Archive for May, 2020
RIP: Little Richard
He really was one-of-a-kind. As described in this NYTimes obit: Rock ’n’ roll was an unabashedly macho music in its early days, but Little Richard, who had performed in drag as a teenager, presented a very different picture onstage: gaudily dressed, his hair piled six inches high, his face aglow with cinematic makeup. He was […]
DL Open Thread: Sat., May 9, 2020
Judge Laster Drops The Big One. Holds that the way property taxes as assessed is unconstitutional. I think he’s absolutely right. This has been the Third Rail of Delaware Politics for some time. Like, um, 40 years. Alby will be writing up a piece on this, but big changes are afoot, and it stands to […]
America Doesn’t Apologize, It Just Embarrasses Itself
Anyone who reads tweets or comments from Trumpists can come away with the impression that someone’s sense of reality is seriously askew. Read enough of them and you might become unsure if it’s you or them. Trump himself emits a firehose of alternate reality daily, and his acolytes, if less prolific, follow suit. Just yesterday, […]
Gunman Found Dead In Woods After Killing Elderly Woman, Wounding Husband At Delaware Veterans Memorial Cemetery
Automatic rifle heard in Brennan Estates. Stay safe everyone. Shit is fucked up.
DL Open Thread: Friday, May 8, 2020
Sussex County Poultry Workers Are Merely ‘Canaries In The Coal Mine’. Chicken is more important than people. BTW, not a single state official is quoted in the article. Reporter misfeasance? Definitely. State malfeasance? Almost certainly. This is going on all over the country. Governors leaving testing policy to the plants themselves, meaning virtually no testing. […]
Song of the Day 5/8: Bob Dylan, “False Prophet”
Bob Dylan dropped another new song last night, this time with an announcement that it’s a cut from a new album, “Rough and Rowdy Ways,” set for release June 19. This one’s a slow bluesy number. Lyrics below. Another day that don’t end Another ship goin’ out Another day of anger, bitterness, and doubt I […]
The Fed can’t hold back the stock market collapse forever
Read this from Atrios, then join be below for a chat:
I got nothin’
I suppose I really don’t. It’s a horrible situation and even the supposed “good guys” at the federal level, who don’t run things entirely but who aren’t entirely powerless, have shown no signs of having any sense of the catastrophe that is unfolding. “No one” panics unless stonks are tanking, and the Fed is making sure that doesn’t happen.As long as “the market” is happy, rich people are happy, “everybody” is happy.
Ok, up to a point.
The Fed has a couple of tools in its toolbox. It can slash interest rates down to zero thereby allowing companies to borrow money for free (and use that money for (a) building factories and employing people…or (b) dividends!! Huzzah!). The Fed could also print money. Thereby forcing Jeff Bezos to build a bigger money warehouse.
Anyway, the Fed’s hocus-pocus can only keep the DJIA happy for so long because eventually the listed companies will have to sell something of value to actual customers who are both (a) not dead, and (b) not broke. Both “a” and “b” need to be in place for any actual value to be built in the markets. Everything else is just accounting.
It is just a matter of time until we get to see Larry Kudlow have an on screen, spastic, frothing at the mouth, breakdown.
Why don’t we have enough PPE supplies?
The short answer is that we don’t have PPE supplies (N95 Masks, Face Shields, Booties, Gloves, Gowns, Disinfectant Wipes, Thermometers) because we don’t make them in America anymore.
The slightly longer is that we don’t have them because in the 1970’s and 1980’s American manufactures decided they could increase their company’s share price by closing factories in Ohio and Michigan and offshoring manufacturing to Mexico, China, Indonesia, Vietnam and wherever labor protections don’t exist and child labor is a fact of life.
Song of the Day 5/7: The Rolling Stones, “Paint It, Black”
As both puck and El Somnambulo have noted, the Orange Offal in the Oval, in yet another fumbling attempt to change the subject from his staggering ineptitude, has decreed, apparently on official stationery with a Sharpie, that his mostly-imaginary border wall Shall Hereby Be Painted Black. Hence today’s song. Dotards and psychotics often obsess over […]
DL Open Thread: Thurs., May 7, 2020
Trump Has Rolled Back Nearly 98 Environmental Rules. If Biden manages to get elected from his basement, I would hope that one of the first things he does before he takes office is to have a team review every single executive order and administrative action taken by Trump, and present him with an action plan […]
Most Punchable-Faced Republican Senator
Thanks to everyone who helped determine that Trump lickspittle Ron DeSantis of Florida has the most punchable face among America’s Republican governors. Condolences to Georgia’s Brian Kemp, who ran even with DeSantis for a while before fading to second, probably by staying out of the news for most of the week. Texas’ Greg Abbott took […]
Song of the Day 5/6: Guns N’ Roses, “Live and Let Die”
Donald Trump visited a factory that makes medical-grade face masks yesterday. He got lots of scolding for not wearing a mask during his tour, but I thought the more noteworthy aspect was the fact that someone played this James Bond theme song while he strolled around. I couldn’t tell which version was playing on the […]
OK, General Assembly. It’s Time.
I think most Delawareans have remained largely unconcerned about the ongoing closure of the General Assembly. Safety first. However, the challenges facing the state that will need to be addressed by the General Assembly now face the normal June 30 deadline. Sure, it’s possible that the General Assembly can meet post-July 1, especially since it’s […]
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