Quoth the Dark Wraith
The Federal Reserve is
holding its annual conference, and Chairman Ben Bernanke is doing a fast two-step. The anti-inflation hawks know very well that the massive overhang of liquidity the Fed has pumped into the economy, first to keep it alive during the Bush Administration, and now to keep it from rotting under the Obama Administration, will sooner or later come back as a price spiral like none we've seen in decades. On the other side are all the howlers pounding their fists for the Fed to crank up the money-printing engine to keep the economy from going into total zombie mode. The Fed has dug its own grave, and now Uncle Bennie has to live with the consequences of years of irresponsible monetary policy that has coddled years of irresponsible federal taxation and spending decisions.
Never mind all of that, though. Speaking as an unforgiving, ill-tempered economist who has a darned good track record when it comes to doom and gloom predictions about economic matters, I have some simple advice for the Mr. Bernanke about that conference the Fed is conducting right now:
Mr. Bernanke, your institution is sponsoring the annual Fed conference in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, a really upscale mountain resort favored by fancy people with lots of money and too much time on their hands spent in out-of-the-way mountain resorts. I passed through Jackson Hole once. It was ridiculously arduous getting there in the kind of car I drive, everything was obscenely expensive, and the town was nothing but a compressed mish-mash of ludicrously fancy shops, salons, restaurants, and assorted other businesses that no normal person should spend money patronizing.
Ben, you and your fellow Federal Reserve people have no business being there spending public money on such lavish excess.
Right down the street from where I live are some excellent, big, cheap hotels. The Motel 6 could handle all you Fed people and a bunch of slavish reporters, as well. Right across the street is an all-night Denny's restaurant where you could eat, talk, and make important decisions over Grand Slam breakfasts and nightly burgers. Nearby is a Walmart and a Dollar Tree where you and your people could get souvenirs. And if you're into that kind of thing, there's a huge truck stop less than a mile away, out by the interstate, where you could hook up with some skinny lot lizards who'd be quite impressed with your credentials, if not your more southerly endowments.
Next year, Ben, call me. I'll take care of all the arrangements, here. I'll even talk to the graveyard shift manager at Denny's (he's a former student of mine) to make sure you get the royal treatment. Ditto for the girls at the truck stop (who aren't former students of mine, at least to my knowledge).
I'll be waiting for your call, Ben.
Sincerely,
Dark Wraith
The Art of Grousing
August 11, 2010 — A large can of green beans, mixed with some instant mashed potatoes. That's what I had for dinner. It was pretty darned good and quite filling. In fact, considering that I eat very little anymore, it was
too filling.
WAY too filling.
I'm sitting here in actual, serious discomfort thinking to myself, "Any minute, I need to detonate or something," and if those stupid instant mashed potatoes were over-salted like so much packaged food is, these days, I'm going to start swilling water and then be writhing on the floor going, "GHAAAA!"
I should have eaten just the green beans, but NO! I had to see that packet of mashed potatoes in the back of the cupboard and go all fancy with my meal, tonight. So much for doing anything for the next couple of hours except making "GHAAAA!" sounds and weirding the cats.
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Update 8/25/2010 — Who knew they could get that out of hand?
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This and That
Washington Monthly has just caught up with a rather troubling trend sweeping the nation's cash-strapped school systems: kids being
required to bring their own toilet paper to school. As some commenters there noted, this nonsense has been happening for at least several years in some school districts, but it is apparently now becoming so common that a few national media outlets are publicizing the disgraceful situation.
Dark Wisdom
A fact is not a truth.
The Wraith Recommends
This is a somewhat long but outstanding article by the senior editor of
Alternet: "
In This Article, I Show How Easy It Is For Peaceful People to Violate the Patriot Act and Face 15 Years in Jail." The analogies and examples are well crafted and serve, by the end, to demonstrate just how far from the constitutional right of "free speech" the U.S. Supreme Court has taken us and how the Patriot Act has become a force contrary to American citizens' work in conflict resolution. Along the way in the article, note that it was the Department of Justice under our
current U.S. Attorney General, Eric Holder, that successfully argued the case for repression of free speech before the Right-wing Supreme Court. (Also note that the writer managed to slip in the irony of how those same extremists on the high court have now recognized a free speech "right" of corporations at the same time the right accorded citizens is being truncated.)
About the Forums
This blog offers Internet travelers a place where they can discuss economics, finance, politics, and other topics of scholarly and practical interest to thinking people. Your comments are always welcome, and your visits are most appreciated.
About the Publisher
Your host of this Weblog is an award-winning college teacher and writer who specializes in economics, finance, mathematics, business administration, computer hardware and software skills, and English grammar and composition. His extensive writings on the history of the English language appeared on About.com in the avatar of the Selig Wraith in the
Medieval History Forum. Under the umbrella of
Dark Wraith Publishing, he now writes on economics and politics as the Dark Wraith, serving as editor and publisher of this online magazine,
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The UnCapitalist Journal, in addition to the
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