The Stuff I Didn't Get To -- 10/23/08

Alan Greenspan attempts to control the market with his mind

-Headline of the day-
"Greenspan Concedes to 'Flaw' in His Market Ideology."

Former Fed Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan -- a protegé of novelist/philosopher/economic nutbag Ayn Rand -- has come to the conclusion that maybe there's a tiny little flaw in his belief in unregulated capitalism. It seems that allowing corporations to operate without oversight really is market anarchy. Is Greenspan's newly found flaw the unfortunate fact that this free-market moonyism doesn't actually work?

Nope. Of course not.

According the report, "Greenspan said he was 'partially' wrong in opposing regulation of derivatives and acknowledged that financial institutions didn't protect shareholders and investments as well as he expected." He was only a little wrong, so imagine what a huge flaming clusterfuck the economy would be right now if he was really wrong.

Whew! We totally dodged a bullet there.

Still, getting some objectivist moron to admit that the idea of a self-regulating market may just possibly be a fantasy is a huge accomplishment. It's like getting someone to say, "OK. so maybe my cult's a little crazy..."

It's a moral victory, really. A really expensive one, but a victory nonetheless. (Bloomberg, via reddit)


-Bonus HotD-
"Stylists: Palin's fashion buys worth it."

Because she looks fabulous, honey! That sexy librarian thing might've hooked John McCain, but it is so five minutes ago!

A $150,000 binge -- on Republican donors' dime -- at Neiman Marcus, Saks Fifth Avenue, Barneys, and Bloomingdale’s is a must. She is just such a fashion don't...

GOP donors may not be all that happy, remembering Mrs. Nixon's "respectable Republican cloth coat," but just between you and me? It made Pat look like a hat rack.

Ooh, I'm such a bitch!

Fashionistas agree -- if you're going to drag your ticket down the electoral toilet, you might as well look chic while you do it.

It's just common sense. (Politico)


-And while we're on the subject-
John McCain supported an amendment to a bill that would've restricted the use of campaign dollars for "inherently personal purposes" -- specifically, "clothing purchases."

"The use of campaign funds for items which most Americans would consider to be strictly personal reasons, in my view, erodes public confidence and erodes it significantly," McCain said -- on the Senate floor, in support of the amendment, and for the congressional record.

But, of course, that was way back in 1993. It's a different world now. A world where frumpy Governors of northern states either have to use campaign funds to buy overpriced crap from Saks Fifth Avenue or wear the rotting pelts of the grizzly bears they've killed.

C'mon, no one wants to see that. (Think Progress)