http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/fpcomment/archive/2008/09/29/bailout-marks-karl-marx-s-comeback.aspx

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=aKd0vyGN8L2k&refer=us

Although I also read that it was part of a bill that was already passed by Senate the week prior, and the bills were simply appended for passage through the House, something that occurs fairly commonly apparently.

Detroit appears to be one of the worst hit cities, but it has spawned this wonderful blog :DetroitBlog.
The blogger combines the gifts of a natural writer with a deep respect for the city and its sometimes desperate and eccentric inhabitants.
Trawling through the archives is a fascinating experience, giving an outsider a rare insight into the nature of a city in seemingly terminal decline.

Originally found through the wonderful Australian blog, barista.

But that’s no reason to spurn the toy arrow lobby:

From the latest draft of the TARP:

SEC. 503. EXEMPTION FROM EXCISE TAX FOR CERTAIN WOODEN ARROWS DESIGNED FOR USE BY CHILDREN.

‘(B) EXEMPTION FOR CERTAIN WOODEN ARROW SHAFTS.-Subparagraph (A) shall not apply to any shaft consisting of all natural wood with no laminations or artificial means of enhancing the spine of such shaft (whether sold separately or incorporated as part of a finished or unfinished product) of a type used in the manufacture of any arrow which after its assembly- ‘‘(i) measures 5?16 of an inch or less in diameter, and ‘‘(ii) is not suitable for use with a bow described in paragraph (1)(A).”.

Paulson’s TARP began life as a three-pager. It now has hundreds of sections of the lardiest pork just like the one above.

I guess some Congress folks are really, really concerned about the future of the world.

“I shot an arrow into the air, It fell to earth, I knew not where”

“I believe we’re watching something like the processes that took place in Rome in the first century BCE leading to the collapse of the republic”.

“Great minds think alike” perhaps?

I did originally think of posting a suggestion of using a modern-day version of the Proscriptio of Lucius Cornelius Sulla but changed my mind when I actually posted and instead suggested the public execution of a symbolic few. Bumping off large numbers of the culprits would delight the victims, of course, but if the U.S. economy is to make anything other than a temporary imaginary recovery then it will need thousands of contrite, rigidly-controlled former finance industry workers to implement the painful, necessary, long-overdue radical reforms. [Those former finance workers undergoing Restitution-&-Rehabilitation work can be taken back to their prison camps each night and given a full day off each Christmas or Rosh-Hashanah].

[and post 92]:

China as superpower? Yes, just what is the going price for “waterview” property in the Columbia Hills on Mars?

Boy from Flynn [97]:

It was the incredible gap between poverty and ostentatious riches that really shocked me when I was in the U.S. in the ‘Eighties …. and I had a lot of contact with Americans for many years before I went there! Things have got a lot worse since then.

Surprisingly, Hollywood and the walk of fame are among the crappier places. Not far from Maralyn Monroe’s star in the pavement, I saw a guy offering to work for food. How fucked is that?

Driving past the Bronx, our tour guide pointed out a tiny, run-down cottage on the edge of a sprawling slum and told us that it had recently sold for US$3 million – an omen of things to come.

Yeah, it’s pretty shocking that the (self -declared) centre of the free world should come to be in such a state. I think though, in accordance with their culture, it would be hard to find a better example of a lumpen proletariat. They must be the most individualistic and self-centred people I have come accross. They appear driven on one hand by a fervent belief that in America, anyone can become mega-rich if they are prepared to work hard enough, and on the other by an almost pathalogical suspicion of government – raising taxes, even if it is to be spent on hospitals, schools, roads etc seems to be regarded as an attack on the American way of life. It’s more like a collection of self-centred individuals than a society as such.

No wonder they’re stewing in their own sour brew.

BFF – yep, I’ve heard similar from friends who’ve been to the States.

Interesting that you mention that, Adrian. Robert Farley makes the same comparison. It’s not just a few bad apples – it’s massive political and institutional failure in the United States.

Ezra Klein and Hilzoy (linked to by Robert) are also worth reading.