"They got the elevator, we got the shaft"

I've become fairly knowledgeable about the financial deregulation of the 1990's (although I'll stop well short of calling myself an expert) and the door it opened up for the "blow-and-go"....actually more like "smoke-and-mirrors"....first decade of the 21'st Century.  As we're now painfully aware, all that gee-wizz "financial engineering" that brought Wall Street (used generically to include the big banks, hedge funds, insurers, brokerages, etc) immense wealth actually produced little of real value.  Many respected scholars and actual insiders to what was going on told us years ago that we were on a very slippery slope, but they were drowned out by the lobby for those raking in BILLIONS of dollars in commissions and bonuses.  Those were heady days, and we didn't want to hear any bad news.  Things turned out just like that old song said they would:  "They got the elevator, we got the shaft."


Now here we are in 2012, an election year.  Mitt Romney appears to be on a roll and will likely be the Republican nominee for President.  He was one of those who profited mightily from those deregulated times, and so are his current financial backers.  They really want to see him elected as they have visions of returning to the good 'ol days (for them at least).  They assume he'll call off those who are clamoring for re-regulation, and based on what he's said so far in his campaigning, he will.


I'm no fan of Barack Obama, or more specifically, I'm no fan of the Obama administration.  IMO, he has surrounded himself with advisers who are doing him and the American people a disservice.  They are individually brilliant, but collectively inept.  "What is" and "what could have been" are, sadly, two very different things.


So what will our likely choices be this November?  More of what we have now (how depressing is that?) or a replay of what we had before (YIKES!).  Some choice, huh?


S

O'Billery for President?

One brief bit of political news, then on to other things:  Now the scuttlebutt is President O'Bama's political handlers are considering switching the jobs of Sec. of State Hillary Clinton and V.P. Joe Biden.  Apparently they think O'Bama / Clinton, H. would make for a stronger Democratic ticket.  Really?  I can't see Hillary bringing anyone new over to the Democratic party.  Anyone who would be enthusiastic about her being on the ticket probably wouldn't be caught dead with a Romney / Santorum / Paul bumper sticker on their car in the first place.  


Anyone remember the old days when you could do pretty much anything maintenance-wise on your own car right in your garage?  Now computers run everything on your car, and unless you have your own $50K engine diagnostic computer to plug into, you can do little more than change a tire.  Now I read that hackers are using new car's Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and On Star systems to sabotage them.  A wrecker company's dream come true?  Surely those fine upstanding folks wouldn't do that.  *snicker*


I'm still doing my every-other-day running, trying to get in shape for a 5K run some day.  It's a gradually increasing in intensity program that they say will get me built-up slowly without blowing out any important body parts, but I gotta say right now my legs feel like rubber.  I make a much better armchair quarterback than I do athlete.   Last night I watched a documentary, 180 South, about Yvon Choinard, the founder of Patagonia, and how to this day....he's in his early 70's....he still goes mountain climbing.  I say screw climbing mountains.  Right now I'm having trouble just climbing up onto my desk chair.  Ouch!


S