Ugly Matrices
Big Brass Blog writer Foiled Goil has published a gloss of recent news articles highlighting various political dimensions of the catastrophic, still-uncontrolled oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Entitled, "Heads Should Roll," the post, among other important matters covered, indicates the extent of the culpability of BP in the worst oil spill in American history.In comments to the article, fellow Big Brass Blog contributing writer Father Tyme made the following observation:
It seems BP lost 21 billion in market value Tuesday according to Crooksandliars.com.Below, I offer a rejoinder to that assessment.
Good News?
Nope!
I smell an oily bailout coming! It'll be couched as some bullshit spin that tells us how much we'd really lose if BP went under. But it'll come, sure as winter in Wasilla.
AIG, Goldman Sachs, BP...Too Big to Fail!
America...not so much!
Here's the bad news: we really will lose if BP goes into catastrophic financial freefall.
In the absence of diligent regulatory control, and in the absence of diligent maintenance and upgrading of the laws enabling that regulatory control, the banking system became an incomprehensibly complex web of interrelationships. These interrelationships ultimately (and rather quickly in historical terms) were constructively a hierarchical, top-down matrix that included not just traditional banks, but every manner of what could be described as "financial institutions." The rock-solid walls of separation that had once existed by statutory law were no longer there to keep sectors like the securities industry (in its secondary markets aspect and in its investment banking activities) and insurance (in its property and casualty and even in its life and health components) from becoming entirely entangled, quite literally in existential ways, in the dynamic system.
Even worse, that network included both the Federal Reserve and the United States Treasury in a symbiotic relationship with the banks that were the key to a cyclical movement of government debt from the table at the Treasury auctions to be absorbed, in part, by the banking system (then back to the Fed in open market operations) while the central bank maintained liquidity in the system that would otherwise have been eviscerated by the demand draw from the government as expenditures outpaced tax revenues year after year.
Let the big banks die and thereby find out the rude way that the entire, credit-driven private economy and the public sector—from the federal to the municipal levels—had become dependent clusters of nodes in the financial network.
Now, let's talk briefly about BP, and I promise that the adverb "briefly" will be operative.
The failure of regulatory oversight and, more importantly, the failure to maintain relevance of enabling statutory laws that allowed the interdependent complexity of the financial system to become a dangerous house of cards is nothing compared to what has been allowed to happen in the energy sector.
Let BP die without a meticulous, detailed, ready-to-go, do-or-die receivership plan, and what almost happened to the global financial system in September of 2008 will seem like a mild annoyance compared to what will happen to the global economy if one of the oligopolists at the nexus of the world's energy system collapses.
Anyone who thinks that's A-OK has no idea of what would happen. The consequences would fundamentally, permanently alter the course of the 21st Century, not just geo-politically, but also into exploitable places in other parts of the inner solar system, where resources, strategically vital military vantage points, and staging grounds will step out of science fiction in this first half of the new century. From the depths of the oceans to the cold of space where asteroids tumble, the frontiers of the 21st Century will be ravaged by partnerships of massive corporations and nation coalitions.
Put it this way: How does life under the economic, political, and social control of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization sound to you? "Unpleasant" comes to mind, at least for me. (Not that economic, political, and social control by the conservatives and neo-liberals of the United States is turning out to be particularly palatable, either, mind you.)
So, who's to blame for us being held hostage by failed corporations?
We are. Specifically, "we" as we project ourselves through a government that has failed in its greatest duty of diligence, which is to protect our nation and its people from all enemies, both foreign and domestic. While terrorists knock down buildings because amateurs in Washington think they know what they're doing when they don't, and while corporations plow into sovereign territory in their scales of economies, our government sits on its fat ass.
Our neo-liberal President cowers to some mythical "center" dictated by Right-wing interests; our mainstream news media, as always, pretend to report news that is nothing but show-style entertainment pumped to gullible audiences by journalists with fluff degrees; and the political debate includes positive valence implicitly assigned to dumb failures like Sarah Palin and economics "libertarian" idiots like Rand Paul, along with a staggering list of corporatized post-neocons/neo-liberals like Barack Obama, Al Gore, a whole host of Democrats in Congress, and some first-tier bloggers and other opinion-maker wannabes.
Where are we—the real, flesh-and-blood people—in all of this?
We're on the basement level of a multi-story outhouse. That's where we are. The view from our penthouse-in-the-cellar is awful, and the emergency escape stairwell has been closed for a long time.
The good news is this: if that multi-story outhouse ever does collapse under the teetering weight of its upper-level occupants, it is they who will unceremoniously come down to our level. That's when, for the very first time, they'll find out what their success really smelled like on the back-end port of the free-markets-gone-wild food tube.
In case anyone is actually worried, though, the multi-story outhouse won't fall down. Not just yet, anyway.
There's still way too much money to be made selling fossil fuels to a world of consumers who want their energy resources fast, hot, and available while acting breathlessly shocked at what can happen when fools are in charge and the government doesn't care until it's politically expedient to do so.
Comments
Wrote Moody Blue:
Wrote Missouri Mule:
"We're on the basement level of a multi-story outhouse. That's where we are. The view from our penthouse-in-the-cellar is awful, and the emergency escape stairwell has been closed for a long time."
Don't let the rat bastard get to you. It's all temporary, Dark Wraith. You & I, however, are eternal. Plus, we don't even have a say in the matter.
You will outlast, outsmart, and outlive anything, and sooner than you think.
Wrote Father Tyme:
The things I love about Al’s All-Nite Diner.
Al’s is a unique place. It’s run by an erudite, quite opinionated, self-ascribed chef/gourmet, better than average photographer, computer techie/ geek/programmer/webmaster, somewhat private sometimes aloof sometimes gruffy individual, fine writer, sort of left of center old-time conservative who looks at the world more objectively than any conservative I’ve ever known, excellent college professor and maybe the only instructor more stubborn than I was. Other than that he’s basically an ok guy.
The diner he operates is as unique as the owner. Whether some know it or not, there are two entrances, one for the public, bigbrassblog.com and one for advanced reservations, dark-wraith.com. That’s not necessarily a bad thing.
The menu is pretty much the same for both dining rooms although occasionally one has a daily special while the other a one-time meal.
The clientele of both are equally astute even if some in the open room become a little rowdy or somewhat less than refined but those are few and far between. To say that the patrons in the reserved chamber are always sober would be a bit of understated misrepresentation of fact. Actually some of those in the reserved room act directly proportionately to the amount of specialties consumed. Not quite Animal House but certainly not Sunday-go-to-meeting.
The banter during and after meals is often at times lively, subdued, quite varied, lengthy or brief or combinations of all. It's quite eclectic, really! There’s nothing like a good discussion of current events after a good meal whether it’s a simple hamburger, fries and soft drink (I prefer Pepsi but that’s a subject for discussion much as which way the toilet paper should be installed on the dispenser) or a full course meal washed down with a good Bollinger or Châteauneuf-du-Pape. Personally, after one of the Wraith’s special meals, I prefer a rather large Grand Marnier, but I have a tab (and someday, I’ll probably have to pay it!)
I would say to those of you who frequent the reserved area to try the fare at Big Brass Blog. You’ll find it refreshing. And those who have only used the public dining room, consider setting up reservations in the forum. You’ll enjoy it.
And you may find our host adding to your dining experience with his stash of inimitable knowledge. However, don’t get the idea he’s never wrong even if he won’t admit it. After all, he hired me, Peter, Foiled Goil, konagod, Anna, Missouri Mule, Debra and Lisa and some others to serve the patrons. If that doesn’t show a continued pattern of mental lapses, I don’t know what does.
But the best times are those after hours when the general public has gone and we all pull up chairs, grab a cold one and piece of left over whatever and just talk about life. Those are the times you remember long after you’ve gone.
Here’s to another round!
Wrote Missouri Mule:
That's all the honest-to-gawd truth, Father. But its hardly a secret that the selections on his Diner's Jukebox flat suck.
And really, is it asking too much to pave that damn dirt parking lot? Good grief. Even a load or two of gravel would help.
Wrote Father Tyme:
It was either the soft-serve ice cream machine or limestone for the parking lot!
Yer right about the jukebox, tho'.
Don't really care for hip-hop or rap. But them there polkas...now that gets the old feet a tappin'!
We can't get rid of that selection of Rossini and Leoncavallo or PoLT would stop mopping the floor if he can't sing along. (He figured how to cheat the jukebox!)
And those 50s torch songs DW wastes nickles on...
Wrote Missouri Mule:
Trust me. It is not by accident that Peter was so easily seduced by DW's promise of "lots of Rossini & Leoncavallo" in his bid to lure the poor man into that menial job.
It was common knowledge that Peter is so obsessed with Rossini that it is only by the grace of the good lord himself that Peter wasn't forced into cleaning the Diner's septic tank.
Wrote Dark Wraith:
If I build that addition onto the main dining area, the booths are definitely going to have better padding on the seats.
Wrote Father Tyme:
It's about time! After what's happened to us over the last 9 plus years, my bottom needs all the pampering it can get!
And those damn splinters...
Wrote trog69:
What's this fly doing in my soup?
( Soup? When did we start making soup? )
( When Pete spilled the mop bucket into the doggoned Spam Surprise I was cookin' up. Ssshhh, he'll hear us...) "Looks like the backstroke to me..."
my bottom needs all the pampering it can get!
Aww, c'mere hon'; I'll kick it all better.
Wrote Father Tyme:
trog,
I REALLY do hope that "kick" wasn't a typo!!! I know the trouble you're having with the new TexAss School Books imported into Az.
Retroceso and beso aren't that close even though they end with "o"... or is that "OH!"?
Wrote trog69:
What's this...Teamsters foreplay?
"C'mon back...c'mon back..."
Wrote trog69:
FT, if I so much as hear a whisper of one of those revisionist manifestos being passed out in schools here, you guys will see me on the news. I'll be the insane guy, looking like Randy Quaid in Independence Day, screaming about the aliens coming to probe our culos! Only, through the spittle, I'll be raving about jamming them up McLeroy and Perry's uh, repositories.
Add Comments
Log in
Become a Registered Commenter
« Return to the main page.
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.
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 
Send a Secure Message to the Dark Wraith
![[Valid RSS]](http://dark-wraith.com/images/valid-rss.png "Validate my RSS feed")
Money,
Honey.
Watta slick deal.
Just hold them off at arm's length -- stretch out your arm and put your palm on their forehead -- and they only flail at air.
Heh, heh.