With the country on the verge of another Great Depression, President Bush has taken the bold step of announcing a federal bailout to the tune of nearly a trillion dollars. This would be the largest operation of its kind since the aforementioned Great Depression. I watched the Rose Garden press conference and could see Dubya was not at all comfortable that such an extreme measure was necessary. For once, I empathized with him -- if it was unavoidable, he wouldn't do this.
Not that it's passed Congress yet, no not by a long shot. And not all of the pundits are all that fired up about this, fearing that we may be making a bad situation even worse.
I myself don't see it that way. Money markets have seized. Banks (those that haven't closed their doors) aren't writing loans. Businesses are closing at a record pace because they can't borrow money. We won't have time to wait until the market "self-corrects" before the ultimate disaster strikes.
The phrase that Bush used most often in his conference was "consumer confidence". That also translated into confidence in the American dollar world-wide. If it isn't stabilized soon, we're screwed.
Wall Street has been up and down over the news, but, generally, it's been positive (as the bill hasn't actually been passed yet). Admittedly, this is putting a tremendous amount of money into the hands of a few. This has caused more than a few conspiracy theories to pop up regarding the New World Order. If the Illuminati, or some such, is behind this, it's a brilliant plan. Now all we need is a special mark we must accept to buy or sell.
Clay Aiken and Lindsay Lohan Admit They're Gay
Shocking, eh?
I wonder how much People Magazine paid for Aiken's "exclusive".
The Return of Schlockarama
I'm working feverishly on the codebase for a new blog-style version of this Crazed Fanboy classic announced in last week's Oddservations. It should be ready to debut over the next few days, next week at the latest.
Called VHS/DVD Grindhouse, the "Beta" version will allow new reviews and "comment reviews" to be posted by established PCR writers only. Accompanying commentary/reviews open to the public (a la, Readers Comments) is still being discussed by Terence Nuzum and myself, but we're trying to include it in some way. (It would require additional moderation, which in turn requires more time we're already strapped for.) Eventually, it should resemble an even cross between Flixtr, the Message Board, the original Schlockarama, and a poor-man's IMDB (haha).
Please consider making a donation to help support Crazed Fanboy! Click on the "donate" link below and give whatever you can. I sincerely thank you for any and all consideration.---Nolan
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