Eugene Robinson
Michael Gerson
Phillip Bennett
Joel Achenbach
"What people seem to be finally understanding is that The Daily Show and Jon Stewart are not these left-leaning liberal elitists who love to assail conservatives." - jonjon
"...In my opinion, he is just another left leaning political hack...Mr. Stewart’s takes his opinions seriously. I believe Stewart is “hurting America.” — Belmontian2
"It is a shame we have to rely on a fake news show to question the integrity of the real news!" - James
I join the 10,000 bloggers who must comment on the Jim Cramer interview last night on the Daily Show. It was an exposure of hypocrisy that poses for the sake of entertainment, and one that Jim Cramer didn't have an answer for because he was a willing participant... From Joel Achenbach: "In exposing Jim Cramer last night, Jon Stewart precisely summarized -- better than anyone I've heard before -- the dark heart of the financial calamity: There was a fake market and a real market. The market we thought we were investing in was a facade for the real market created by, and for the direct benefit of, the money manipulators." It's pretty obvious that our financial markets have to be rebuilt and based on honesty, transparency, and good regulation. A free market is one where a person trusts the institution he puts his money. What we had before was a predatory market...
Good comedy is based on telling the truth, exposing the myths we have created for ourselves, showing why the Emperor has no clothes. And its why The Daily Show became so popular during the elections...
For the curious, here is a link to Bernard Madoff's statement of guilt to the court at TPM where he lists his crimes. Unfortunately, by pleading guilty, he doesn't have to tell who else was involved, or just where all of the billions are buried. His wife withdrew $15 million just before he was arrested, will she have to give it back along with the houses, cars, boats etc? What happens from here will probably show just how inept the SEC is, and how ineffective our laws are on recovery...
The next guests on John Stewart's show should be these congressional clowns, as the NY Times reports:"If mark-to-market accounting is to blame for the current financial crisis, then the National Weather Service is to blame for Hurricane Katrina; if it hadn’t told us the hurricane hit New Orleans, the city would never have flooded.
For the curious, here is a link to Bernard Madoff's statement of guilt to the court at TPM where he lists his crimes. Unfortunately, by pleading guilty, he doesn't have to tell who else was involved, or just where all of the billions are buried. His wife withdrew $15 million just before he was arrested, will she have to give it back along with the houses, cars, boats etc? What happens from here will probably show just how inept the SEC is, and how ineffective our laws are on recovery...
The next guests on John Stewart's show should be these congressional clowns, as the NY Times reports:"If mark-to-market accounting is to blame for the current financial crisis, then the National Weather Service is to blame for Hurricane Katrina; if it hadn’t told us the hurricane hit New Orleans, the city would never have flooded.
This is the logic the bankers are using, and they are getting sympathetic ears in Congress. The bankers have gotten two members of Congress to introduce a bill to establish a new body that could suspend accounting rules for financial institutions. They say the problem, in short, is not that the banks acted irresponsibly in creating financial instruments that blew up, or in making loans that could never be repaid. It is that someone is forcing them to fess up. If only the banks could pretend the assets were valuable, then the system would be safe."
Larry Summers announces that he signs of easing of the recession. The changes that are being instituted are beginning to have an effect globally, as the Financial Times reports: "The Swiss government bowed to pressure on Friday and agreed to exchange information on suspected cases of tax evasion, but it maintained that its principle of banking secrecy was intact.
Austria and Luxembourg also announced steps intended to fend off a global crackdown on tax evasion by offering concessions before a meeting of leaders from the Group of 20 nations in London at the start of next month. That followed announcements by the small tax havens of Andorra and Liechtenstein on Thursday that they would relax bank secrecy rules." Next, expect to hear something similar from Carribean banks, as the US goes after the illegal assets of Robert Allen Stanford...
On the other hand, the NY Times also reports: "The Chinese prime minister, Wen Jiabao, expressed unusually blunt concern on Friday about the safety of China’s $1 trillion investment in American government debt, the world’s largest such holding, and urged the Obama administration to provide assurances that the securities would maintain their value in the face of a global financial crisis. Mr. Wen said he was “worried” about China’s holdings of United States Treasury bonds and other debt, and that China was watching economic developments in the United States closely.
“President Obama and his new government have adopted a series of measures to deal with the financial crisis. We have expectations as to the effects of these measures,” Mr. Wen said. “We have lent a huge amount of money to the U.S. Of course we are concerned about the safety of our assets. To be honest, I am definitely a little worried.”
While economists dismissed the possibility of the United States defaulting on its obligations, they said China could face steep losses in the event of a sharp a rise in United States interest rates or a plunge in the value of the dollar."
Finally, Time has a report on one way that California is planning to get itself out of debt: " Could marijuana be the answer to the economic misery facing California? Democratic State Assembly member Tom Ammiano thinks so. Ammiano introduced legislation last month that would legalize pot and allow the state to regulate and tax its sale - a move that could mean billions for the cash-strapped state. Pot is, after all, California's biggest cash crop, responsible for $14 billion in annual sales, dwarfing the state's second largest agricultural commodity - milk and cream - which brings in $7.3 billion annually, according to the most recent USDA statistics. The state's tax collectors estimate the bill would bring in about $1.3 billion in much-needed revenue a year, offsetting some of the billions in service cuts and spending reductions outlined in the recently approved state budget."
Late night jokes:
"Hey, before we get started tonight, I want to remind any potential cabinet members you have until April 15th to not pay your taxes, okay?" -- Jay Leno
"Well, earlier this week, President Obama took on the teachers union by saying he wants merit pay for teachers and to fire the ones who do not perform well. That is pretty bold. A Democrat taking on the unions? That's like Rush Limbaugh going after the donut manufacturers." -- Jay Leno
"There was a big rally on Wall Street yesterday after Citigroup reported a profit for the first two months of the year. That just goes to show you what determination, hard work, and $45 billion of our bailout dollars can do." -- Jay Leno
"Here's a sign that the times are a-changin'. The governor of Virginia has signed a new law banning smoking in bars and restaurants. In Virginia. See, that's significant because Virginia is, like, the tobacco state. That would be like the governor of California banning breast implants. 'Yeah, you can't have dee boobs here. No more boobs here if dare not real.'" -- Jay Leno
"Barack Obama said he may negotiate with the Taliban. A lot of people are saying okay, but be careful. But I said this guy has experience negotiating with the enemy. For gosh sake, he lives with his mother-in-law, you know." -- David Letterman
"And the Republican Party says they want a big tent. They want to be all-inclusive, they want the big tent, and they're going to make it out of Rush Limbaugh's pants." -- David Letterman
"President Obama created a new White House Council on Women and Girls, which deals with all things related to women. When Bill Clinton heard about it, he said, 'Why didn't I think of that?'" -- Jimmy Fallon
"You know, we could all use a little pick-me-up these days. Our economy is in tough shape. But while it's hard to be poor, right now it's even harder to have a lot of money. The Obama administration is planning to raise taxes on the wealthiest Americans! Now, if you wear a monocle, it probably just popped out of your eye in shock. But don't worry, some of us aren't taking this lying down [on screen: Fox News reports that Obama is 'declaring a war on success']. Exactly! Why should the productive members of society be forced to bail out the deadbeats? If this were an actual boat, they're the ones we'd be eating." --Stephen Colbert
“President Obama and his new government have adopted a series of measures to deal with the financial crisis. We have expectations as to the effects of these measures,” Mr. Wen said. “We have lent a huge amount of money to the U.S. Of course we are concerned about the safety of our assets. To be honest, I am definitely a little worried.”
While economists dismissed the possibility of the United States defaulting on its obligations, they said China could face steep losses in the event of a sharp a rise in United States interest rates or a plunge in the value of the dollar."
Finally, Time has a report on one way that California is planning to get itself out of debt: " Could marijuana be the answer to the economic misery facing California? Democratic State Assembly member Tom Ammiano thinks so. Ammiano introduced legislation last month that would legalize pot and allow the state to regulate and tax its sale - a move that could mean billions for the cash-strapped state. Pot is, after all, California's biggest cash crop, responsible for $14 billion in annual sales, dwarfing the state's second largest agricultural commodity - milk and cream - which brings in $7.3 billion annually, according to the most recent USDA statistics. The state's tax collectors estimate the bill would bring in about $1.3 billion in much-needed revenue a year, offsetting some of the billions in service cuts and spending reductions outlined in the recently approved state budget."
Late night jokes:
"Hey, before we get started tonight, I want to remind any potential cabinet members you have until April 15th to not pay your taxes, okay?" -- Jay Leno
"Well, earlier this week, President Obama took on the teachers union by saying he wants merit pay for teachers and to fire the ones who do not perform well. That is pretty bold. A Democrat taking on the unions? That's like Rush Limbaugh going after the donut manufacturers." -- Jay Leno
"There was a big rally on Wall Street yesterday after Citigroup reported a profit for the first two months of the year. That just goes to show you what determination, hard work, and $45 billion of our bailout dollars can do." -- Jay Leno
"Here's a sign that the times are a-changin'. The governor of Virginia has signed a new law banning smoking in bars and restaurants. In Virginia. See, that's significant because Virginia is, like, the tobacco state. That would be like the governor of California banning breast implants. 'Yeah, you can't have dee boobs here. No more boobs here if dare not real.'" -- Jay Leno
"Barack Obama said he may negotiate with the Taliban. A lot of people are saying okay, but be careful. But I said this guy has experience negotiating with the enemy. For gosh sake, he lives with his mother-in-law, you know." -- David Letterman
"And the Republican Party says they want a big tent. They want to be all-inclusive, they want the big tent, and they're going to make it out of Rush Limbaugh's pants." -- David Letterman
"President Obama created a new White House Council on Women and Girls, which deals with all things related to women. When Bill Clinton heard about it, he said, 'Why didn't I think of that?'" -- Jimmy Fallon
"You know, we could all use a little pick-me-up these days. Our economy is in tough shape. But while it's hard to be poor, right now it's even harder to have a lot of money. The Obama administration is planning to raise taxes on the wealthiest Americans! Now, if you wear a monocle, it probably just popped out of your eye in shock. But don't worry, some of us aren't taking this lying down [on screen: Fox News reports that Obama is 'declaring a war on success']. Exactly! Why should the productive members of society be forced to bail out the deadbeats? If this were an actual boat, they're the ones we'd be eating." --Stephen Colbert
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