Heads they win, tails we lose

Does anything really matter? Does worrying about what amount a health care reform bill will cost over 10 years matter?

How about the proposal to give $250 checks to seniors this year since Social Security won't increase because cost of living has not increased. I am starting to really dislike Social Security. I never thought I would say that. I don't blame the current group of seniors. These folks are the Greatest Generation, and do deserve our support. But does the next generation, the Baby Boomers really deserve to receive these benefits? They have done so much harm to this country. Why should they collect? Baby Boomers don't set good examples for others to follow. That's a blanket statement, and unfair to some, but if you look at who our current leadership is at local, state, and national levels, what do you see? Do you see great leadership making hard choices, willing to put things on the line? No, you see bickering, deceit, mud slinging, pandering. It's all a thinly disguised lie. Where is the responsibility?

If you are in government, and you can give money to people willy-nilly because you are worried about how they vote, then why get all worked up over what a bill will cost over 10 years? It's not like that 10-year projection is set in stone. Not when you can (and will) change it whenever it's most politically convenient. Obama sucks. Democrats suck. Republicans suck. I think the only path we are going down is one of ruin. Typical. This is 'uniquely American.' Do nothing until people die and and things are so bad that you have to make changes. Then we will pick up the pieces, try to make a change, and limp along until the next disaster. That's America.

So now that I'm all depressed, more than I was when I started this post let's move on to links.

Robert Reich has a great post on the fact that Obama should renege on his deal with health care industry players, since the costs are going way up and the fact that the people (middle class) who were supposed to be helped by the reform will get screwed instead. I agree, but I bet you real money Obama won't do a thing.

Paul Krugman discusses why Citi and BofA are reporting losses in Q3 after making profit in Q1 and Q2. Now Larry Summers is denouncing the big trading banks since they are reporting record bonuses. He quotes Mr. Summers with this nugget.

“There is no financial institution that exists today that is not the direct or indirect beneficiary of trillions of dollars of taxpayer support for the financial system.”

So if someone tells me that it is not my business to question how much someone in this industry makes, I say yes it is. It's my money they are gambling with. It's my money that saved their reckless ass when their bets went bad. Don't tell me to shut up. We should shut these bastards down. I don't have much hope from the Obama Administration to supply leadership on real reform in the financial industry. The casino will remain open. These people in these companies are thieves and gamblers and do not deserve our respect or tolerance.

Here is a bizarre article at Minyanville on how another recession is going to come in the next few years because of the Obama policies. It's a weirdly compelling read, in that it supports trickle-down theory (when won't this idea die?!?!) and how deficiets are going to harm America. This seems to me like old-school thinking being applied to a reality that doesn't fit the old-school model.

Daniel Gross with an excellent article on the current losses reported by GM, Citi, and BofA.

Government ownership doesn't cause catastrophic losses; catastrophic losses cause government ownership

Economist quotes from a gathering in New York. I don't have hope. These are hollow words.

John Maynard Keynes still has good ideas.

How Moody's sold out.

Barry Ritholtz wonders if the White House is finally taking financial regulation seriously.