From the GREAT STATE OF MAINE...
"The name's Bond. Bonddad Bond."
Friday night I was listening to Bill O'Reilly's radio show in the car, and he was chastising a caller who made the mistake of grousing about the economic crisis. When the caller admitted that he didn’t see the housing collapse coming, O'Reilly responded (paraphrasing here), "You didn’t see it coming and I didn’t see it coming...and I know this stuff. This is what I do." He wasn't joking.
Interesting how a bunch of dirty hippie bloggers on the left not only saw the meltdown coming, they correctly explained how events would unfold, commented in real time as they unfolded, and for years shouted warnings at the top of their online lungs that something wicked this way was comin'.
Exhibit A: Kossack Hale "Bonddad" Stewart. Armed with government statistics and a knack for distilling complex issues into easy-to-understand analysis, his diaries have been a godsend around these parts. Bonddad's been involved with the financial markets since 1995. He is a graduate of the Thomas Jefferson School of Law's LLM program with a dual concentration in international and domestic taxation. He currently practices tax law in Houston when he's not hunkering down and cleaning up from hurricanes. And today he's here to pump some cerebral liquidity into our interview series, Yes, We're All Staring At YOU!
Cheers and Jeers: How long have you been blogging and what brought you to Daily Kos?
Bonddad: I found Daily Kos in the fall of 2004 while I was awaiting my bar exam results. That was when I first found blogs in general. I started blogging regularly after the 2004 election. I wanted to contribute to the Democratic side of the aisle, so I decided to start writing about economic issues. I started by writing a column titled "Today’s economic news" or something like that. Anyway, four years later I’m still writing about economics at Kos, the Huffington Post or my blog, the Bonddad Blog.
Pardon my French, but has this economy gone completely gol'durn crazy or what??!!
I love your use of technical terms. It’s not that it’s gone crazy, it’s that we’re going through a period of adjustment (how’s that for eco-talk?). The economy is coming down from seven years of lending excess in the housing market where the total amount of household debt in the system went through the roof and lending standards were non-existent. It’s going to take us awhile to sort out this mess.
Nobody seems to have a definitive answer to whether or not we're in a recession. America now turns its lonely eyes to you---are we?
I answered this question in this column: Yes It’s a Recession; No It Won’t End Soon. Short version: year over year employment growth is now negative, incomes are dropping and manufacturing and industrial production is weak. These are the indicators used by the NBER in determining recession dates. The latest Beige Book from the Federal Reserve paints a similar picture. The 3.3% GDP "growth" rate in the second quarter was the result of a statistical anomaly dealing with import prices (see this post over at EconomicPic Data).
What kind of music makes you feel invincible to the GOP horde?
Little known Bonddad fact: a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away---actually, Austin, Texas---I was a professional musician. I went to GIT in Hollywood and I played jazz and rock guitar for a living---if you can call it a living. Any really good guitar playing gets me going. Here is a smattering: Jeff Beck, Hendrix, Joe Bonamassa, Rory Gallagher, Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, Billy Gibbons, Keith Richards, Slash, Dean DeLeo, Pat Metheny, Joe Pass, Mike Stern, John Scofield, George Van Epps, Mark Whitfield, George Benson, Jim Hall, Alan Holdsworth, Steve Morse, Scott Henderson---I could go on. I’m also a huge fan of acoustic jazz like, Michael Brecker, Sonny Rollins, John Coltrane, Miles, Dizzy Gillespie, Ernie Watts, Michele Petrucciani, Monk, Bill Evans, Roy Hargrove, Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock. And there is on final person who is beyond label: Frank Zappa, genius extraordinaire and one of my true heroes.
What's the one book every Kossack must read?
The Dictionary. It contains every other book. And I’ll put a star by the name of the person who can tell us where that quote comes from.
Are there any hard and fast rules that Kossacks should follow during tough economic times like these?
The big one is don’t overspend. Pay down debt, if you have any, and live within your means. There is nothing wrong with saying, "I can’t afford that."
Finish this sentence: In the kitchen I make mean...
Italian and Chinese food. Actually, I love to cook practically anything.
President Obama. President McCain. I'm so confused by all these choices! Who should I vote for if I want smart things to be done about the economy?
Why anyone would want the job right now is completely beyond me. Whoever gets elected is inheriting an unfolding disaster. I’m afraid that whoever gets elected is going to be reacting to events rather then being proactive. Paul Krugman said it best: "At this point, however, I suspect that the biggest problem for the next administration will be figuring out which parts of the financial system to bail out, how to pay the cleanup bills and how to explain what it’s doing to an angry public."
What do you do for fun when you're not workin' the blogs?
Practice law. I work out daily, alternating between running and weights. I’m a baseball and hockey fan. Play guitar, read and hang out with Mr$. Bonddad.
Finally, I'm puttin' you in the No-Waffle Zone, pal: Dogs or cats?
Every Friday I close out the week with a column titled, "Weekend Weimar and Beagle." What do you think?
I'm sensing that's a trick question.
Cheers and Jeers starts in There's Moreville... [Swoosh!!] RIGHTNOW! [Gong!!]
Last Day to Save C&J! Yes, today we'll stop hounding you. If you enjoy C&J and want to join the exclusive club of "Billy's Bosses" for another year, you can donate via PayPal thus and so:
To send a check via snail mail, the address is: Bill Harnsberger, 16 Pitt Street, Portland, ME, 04103.
For me C&J has always been a labor of love, an attempt to maintain sanity through silliness, and a daily meetup at the intersection of politics and everyday life. No, this column may not change the world overnight. But together, as a team, we can hack into the personal data of every man, woman and child in the world and find enough dirt on them to change it by, say, mid-June. Let's get busy.
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By the Numbers:
Days 'til the Biden-Palin debate: 3
Days `til Christmas: 87
Drop in home sales in the northeast in August 2008 vs. August 2007: 19%
(Source: Portland Press Herald)
Percent of Native Americans and indigenous Alaskans who die of alcohol poisoning (more than triple the general U.S. population): 12%
(Source: The Week)
Percent of Americans who say they're happy or "reasonably content" in their marriages: 88%
Percent who complain their marriage is unhappy or hostile: 7%
(Source: Parade magazine)
Percent of Maine voters who used absentee ballots in 2004: 22%
(Source: Portland Press Herald)
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NEW! Monday Brain Dropping by George Carlin:
Where ideas are concerned, America can be counted on to do one of two things: take a good idea and run it completely into the ground, or take a bad idea and run it completely into the ground.
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Someone said to me, "Make yourself a sandwich." Well, if I could make myself a sandwich, I wouldn’t make myself a sandwich. I'd make myself a horny, 18 year-old billionaire.
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Puppy Pic of the Day: Oh deer!
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The debate:
CHEERS to a pleasant conversation. Barack Obama and John McCain duked it out Friday night in Oxford, Mississippi. Our verdict: McCain was lucid, if repetitive and at times grumpy. Obama, his hesitancy replaced by confidence, proved to be sure-footed on foreign policy and gave us hope that we may yet have a president who knows how to actually pronounce the names of countries ("EE-rahn," "EE-rahk," "PAH-kee-stahn"). And I believe this was the first debate in which there was a tussle over who had the best bracelet. Winner of the night: apparently, metrosexuals.
P.S. McCain didn’t wear an American-flag lapel pin. Where's the outrage? Oh yeah, I forgot: Democrats are the ones who have to jump through hoops to prove their patriotism. Silly me.
JEERS to the big snub. Jim Lehrer asked a series of excellent questions at the debate on topics we're all anxious about (war, peace, the cost of underwear, alligators in the sewers). There were no "Gotcha" moments, and I was barely aware of the time limits on the candidates' answers. But try as he might, Lehrer couldn’t get McCain to speak directly to, or even look at, Obama. Said Cindy McCain: "Eh...you get used to it."
CHEERS to the verdict. Polls taken after the debate show that Obama won the night even though he was supposed to be the weaker candidate on foreign policy. The next two debates are more on his turf: domestic issues. Meanwhile we're three days away from what could be the moment where Sarah Palin makes Dan Quayle look like Gandhi. (I hope security remembers to check for concealed shotguns inside her hair.)
The rest:
CHEERS to saving the republic from itself. Yay! After a week of intense negotiation and much abacus-bead clacking, a deal appears to be within reach in Congress. Here's a summary of the terms by which Wall Street must abide:
- Because we don’t trust you, we'll only give you $350 billion to start. If America hasn't devolved to the point where we're running around dressed in animal skins, clubbing each other with tree branches and foraging for grubs in six months, you get the other $350 billion.
- All money must go toward the purchase of CONFIDENCE! Any transaction that causes the financial sector to make a frowny face will not be tolerated. To assist in this endeavor, Ricardo Montalban will open the markets each morning by yelling, "Smiles, everybody! Smiles!"
- Americans will be active beneficiaries of this
bailout Era of Good Feelings. Anyone who needs office supplies, a phone, copies, or a cup of coffee can stop by any participating institution and help themselves. Americans who actually live on "Main Street" get first dibs.
- Participating CEOs may not have "golden parachutes" if they get fired or their firms go belly-up. They may, however, keep their golden capes.
- Henry Paulson must be referred to in all correspondence as "Captain Magnifico."
When the troubled financial institutions heard the news, they issued a joint statement: "Me first! Me first! Me Me Me Me Me!!!" And we all lived happily ever after.
CHEERS to Paul Newman. Here's a recreation of my earliest memory of the Hollywood legend (and fellow Ohioan and loyal Democrat). The year was 1974, I was 10, and The Towering Inferno might as well have been a documentary to me:
Paul Newman (on the phone with the greedy owner of the Glass Tower skyscraper): We've got a FIRE here!
Me: Yes! Yes! Listen to him, you idiots! There really is a fire there!
I was traumatized for days. No matter what character he played, I always wanted to be on his side. And given how effortlessly he seemed to juggle his acting career, his creation of the Hole in the Wall Gang camp for kids, his pro racing hobby, and his Newman's Own vittles empire, I find it hard to believe that he didn’t have a twin running around. Now he's gone at 83---another victim of f**king cancer. Our heart breaks for Joanne. On the breakfast table this morning: 50 eggs.
P.S. Nice Maine-Newman anecdote here. He always did like us best.
CHEERS to the iron-curtain shredder. Lech Walesa, electrician, founder of the anti-Communist Solidarity union, President of Poland, and Nobel Peace Prize winner, turns 65 today. In his honor, today we'll lay off the light bulb-changing jokes.
JEERS to caving under barometric pressure. For the first time since "Bob" roughed us up in 1991, a hurricane---"Kyle"---was supposed to turn Maine's wee coastal villages into piles of sticks yesterday. Then it got scared. Chicken. Yellow-bellied. Lily-livered. It cut and ran to Canada like a sissy. So why am I still hunkered down in the cellar? I think you ask too many questions.
CHEERS to putting science back into politics (via Darksyde). Okay, let's put this in perspective: four years ago 48 Nobel Prize-winning scientists endorsed John Kerry. This year Barack Obama got endorsed by 61 of them:
We have watched Senator Obama’s approach to these issues with admiration. We especially applaud his emphasis during the campaign on the power of science and technology to enhance our nation’s competitiveness. In particular, we support the measures he plans to take – through new initiatives in education and training, expanded research funding, an unbiased process for obtaining scientific advice, and an appropriate balance of basic and applied research – to meet the nation’s and the world’s most urgent needs.
Senator Obama understands that Presidential leadership and federal investments in science and technology are crucial elements in successful governance of the world’s leading country. We hope you will join us as we work together to ensure his election in November.
My question is: how did they manage to escape from Cheney's safe?
CHEERS to Rosh Hashanah. Today at Sundown the giant apple-dipped-in-honey will fall from Times Square to ring in Jewish New Year 5769. Even though the C&J household isn’t Jewish, we still plan to participate by blowing a ram's horn outside our neighbor's bedroom window at 3am. Same way we do the other 364 days of the year.
One Year Ago in C&J: September 29, 2007...
JEERS to empty lecterns. Man, some days I think Republicans have a death wish for '08. The other night there was a forum at Morgan State University moderated by African-American and Hispanic journalists. The top four candidates felt their time would be more wisely spent fundraising, so they blew it off. The morning talk shows hammered the no-shows, and forum moderator Tavis Smiley was not amused on the Today Show:
It's not a scheduling issue, it's a pattern. It says to voters of color that you don’t matter. I don't think this is hyperbole at all to suggest that last night is a watershed moment in how the Republican party and its nominee moves forward. That old so-called 'southern strategy'? That dog just won’t hunt anymore in America."
Oopsie. [Heh.]
CHEERS to rooting out the terrorist thugs. President Bush says that when a brutal government terrorizes its own citizens, we must act to remove the terrorist threat. So saddle up, boys and girls, we're invading Burma! Bring 'em on! Yeehaw! Wanted dead or alive, muthufuckah!! Hey, why did they just close the oval office curtains? Hello??
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And just one more...
YICK to McCain's Brain. Ever wonder what hidden thoughts are rattling around in there? Actually, they're exactly what you'd expect. But I thought there'd be more of an echo.
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Oh, one more thing: "Help us, Sarah Wan Kenobi---you're our only hope." Floor's open...What are you cheering and jeering about today?
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Today's Shameless C&J Testimonial:
"It's funny that a comment like that was kind of made to...cari...I don’t know, y'know? Bill in Portland Maine..."
"Mocked?"
"Yeah, mocked. I guess that's the word, yeah."
---Sarah Palin/Katie Couric
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