[Goldman Sacked]

So I initially came here tonight to post in direct response to the current financial crisis.
I was probably going to say some heartfelt, overthought banter about how I remember in the third grade, when the Dow first closed above 10,000. But bland pageantry to the fires. As I was reading up on the latest market specs, something caught my eye and I think it should catch yours as well.

In a week where Lehman Brothers filed bankruptcy on Monday, Merill and A.I.G. pretty much went to shit by Tuesday, and the Dow had fallen by a about 800pts by Wednesday, one company was still able to post share values of well above $100. That unceremonious nod would have to go to Goldman Sachs, former stomping grounds of Henry Paulson, Joshua Bolten, John Corzine, and Sacha Baron Cohen. Granted, GS is a far cry from last November's high of $250/share, but relatively speaking, it's surprising to see a price like that for a financial institution. No surprise that Vault.com announced this morning that, for a third consecutive year, Goldman Sachs was rated the top investment bank in the market.

Forbes and the Associated Press took a much more sober view of the situation. Albeit, GS isn't twitching on the ground yet, but it's loss today of 13.92% a share cast an overall negative shadow upon one of the last standing major investment banks on Wall Street. Forbes cited this being Goldman's worst quarter in a decade as ample evidence for investors to pull out. AP claimed GS, along with Morgan Stanley, are next in line for the guillotine.

To extend the Terror of 1792 metaphor, this seems to be a classic case of Danton-Robespierre tumult, whereby the lions of one day become the fodder of the next. Frankly, though Goldman Sachs' figures today are shocking at a glance, their performance pretty much determines their course. It's a basic path dependency that history, clearly, supports.

[Recession]

So the word has finally been dropped. "Recession" hit the House floor yesterday, having fallen from the mouth of 2008's best-suited speaker for the occasion, the year's biggest upstart, Ben Bernanke. This is no shocker, given the straight talking Americans have become accustomed to over the course of his six hearings before Congress thus far. Rather, the import that necessitates a blogging resides in what Bernanke's latest remarks represent. Following the tone set by Congress against the background of election-year reform politics, this is the latest episode of the legislature and the people taking matters into their own hands after an increasingly out of touch and unresponsive executive has proven ill-equipped to deal with the new and unprecedented obstacles that face the American public. With the recent stimulus legislation coming out of Congress, Bernanke's characterization comes at the perfect time. It was early enough to ingrain him as the first in the minds of the American people, but late enough to give the impression that, were it not for this straight-talking scion, the truth may never been fully articulated by the government. Coupled with the rising tide of reform mongering from all sides under the context of the election, this latest hearing heralds an era of popular and political reaction to the idle folly in which the leadership has wallowed, specifically regarding the post-housing crisis economy.

These days, everyone with a soap crate (or a blog) and an idea seems to have a new plan for the American economy. The Democratic candidates' tour of Rust Belt Pennsylvania over the past week has underscored this mentality. Be it Hilary's bold, reassuring proposals or Obama's eloquent way of telling it like it is, the tour has smacked of plans for the economy. And as well it should, given its primacy in the American mind. In an election where these disenfranchised, middleAmerican Homesteaders may well decide the contest, the economy has shown every sign to pique their concern over the future of the American leadership. But more of that when the issue matures. Right now, regardless of campaign trail reform talk, the voice that posterity will remember as a herald of change echoed in Congress yesterday; and it dropped the word that even Clinton and Obama were cautious to enough to step around. By the time Ben Bernakne's term is up in December, he will have established himself as the able hand under which the nation, for want of direction from the executive, turned to for a tempered, highly educated opinion. And he's not afraid to tell it like it is to get his point across. 2008 may, as an inadvertent consequence of many conspiring factors, indeed be a year of real change, immediately foreseeable and enduring.

[NYC Confidential]

As a policy, I stick to an objective critique of my world on strictly political, social, or otherwise general and basically universally applicable terms. However, I feel that the occasion necessitates breaking from tradition, if only for a day. I'll keep it short- my life isn't mighty interesting as far as blog fare goes.

Over spring break I lost my wallet in New York. Left it in the back of a cab. I dropped a quarter, getting out of the cab, and in bending to pick it up, my wallet fell out of my pocket; I didn't even notice. Ironic, nay, prophetic. I just saw No Country for Old Men, the quarter seemed to have a lot of import. I kept it, separated of course, from my other change. But back to the wallet. Normally, I wouldn't give much thought to it, but I figured since it had my license and credit cards, it would be worth a call to the taxi cab company. So I called, filed my report, and, not expecting much, resigned myself to getting a new license and freezing my cards. And then today happened. I came home from something around 6ish. I checked my email, checked my facebook, read the paper, then turned to the daily heap of college mail: There's a place for everyone at Goucher! Get your Associates Degree in 2 years or less at Boris! Beneath the usual static, there was an unwieldy, first class envelope. Perhaps it was its lack of a viable return address, or maybe the workingman's scrawl across the front, but something felt both unsettling and earnest about this purported piece of college mail. The weight was poorly distributed, with a pliable, iPod-shaped bulge on the right side. I slit it open and out fell another envelope, this one wrapped around the bulge. I really wasn't even expecting my wallet, so I wasn't totally enthused when it fell out. I was just like, "Oh, cool. Awesome, I guess." The end.

[420]

For the second day in the past week, the otherwise moribund stockmarket has surged forth with another gust of "sound and fury". Perhaps the corollary to that- "a fool's tale signifying nothing and of no importance" -may be applicable as in the case of the Fed's last bailout. Given that my education in economics is limited to my WSJ subscription, I am not in the position to assess anything beyond what it is. One thing I am sure of, however, though once again without qualification, is the ensuing bacchanalia that must have filled the cavernous canyon of Wall Street following closing. 420 points... what better way to celebrate than 420? Yes, while everything else was in the green today, the eyes of America's captains of commerce grew red. With more than a month to go before 4/20 rolls around, our nation's stockbrokers are reaping the rewards of their own 420, not only in their pockets, but in their mind.

However, the Fed is nothing if not a service for all of America. As an objective citizen, I ask, why can't all Americans share in 420? Today, Barak Obama preached unity and coalescence. While he stressed that the scars of a divisive social structure will not be easily overcome, I see one place we can start. Together, we must join in the revelry of our men on Wall Street and celebrate the 420 for ourselves. Their gain is America's gain: as Wall Street soars higher and higher, so too must average Americans get higher than they ever though possible.

This, of course, was the intent of the Fed behind their idea to slash interest rates. When Americans are high enough, they will be more free with their money and take less shelter under destructive, cautious economic policies. Gradually, as the American market gets higher, it will return to lucrative yet risky practices from which it has recently strayed. Therefore, to preserve our great economy, and reverse the recent downward slope, I urge all Americans to do what is right and celebrate the 420.

[the music man]

Deep in the back country of Alabama (perhaps that's too general, as it pretty much comprises the whole state) lurk a scheming pair of swindlers that put Professor Harold Hill to shame. The duo, who pulled the veil of quick tax relief and easy money over an entire county, have only recently been implicated in the colossal fallout of the scheme that brought them to riches and reduced Jefferson County, which includes Birmingham, to financial rubble. Charles E. LeCrow, a sly-talking Wall Street businessman, and William Blount, a speculating local banker, conned the good people of Jefferson County into pouring money into complex NYSE trades, totalling (US)$5.8 billion. The fact that, without heavy government loans (which looks likely, given that this is an isolated incident) the County will crumble, Birmingham with it, I have to laugh. Some things really don't change. Frankly, it's a modern day Duke and Dauphin. One can only hope this news will be soon followed by a car chase, complete with the crazed Stars 'n Bars waving yokels that would make Hazard County blush with pride. I can almost imagine Mr. LeCrow as the slick carpetbagger, complete with his stovepipe hat and dastardly, curled mustache, twirling a silver-topped cain and Mr. Blount as the white-suited, bolo-tied, red-faced financial cornerstone, perhaps reverentially referred to as "the general" or some other imagined military position. I'm sure the lovable, but foolish mayor, in a sash wrapped around a suit that itself could barely fit around his gravitous potbelly, is in there somewhere too. And the graceful, but bookish Southern belle who falls for the smooth Northerner, only to discover his dastardliness and grapple with the decision to reveal it to the townspeople. Yes, the thick Southern air is rife for a just such an occasion.

[hilary much?]

Much as I may be an advocate of the Clinton dynasty, I cannot condone the electoral victory of the Hilary, namely in my humble prefecture of New Jersey. My main issue with Hilary is not the unflattering, PTA-mom fashion nor the center-rightist faux-pragmatist image. No, in this era of globalization and the end of American dominance, her foreign policy plans are simply incompatible with the action on the current and future international stage. Additionally, her worldwide image, though initially strong among the racially homogeneous (read racist) pundits of Europe, has fallen under closer scrutiny to her policy on a radically changing world stage, the atmosphere is rife for a radical changer. Having masterfully downplayed the racial card, Obama has earned the respect of the European punditry and, indeed, the attention of the world audience. Frankly, this is one of those few windows in history when the zeitgeist demands a herald of change. Just as the Clintons stood as a beacon of democratic restoration in the '90s, ironically so too would Hilary's graceful exit from this election. Unfortunately, in light of today, that looks further from actuality.

[superballs]

For all the alleged Giants' awesomeness, the real game started with 0:02 left on the clock, when one of the guys I was with popped a bottle of Mountain Dew Courvoisier-style, drenched himself in it, and went streaking down Stillwell Dr. The ensuing Volkswagen Jetta chase, complete with banjo-enhanced car chase music and me periodically popping out of the sun roof to spew misguided, esoteric invectives was the real event for the books. Which leads me, consequently, to ask of this convoluted world, why some call it a sun roof and others call it a moon roof? And for that matter, why can't we just call it a skylight like how we do in architecture? After all, there's much to be said for the celebrity that architectural distinction lends itself to, while car design is so enshrouded. A more universal lexicon, based on the most common word-thought associations would allow for a much more efficient society. But perhaps it must always be that specialized lexicalization develops among groups, to form an identity almost as deep-seated as the nature of the group itself. So yea, I'd have to say it was a pretty good superball, this VLIInd.