Welfare for Wall Street

photo from Associated Press/Henry Ray Abrams

When your children one day ask what the hell this country was thinking, don't say we didn't warn you. In regards to The Fed's collusion in assisting J.P. Morgan with purchasing Bear Sterns Co., here's how the federal government would like to paint this shameless example of corporate welfare disguised as fiscal responsibility:

They're avoiding or at least curbing the beginning of a fiscal meltdown in the banking and finance industries.

Here's how Bear Sterns' shareholders (30% of its stock is owned by the firm's own white collar employees) are painting the bailout, uh we mean buy out:

The poor shareholders aren't being fairly compensated with the company being sold at such a low price ($2 per share) and many may lose their jobs.

Here's how Onyx Cranium sees it:

We are not happy to see people lose their jobs, but we do believe that in a RECESSION that often happens, so it is to be expected. The federal government is working OVERTIME through this deal (and much less publicized others) to save corporate America's ass while throwing middle and low-income tax-paying individuals a bone. Bear Sterns, numerous hedge funds and others in the securities and mortgages business were gambling just as much as people who took the risk that they'd be able to pay their adjustable rate mortgages. And please understand that it goes beyond the subprime market. These companies assume UNFATHOMABLE debt and bet on manipulating opportunities in the stock market to turn enough temporary profit to pay that debt back and then get more. And so how does the federal government behave under a Republican administration that touts letting "the market operate without interference"? Well, as usual, they completely excuse the rule when the money of rich people is at stake. And one can make it seem that it's about saving the entire economy and not panicking the global market (too late), but it's nothing more than old fashioned corporate welfare that will make J.P. Morgan Chase a shitload of dough. As if they needed more. Let's see what kind of RIDICULOUSLY low-interest loans the Fed is willing to give individuals who are struggling due to poor financial choices right now. Our guess: $0. But we could be wrong. (We're not though.)

Surprise Patrol! Penis Trumps Brain!!!!

Okay, this is an easy one. We don't understand why everyone's in a tizzy over New York Governor Elliot Spitzer's admission to being a client of expensive prostitutes. Here's our question: Would people be less outraged if he'd spent our tax dollars on women charging $15 for a B.J. and $30 for a full ride? No, we believe the American public would be even more upset and more disgusted. Onyx Cranium can just hear it now, "And to top it off, they weren't even classy hookers!"

When it comes to this rather common scandal, we'll allow that it receives some front page treatment because this is presidential primary season and politicians doing stupid shit fits in more with the narrowed coverage that passes for "news" these days. We'll even concede that his rather dumb decision to hire professionals without expecting to get caught in this day and age makes him deserving of photos such as the one we're using here. What Onyx Cranium can't deal with is the morality inspired shock of the American public. A man cheating on his wife should not supplant news about domestic and world events that quite frankly impact more people in a more substantial and devastating way. That sentiment aside, we think if they're going to continue to run this as front-page news (even though people care much more about what's going on with the Mayor of NYC than the Governor of New York state), here are some more time-tested headlines:

Man Cheats on Wife with Women Who are Good at Sex!

Politician's Wife Not Shocked by Cheating Husband Since She ALREADY KNEW!!!!!

Unattractive and Balding Middle Aged Man Uses Meaningless Sex to Feel Good!

Man in Power Uses Said Power to His Personal Advantage!

American Public Distracted by Politician's Bedroom Behavior while War, Famine, Unemployment and Corporate Welfare Continue to Escalate!

Modern Cynics Surprised that Man-on-Woman Adultery Gets Same Coverage as Man-on-Man Adultery! Hetero Cheaters Less Likely to Get Book Deal.

We're not saying Spitzer isn't "wrong" on a multitude of levels, but we'll save our shock for something truly surprising.

Being Broke By Any Other Name....

The Los Angeles Times is reporting that UCLA calls the current and immediate future state of the American economy not great, but NOT a recession. Warren Buffett, a billionaire who is currently marketed more for his charity than his dependency on government subsidies, said weeks ago that the United States was already in a recession. Meanwhile the Bush administration (if you want to call it that), along with Congress, is allowing much more relief for mortgage companies than their endangered clients. They are unwilling to call the shrinking value of the American dollar (in America) among other economic and social indicators an official recession. Sort of like the hesitancy to call the Arab massacre of blacks in Dafur, Sudan a genocide. But not calling it that didn't change what it was and what it continues to be today. Such is the case with the American economy. More jobs at Jack N The Box taking the place of higher paying blue and white collar jobs is part of a country's receding status in real economic power. Though a recession involves more, people should be smart enough to ignore this political game of semantics. We owe too much. Spend too much. Save to little. And aren't making sure that enough of our children are smart enough to manage the future any differently. For those interested in long-term consequences of current actions, we're screwed. Unless you are well connected and/or well monied, it's going to get rough and it's going to get worse. If the majority of people are in a recession, then so is the rest of the country - charts and graphs be damned. Studying the economic power of the top 10% or 1% of Americans tells us very little. Even studying the economic situation of the 30+% of working age Americans that have a college degree tells a more limited story. The state of the non-college educated, working age individual is the true story of the majority of the country. THAT is where you look to find out what's really going on. Why? Because except for the 2004 presidential election, the story of the majority should rule.

California Has a Redemptive Moment in Ousting Murderers for Hire

I was born and raised in Los Angeles and have always loved Cali-foreign-IA, shrinking black population and all! But sometimes, I worry. It's somewhat comforting that we're always a blue state among so many red ones. Yet we allow Enron's shady government hook-ups to confuse us into recalling Governor Greg Davis and replacing him with one of the dumbest sounding actors of all time (George W. Bush excluded - at least as an actor). We are at once progressive and regressive in a big way. Inglewood doesn't allow a Wal Mart into their hood, but then the Crenshaw District does so with relish. Basically, despite the cool weather and the beaches, it's hit or miss these days. Well, as Editor-in-Chief of Onyx Cranium, I salute a city known for enclaves of racial integration among a blatantly racist city landscape. That's right! I'm talkin' bout YOU San Diego! Democracy Now! reports that Blackwater USA, the company which colludes with Republicans and portrays itself as a supporter of the American military as it diverts funding from governmental armed forces, planned to build their West Coast headquarters in San Diego. But the citizens of the city said, "F**k That!" (not a direct quote) and this power hungry company that pays private citizens exorbitant fees for security detail in Iraq, while paying much less to mercenaries from developing countries, has to find somewhere else to build their Training Den of Dollars and Death. Now they may convince some nearby local California government to give them ridiculous subsidies to build just miles from San Diego, but for now, they ain't comin' here. Even if this has to be a short-lived celebration, Onyx Cranium will gladly take it. Oh and if you're wondering why we would call them murderers for hire instead of just security detail, it's because the company works tirelessly (and so far very successfully) to keep their contractors from facing any kind of prosecution or accountability by the U.S. government (meaning us taxpayers). You know - the government that pays a huge proportion their damn bills.

While You Were Voting...

A few tidbits of news that had the nerve to occur while we were focused on Hillary and Barack.

Two Sudanese nationals are dead and a French soldier is missing after the European Union Force exchanged gunfire with Sudan’s military. According to the EU Force, they crossed the shakey border from Chad into Dafur to recover a vehicle. In addition to the missing solider, another EU solider was injured. The border was unmarked and vehicle was only 1.86 miles into Dafur.
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Condi Rice was shipped back to the Middle East to exhibit the Bush Administration’s (that means us) inability to secure sustained or even sporadic “peace in the Middle East”. According to our Secretary of State, Hamas is the true culprit in stalling peace talks because they fired rockets on Israel.
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By the way, Israel pulled out of the Gaza Strip on Monday, March 3rd. While doing what some would consider more groundbreaking than deciding a Democratic nominee, Israel was ending a multi-day assault on Hamas fighters, which destroyed not only “peace”, but several Palestinian homes in the process. Nearly 120 Palestinian residents of Gaza have been killed by Israeli troops, prompting protestors to stage mock funerals. One interesting note, the protestors are children.
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The price of oil topped $103 per barrel. That’s setting a new record! Let’s celebrate! Just wait for your local gas station to give you the new higher prices. What? They did already. Somebody is ON TOP of their game!
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Russia already had their presidential elections. Now they’re on to protesting the results! Tell us if this sounds familiar. The former President, Vladimir Putin is being accused of manipulating the elections to secure a victory for his puppet of choice, Dmitry Medvedev. (But they aren’t related or anything.) Like a Washington politician who leaves office only to become a more influential lobbyist, Putin is going to become the Prime Minister and as Russians on the street assert, continue to rule the country with a different title.
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California’s Supreme Court heard arguments defending and dismissing the constitutionality of the state’s current ban on same-sex marriage. For voters who thought they had put this to rest (and those hoping that they had not), the court has 90 days to make a final decision on whether or not gay couples can compete with heterosexual couples for tax breaks and enhanced health benefits. Ooops, we mean “marriage.”
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Remember how well enforced sanctions worked to make the Iraqi people and government fans of the United States and other Western powers? Yeah, us neither. On Monday, the UN looked to Iran and issued another round of economic and trade sanctions on President Ahmadinejad’s country. The idea is that the sanctions will be lifted when Iran ceases its nuclear activities. The U.S. and the U.N. also enforced sanctions on North Korea for the same reason (SYYYYYKE!!!!!!!!!!) I think we all know how improbable that is. Sanctions, oddly enough, are reserved for the moderately sane.
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On Monday, the U.S. attacked the town of Dhoble. Where’s that you ask? Somalia. According to Democracy Now, at least three tomahawk cruise missiles were fired into southern Somalia near Kenya’s border. Four civilians died, but this isn’t anything new. The U.S. has attacked the region multiple times since Ethiopian troops (that we’re backing) invaded the country in December (OF 2006). Without claiming sides (which the U.S. already has), we just felt you should know a little somethin’ about one of the many situations in which we maintain military action without calling it a “war”.
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On the South American front, Ecuador is pissed since the Columbian military killed some Farc resistance members on their soil (Ecuador’s, not Columbia’s). Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is pissing off various authorities involved. What we should know? Our current president (the one who will hold office through January 2009), is backing the Columbian military government. Shouldn’t be surprised, as he (and by default, we) have up to this point.
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Finally, the Vatican, the one run by the German Pope, says it will talk with Muslim leaders in a historic meeting aimed at progress, mutual respect and love. You have plenty of time to get tickets (though we think this will be closed-door). Talks are scheduled for November. Assuming the talks aren’t cancelled, let’s try to remember them as we make it rain “red” and “blue” on the U.S. map.
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Just a little somethin’ that will eventually play into the political, social and economic landscape to be inherited by the first black president, first female president or 44th white male president.
DEMOCRACY RULES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

No Thank You White Lady!

(For those confused by the title, we hope you one day see the Saturday Night Live skit, because it's hilarious.)

We're posting this story from the NY Times because we are TIRED. Tired of the lies and the bullshit. Ever heard of the gang memoir Love and Consequences? Us neither, and we were born and raised in South Central Los Angeles. However the author of this book was not and that explains so much. Captain Save-A-Thug, otherwise known as Margaret Seltzer, wrote a book about being a bi-racial (white and Native American) woman who grew up in foster care and went on to become a teenage drug courier for the Bloods. Here's the catch. She's white and grew up in Sherman Oaks. We also find it trifling that she was never in foster care nor did she run drugs. And shocker of shockers, she was never a member of the Bloods. So why did she pull a James Frey and write a book of fact-based fiction as her own memoir? According to this liar, she felt this was the only way to give voice to those who were strugglin' in the streets and not being heard. That's bullshit. Sorry, but it is. If Ms. Seltzer really wanted to give voice to the gang members and foster care children she met through her self-aggrandizing volunteer work, she could have helped them author their own stories and gotten it published. Instead she lied and painted herself as an unsung hero rather than some privileged white chick interested in the hard realities of gang life as entertainment. To top it all off, guess who dropped dime on her? Her own sister. While her sibling obviously isn't wise to the Stop Snitchin' campaign, she did help us out by exposing someone who was lying for profit and basking in an unearned spotlight. Now that's gangsta!

Why Wait Until November '08 to Begin Voter Purging?

As Cedric the Entertainer so eloquently put it, black folks live by the "wish factor". And so we here at Onyx Cranium do today, but in a more somber way. We WISH we could be surprised that electronic voting in hasn't already clearly gone awry. As other blogs (but not enough) have given props to Associated Press for covering the calamity of New Mexico's fiasco, we too provide a link to the article as well as a "heads up" that it's already starting and this time seemingly just within the Democratic camp. Jesus! How can we go about "spreading" democracy when we can't even allow people to legally vote? Here's the article that should open your eyes, especially as we head into Ohio and Texas.

Somethin' New for New Mexico's Democratic Voters