12:09 p.m. in London, extending this week's retreat to 7.9 percent. Futures on the S&P 500 expiring in December fell 6.6 to 855.2, reaching the "limit down" level.

"The panic levels are now quite unseen," said Christian Gattiker, Zurich-based head of equity research at Bank Julius Baer & Co. which manages about $307.6 billion globally. "It's difficult to have any words for this situation right now."

Bloomberg | Global Stocks, U.S. Futures Fall, Led by Carmakers; Yen Rallies

Yup, that's right. After-hours trading stopped on the NYSE to prevent futures dropping more than six percent. The Nikkei's a ghastly sight and markets around the globe are being trashed.

Things could get ugly.

Locally, our front pages cover the future of the Bok emblem or the ANC metamorphosing into Zanu-PF. I've a feeling few realize just how serious this crunch and its implications are — even should the wheels not fall off and burn.

Hold on to whatever you can and enjoy the ride.

October — long regarded as a bleak month for stocks because of the crashes in 1929 and 1987 — is poised to set a new monthly standard for weakness. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, as of trading early Friday afternoon, was down 23% for the month, a worse showing than those prior Octobers.

CNN | Stock Crash Nears Historic Milestone

Liquid Assets

Paul Allen's Tatoosh slums it at the Cape Grace Hotel, V&A Waterfront

The moral of ancient and modern history alike is that a critical point inevitably arrives at which economies either adopt hard creditor-oriented laws that impoverish the population and plunge downward socially and militarily, or save themselves by alleviating the debt burden. What is remarkable today is the almost total failure of political leaders to provide an alternative to Mr. Paulson’s bailout of Wall Street from the Bear Stearns bankruptcy down through the government takeover of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to last week’s giveaway to the banks. Nobody is even warning where this destructive decision is leading. Governments ostensibly representing "free market" philosophy are acting as the lender of last resort — not to households and business non-financial debtors, and not to wipe out the debt overhang in a Clean Slate, but to subsidize the excess of financial claims over and above the economy’s ability to pay and the market value of assets pledged as collateral.

Michael Hudson | Parsing Mr. Paulson’s Bailout Speech

The 301-foot Tatoosh is Paul Allen's 'second' yacht. He has another, the 414-foot Octopus, up his sleeve.

That's a big sleeve.

Hank Paulson also has a big sleeve. In fact, he'd like us to believe he has a bigger sleeve than Paul Allen.

"I pulled $700 billion out of it a coupla weeks ago," he boasted.

I seriously doubted it.

"Sure thing, Hank. I believe you," I told him.

Fact is, I was terrified. And not by his sleeve either. I was looking at a photograph of Hank in Wikipedia, the ultimate arbiter of all that is good, noble, and just on the Web — or anywhere else for that matter. It has been scientifically proven that Wikipedia — not Hank, is far more reliable than Encylopaedia Britannica. And The Bible.

The picture was morphing into weird alien shapes and beings as I stared at it. The left-hand side of Hank's face took on the appearance of one of those guys out of Star Wars or Star Trek or whatever they called those stupid bloody shows that destroyed the minds of a generation.

Hank Paulson, stared at long enough, looks a seriously evil dude.

Wikipedia's entry is quite interesting. It tells us "Paulson received his Bachelor of Arts in English from Dartmouth College in 1968 ... and he was an All Ivy, All East, and honorable mention All American as an offensive lineman." A wrestler in high school, it seems our Hank went to varsity on what they politely call a "football scholarship".

On graduating, our BA went on to get an MBA at Harvard. He then became ".... Staff Assistant to the Assistant Secretary of Defense at The Pentagon from 1970 to 1972. He then worked for the administration of U.S. President Richard Nixon, serving as assistant to John Ehrlichman from 1972 to 1973, during the events of the Watergate scandal for which Ehrlichman was convicted to a prison sentence."

I guess that qualified him for business.


The Tatoosh? US$100 million. Table Mountain? Priceless.

"He joined Goldman Sachs in 1974, working in the firm's Chicago office for Manmeet Taneja. He became a partner in 1982. From 1983 until 1988, Paulson led the Investment Banking group for the Midwest Region, and became managing partner of the Chicago office in 1988. From 1990 to November 1994, he was co-head of Investment Banking, then, Chief Operating Officer from December 1994 to June 1998; eventually succeeding Jon Corzine (now Governor of New Jersey) as its chief executive. His compensation package, according to reports, was US $37 million in 2005, and US $16.4 million projected for 2006. His net worth has been estimated at over US $700 million."

Paulson was nominated by George W. Bush to serve as Secretary of the Treasury on May 30, 2006.

Quite a career ... for a footballer ... with an MBA.

Which is what makes Michael Hudson's article quoted above so good — it could be titled The Paulson Coup: For Dummies.

It's one of those articles that clearly and succinctly spells out the nature and consequences of the fiscal catastrophe about to engulf us.

It also spells out, with the assistance of Pam Martens's article, The Charmed Lives of the Crony Capitalists, and the graphic Six Degrees of Hank Paulson, that which the The New York Times gives us today.

If you read nothing else, read The Guys from Government Sachs. I think the Gray Lady is starting to 'get it'.

"Hank?" I asked him. "You wanna buy a yacht. I have one to sell you."

What most Americans do not understand, because mainstream media rarely explains it, is the incestuous relationship between the U.S. Treasury and this small band of financial marauders who busted the entire financial system with insane levels of leveraged derivative bets.

Pam Martens | The Charmed Lives of the Crony Capitalists

I mean, hey look ... there may be sunny days here and there but, ultimately, you have to listen to the lady, i.e. Pam Martens. When she says "... busted the entire financial system ..." that's what she means.


Swinging through 1,100 points to close at 8,522...

In his excellent article of earlier today, Wall Street Hustlers Built a $100 Trillion House of Cards and Stuck You with the Fallout, Joshua Holland quotes Nouriel 'Dr. Doom' Roubini.

"... today any wealthy individual can take $1 million and go to a prime broker and leverage this amount three times; then the resulting $4 million ($1 equity and $3 debt) can be invested in a fund of funds that will in turn leverage these $4 millions three or four times and invest them in a hedge fund; then the hedge fund will take these funds and leverage them three or four times and buy some very junior tranche of a CDO that is itself levered nine or ten times. At the end of this credit chain, the initial $1 million of equity becomes a $100 million investment out of which $99 million is debt (leverage) and only $1 million is equity. So we got an overall leverage ratio of 100 to 1. Then, even a small 1% fall in the price of the final investment (CDO) wipes out the initial capital and creates a chain of margin calls that unravel this debt house of cards. This unraveling of a Minskian Ponzi credit scheme is exactly what is happening right now in financial markets.

Nouriel Roubini | Non-Priceable Knightian “Uncertainty” Rather Than Priceable Market “Risk”

It kind of spells it out, doesn't it? This is not a liquidity or credit crisis. It's a debt crisis of incomprehensible proportions. Never mind. I'm sure we'll all get through it just fine. Ho ho.

The free-wheeling, fast-living, high-flying Roubini, who beat Krugman to the Nobel Prize for Economics, appears to have run afoul of one Nick Denton.

Some of you might remember Nick from the days of Mike Sanders and that Owens chap. They're a bunch of rabid, self-loathing Zioncon terrorists. Denton appalled me then as he does now, but he is easily dispatched. A veteran of considerable experience (I happily recall the story of Mike Sanders, Nick Denton, and the donkey), I gladly volunteer my services to the good professor.

As long as I get an invite to one of his parties. At close on ZAR12.00 to the US dollar, I need a free ride.

Hard Aground

S.S. Thomas T. Tucker 1942

So grim has the McCain campaign become, and so diminished are the fortunes of the regressive right, that people are jumping ship now as if they owned stock in General Motors. And why wouldn’t they? This last week in particular has been one of the most horrible ever in American politics. You could start with the fact that a grossly under-qualified nominee for Vice President is already nearly being indicted for abuse of power, and she hasn’t even hit Washington yet. So far, that’s just a reflection on the grossly under-honorable man who selected her, purely to benefit his own career aspirations. But when you add in the fierce devotion that Palin engenders among the legions of the scary right, you can really get depressed.

David Michael Green | Payback's A Bitch


S.S. Thomas T. Tucker 1942

The European initiative forced Secretary of the Treasury Henry Paulson to do the right thing. It is 100 percent certain now that his plan to use the $700 billion bailout to buy-back the non-performing loans and bad mortgage-backed securities from the banks would have failed and led to disaster. Paulson stuck by his wacko plan even though more than 200 economists opposed him and the stock market tumbled 8 straight days in a row losing more than 15 percent of its value. The EU had to put a gun to his head to force him to do the right thing. Paulson's Wall Street bias is so great that he would have driven the country off the cliff just to reward his dodgy friends with lavish cash giveaways from the US taxpayer.

Mike Whitney | No More Investment Banks

Sarah I hardly knew ye ...

"Say it ain't so, Joe ..."

With your guns and drums and drums and guns, hurroo, hurroo | With your guns and drums and drums and guns, hurroo, hurroo | With your guns and drums and drums and guns | The enemy nearly slew ye | Oh my darling dear, Ye look so queer | Johnny I hardly knew ye.

In two weeks' time, John McCain, Sarah Palin, and the fool still in the White House will slouch off the world stage.

John McCain?



Where are your eyes that were so mild, hurroo, hurroo | Where are your eyes that were so mild, hurroo, hurroo | Where are your eyes that were so mild | When my heart you so beguiled? | Why did ye skedaddle from me and the child? | Oh Johnny, I hardly knew ye.

Why do a job on John McCain?



Where are your legs that used to run, hurroo, hurroo | Where are your legs that used to run, hurroo, hurroo | Where are your legs that used to run | When you went for to carry a gun | To be sure but your dancing days are done | Oh Johnny, I hardly knew ye.

He knows his time is up.



Ye haven't an arm, ye haven't a leg, hurroo, hurroo | Ye haven't an arm, ye haven't a leg, hurroo, hurroo | Ye haven't an arm, ye haven't a leg, | Ye're an armless, boneless, chickenless egg, | Ye'll have to be put with a bowl to beg, | Oh Johnny I hardly knew ye.

Besides, when you gotta go ... you gotta go.

Dubya? In a strange way, I'll miss the bugger. There's a war crimes tribunal awaiting his administration. It's a pity he couldn't stay.

And, yes, Sarah Palin. You know, I miss her already ...

Really.

Where the hell is she? It took a month for the GOP to realize she was ... well, kinda like Joe the Plumber, but at least they let her out to play.

Now? She's gone ... pffft!

Never mind. We'll always have our memories of Palin as President.

I'm happy for to see ye home, hurroo, hurroo | I'm happy for to see ye home, hurroo, hurroo | I'm happy for to see ye home | All from the island of Ceylon | So low in flesh, so high in bone | Oh Johnny I hardly knew ye.

Johnny I Hardly Knew Ye

Sarah Palin by Zina Sanders
John McCain by John McCain and AP

Dead Cat Bounces

"It's certainly not morning in America."

First you mess up the world's financial system. Then you blow the rescue of it. Now let's show you how to do it properly.

Peter Gumbel | Europe to U.S.: You messed up the rescue, too

Like every other high-income country, the U.S. will finally need a national value-added tax or sales tax of some sort, perhaps starting at a 5% rate (to collect initially around 3% to 5% of GDP). The VAT has proved to be a smart tax, by focusing taxation on consumption rather than on saving and investment. Admittedly, we are nowhere near a public consensus on such issues. Nobody has even bruited such a possibility. Both candidates are promising tax cuts: Obama moderately for the middle class, and McCain recklessly for the rich and for corporations as well.

Yet reality will begin to dawn. Reaganomics is over - even the moderate, triangulating version of the Clinton years. It's time to embrace government again as part of the solution rather than as the source of the problem. And it's time to start paying for government again. Our future, and surely our children's, will depend on it.

Jeffrey Sachs | How to rebuild America

Didn't ever think I'd end up ferreting through Fortune for a good read. My, things really have changed ...

U.S. stocks plunged the most since the crash of 1987, hammered by the biggest drop in retail sales in three years and growing doubt that plans to bail out banks will keep the nation out of a recession. ... The Standard & Poor's 500 Index plunged 90.31 points, or 9.1 percent, to 907.7. The Dow Jones Industrial Average retreated 733.48, or 7.9 percent, to 8,577.51, its second biggest point drop ever. The Nasdaq Composite Index lost 150.68, or 8.5 percent, to 1,628.33. ... The retreat over the past two days erased almost all of the gains in the S&P 500 and Dow on Oct. 13, when the market rallied the most since the 1930s on speculation the government's plan to shore up banks will ease the credit crisis.

Bloomberg | U.S. Stocks Plunge Most Since Crash of `87 on Recession Concern

Hugh's Day Off

"Surf's up!"

I heard an item on the radio a couple of weeks back. Apparently we're down to about 270 Chacma baboons on the Cape Peninsula. It's a fucking disgrace.

But on to more important things.


The Reserve — the day before...

There's only so much you can do with a straight digital. It's like taking photographs with a cheap cellphone. Then again, would I swap my kids for a Canon EOS 450 with a 300 or 400 mm lens?

Who knows? One day maybe, who knows baby ...


The Reserve — the day before...

Anyway, these are for surf fiend and movie maker, Hugh du Toit. Jo'burg's loss was our gain. It was a hell of a lot bigger and far cleaner out back, Hugh, but even with a doubler, I couldn't pick the good from the bad and I've a lot of junk on my hard drive.


The Reserve — the day before...

The Sunday before (or after — I forget) it was at least 12'. On the Monday, who knows? I was working, but I believe there are a couple of pics up at MagicSeaweed.


The Reserve — the day before...

Sunday afternoon, the swell started breaking at what looked to be 18 - 20' after wrapping around Judas Peak and over Batsata Rock. The Smitswinkel residents had to hoik their boats as far up the shore as they could. They lost several to the storm.


Cape of ... umm, Storms

This coming winter ... I swear to God ...

The Law of the Jungle ...

Well, the Book of Leviticus and Deuteronomy, | The law of the jungle and the sea are your only teachers.

Sorry, but that's just the way it is...

Today's capitalism has degenerated into a casino. The financial markets are propelled by greed. Speculation has reached catastrophic proportions. These are all things that have to end.

Muhammad Yunus | 'Capitalism Has Degenerated into a Casino'



You're a man of the mountains, you can walk on the clouds, | Manipulator of crowds, you're a dream twister.

Will voters see the asymmetry in Congress’s failure to offer debt relief for homeowners as real estate prices plunge below the mortgages that are owed? Will its members be blamed for not rewriting the nation’s bankruptcy laws to free families from debt peonage – and free housing markets from the price declines that result from today’s proliferation of foreclosure sales? For that matter, will there be no relief for corporations having to cut back investment in order to service their junk bonds and other debts with which Wall Street’s corporate raiders and “shareholder activists” have loaded them down?

Evidently not.

Michael Hudson | Rescue for the Few, Debt Slavery for the Many



You're going to Sodom and Gomorrah | But what do you care? Ain't nobody there would want to marry your sister.

What has emerged are the outlines of two opposite approaches to the unfolding crisis. The Paulson plan is now clearly part of a project to create three colossal global financial giants -- Citigroup, JP MorganChase and, of course, Paulson’s own Goldman Sachs, now conveniently enough a bank. Having successfully used fear and panic to wrestle a $700 billion bailout from the US taxpayers, now the big three will try to use their unprecedented muscle to ravage European banks in the years ahead. So long as the world’s largest financial credit rating agencies -- Moody’s and Standard & Poors -- are untouched by the scandals and congressional hearings, the reorganized US financial power of Goldman Sachs, Citigroup and JP Morgan Chase could potentially regroup and advance their global agenda over the coming several years, walking over the ashes of a bankrupt American economy ...

F. William Engdahl | Behind the panic: Financial warfare over the future of global bank power



Friend to the martyr, a friend to the woman of shame, | You look into the fiery furnace, see the rich man without any name.

Lenin said that the best way to destroy the capitalist system was to debauch its currency. If our financial disaster continues there will be a widespread loss of faith in the mechanisms that regulate society. If our money becomes worthless, so does our government. All traditional standards and beliefs are shattered in a severe economic crisis. The moral order is turned upside down. The honest and industrious are wiped out while the gangsters, profiteers and speculators amass millions. Look at Lehman Brothers CEO Richard Fuld. He walks away from his bankrupt investment house after pocketing $485 million. His investors are wiped out. An economic collapse does not only mean the degradation of trade and commerce, food shortages, bankruptcies and unemployment; it means the systematic dynamiting of the foundations of a society. I watched this happen in Yugoslavia. I fear I am watching it happen here in the United States.

Chris Hedges | America’s Political Cannibalism



Jokerman dance to the nightingale tune, | Bird fly high by the light of the moon, | Oh, oh, oh, Jokerman.

Bob Dylan | Jokerman

In order to avert a general state of panic, the U.S. administration has declared that it will secure deposits that do not exceed $250,000. It will administrate banks and sums of money that Lenin, with his abacus, could never have imagined counting.

We might be wondering now about what contribution Bush’s administration might make to socialism. But let’s not entertain any illusions. Once banking operations go back to normal, the imperialists will return the banks to private enterprise, as some other countries in this hemisphere have already done. The people always foot the bill.

Fidel Castro | The Law of the Jungle

Unfit for Duty

Dishonorable discharge

"Generally, the report makes it sound as though the Palins, especially Todd Palin, were just obsessed with Wooten, in a truly peculiar and creepy way."

Andrew Sullivan | "Truly Peculiar And Creepy"

Quoting Hilzoy, Andrew Sullivan tumbles to the Palins' potency, i.e. husband Todd.

The reason? Two words. Brad Hanson.

"I’ve been doing it for 10 years," Hanson said.

Any wonder Todd's pissed?

As the Palin—Wallace campaign totters inexorably towards its trailer trash origins and the ignominious defeat it so richly deserves, Barack Obama appears to be opening a lead capable of overcoming the naked racism to which he has been subject.

The Palins? They will return to Wasilla — by all accounts an ugly mess of gun shops, fundamentalist churches, strip malls, truck stops, brothels, bars and sex shops scattered beside the highway snaking across the frozen wastes of a now discredited Alaska — in disgrace.

"Never try to teach a pig to sing; it wastes your time and it annoys the pig."

Robert Heinlein

Note: It must be noted that Heinlein, an expert on the Palins, authored Starship Troopers, Stranger in a Strange Land, and the seminal work on Palin foreign policy, Red Planet. He is widely regarded as a Fair Witness.

Lekota shoots his bolt

A monster of my making ...

I was disappointed because this was a sad caricature of the Patrick Mosiuoa “Terror” Lekota I have known and respected from UDF days through to his days with the ANC’s southern Natal region, my stomping ground at the time.

We know Lekota’s conquests. He earned his stripes as a leader when Malema was still a (bad?) dream in his father’s mind.

The Lekota of the ’80s and ’90s, stationed as he was in volatile KwaZulu-Natal, could speak truth to power, crossing swords with Buthelezi et al, but with due consideration of what his utterances might do to the fragile relations between the ANC and IFP.

The ANC today is a fractured organisation, and to have a Malema in each faction is not going to help things at all.

I have to concur with Xolela Mangcu when he says: “Surely, there is something wrong with the violence and militarism of the new ANC. I am just not sure if a highly compromised Lekota is the person to swing the ANC against it.”

Fred Khumalo | Lekota and Malema: spot the difference

"We cannot allow elements that are reversing the revolution to destroy what we have built … if we think something is not right, we must say so to each other," he said.

And that's pretty much where Lekota is at now.

If there's a parapet, he's likely to be one of the first to stick his head over it - often in the role of flak-catcher or lightning rod. He may be performing the same role now.

Gaye Davis | Terror is not afraid

While I have enormous sympathy for Mosiuoa 'Terror' Lekota — unlike so many of our latter-day commentators, I do not regard him a 'lightweight', I tend to agree with Fred Khumalo's view of our former Defence Minister's divorce from the now gutless ANC (Pallo Jordan's been sitting on the fence so long, he's split his personality).

Let it be noted, however, that I do so through the words of Gaye Davis, a journalist who — having earned her stripes in the frontline of the 80s and 90s, commands my unreserved respect (I've yet to read or listen to Gaye and disagree with her). Respecting Lekota — and delivering unvarnished fact, she moves Khumalo's assessment a step forward, framing Lekota's role in its appropriate context.

No matter his faults, Terror knows no fear and continues 'speaking truth to power'. Solomon Mahlangu, Matthew Goniwe and generations of South Africans did not die so that we might one day see the Freedom Charter trampled into the mud of Polokwane.

Lekota reminded well over a thousand people of this in Langa yesterday. They raised high the roofbeams at his performance (for, let's not kid ourselves, that is what politicians deliver). It was vintage stuff and it was good. But it was not publicised and Terror did not have the decency to pick up the phone and give me a shout. For this reason alone, he has shot his bolt. In a country where the president of the ANC will meet one on one with a disaffected voter, I demand a personal apology.

"No one is bigger than the ANC."

Jacob Zuma

Bottoming out ...

Google's little joke...

I opened the browser, saw a 1,362-point drop and thought emotically. OMG! But yes, it was a glitch. Nevertheless, today appears to be little different to yesterday. My Chinese friend, Jim, reckons the market should find support at 7,180. Should it break through that, it will be (as Mr. Morrison put it) "...all over."

OK, you and I know there are millions of chartists out there and the best they can do is give us some indication of a probable event but, hey, this has to stop somewhere. Doesn't it?

I've a strong feeling we've seen the end of the capitulatory phase and, by Monday, much of the dust will have settled. Call this the Golby Fallout Shelter Method or something, but trust me on it. Recognising the return of the bull is a visceral thing and I have been watching the markets for several weeks now (well, it seems like several weeks). Never mind... I consider myself something of an expert in these matters.

Besides, I think Warren Buffett, taking a beating right now, is banking on my advice.

Highs and Lows

The Wall Street Journal records: "U.S. stocks have lost $7.5 trillion in market value since indexes hit a record on Oct. 9, 2007, one year ago. That exceeds the gross domestic products of China and Japan, and is in the same ballpark as the U.S. national debt."

The WSJ goes on to note that "... these figures are based on the DJ Wiltshire 5000 Index, which includes almost every U.S.-based company. The index's market value has fallen 39 percent, or $7.5 trillion, from its $19.2 trillion Oct. 9, 2007 record."

Coordinated interest-rate cuts around the world failed to reassure investors that the global financial crisis would end soon.

Stocks fell for the sixth consecutive day after a whipsaw session. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished down 189.01 points, or 2.0%, at 9258.10, its lowest close in more than five years. The blue-chip average moved higher in the morning, was down more than 250 points at its intraday low in the afternoon, and rose again before losing ground at the end of the day.

The Dow is now 35% below its record finish a year ago, on Oct. 9, 2007. It has fallen 15% over the past six trading days.

The inability to rebound after rate cuts by Federal Reserve, the European Central Bank, the Bank of England, the Bank of Canada and other central banks was taken as a sign that it will be hard for stocks to recover from their declines of the past year.

Wall Street Journal | Yes, Dow's Record Was Year Ago Today

Given today's new 'early low' of 9,045.76 and despite a volatile stability returning to the markets (sort of like Putin's head rearing over Alaska), I assume the chap who prompted my post of two days ago is toasting this particular anniversary with Kool-aid supplied by FEMA.



Holy crap! At 8,579.19 and 7.33 percent down at the close, it's turned to Chinese milk ... That's more than five years of funny money wiped out.

Following yesterday's 508 point bloodbath, President George Bush tried to calm jittery investors about the turmoil in the markets. He said, "I know that the days are dim right now for a lot of folks. But I firmly believe tomorrow is going to be brighter."

Mike Whitney | "To the Bunkers!"

Note: "Tomorrow" was today — and a 675-point cliff face awaited. Tomorrow (Friday) we face the prospect of yet another load of Bush's bullshit. Let's hope his people read the morning papers.

The consequences of Lehman’s fall were apparent within days, yet key policy players have largely wasted the past four weeks. Now they’ve reached a moment of truth: They’d better do something soon — in fact, they’d better announce a coordinated rescue plan this weekend — or the world economy may well experience its worst slump since the Great Depression.

Paul Krugman | Moment of Truth

Background: the First Brigade of the Third Infantry Division, three to four thousand soldiers, has been deployed in the United States as of October 1. Their stated mission is the form of crowd control they practiced in Iraq, subduing "unruly individuals," and the management of a national emergency.

Naomi Wolf | Thousands of Troops Are Deployed on U.S. Streets Ready to Carry Out "Crowd Control"

One has to ask the question. Having done all the spadework, is George W. Bush making provision for or planning martial law?

Dow Plummets to 9450 at Close

"I guess it's vodka with the Xanax tonight, eh?"

See post below.

US banks borrowed a record $367.8 billion (£208 billion) a day from the Federal Reserve in the week ended October 1. Data from the US central bank shows how much financial institutions are relying on the Fed in its role as lender of last resort as short-term funding becomes almost impossible to find elsewhere.

The Times | US banks borrow record amount from Fed

But so far, the myriad efforts by government regulators to shore up confidence have seemed to yield little relief among investors, some of whom believed the actions have taken on a haphazard air.

“People are slowly but surely coming to the realization that playing ‘Whack-a-Mole’ with each of these issues as they arise, on an ad hoc basis, doesn’t get the job done,” said Max Bublitz, chief strategist at SCM Advisors, an investment firm in San Francisco.

New York Times | Fed Announces Plan to Buy Short-Term Debt

Note: The Fed's decision to buy up commercial paper and lend directly to companies (many of which appear to be run by criminals), does not address the global liquidity crisis in the banking sector. Bank of America which — despite losing half its value — snapped up the failed Merrill Lynch and Countrywide, will be a key indicator Wednesday.

Palin—McCain Dream Team by Zina Sanders

Dow Crashes Through 10,000

Okay. Here is the breakdown for what we "toast" our new benchmarks in 100 point increments:

9999: Soup
9899: Beer
9799: Vodka
9699: Beer and Vodka
9599: Xanax
9499: Xanax and Vodka
9399: Methadone
9299: Lighter fluid and Methadone
9199: Soup made from ketchup and pondwater
9099: Kool-aid supplied by FEMA
8999: Milk from China

Google Finance discussion group

Good to see some people, no matter the situation (the largest intra-day drop in 20 years), retain their sense of humour. Others continue to pretend business as usual.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. said the U.S. economy will enter a recession "significantly deeper" than previously forecast, prompting the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates by at least 1 percentage point.

Bloomberg | U.S. Recession to Be 'Significantly Deeper,' Goldman Sachs Says

If such insights are considered money-market profundities, no wonder they had to be saved from themselves.

Note: Whoever made the crack about toasting benchmarks should sleep well on his or her Xanax tonight. For a while, and before a highly suspicious, hour-long, 475-point late-afternoon 'surge' to close on 9955,50 (all explanations happily considered), it looked as though they'd be washing it down with vodka.

USS Blunderbuss

USS Roosevelt, Cape Town 2008

"Recently there has been a lot of interest in what I read lately. Well I was reading today a copy of the New York Times, and I was really interested to read in there about Barack Obama’s friends from Chicago. Turns out one of his earliest supporters is a man who according to the New York Times, was a domestic terrorist and part of the group, part of the group that quote launched a campaign of bombings that would target the Pentagon and the US Capitol…No, this is not a man who sees America as you and I see America. We see America, as a force for good in this world. We see an America of exceptionalism — Yes USA! USA! — our opponent is someone who sees America as imperfect enough to pal around with terrorists who target their own country."

FoxNews | Palin: Obama Pals Around with Terrorists


USS Roosevelt, Cape Town 2008

What's not to detest about this vile creature? The Palin—McCain ticket blithely and, needless to say, unwittingly, continues its catastrophic 'surge', making Tina Fey a household name while boosting SNL's ratings. Were she not such a boon to the Democrats, Barack Obama would have sufficient grounds to launch a civil suit for slander against the moose-mouthed Alaskan Queen of Gaffe. It's much like accusing John McCain of consorting with Commies. Mind you, we know he did.

In The Choice, The New Yorker's editors offer a convincing, compelling, and well-written endorsement of Barack Obama. Given the candidates, U.S. election coverage over the past year, and Ms. Palin's continued debasement of language, the last quality is greatly appreciated. Mind you, words matter to magazines eschewing hallucinogenic notions of Manifest Destiny and American Exceptionalism.

Note: These pics are about as good as it gets with a straight digital, I'm afraid. The thing's anchored five kilometres off shore.

The Beggars' Banquet

"Do that again..."

"Give me the right to issue and control a nation’s money and I care not who governs the country.”

Meyer Amschel Rothschild

I've been watching the media fawning over the U.S. Congress, waiting for a couple of hundred four-chinned wonders to pay Goldman Sachs bagman Hank Paulson his $700 billion ransom and surrender the Republic to the banksters.

Because that's what's happening. Talk of nationalising the banks is bullshit. The banks have bought the state. What a joke. The problem, i.e. the U.S. economy, has had close on two trillion dollars thrown at it, a couple of mega-banks have cannibalised several others — compounding the problem, and government has been privatised. Simply put, the system has seized and has been seized.

And the media believe this to be a good thing?

It's as bad as coverage of the Palin-Palin debate. Actually, it's not as bad as that (most seem to believe Palin a resounding success), but its implications are far worse. The U.S. economy, after infecting just about every other financial system to which it's indebted, is unravelling.

The law of gravity and the second law of thermodynamics say it must.

You can't fill a balloon with air, let it go and expect it to behave itself. The market will eventually go batshit crazy before it crumples to nothing and disappears.


"Baling out..."

"History records that the money changers have used every form of abuse, intrigue, deceit, and violent means possible to maintain their control over governments by controlling the money and its issuance."

James Madison

Thing is, we can pretend we don't live in the real world and that's OK. But believing natural laws do not apply to us is a sign of serious emotional and mental disorder. What makes Americans believe they won't have to pony up for the fat cats' inflationary coup?

Look at it this way. More than twice as much has not yet stemmed the bleeding. Why should an additional $700 billion lend life to a corpse? Give it a week and these hoodlums will want more. Paulson will give them their 50-point cut. Already state governors are lining up because, from California to the New York island, massive budget deficits are threatening to close them down.

And foreign banks, pretending business as usual while holding toxic debt, are also supposed to benefit from the U.S. taxpayer's largesse? Ho ho. I doubt any central banker, already financing this charade, would stake his or her fat paycheck on the strength of a U.S. Treasury bill, the value of which continues to diminish. In fact, I bet they're sweating great big globs of grease right now. How large can they allow this debt to grow before their customer, in hock to the tune of ten or eleven trillion dollars, defaults and takes them out?

None of them want a Bridge to Nowhere.

It's a mess. And this Bankers' Bluff constitutes the smoke and mirrors legalising and legitimising the coup. In a couple of weeks, it'll all be over. All of it.

Sadly, and as the market mines a new 52-week low on news of the bill's passing, reality always bites.

"I have unwittingly ruined my country."

Woodrow Wilson

Sarah Palin: An African Perspective

All things considered ...

Goew. Sarah Palin, die Republikeinse Party se popster, het ‘n nasionale verleentheid vir die Amerikaners geword. Palinisme vervang Bush isme vinnig en haar antwoorde in onderhoude is so vreemd dat konserwatiewe vra dat sy haar “om haar land se onthalwe” as sen. John McCain se kandidaat as visepresident onttrek.

Die afwagting vir die debat tussen Palin en sen. Joe Biden dié week is enorm, maar nie net oor haar gewildheid nie – baie Amerikaners wil hoor wat sy volgende gaan kwytraak. Haar antwoord in net haar tweede onderhoud in Amerika op CBS oor hoekom Alaska se grens met Rusland haar enige kennis van dié land gee, het Amerika aan die giggel.

“As Poetin sy kop lig en die VSA se lugruim betree, waarheen gaan hulle? Na Alaska. Dit is reg oorkant die grens. Dit is van Alaska dat ons moet seker maak dat ‘n ogie gehou word op hierdie magtige nasie, Rusland, want hulle is reg daar en hulle is reg langs ons staat.”

CNN se kommentator Jack Cafferty het die onderhoud “'n ramp” genoem. Hy het ná Palin se antwoord oor die ekonomiese reddingspakket gesê: “As John Mc Cain wen, sal dié vrou een 72-jarige se hartklop weg daarvan wees om die president van die VSA te wees. En as dit jou nie ’n helse skrik op die lyf jaag nie, dan moet dit.”

Die Burger | Palin se onkunde laat VSA bloos

We may have political problems in Africa but, hell, at least we try to tackle them as adults.

OK, forget I said that.

On Tuesday, Die Burger's pre-debate billboards shouted Palin net 'n grap (Palin is just a joke), a pretty fair assessment of GOP VP-nominee Sarah Palin and the piss-poor U.S. electoral charade we've suffered so far.

The reason I'm using Die Burger's article is its proximate use of the word verleentheid, meaning — as I understand it, "embarrassment". Like it or not, Palin is both a joke and an international embarrassment.

"Cringeworthy" is the word used by the U.S. media, and it's appropriate. Who can wait for her to be returned, like an American Idol who's outlived its five minutes of fame, to hang in the props cupboard from which she was so unceremoniously pulled?

Reflecting a schizoid society, she and McCain do a good job resurrecting memories of both Leslie Nielsen and the ghastly Police Academy series.

There's a puerile side to this as well. Palin effortlessly evokes a sense of shame I suspect many kids experience when they suspect 'adults' deem them to have done 'wrong'. They, and those offended, seek their return to the closet as soon as possible.

So while the Alaskan governor remains a thoughtless, self-serving joke foisted by John McCain on an unsuspecting globe a month ago, Die Burger highlights and personalises Palin's transcendent "cringeworthiness".

In short, she evokes the infantile. And makes us squirm (especially as the media persists in pretending to take her seriously).

While that might not be an altogether bad thing, it's certainly no qualification for the position she seeks to fill. As Die Burger points out, the only solution is for her to step down.

Die konserwatiewe rubriekskrywer Kathleen Parker het in die National Review verklaar Palin is “uit haar liga”.

McCain kan nie haar onttrek nie, want dan gaan die konserwatiewe in opstand kom en sy oordeel bevraagteken word. Daar is net een oplossing en dit is dat sy self sal moet bedank.

Die Burger | Palin se onkunde laat VSA bloos

Postscript: You can find a transcript of the Biden—Palin debate here and succinct commentary here. Both reinforce the view espoused above.