All the uproar this last week and through this weekend about the $700 billion bailout of the financial industry drowned out the squeak that corresponded to the paltry $25 billion bailout of GM, Ford, and Chrysler.  Was I the only one upset that our US car manufacturers were given this freebie as a reward for their incompetence?  Their argument was that they couldn’t get ordinary credit for all the R&D $$$$ they need to develop more practical and energy-efficient vehicles, so they went with their hands out to the US government (read American taxpayers).  Are we seeing a pattern here?

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Several radical factions of well known religious groups are postulated in the novel Soldiers of God, a work of fiction set in a dark but possible future (soon to appear in hardcover).  All of the religious groups are real and people belonging to them often do good and noble work in this world, sometimes in spite of their dogma, leadership, and institutions.  If I offend any of these good people, I apologize-personal offense was not the intention.  (This is not that kind of blog.)  

The radical factions presented in the novel, on the other hand, are fictional and represent a possible end product of current polarizing elements in our world today.  As a consequence, the novel is, among other things, a novel about spirituality versus radical religious fundamentalism, about religion’s capacity for doing both good and evil.  Spirituality possibly has a place in our lives.  Radical religious fundamentalism, in my humble opinion, does not, especially when advocating violence.  In many ways, this novel is intended to be a warning that we should be acutely aware of the distinction.

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For those that have followed the ups and downs of the financial markets, stocks, and oil prices, you already know the answer to this question.  For a $700 billion blank check that will be given to Paulson et al, the Democrats in return only want CEO earning caps and some sort of help for people in danger of foreclosure.  Those are noble goals and better than the Republican claptrap, but WHERE ARE THE REGULATIONS??!!

Instead of taking this opportunity to put some healthy regs back on (e.g. Glass-Steagal), Dems and Republicans alike are going to allow this to happen again and again and….  Paulson has stated that we can’t put the regs back on because the financial institutions won’t play.  Well, excuse me, if they don’t want to play, let them go under!

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La Sombra del Viento por Carlos Ruiz Zafo’n crea ma’s y ma’s intere’s en el mundo de la literatura hispanica.  Toma lugar en Barcelona al comienzo de la Guerra Civil.  Es una mezcla de intriga, suspense, amor, y el rito de pasaje de la juventud a la vejez.  No es exactamente literatura de America Latina, pero lo recomiendo como una novela muy interesante que demuestra la gran capacidad e inteligencia de este autor espan~ol.

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I never thought I’d disagree with my hero Robert Kuttner (author of The Squandering of America).  In yesterday’s (September 16) Boston Globe op-ed piece he bemoaned the chaotic government policy (or lack thereof) for solving the financial crisis on Wall Street.  Just how do I disagree with him?  I say there is a policy, it’s orderly and well planned, but it’s crazy.

One clear benefit of this shake-up in the financial markets, by the way, is that the government has gone beyond the radical fundamentalist belief in self-regulation of the markets.  They are waltzing to a different tune now (this includes even one of our esteemed presidential candidates who has a long history of marching to the Ayn Rand drum), though I’m afraid it’s still Ravel’s La Valse and not anywhere near Strauss’ Roses from the South.  However, the new regulatory policy is just plain surreal.

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The Bernanke gift to Bear-Stearns continues to haunt us!  Readers will recall that the argument supporting the Fed action was that if Bear-Stearns wasn’t bailed out, then Lehmann brothers and other investment banks would follow.  They followed anyway.  First, we had IndyMac.  Then we had Fannie Mae and Freddy Mac.  In a short time we will probably have Lehmann.

The problem is not only that we have eliminated all controls put into place after 1929, at the request of the banking industry.  It is the much more fundamental problem of human greed.  Too many people have made way too much money just pushing paper around.  These people never have done an honest day’s work and they never are really productive — i.e. they never produce anything of worth to society.  And they aren’t the real problem either.

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