Despite what McCain advisor Donald Luskin says, tomorrow a bunch of highly-paid highly-educated people are going to start thinking about looking the unemployment line in the eye in the very near future.
How things play out could affect the broader economy, which has been weakening steadily as the financial crisis has deepened over the last year, with unemployment increasing as the nation’s growth rate has slowed.
What will happen to Merrill’s 60,000 employees or Lehman’s 25,000 employees remains unclear. Worried about the unfolding crisis and its potential impact on New York City’s economy, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg canceled a trip to California to meet with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. Instead, aides said, Mr. Bloomberg spent much of the weekend working the phones, talking to federal officials and bank executives in an effort to gauge the severity of the crisis.
Or…
Randolph Duke: Exactly why do you think the price of pork bellies is going to keep going down, William?
Billy Ray Valentine: Okay, pork belly prices have been dropping all morning, which means that everybody is waiting for it to hit rock bottom, so they can buy low. Which means that the people who own the pork belly contracts are saying, "Hey, we’re losing all our damn money, and Christmas is around the corner, and I ain’t gonna have no money to buy my son the G.I. Joe with the kung-fu grip! And my wife ain’t gonna f… my wife ain’t gonna make love to me if I got no money!" So they’re panicking right now, they’re screaming "SELL! SELL!" to get out before the price keeps dropping. They’re panicking out there right now, I can feel it.
[on the ticker machine, the price keeps dropping]
Randolph Duke: He’s right, Mortimer! My God, look at it!
This, of course, will be good news for John McCain Sarah Palin.



17 Comments
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I’m waiting for the McCampaign to spin this as a democratically engineered collapse. You know they’re going to try.
This must be the “soft landing” the Bush administration waxed so enthusiastic about 7 years ago….
You’re right, but so is the title of this piece. As of January 20, 2009, Lehman, Merrill, Fannie Mae, and Freddie Mac will be Obama’s fault. The “terrible, awful Negro” will be guilty because of action, inaction, authority, lack or authority, and just plain being a handy, not-one-of-the-club scapegoats available.
“Mama may have, and Papa may have
But G-d bless the child who’s got his own
And if he ain’t got, f**k ‘im”
–McSame campaign’s new take on Billie Holliday
Great Hilzoy column!
Maybe the McCain campaign can hire someone from Lehman and dump Luskin.
How long until we hear how the seeds for this were planted during the Clenis administration? And that this just proves we need to elect someone with great faith in Jesus.
So. All this is is Eddie Murphy’s fault, huh?
All those soon-to-be ex Lehman Brothers brokers better have banked some of last year’s massive (and undeserved) bonus. We wouldn’t want Phil Gramm to have cause to call them whiners…
Meanwhile, if the DOW drops more than 1,000 points today will anyone in the MSM have courage to mention how it oddly coincides with McCain’s campaign going into tantrum mode shortly after placing the mail order bride from the tundra on the ticket? Is a depression one of those small town values she wants us all to get back in touch with? Nothing like swapping food stamps down at the shelter to shake together a community, huh?
I bet my brother Mortimer that we could put a cancer-ridden senile misogynist in the White House saddled with a trailer park tramp that pretends to love Jeebus. I like my chances of collecting that dollar.
–Randolph Duke
At this point Randy (sigh), I would not take that bet.
*******************************
Shrubco has beed fudging the numbers for unemployment for years. They don’t count these people, those people. Real unemployment is (I think) somewhere around 10%. When Obama corrects the numbers & reports the real figures, it will OF COURSE be all his fault.
Just like the war. Rethuglicans: 2003-We’re winning! 2004-We’re winning! 2005-We’re winning! 2006-We’re winning! 2007-We’re winning! 2008-We’re winning! January 2009-Obama lost the war! We were winning! He caused the defeat of those brave soldiers!
El Rushbo Limbarf is blaming it on Chris Dodd and Barney Frank. WTF?
The not really unemployment counting started long before Shrub. I think some started of this started with LBJ
I wouldn’t doubt it. It’s just that in the past few years, Shrubco has taken to fudging the numbers in the extreme.
Just like his signing statements.
Just like the immunity of fourth-branch Cheney.
Just like
Aw, fuck it. Too many things to list…
Well, the bloated Oxy addict is surely not gonna point the finger at Phil Gramm. Dodd and Frank must not have made the proper sacrifices to Cthulhu so Rush is blaming them.
BTW Gramm’s current employer, UBS, is on the cusp of writing down ANOTHER 5 Beeeeellion in worthless paper. I wonder if that will impinge on Phil’s bonus for this year…
Personally, I blame it on his performance in Norbitt.
Reagan did the significant jiggering of the unemployment numbers (dropping “discouraged workers,” adding the armed services… things like that if memory serves.) However, I tend to blame Reagan for just about everything. Certainly, he stopped Carter’s renewable energy initiative dead in it’s tracks. Carter was calling for 20% of our energy from renewables by the year 2000. Imagine what the world would be like today if Carter’s plans had been carried out. This is why I say Reagan Killed Us.
Best post headline since this one over at Sadly, No!–
Shorter CY: LH Puttgrass Signing Off And Heading For The Tub.
Ah, the 80s. Good times.