@Mep:
Would this include “mini-fascist” bloggers?

@Stacy:
Wouldn’t you say Max’s comment about shit in the room being ignored was a form of ridicule? Is Max a Blogger? Are we? Why do you and Max feel compelled to have a special “truth program” for those who post in Max’s ‘community’?

[Kynikos Associates' Jim] Chanos says he has found another “trust me” story: China. And he is moving to short the entire nation’s economy. Washington policymakers would do well to understand his argument, because if he’s right, the consequences will be felt here.

Chanos and the other bears point to several key pieces of evidence that China is heading for a crash.

First, they point to the enormous Chinese economic stimulus effort — with the government spending $900 billion to prop up a $4.3 trillion economy. “Yet China’s economy, for all the stimulus it has received in 11 months, is underperforming,” Gordon Chang, author of “The Coming Collapse of China,” wrote in Forbes at the end of October. “More important, it is unlikely that [third-quarter] expansion was anywhere near the claimed 8.9 percent.”

Chang argues that inconsistencies in Chinese official statistics — like the surging numbers for car sales but flat statistics for gasoline consumption — indicate that the Chinese are simply cooking their books. He speculates that Chinese state-run companies are buying fleets of cars and simply storing them in giant parking lots in order to generate apparent growth. (MORE)

http://tinyurl.com/yzl3z8f

I agree, of course – it is just that I find the Chinese example particularly poignant.

Biggest industrial base in the world, more money than anyone knows what to do with, more commodities sitting in stacks than can be found a use for – and yet noone thinks to give it to the common man.

The whole world economy is grinding to a halt, because the elite controllers of resources dont want any of those resources diverted to the poor. That, imo, is the global financial crisis in a nutshell. Either the rich get everything, or everyone dies.

On the 2nd stim, if I’m recalling correctly, the people on the left of Obama were saying that the 1st one should’ve been closer to $1 trillion to fill the demand gap. So an approx. $250 billion more would come close to hitting $1 trillion. Don’t know anything about what people are predicting for future economic contraction, though. Right now, we have 1 in 6 people unemployed or underemployed. Those numbers are only going to worsen. People will probably flame me for saying it, but I think the best thing we could do to kickstart the real economy is to get Congress to pass EFCA. Wages are going to have to be forced up somehow.

One thing I’m most worried about is where the real job growth is going to come from. We were stupid to spend so little on infrastructure in the first bill–even with those jobs, though, we still need something more permanent for people. I can’t remember how the green economy $ was allocated in the first stim. Hopefully it wasn’t all going to specialists.

Absolutely shameful.

If bloggers weren’t exposing the truth, then they wouldn’t be ridiculed.

Never heard about Rahm and Kos. However, I have heard about Rahm and other progressive groups/blogs. He’s an asshole. All Presidents need both appropriate support and appropriate dissent. Rahm tries to kill dissent immediately and does it in such a browbeating way. He even tried to prevent progressive groups from running ads that named the names and donors of Blue Dog Dems holding up health care reform. Guess that could be because the WH never intended on having a “robust” public option.

With any luck, everybody will keep the pressure on. I laugh sometimes when I hear pundits talk smack about bloggers, b/c bloggers of all stripes have been the most informative, have raised the most critical questions/issues, and actually seem to be the sources that the pundits/reporters draw from for their own reporting.

To end up with how screwed up the world is and not thinking about solutions; This dutch article is about a website that tells people how to end their lives by medications, HAVE TO PAY; 17.50 x-D and 16+…. no check of ID… not how to improve it or how we can create abundant products/energy that there never have to be too many people. The state of media talking about it shows the lack of true intelligence, because there are much more important issues to report on (like the biggest robbery in history where the criminal suicide bombers are still at large) yet it is all over, was on the front page. But this entire predictive programming death culture is out of control. while people keep thinking their video games are just fun and all violence on tv is just for relaxation. http://www.bndestem.nl/algemeen/binnenland/5799985/Website-met-tips-voor-zelfdoding.ece
That was atleast some of what i have read this morning.