The Wacky World of Chris Knight

Once again we are doing Thanksgiving over at Geek Orchard. It’s a pot luck affair, and as usual I’m bringing a taste of The Keys: stone crab claws and spiny lobster tails.

My one and only source for having claws and tails shipped to California is Florida Keys Stone Crab and Lobster in Marathon Key. Becky is great to work with, and I always get my orders right on time.

You can keep your turkeys, my vote is always for tasty sea bugs!

A while back I ranted about the terms of the bailout, specifically that “Decisions by the Secretary pursuant to the authority of this Act are non-reviewable and committed to agency discretion, and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency.” I compared giving one person this much power to believing that SuperMan is going to fly down out of the sky and solve our problems.

So, what happened with the bailout? Well, this Lex Luthor wannabe named Henry Paulson went to Congress, the House of Representatives, and the President and said “I have a plan” and he gave them a quick overview of a not-likely-to-work idea, and they gave him nearly a trillion dollars. They also gave him absolute discretion over how that money would get used, at least for the moment since the ‘oversight panel’ they added to the revised bailout has not actually been created. No panel, no oversight. Big surprise, but right after he gets the money his shouts “Gotcha!” and with complete control over the funds starts changing the game.

Now, I’m not going to say that either plan is better, as I think they will both fail to prevent the inevitable depression-era type market correction that is coming. What does bother me is the bait and switch. If Paulson wasn’t working for the government this would be called a con game. All the Nigerion 419 scams in all of history have not netted the amount of money Paulson has in his checking account right now; and he’s going to spend it where he wants and you (including your elected officials) can’t do a damn thing about it.

Think about that the next time someone suggests that what the government needs to fix this mess is a blank check. You all voted for ‘cake and circuses’ and now the killer clowns come home to roost.

Treasury changes course on bailout, won’t buy bad mortgages

Tom Abate, Chronicle Staff Writer

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

(11-12) 18:20 PST — The Treasury Department reversed course on its massive bailout effort today, saying it would not use the $700 billion rescue fund approved by Congress to purchase bad mortgage securities but instead will continue pumping money into banks to boost their lending ability while it looks for ways to get more money flowing for school loans, credit cards and other consumer purchases.

In answering questions about the shift in strategy, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson ruled out using the fund to bail out the troubled auto industry and said his priority would be stabilizing the financial system and reviving a consumer credit market that "has for all practical purposes ground to a halt."

Although Paulson abandoned the plan he pitched when he sold the bailout to Congress, an aide to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she was never keen on buying subprime mortgage securities and considers Treasury's current course - investing $250 billion into banks - a better financial fix.

So, I’ve developed a bit of a pet peeve over the years against glo-sticks, and their myriad variations of use once and throw away bright and shinies. I’ve set up a website that I want to be a great place to find and discuss glo-stick alternatives. I’ve done some digging, and put up a few items. If you have any favorite light toys, could you go take a look at Death to Playa Glo Worms and post your suggestion(s)? If there isn’t a category for you favorite toy(s) let me know and I’ll create it.

Thanks!

-Chris