Who's Up For a Recession?

I just watched the President's address regarding the "economic crisis." This is the first time since his 2001 inaugural address that I've been able to sit through an entire Bush speech. I read the transcripts of the state of the union each year, but I simply can't watch the man speak in public. It's painful.

But tonight was different. The economic mess we find ourselves in came to fruition under Bush's watch. And if he doesn't find a quick fix, the resulting recession will be his legacy. I'm also fairly certain that Bush realizes the fate of his GOP successor, John McCain, hangs on the current administration's ability to bail out Wall Street. Either way, Bush needed to sell his plan tonight to throw the financial sector a lifeline. So he stuck to the script, didn't entertain any questions (thinking on his feet is not his strong suit) and remarkably, didn't smirk. It was Bush at his most watchable. Only took 7 years.

The key provision of the Bush plan is to take $700 billion of the taxpayers' cash and use it to start buying up bad mortgage assets. The government will sit on these assets until they rebound at some point in the future and then sell them off, mitigating the initial $700 billion investment. But don't worry. None of that money is going to end up in the pockets of Wall Street executives. Because after we cut this enormous check, Congress is going to legislate new methods of oversight. Isn't that backwards? Shouldn't we change the rules of the game, then dump boatloads of money back in the market?

I respect the efforts of those individuals who want to try and prevent the collapse of major financial institutions. For better or worse, there are thousands of jobs, and billions in investor assets at risk. The same sidewalk-loitering, interview fodder on the local evening news who say, "it's their dumb mistakes, why should we pay?" are the same people whose 401k's are going to tank and who won't be able to get approval for a Gap card if this situation continues unchecked.

But there is a select group of people out there who wouldn't mind a helping of recession, and I'm one of them. We're the same folks who have are saving for retirement, protecting our credit, investing prudently and purchasing homes we can afford. And through fiscal common sense, we have managed to insulate ourselves from market corrections. And that's what this situation is. It's not economic catastrophe. It's not a crisis. It's a correction. Maybe you remember 9/11, Enron, etc. back in 2001? Same deal. From time to time, the market must realign itself. And there are always casualties. Last time, the government bailed out airlines. This time, it's brokerage houses who backed the wrong pony.

Now that Bush has publicly made his case, the reactionary masses are going to demand a bail out. There are too many baby boomers nearing retirement who haven't sufficiently reduced the risk in their portfolios. I'm sure that within the next week or two, we'll probably pick up the tab for at least half a trillion dollars worth of bad mortgages. And as result, we'll save a whole lot of retirement funds. But that only prolongs the problem.

Credit needs to be tough to get, or the cycle will repeat itself in short order. Nobody wants to see jobs lost or nest eggs evaporate. But until we force lenders to accept responsibility for the consequences of their determinations of creditworthiness, we ignore the fundamental cause of the current situation. Will we fund a bail out? Yes. Should we? Probably not. That's how capitalism is played.

Movie Review: Righteous Kill

In 1995, Heat, a film written and directed by Michael Mann, was released. Since then, Heat has become the archetype for intelligent, gritty, crime dramas and heist flicks. While the ensemble cast was exceptional, the keys to Heat's success were the performances of Robert De Niro and Al Pacino. As two men on opposite sides of the law, Hanna and McCauley found much in common even as their respective careers pitted them against one another. The scene in the coffee shop (the only one where both actors share significant dialogue together) demonstrated what was possible when two great actors were given intelligent roles to work with.

In 2008, Righteous Kill tries to capitalize off of the dynamic that made Heat great. It comes up short. If you've seen the trailers, you already know that someone is killing off bad guys. And two cops investigating the muders, De Niro and Pacino, may have something to do with it. The film introduces a narrative device in the first few minutes that seems to explain all, and immediately make wary viewers suspicious that a twist ending is imminent.

Righteous Kill smacks of a B movie that would go straight to DVD if not for the involvement of the two stars. And while it's fun to watch De Niro and Pacino play off of each other, the weak plot means that the brief interplay the two actors share in Heat is still more compelling than the whole of Righteous Kill.

And if you're wondering just how much director Jon Avnet was hoping to borrow from Heat's success, look no further than the climactic warehouse scene. It's setup and cinematic elements (where are those lights coming from?) mirrors the airfield scene from Heat so closely, you already know how it's going end. De Niro and Pacino make Righteous Kill worth a look, but do yourself a favor, and wait for the DVD.

What's Up at PTI?

Those who know me, know that I always get my daily dose of Pardon the Interruption (PTI). So when the format changes, I tend to notice. This week, during each commercial break, the broadcast has cut back to the set for about 15 seconds, where Tony and Wilbon are bantering, checking mic levels, or having makeup applied. It's kind of like those satellite TV channels that show you what news anchors are doing when the cameras (supposedly) aren't rolling. And it's genius. This may be the first thing inserted in a commercial break that actually makes people sit and watch (or at least fast forward slow enough to catch the shots from the set). I think other live programs should take a lesson here and cut back to the studio during the break, even for a few seconds. Who's going to skip the commercials when there's a chance of catching Regis Philbin cursing out a production assistant for putting too much creamer in his coffee? That's quality TV.

Vote McCain/Spears '08!

Yeah, I went there. Sarah Palin, is starting to look more like Lynne Spears than a legitimate Vice-Presidential nominee. Let's review two key details about this GOP shooting star:
-Apparently, there have been rumors since Palin was announced as the VP nom, that her 4 month old son was actually the child of Palin's 17 year old daughter, Bristol. Nope, according to statement from the Palin camp today, Bristol's bundle of joy isn't due for another 4 months. So that means Sarah's going to be the 44 year old mother of a special-needs infant and the doting grandmother of her currently unwed teenage daughter's toddler about the same time she's supposed to assuming the second highest office in the executive branch of the federal government. Barack Obama has taken the only logical course of action and called off his dogs, stating that candidates' families are off-limits. But this kind of gaping vulnerability is too difficult for the rest of the democratic establishment and the media to ignore.
-Before all the baby-mama-drama, Sarah had already gotten herself wrapped up in another scandal. Back in 2006, Palin demanded that Alaska Public Safety Commissioner Walter Monegan fire Alaska State Trooper, Mike Wooten. Why? Because Wooten, Palin's brother-in-law had been having an affair with a married woman. The affair is certainly contemptible, but Palin overstepped her bounds as governor when she proceeded to dismiss Monegan after he refused to fire Wooten for cheating on Palin's sister. Both parties have now lawyered-up and an independent investigation into Palin's actions is expected to conclude by October.

So if Governor Palin is looking like she might not be the perfect VP pick after all, here's the kicker: McCain knew about all of this before he chose her. I was already of the opinion that McCain was completely out of touch with the electorate he was attempting to woo. But his decision regarding his running mate has sealed the deal. McCain is simply unfit to elect, as is Palin.

Breaking Up (A Blog) is Hard to Do

Later this evening, I'm going to be posting on both the last of my 2008 fantasy football drafts AND the Palin pregnancy story. As I was sitting down to figure out which of these items I should blog about first, I realized that the individuals who might read this blog for fantasy football purposes probably have no interest in my social-political commentary, and vice-versa. So, later today I'm going to be adding a second blog to Pfeiffersite. This blog will be dedicated solely to fantasy football. Verbal Currency will carry on as an outlet for whatever topics I'm interested in. I'll link to the new fantasy football blog in Verbal Currency this evening once it's set up.