Quick link up because I’m bursting with the need to share one of my favorite singers – Eric Cartman’s – new masterpiece:  A cover of Lady Gaga’s Poker Face.

I didn’t even think it was a real song at first (I am not familiar with Ms. Gaga’s body of work) so I had to hit up youtube for the original video.  And if you’re familiar with the original song and video, Cartman’s version is a killer.

(That cover is from last night’s South Park episode.  So if you’re one who likes to watch TV like a virgin, you might want to forestall any clicking here and just come back after you watch the episode to enjoy watching and re-watching Cartman’s cover)

… and the cow goes moo

According to Naked Capitalism (linking to a Reuters article and quoting from it).  For more information, click on the Reuters link.  To track some of the comments and discussion, try the Naked Capitalism link.  The post itself is pretty sparse except that Yves Smith expresses some sarcasm and dismay in having someone of Paul Volcker’s stature (she considers him “arguably the best Fed chairman ever ready to roll up his sleeves during the worst financial crisis since the 1930s”, I’ll take her word for it) being tasked to something as peripheral to the crisis as the tax code.  Especially when the current Fed chairman has shown little ability to control the crisis (though his approval remains very high among economists polled by the Wall Street Journal and he is exceptionally well-received among investors with household incomes over $100,000 according to Bloomberg).

I do trust Yves Smith’s judgment when it comes to Volcker, and in the limited exposure I have had to him, I have never noticed anything less than competence, but I think she discounts the importance of the changes that could be made in the tax code.

Granted they are not flashy, and nothing done will have as many zeroes attached to it’s figures as anything Bernanke or Geithner throw out, I believe that permanent changes in the tax code are requisite for any real recovery beyond blowing another bubble.  If the growing (even before the crisis) national debt ( already at $11 trillion!) is ever to be addressed, the economy will have to recover and the tax code will have to become more responsive to the increasing sophistication of those who wish to evade their contributions to the state.

And if the decades-old issue of stagnating wages for the majority of people and astronomical income growth for the slimmest fraction of the top percent of Americans is to be addressed (and the out-of-control nature of the AIG bonus debalce suggests that we will have to address this at some point), modifying the tax code to give the poor a fair chance at defending themselves against prosecution, as well as giving the rich an equal chance at being scrutinized, will be essential.

What makes Volcker a fantastic candidate as a principal in rewriting the tax code is that the changes necessary are very unpopular.  As he has proved in his history as Fed chairman in the ’70s, he is perfectly willing to do the painful and the unpopular if he believes it is in the best longterm interests of the nation to do so.  And it would appear that the mercurial Larry Summers, Tim Geithner, and Ben Bernanke (the current big dogs in Obama’s economics team) would be ill-equipped to stand against a well-heeled political class in uproar.

I’m honestly excited.  It’s a bit under the radar, and perhaps chewing at the periphery, but I think this is a fantastic move that will have a long-lasting positive effect for America as a whole.  This is like the Elizabeth Warren call-up from a few months back.  Easily overlooked, but a substantive move towards restoring the concept of real public service.

(See David Cay Johnston’s books ‘Free Lunch: How the Wealthiest Americans Enrich Themselves at Government Expense (and Stick You with the Bill)‘ and  ‘Perfectly Legal: The Covert Campaign to Rig Our Tax System to Benefit the Super Rich–and Cheat Everybody Else’ for more about the manner tax laws are abused and evaded by those who can afford to hire someone to help them do so)

… and the cow goes moo

In an act of solidarity with the now under investigation (really?  Only just now??) Cardinal Mahony, who has been alleged to be actively involved in protecting pedophile priests all across Catholic America, apparently rabbis and others (it is unclear who the other perpetrators were) have been committing widespread sexual abuse of children in the New York Hasidic Jewish community.

Mind-numbingly shocking quote:

“But a few weeks later, a religious leader from the school approached [one of the victim's] Engelman’s mother, Pearl. He posed an astonishing question: On a scale of 1 to 10, how bad was the molestation?

She was speechless. Then she says, the man continued, ” ‘We found out there was no skin-to-skin contact, that it was through clothing.’ So he’s telling me, ‘On a scale of 1 to 10, this was maybe a 2 or a 3, so what’s the big fuss?’ “”

The Hasidic Jewish community has their own Cardinal Mahony.

The NPR article makes it clear that the two victims’ stories they share are far from isolated instances:

“Four ultra-Orthodox rabbis in Brooklyn have been sued or arrested for abusing boys in the past three years. That’s a tiny fraction of the actual abuse, says Hella Winston, author of Unchosen: The Hidden Lives of Hasidic Rebels. She says that in researching her book, she encountered dozens of alleged victims who told her sexual abuse is an open secret in the Hasidic community. But the community is so insulated and the rabbis are so powerful that few dare to come forward.

…

But more and more accusations against rabbis have begun to circulate. Last August, politician and radio talk show host Dov Hikind devoted an hourlong program to sexual abuse. He interviewed Pearl Engelman, who spoke under an alias, about her son’s case.

The calls flooded in. Hikind, who is an Orthodox Jew himself, represents this area in the New York Assembly. He says after the show, people started showing up at his office with their stories.

“Fifty, 60, 70 people,” he says, “but you got to remember for each person who comes forward, God only knows how many people are not coming forward.”"

As much as I hate to stoke further paranoia and fear, but really:  Can anyone who shows interest in children be trusted not to be a pedophile?  It seems like every opportunity that presents itself is taken for the sexual abuse of a child.

When a community lends itself to isolation and opacity, does it merely allow years of abuse to continue undetected and unpunished, or does it encourage the entrance into the community by parties seeking to engage in such acts?

[The NPR article was originally found as a link from Exiled Online]

… and the cow goes moo

(Videos and comments on his shooting Oscar Grant can be found at my previous post here)

An article about the arrest can be found here (from Polizeros)

Mehserle was arrested in Nevada, I assume because of the death threats he has been receiving he was moved there.  From what I’ve read, there is little reason to believe he was trying to avoid arrest there.

That the arrest was for murder is no surprise: I believe the most grievous possible charge is usually made at time of arrest, to be reduced during trial.  It would not surprise me at all if Mehserle ended up with a manslaughter conviction.

Based on the definitions found here, I would expect Mehserle to be charged with Involuntary Manslaughter.

“Involuntary manslaughter is the unlawful killing of another human being without intent. The absence of the intent element is the essential difference between voluntary and involuntary manslaughter. Also in most states, involuntary manslaughter does not result from a heat of passion but from an improper use of reasonable care or skill while in the commission of a lawful act, or while in the commission of an unlawful act not amounting to a felony.”

(more specifically, criminal-negligence manslaughter where “death results from a high degree of negligence or recklessness”)

When Johannes Mehserle is given, let’s say, three to five years, I wonder if the outrage that has accompanied the incident will re-erupt?  Certainly based on some of the rhetoric on the internet, some of which can be found in the comments on my previous post linked to at the top, many would be outraged if Mehserle weren’t convicted as a murderer for his ‘execution’ of Oscar Grant.

I especially wonder if, months or years down the road, when this conviction is actually handed down, will those so enflamed by the act in the early days of the year even remember OScar Grant or why they were so upset?  Perhaps calmer heads will prevail and time will bring some much-needed perspective to the crime.

It still seems outrageous farce to me to call Mehserle’s shooting of Grant an ‘execution’, based on the videos made available to the public.  It seems like just another excuse to strengthen a predetermined belief that law enforcement is out to murder and kill ‘us’.

… and the cow goes moo

Despite the substantial (about 20%, as of market close on Thursday, since I made my stock purchase last week Tuesday) drop in GM’s stock price, and all the associated recent bad news for GM, I remain convinced a bailout in some form is coming.  And here’s part of the reason for my certainty:

From CNN Money (from The Business Sheet, which I am not familiar with… from Some Assembly Required):

“If the Big Three carmakers were to cut U.S. operations by 50%, 2.5 million jobs could be lost in 2009, according to a study released Wednesday.

The Center for Automotive Research reported that the total employment impact includes nearly 250,000 jobs lost at the automakers and nearly 800,000 at suppliers.

…

In economic terms, cutting operations in half would reduce personal income by more than $125.1 billion in the first year, and $275.7 billion over three years, the center said. Such a decline in personal income would cost the government tax dollars — $49.9 billion in 2009 and more than $108.1 billion over three years.”

It just makes too much sense if you ignore the moral hazard component (and by ‘ignore’, I mean opt not to inject it into the debate as it hasn’t been part of the conversation among decision makers so far).  The $10 billion or so that is estimated to be necessary to make the GM/Chrysler merger occur wouldn’t even make the front page with the dollar amounts that have been sent to the much more odious financial sector.

Had John McCain somehow won, I imagine George W. Bush would be less likely to leave the automotive industry reeling through the end of the year, however, should the situation become desperate enough, I would expect he would make the perhaps politically difficult decision to save the long-faltering American automakers.

I believe all that is keeping a bailout from being completed are the political considerations and the appearance the Federal government saving a company (or companies) that have been hemorrhaging billions (and making fairly shitty cars) well before the housing bubble burst.  I believe that is why direct merger assistance was discarded so promptly and why there seems to exist so much talk of somehow re-routing the $25 billion of approved loans to the automakers to develop fuel-efficient technologies to facilitate the merger, as well as somehow folding an automaker bailout into the TARP .

The most likely outcome to me (and I believe the announcement that the “next one hundred days could represent the most crucial time in the history of the troubled company and entire U.S. auto industry,” according a top GM executive) would for GM to announce a string of horrible news with no hope for any independent turn around over the next month until the utter failure of GM’s management (and the dire situation) becomes broadly clear to union members, automotive sector employees, lawmakers, and the general public and the lawmakers can act without fearing the voter reprisal that accompanied the first TARP passage attempt.

But that’s just my guess.  And my view could be (is almost definitely) very skewed by the 20% paper loss I just ate, as of 4:00pm EST October 6, 2008.  I gambled on a bailout and knew it was a gamble.  I guess I’ll have to wait to get my government cheese.

… and the cow goes moo