When the first generation of historians begin their work on the Obama Administration, one of the more puzzling chapters will be the winter of 2010, when a major sea-change occurred in public policy that neither the administration nor the media were particularly eager to spend that much time trumpeting - namely, the revival of industrial policy after forty years or more beyond the pale of the Conventional Wisdom, as demonstrated by the success of the American automotive industry rescue.
While we wait for that generation of historians to get started being born, we can at least begin to learn some lessons about how and why the Big Three rescue worked when other industry bailouts have been such miserable failures.
It isn’t even important whether you or your family have a Merry or a Happy Christmas – the only important thing is whether corporations have a profitable Christmas. This is the true meaning of Christmas.
The mighty American marketing machine known as Christmas put on a brave front this weekend. Stores across the country opened up earlier than ever – some as early as 2:00 a.m. on Friday morning – and shoppers responded. Some consumers gave up their Thanksgiving Thursday altogether by using that day to stake their position on a sidewalk outside Best Buy, Wal-Mart, Target, or Sears. The rewards were high – those who were first in the store on Black Friday had the best shot at buying at deep, deep discounts. Flat screen HDTVs, which were otherwise priced at $1,000 minimum, were on sale for $300, but only on Black Friday and only to the earliest few into the store. (Image)
It will be months if ever before trials to start for the targets of the FBI raids. In the meantime, Congress failed to extend unemployment benefits for four million workers set to go off the rolls in January.
Will we survive those who rule us and those who aspire to rule in their place, that bipartisan coalition known as The Money Party?
The parade of indictments on Wall Street is just beginning. On Tuesday the FBI raided three major hedge funds (very large private, highly exclusive, unregulated investment funds that generate huge returns for the lucky few). There are more raids on the way, twelve according to one source. Business Insider's excellent article made clear what has the Feds upset: "What's happened, it seems, is that the government has discovered a huge ring of friends or acquaintances who all know each other." Its called insider trading, taking advantage of information to make those huge profits the hedge funds offer. Ten years after the Wall Street Casino opened, they're finally regulating. It may be time for a scapegoat. The hedge funds will do, it appears. The defendants may wish to put in an early bid for a conveniently located federal penitentiary.
The New York Times proclaimed corporate profits were the highest on record in Q3 2010. As a result a flurry of reports are wondering why the hell corporations are not hiring American workers?
Folks, the most horrific prediction was given by the Federal Reserve. Six, count 'em, six years of high unemployment. From the Federal Open Market Committee:
"The incentives in Washington are all biased toward posturing and blathering about the deficit, but inaction when it comes time to seriously reduce it."
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