Wall Street

Jesus, *everyone* is twittering/emailing/suggesting this 2800+ word monster op-ed in today's New York Times by Michael Lewis and David Einhorn. Here's a snip:

Americans enter the New Year in a strange new role: financial lunatics. We’ve been viewed by the wider world with mistrust and suspicion on other matters, but on the subject of money even our harshest critics have been inclined to believe that we knew what we were doing.

Like many of her peers and fellow 'light painters' or 'light graffiti' artists, Vicki DaSilva was inspired by the blooming hip-hop and graffiti culture that surrounded her while living in New York City during the 80's.

What's happening to formerly-rich Wall Street bankers, now that their stocks are worthless? Michael Shnayerson of Vanity Fair dishes up a schadenfreude-rich story filled with juicy anecdotes about masters of the financial universe who are down on their luck.

Tech Ticker (Dec 4, 2008): 2009 Recession Will Be Severe: 'There Is a Global Deflationary Risk,' Roubini Says (click for video)

Naomi Klein's must-read piece in Rolling Stone about the $700 billion Wall Street bailout begins by examining Reuben Jeffery III, the man first tapped to serve as the program's chief investment officer. Snip:

[Landis Comment]  Syria is expecting change with Obama’s election. The Syrian people were overwhelmingly in favor of Obama. The Syrian leadership are Obama fans as well because he promises to draw down the US involvement in Iraq within the next two years, re-open regular US communication with Syria, and follow the recommendations of the Baker-Hamilton report, which stressed on the importance of resolving the Arab-Israeli conflict.

Dear Senator Obama:

In your nearly two-year presidential campaign, the words “hope and change,” “change and hope” have been your trademark declarations. Yet there is an asymmetry between those objectives and your political character that succumbs to contrary centers of power that want not “hope and change” but the continuation of the power-entrenched status quo.

PZ Myers posted this interesting photo of people worshipping the golden calf Wall Street bull in order to save the stock market.

Did you know that some Christian dingbat has dubbed today the “Day of Prayer for the World’s Economies?” Well here they are, at the Wall Street bull statue thing, praying to Jesus for money.

The news from Wall Street is prompting a lot of comparisons with the Great Depression, but the history books are filled with other similar financial crises. Throughout the 1800s, when the government barely regulated the financial markets at all, speculative bubbles and piles of bad loans caused several panics. History repeats itself.

Yesterday we were walking around Daley Plaza, looking to get a little photo-artistic during our lunch break, when we came across this guy exercising his First Amendment right the old-fashioned, analog way. His name is Paul, and his Website, advertised on his placard, attempts to expose "the lies, manipulation and counterfeiting on Wall Street." Let's hope he's got enough bandwidth!