Casino Capitalism

Capitalism baby, capitalism

I played a few irresponsible hands this weekend. I played my hands according to my expectations on the returns relative to the risks involved. Some I won and some I lost. However, after each loss, I would stop to readjust my behavior. I definitely did not look around expecting someone to bail me out for, say, $700 B.

I thought about how crony capitalism is quite similar to gambling. I look at the financial market and the entire concept of securities, futures, and speculation of the market is really no different from gambling.

Greed promotes the mentality that it is only irresponsible if you lose. This mentality and the resulting behavior are supposed to be corrected by losing. Can you imagine how people in Las Vegas will play if they thought they would be bailed out?

Again, it's socialized risk for the fat cats and market discipline for everyone else. Christmas for them and Festivus for the rest of us!

The Bush Who Cried Wolf One Too Many Times

Aesop

Now Bush can't even get his own party to support his plan.

The sad thing is, Bush might be correct this time. We might really be in a crisis and his plan might really be the urgent solution we need to put off disaster. But no one buys his cry for help anymore. Credibility is all dried up.

Wall Street tanked 700+ points, the single largest drop in a day. Is McCain going to suspend his run for the White House?

Palinomics 101

Ohhh.... NOW I get it

So, in trying to make sense of Palin's senseless babble, I found Zubin Jelveh's flow chart quite helpful.

Uh... and where was Palin post debate with all her support of her running mate??

What are you babbling about??!?

Facepalm of the week

Here's more of Palin's interview with Couric. Katie's eyes betray what she's thinking. This is going to be a tough facepalm to top next week.

I had to dig out the transcript to figure out what she's saying. I read it twice and still have no clue.

Be it nerves or a lack of understanding on the economic situation, this woman is not fit for the job she's running for.

Going to be busy the next several days.

So painful...

Moose in headlights

This is just too painful to watch. I wanted to look away so many times.

I don't blame the McCain campaign for imposing a media blackout on Sarah Palin. She can't seem to stand on her own without a script.

Then again, as far as Vice Presidents go, we have more access to Sarah Palin than we do to Dick Cheney.

Dear Leader fakes health and nuclear crisis to be on set of Team America II

Harro!

With North Korea removing IAEA inspection seals at the Yongbyon site in preparation to restart nuclear operations, the intelligence community is debating how reports of the Dear Leader's disappearance from the public eye is related.

"While most reports indicate that Kim Jun Il has suffered some kind of health related setback," said CIA Director Michael Hayden, "Variety is reporting that both the reports on his health and the recent nuclear provocations are just to distract the public from the specifics of Team America II."

Since going into production in 2008, Team America II has been shrouded in secrecy. "Even we don't know what the script is about," admitted a visibly defeated Hayden. However, Variety seemed to have landed an inside scoop.

"We can't get into specifics, but we have reliable sources that confirm Kim Jung Il will not only be lending his voice to the Kim Jung IL puppet like in Team America, but he will also be the puppeteer of his own puppet this time around," reported Variety.

While most of the world is concerned with the continuation of nuclear activities on the Korean peninsula, Variety suggested that the world should not worry because it has something to do with the filming of Team America II and not with escalating international tension and regional instability.

The DPRK declined to comment.

Circular reasoning is always good for a laugh

Indisputable evidence

This is what happens when you hit The Immovable Object with the Unstoppable Force.

In short, we can't show you evidence of our violation of the a prisoner's rights under the Geneva Convention because that in itself would be a violation of the Geneva Convention. HAHAHA! Brilliant! Who do lawyers hire to write their materials? Seriously, game over man, game over. Flawless victory.