Alan Greenspan is a F*&@king Idiot

I'm going to start venting my rage here about the latest US economic crisis. Not every post, but occasionally. Every American should be outraged. The financial reform bill recently passed doesn't go nearly far enough. (More on that later.)

I don't blame the economy for my current situation -- anything can happen in the entertainment business, and we took our chances. And, were doing fine.

But still, I'm appalled at the idea that huge financial institutions can mismanage themselves to death and the federal government bails them out with MY money. And the senior executives of these institutions are still taking home huge paychecks, for what reason? Because we still must prop up these companies? Only the executives at Lehman Brothers, and long ago Salomon Brothers (and others I can't remember) have had to pay the price of their incompetence.

Tonight the object of my scorn is Alan Greenspan, who famously championed deregulation because of his firm belief that Corporate Officers would always act in the interest of the corporation, which would lead them to act properly and ethically so their businesses could thrive. Now of course hindsight is 20-20, especially when that hindsight is literally from my ass, but clearly this guy has never actually held a job. Employees always act in the best interest of their company? Hasn't he ever worked at a restaurant and stolen food? It seems obvious that when greed is the main motivator (and I have no problem with that in theory), it's possible -- nay probable -- that those in line for huge bonuses will simply act in a way as to guarantee that bonus is big for a few years, company be damned. Greenspan couldn't see this coming?

His later apologia and admission of error in this regard cuts no mustard with me. Where were you when we needed you? Now we're screwed.

Now Greenspan I'm sure has several advanced degrees, and has said many smart things about complicated topics his whole life. But for his short-sighted and pro-corporate contribution to the economic clusterfuck of the last few years, I dub him a fucking idiot.

Next?

Afghanistan Bananastan

I've been meaning to post about Afghanistan for a while now. The whole thing frustrates me, because I know it is a lost cause. No one has ever succeeded there, not for hundreds of years, in creating a stable government. That's not to say it isn't possible, but I believe it can only be done by the Afghan people themselves. I hate to see any one brave American lose his life or his limbs trying to reach what is essentially a non-military goal. And as much as I dislike a lot of the compromised politics of the Obama administration, I hate to see the glimmers of hope that still exist sacrificed on the altar of an unwinnable war.

But why listen to me? Rachel Maddow says it more succinctly and more cogently than I ever could.

http://maddowblog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2010/07/15/4687273-maddow-the-hard-choice-in-afghanistan

I'm not a Rachel Maddow dittohead -- sometimes I think she strays too far from rational argument just to make point, wandering into Michael Moore territory. But she is a much more reliable liberal reporter of the news than ANYONE on the other side of the political spectrum. So far, she is the yardstick by which any politically aligned reporter must measure themselves. And, frankly, any reporter who considers themselves "unbiased."

Living with an Old Man

Living with a very old senior citizen is never easy, but we try to make do, since our senior citizen is a terrier mix. His name is Louie, as faithful readers of this blog know well. By our calculations, the number of faithful readers of this blog is: 0.

Louie's back legs have started to go, so he doesn't have much of the spring he had in his mid-single digits. He can't jump up on the bed anymore, and his attempts to get up on the couch are a 50-50 affair, with some successful and some resulting in him holding onto the seat cushions for dear life with his front paws, with a kind of desperate look on his face, determined not to give up the progress he's made but unsure how to proceed. Then he falls back to the floor, gives up and wanders away. If you noticed his thwarted assault on the couch and approach to physically lift him up, he will avoid you, as if to say, "I think I know why you are chasing me, and I refuse to submit as I find your help humiliating and frankly a bit discomfiting." Sometimes I'll grab him and heave him up anyway; he then leaps back down, only enjoying a sojourn on the Davenport if it is the result of his own efforts.

Also, his back leg weakness makes the usual race down the stairs to greet us when we walk in the door an adventure in skidding. Louie doesn't seem to remember the last time and will run down the carpeted stairs just as fast as Elliot, but when he reaches the tiled front entryway his back legs will fishtail out from under him like a drunken hockey mascot attempting to run on the ice in street shoes. Occasionally, he will bash into the front door. But like any dog, he doesn't seem to mind, or notice, or certainly not remember the next time.

With regard to the bed -- ours is, admittedly, too high -- he seems to have given up trying to get up onto it, even though he very much used to like to sleep there. I recently bought carpeted stairs made for just such a need, but they are kind of steep and Louie will have nothing to do with them. When we try to force him to make an ascent, he struggles and falls/jumps off. Of course Elliot is no help, because when you try to get him to use the stairs, he just springs up onto the bed in one leap, wondering what all the fuss is about.

Also, in our ongoing efforts to make Louie's last years as comfortable as possible, we bought him a new bed, the kind that had and seemed to favor when he was young and I lived in Burbank. He sniffed it, tested it out reluctantly, pawed and scraped at it to try to make it conform to his specifications, then wandered away annoyed. After several days of this, we gave in and returned his old bed (given many years ago by his Aunt Lee Anne) to its rightful place and he seems happy again. The new bed sits in the living room, available to all comers, dog or human. Much to our delight Elliot was discovered sleeping on it the other day. This is the first time in recorded history that Elliot has slept on a dog bed. Maybe he'll play with his first dog toy someday soon.