Get ready to economize

So, whilst on vacation I read rather less than usual. Part of this was due to the old demon foe television. Especially BBC World News, I can't look away from that shit, even though it's nonsense. Everything's a fucking catastrophe there. And everything is black and white. Russia black, Georgia white. Buyouts white, government inaction black. Jesus, it annoys the hell out of me even though I can't look away. But at a peak moment of displeasure with it all, I had a sudden flash of something that's flashing on me increasingly these days - thank god I'm not American. If I think the BBC is bad, I guess it's the mercy of all fucking time my only relationship with CNN is to laugh at the home page occasionally. Not to mention the others . . . ugh.

But to mention this ridiculous $700 billion bail out - those poor people are going to foot the bill towards keeping the global financial markets liquid enough for an orderly global retreat from it. I always wondered how their economy being owned from abroad was going to ruin them and I think I'm finding the answer now - those people will be subjected to insane inflation and increased taxation without any fucking improvement of their services, because with all this public fuss aver the national debt, whoever wins the presidency in November will have a great excuse to not improve health care coverage or social security or anything, for that matter.

And all so that foreign countries and entities that have relied on the stock market to get good returns for capital funds, superannuation and pension plans - the sort of pension plans that most Americans can only dream of - and such won't be unhappy enough to fuck around with their reserves or pull out their investment dollars wholesale. America is becoming the bitch of the world. And that's alright with America, because the ruling class has figured out how to make the larger classes take the pain. Jesus. It's not Africa but it's nasty.

I don't have incredible faith in the financial stability of Europe but I'm fucking glad to live in a fiscal place where protecting residents from inflation and hits to their purchasing power is mandated above encouraging wild economic growth at the central bank, and that the bank actually practices what it preaches despite massive industry pressure and lobbying. But then I guess Europeans have always been a little more ready than Americans to challenge their governments and governmental structures, and so Europeans keep their governments scared and attentive. For better or for worse. Sometimes that means fantastic social services and sometimes that means Nazis.

Anyways, I was going to write about the only book I did actually read during my vacation, The General in His Labyrinth, but I guess that will have to wait until tomorrow.