Over the past few years, the likelihood of a significant financial crisis in Anglo-American financial markets, and consequent economic stresses centered in both countries, has been a topic of regular commentary and analysis on these pages. In fact, a collaborative topical discussion of the matter and likely outcomes was published  at Eurotrib.com shortly after the long out-of-power Democratic Party was installed in both houses of Congress in the United States.

In light of recent market events, and the first bank failures in decades in the both UK and US, it would be a good time to revisit that discussion.

Back then, we were discussing how the Euro had surpassed the dollar in terms of circulation. Now, we're observing that the US is no longer the largest economy in the world. All of this quite predictable, and predicted.

Look folks, I'll make this brief. This is a nice site, and lots of smart, well meaning people abound. I've enjoyed hanging around on occasion, and I'll probably miss it.

But I have to tell you that today, this site hurt me more than I've hurt in a good long time. I haven't trembled or shaken like I am right now in years. Why? Because today, I went to read what I thought would be a heart-wrenching story of loss of a child, because that was what the title was about. It was on the rec list, and so I clicked to read it, and was confused. It appeared to be about, I couldn't quite tell, a dog or a child hit on the side of the road and how this shook the diarist.

A million homeless children in the US. 82 million Americans who lack or have woefully inadequate healthcare insurance. Healthcare spend, at 16% of GDP, is 65% higher than neighboring Canada (universal, government-run).  Hundreds of thousands continue to die in Iraq. We understandably look with a mix of disappointment and disgust upon our ruling elite in Washington, who cannot get modest versions of popular bills enacted on the our behalf.

Looking at the facts on (and in the ground) it’s hard to see progress being made for working people. One almost wants to give up and say pox on the entire political elite. But that would be wrong. In fact, it is possible to, like Obama says, bring people from both parties together to get things done. In fact, a lot of progress is being made, locally and at the state level. You just have to look in different sections of the newspaper than you are accustomed to looking.

(How I learned to stop worrying and love the bomb)

So, we worry that our "Democratic" "leaders" will sign on, again, to modifications to FISA law which retroactively give immunity to our telecoms service providers for spying on us.

Chris Dodd has nobly promised a filibuster, and a few colleagues have gotten behind him even as "Democratic" Senate "Majority" "Leader" Harry Reid signaled his intention to ignore his fellow Democrat’s hold on the legislation. Dems fighting back, yay!

But as Democrats watching this congress, we know the fire drill: Sound the Alarm, Tough Talk, Capitulate.

What if this time, instead of belly-aching about yet another Democratic "leadership" cave to the Bush administration, we made lemonade out of the lemons we have in Washington? What if we learned to love retroactivity? Here are some possible applications"

Here on the lefter shades of the web dial we constantly hear about how the grotesquely huge budget deficit is a GOP, Bushite-inspired wingnut disaster. Profligate "borrow & spend" policies are bankrupting our children’s future, or other similar liberal whingeing. It’s causing the dollar to plunge as furriners refuse to bankroll our public debt, interest rates are about to go through the roof and don’t even talk to me about inflation!

Meanwhile, over in wingnuttia, we are told that Dear Leader’s tax cuts have  reduced the  US deficit to a mere  1.2% of GDP,  lower than the post-war average.

How is an honest, economic-minded and politically-plugged in person to evaluate these competing claims? Well, I’m here to tell you that it doesn’t matter.

There’s been much talk lately on these pages about how the state of real estate, and the meltdown of the mortgage market are massive market failures. Jerome here or on ET and bonddad earlier are sounding off on the crappy US economy and how the US real estate meltdown is an evolving crisis.

Ever the contrarian, I'm not seeing this as the disaster that either make it out to be. Nor do I think the real scandal has anything to do with the actions of the big swinging dicks at Merrill Lynch, Countrywide or Citigroup. And I do mean dicks.

Don’t get me wrong, these guys are scumbags, and the economy sure does suck. But these guys have always been scumbags, that’s why they run investment banks and not Second Harvest. And there’s no more a crisis in financial markets today than observed in the recent past, with the US currency crisis of the 1970's, Black Wednesday, the S&L crisis in the US or the Japanese real-estate bubble of the '90's. Bad, but not the end of the world.

Imagine you’re heading into an election, and that you are facing  deep hostility,a public which blames the elite political class for the expensive, bloody fiasco it got us all into, and decries inaction to end the war, and the assault on American values like valuing human rights.  

What kind of candidate would you think the GOP might head into an election in this environment? If you said someone who has voiced some support for armed forces involvement in the Abu Ghraib human rights violation scandal, you might get a few laughs. "They’re playing to their 24-percenter base," you might say, and even then, you’d have your doubts, between laughs.

But in IL-06, the party in DC is lining up behind just such a candidate. Only here’s the catch: She’s a "Democrat," one of us.

Crazy, but true, the wingnuts, understandably underwhelmed by their choices thus far, are clamoring for Generalissimo David Petraeus to enter the GOP Primary:

 
The GOP presidential field seemed complete last night when former senator Fred Thompson finally announced he was jumping into the race. But apparently the right-wing isn’t satisfied with its choices and is hoping that the race may have room for one more candidate — Gen. David Petraeus.

Today, the New York Sun has an editorial entitled "Petraeus for President"...

Well, the man is certainly not averse to inserting himself into the political fray, notably coming out with some very pro-Bush editorializing in the WAPO in the run-up to Dubya's 2004 re-election.

Something tells me this guy isn't a big donor to the cause of equality and social justice:

For years, Adam LaFavre cultivated an image as a successful real estate dealmaker and a man of faith. He drove luxury cars, wore a Rolex watch and owned a $7.5 million mansion on Lake Minnetonka in Wayzata. He spoke openly of his belief that he was called by God to minister to world leaders, according to former business associates.

But federal regulators, in an affidavit submitted in support for a search warrant of his home and businesses, describe a far different LaFavre. The IRS' criminal investigation division alleges that he helped raise money for an illegal investment scheme that promised high monthly returns in offshore banking programs at no risk.

Yes, thank you Dr. Wolfowitz.

Bear with me here, folks, I know it's counter-intuitive, but I think we might be missing the forest so as to better focus on that greasy-haired worm-infested tree of a man that is Paul Wolfowitz. How's that, you say?

Well, because Paul's doing us a big favor. Every day the pissant holds out in his barricaded World Bank office causes serious damage to that institution. And that's a good thing.  Paul, you see, may be morally on par with one of Nero's sycophantic advisors, holding the fiddling tyrant's violin case while the latter watched Rome burn. But unlike Rome, the World Bank is worthy of fire.

Not satisfied with the War on Terra (tm), the US government, with its allies in the New Europe(tm), plan to re-open the Cold War

Not content to simply sink further into Iraki sands, the Bush administration seems intent to position for the next big resource conflict: ol' mother Russia. And they plan on dragging Nato, kicking and screaming.

Putin will no doubt have some thoughts on what follows below the fold (as would any Russian leader, though expect to see the Americans play "Russia's descent into undemocratic authoritarianism" card to the hilt on this).

Imagine a conservative government using smear tactics to imply an opposition party member is a traitor. And imagine an opposition party taking extreme umbrage at that. Now imagine them shutting down the halls of legislative power, their party leaders shouting down the head of state in order to accentuate that umbrage and stop his shop-worn slander and rhetoric in its tracks.

Democrats expressing outrage at the slander directed at Rep John Murtha (D-PA)? Hardly. Nope, if you want to see what a real opposition looks like, you don't have to look too far - there is a veritable Jeffersonian federal democracy, probably not far from where you live, where opposition leaders dared show disrespect to a dear leader, but it wasn't in Washington DC any time in the recent past. It was in Ottawa, yesterday.

You were waiting for it to happen? I was. Only a matter of time before the Democratic caucus split and the blue dogs crossed over to hold Dubya's hand. Raw Story is reporting that

A group of forty-four "fiscally conservative" Democrats will not call for an end to America's military involvement in Iraq, RAW STORY has learned. Instead, the Blue Dog Coalition of House Democrats will introduce legislation this week focusing on accountability for money the White House wants to spend on the nearly four year long Iraq War.

There have been a number of shitstorms on kos of late, pointing up a divide between left and not-so-left among Democratic partisans hereabouts. Impeachment has been a source of much vituperation, with the reaction of some of the putative heavy hitters hereabouts making many, including myself, wonder why there is such defensive posturing on this site for what ought arguably to be considered core Democratic values.  

Adapted from an article posted in Jerome a Paris' European Tribune.

One of the issues dearest to Paul Wellstone was the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, or LIHEAP. LIHEAP provides relief to low-income families facing heating bills they can't afford. Studies show that roughly 20-25% of folks facing unaffordable heating bills will go without medicine to pay for them, while another 10-15% will go without food.

Of course, it costs a lot more to heat one's home under the best of circumstance on the frozen tundra of Northern Minnesota than most anywhere else in the contiguous United States, and it's not getting cheaper. Of course, this is lost on our "leaders" in Washington DC. But fortunately, not on Hugo Chavez.

More rumors from DC-Democratland to the horse's ass: Harry Reid is in discussions with Joe Lieberman about the committee he's gonna chair. The rumor's gotten far enough out there that reporters are now asking influential Lamont supporters about it:

Asked by The Herald to comment on a rumor that Minority Leader Sen. Harry Reid of Nevada is already talking to Lieberman about a committee chair following the election, (State Senator and Lamont supporter Tim) O'Brien declined to speculate on a Lieberman victory Tuesday.  

So, Lamont starts getting a little momentum, putting him in about the same spot in the polls Lieberman found himself on the eve of knocking off his GOP opponent in 1988, Lowell Weicker, and the DC-Dems stab us in the back.
 

Last Thursday, Jon Tester, rightfully one of this site's heroes trying to knock off perhaps the most incompetent Senators, was given a great boost to his election fortunes when Harry Reid promised him a slot on the powerful Senate Appropriations committee:

Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid of Nevada said in a statement Thursday he will "work very hard" to secure a seat for Tester - even as a freshman senator - "as soon as possible."

The announcement Thursday was a clear effort to take aim at one of Burns' strongest issues in his re-election bid: his ability as a veteran senator to bring federal money back to Montana. Burns currently has a seat on the committee.

"Jon is the only Senate candidate who has a commitment like this," said Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., a member of the Senate Finance Committee. "The main thing is that  Jon is the man."

An in depth interview with Al Gore was headlined in today's Lemonde.fr as he spends time convincing French politicians, six months in advance of what is shaping up to be a highly competiticve race, jockey for positioning in upcoming Presidential and Legislative elections.

The interview, conducted by Hervé Kempf, was accompanied by Le Monde's lead editorial, which noted the irony of a public figure from the world's biggest polluter being the world's foremost advocate for the environment, but which was perfectly sympathetic to Gore's arguments.

Translation of Kempf's interview below the fold.