Introduced by Bernie Sanders, The Too Big to Fail, Too Big to Exist Act of 2009:

A BILL
To address the concept of ‘‘Too Big To Fail’’ with respect to certain financial entities.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Too Big to Fail, Too
5 Big to Exist Act’’.
6 SEC. 2. REPORT TO CONGRESS ON INSTITUTIONS THAT
7 ARE TOO BIG TO FAIL.
8 Notwithstanding any other provision of law, not later
9 than 90 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the
10 Secretary of the Treasury shall submit to Congress a list

2

1 of all commercial banks, investment banks, hedge funds,
2 and insurance companies that the Secretary believes are
3 too big to fail (in this Act referred to as the ‘‘Too Big
4 to Fail List’’).
5 SEC. 3. BREAKING-UP TOO BIG TO FAIL INSTITUTIONS.
6 Notwithstanding any other provision of law, begin-
7 ning 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act, the
8 Secretary of the Treasury shall break up entities included
9 on the Too Big To Fail List, so that their failure would
10 no longer cause a catastrophic effect on the United States
11 or global economy without a taxpayer bailout.
12 SEC. 4. DEFINITION.
13 For purposes of this Act, the term ‘‘Too Big to Fail’’
14 means any entity that has grown so large that its failure
15 would have a catastrophic effect on the stability of either
16 the financial system or the United States economy without
17 substantial Government assistance.

Telegraph:

Here's something rather rotten from the State of Denmark. Its government yesterday unveiled official research showing that two-year-old children are at risk from a bewildering array of gender-bending chemicals in such everyday items as waterproof clothes, rubber boots, bed linen, food, nappies, sunscreen lotion and moisturising cream.

Interfluidity. The wind up:

I have my own normative view of "the great moderation" [see here] and it is not positive.... First, in exchange for apparent stability, the central-bank-backstopped "great moderation" has rendered asset prices unreliable as guides to real investment. I think the United States has made terrible aggregate investment decisions over the last 30 years, and will continue to do so as long as a "ride the bubble then hide in banks" strategy pays off. ... Second, by relying on credit rather than wages to fund middle-class consumption, the moderation dynamic causes great harm in the form of stress from unwanted financial risk, loss of freedom to pursue nonremunerative activities, and unnecessary catastrophes for isolated families. Finally, maintaining the dynamic requires active use of policy instruments to sustain an inequitable distribution of wealth and income in a manner that I view as unjust.

And, in two sentences, the pitch:

In "good times", central bankers actively suppress the median wage (while applauding increases in the mean wages driven by the upper tail). During the reset phase, policymakers bail out creditors.

Sure feels like that to me, looking back at the last 30 years.

And now, the follow through.

Felix Salmon:

The length of time the average unemployed person has been without a job has been hitting new record highs for a while; it’s now managed to pass the 6-month mark. That’s much higher than any previous peak in this data series. And I fear that the only way it’s likely to come down any time soon is as these people become so demoralized that they take themselves out of the labor force altogether.

The overwhelming majority of the working population will never be able to prepare themselves for a period of unemployment lasting more than six months. As financial-market types worry about possible inflation in a few years’ time, tens of millions of Americans are finding themselves in a very real personal financial crisis to which there is no visible solution. Given the Fed’s dual mandate, it makes sense to keep interest rates low for the foreseeable future. Inflation is possible; unemployment is catastrophically real.

But isn't it great that we didn't lose our houses because of HOLC? Oh, wait... But isn't it great that we have jobs from a 21st century WPA? Oh, wait... But isn't it great that we don't lose health care even when we lose our jobs? Oh, wait... And isn't it great that we've reined in the banksters so they don't do the same thing all over again? Oh, wait...

Via Glenn Greenwald, Matt Taibbi explains Obama's Nobel Peace Prize by providing some very insightful commentary about who is - and isn't - eligible for Nobel Peace Prizes and why:

Once again I want to day how delighted I am to see HCAN join the Leadership Conference for Guaranteed Health Care in direct action against health insurance parasites.

So what did Cigna management do over its summer vacation? Well, on August 7 John Murabito dumped 13,500 shares of Cigna. On August 14 Peter Larson dumped 3,500 shares and dumped another 998 on August 31. On August 14 Edward Hanway dumped 183,693 shares. A lot of stock dumping on August 14, anyone with any ideas as to why that might have been?

This great quote at Shakesville made me go look for the answer to that question, which I'd been wondering about, and at Our Bodies, Ourselves, I found this:

Our Bodies Ourselves supports the single-payer model as the most effective approach for solving the United States' health and medical care crisis.

The Onion? Saturday Night Live? The Daily Show? None of the above?

From National Journal’s “Congress Daily PM",
Wednesday, March 12, 2003

“Meanwhile, Majority Leader DeLay today brushed aside arguments that the Bush administration should hold off plans to attack Iraq until it has secured approval from the United Nations, saying the international body has become irrelevant and outlived its useful life. ‘They can talk until they're blue in the face over at the U.N.,’ DeLay told an America's Community Bankers meeting today. ‘I think the days of the United Nations have come to an end ... because they can't do anything.’ DeLay also said it was Congress' duty in a time of war to significantly cut taxes. ‘Nothing is more important in the face of a war than cutting taxes,’ he said.”

As you no doubt remember, that was our Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld, responding to a question from Specialist Thomas Wilson of the Tennessee National Guard, who was serving in Iraq at the time, December 9, 2004. (LINK)

(AP) Heartened by large ratings for it's late summer reality series "Hurricane Katrina" executives from the major networks and cable affiliates have given the okay for another disaster series, currently named "Hurricane Rita". A brief series synopsis released at a press confab in Atlanta describes the show as "A concentration of large scale destruction is anticipated as millions of people evacuate gulf states or risk death in this special-effects spectacular." Heart warming moments include product placement opportunities, privatization of everything that isn't nailed down, and the further cutting of government fat, allowing for it to be drowned in a bathtub by men wearing patriotic togas.

It's massive, folks.

NOAA is giving a 13% chance of Hurricane Rita's eye passing within 65 knots of New Orleans between now and 1 a.m. Sunday. That could change, given the fickle nature of hurricanes, but it's still not worth sticking arounfd the wet streets of NOLA to take the chance. Galveston and Freeport, Texas currently have a 22% chance being hit. Galveston was wiped off the map and lost 6000 lives to the hurricane that hit it on September 8, 1900, still considered to be the nation's most deadly natural disaster.

Here's NOAA's latest advisory as of 3:00 a.m. EDT:

REPORTS FROM AN AIR FORCE RESERVE HURRICANE HUNTER AIRCRAFT INDICATE THAT MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS REMAIN NEAR 175 MPH...280 KM/HR...WITH HIGHER GUSTS. THIS MAKES RITA A POTENTIALLY CATASTROPHIC CATEGORY FIVE HURRICANE ON THE SAFFIR-SIMPSON SCALE. SOME FLUCTUATIONS IN INTENSITY ARE LIKELY DURING THE NEXT 24 HOURS.

HURRICANE FORCE WINDS EXTEND OUTWARD UP TO 70 MILES...110 KM...FROM THE CENTER...AND TROPICAL STORM FORCE WINDS EXTEND OUTWARD UP TO 185 MILES...295 KM.

THE LATEST MINIMUM CENTRAL PRESSURE ESTIMATED FROM REPORTS BY THE HURRICANE HUNTER IS 897 MB...26.49 INCHES. THIS MEANS RITA IS THE THIRD MOST INTENSE HURRICANE IN TERMS OF PRESSURE IN THE ATLANTIC BASIN.

See Rita's most recent projected halo of influence here.

12 Americans Slain in Attacks as British, Iraqis Argue Over Clash

"Eight service members and a State Department employee are among those killed. U.S. death toll is lower this month."

Los Angeles Times, Page A4, Wednesday, September 21, 2005

+++

In the run-up to the anti-war mobilization effort in D.C. this coming weekend, I'll be posting some wonderful graphics from one of the best sources on the web, Project For The Old American Century.

In the traumatic aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, the issue of the war in Iraq has been given a back seat, but the reverberations of both disasters will be felt for a long, long time. Katrina is over. The damage it caused waits to be fixed. But Iraq is a continuous bleeding vein of damage, and it continues to claim and ruin lives, not to mention the stoking of international hatred toward us and our people that gives the lie to Bush's claim of making us safer. Maybe it will take the behemoth claw of the Selective Service to finally make Americans care enough to get off their asses and really do something to stop the war. But maybe they can be reached first by people showing them the way, who make their voices heard. No, there's no guarantee the world will stop, the president will resign, and the flowers will bloom in the spring, tra-la. But like Cindy Sheehan and countless others, you can at least look in the mirror and know you stepped forward to take on the mantle of a citizen.