Cheek and Bluster » economic crisis http://cheekandbluster.com Mon, 14 May 2012 21:08:31 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 Top Ten Videos of 2009: 5. The Onion, “In The Know: Giant Money Hole” http://cheekandbluster.com/2009/12/18/top-ten-videos-of-2009-5-the-onion-in-the-know-giant-money-hole/ http://cheekandbluster.com/2009/12/18/top-ten-videos-of-2009-5-the-onion-in-the-know-giant-money-hole/#comments Fri, 18 Dec 2009 19:14:18 +0000 Derek http://cheekandbluster.com/?p=1677 Continue reading →]]> Another reliable fake-news tonic for the real news during 2009 has been, of course, The Onion. In my opinion, The Onion’s video segments are a bit of a hit-or-miss proposition, but one subset of them cracks me up pretty consistently: “In The Know,” which sends up the kind of four or five-way pundit scrum the cable news outlets so adore.

A fine example is number five on my top ten videos of 2009, “In The Know: Giant Money Hole,” which festoons the economic bailout in absurdity.


For a moment there I began to think it was running on too long, but then my giggles returned. It’s a fine line, but there’s a second layer of comedy when you keep over-extending a metaphor just to see how many versions you can think of.

Agree? Disagree? Comment. Discuss.

Tags: , , , , , , ,
]]> http://cheekandbluster.com/2009/12/18/top-ten-videos-of-2009-5-the-onion-in-the-know-giant-money-hole/feed/ 0 Top Ten Videos of 2009: 8. “Learning is Fundamental” http://cheekandbluster.com/2009/12/15/top-ten-videos-of-2009-8-learning-is-fundamental/ http://cheekandbluster.com/2009/12/15/top-ten-videos-of-2009-8-learning-is-fundamental/#comments Tue, 15 Dec 2009 18:59:31 +0000 Derek http://cheekandbluster.com/?p=1629 Continue reading →]]> What’s funny about the current economic crisis? At the root of it, nothing. I have spent most of 2009 as one of the who-knows-how-many millions struggling with unemployment and dwindling resources. One side effect of unemployment is that it gives you additional time for pondering (a mixed blessing, to be sure). I’ve periodically wondered whether the crumbling of public education in America is the chicken or the egg (so to speak) relative to our national economic woes… which leads me to number eight on my Casey Kasem-esque video countdown, the Colbert Report clip “The Word: Learning is Fundamental.”

The Colbert Report Mon – Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
The Word – Learning Is Fundamental
www.colbertnation.com

Longtime readers of this blog know of my admiration for The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, as well as my particular regard for its spin-off The Colbert Report. Since both shows have now existed for several years, it may not seem particularly novel to include a Colbert piece in my top ten videos of 2009 list. Here’s why.

The trickiest part of selecting these top ten videos has come from the fact that it has been such a thoroughly depressing news year. It began so encouragingly with the inauguration of Barack Obama, and it would be glib to say that it could only have gone downhill from there… glib, but perhaps all too accurate. So in this paragraph, as well as in my retrospective collection of videos, I prefer not to re-hash the bilious new lows of crazy that occurred in the national miscourse during 2009. Or at least to do so only obliquely, through the filter of satire. The Daily Show and Colbert continue to provide such satire so expertly that both shows seem not just pleasantly amusing, like a familiar long-running sitcom, but like indispensable laughter mechanisms to make the news palatable.

Am I wrong? Are The Daily Show and Colbert still as fresh and relevant as I say they are, or have they become one-shtick ponies? Sound off about it in the comments!

Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
]]> http://cheekandbluster.com/2009/12/15/top-ten-videos-of-2009-8-learning-is-fundamental/feed/ 1 A Poll of Monumental Importance http://cheekandbluster.com/2008/12/09/a-poll-of-monumental-importance/ http://cheekandbluster.com/2008/12/09/a-poll-of-monumental-importance/#comments Wed, 10 Dec 2008 02:56:02 +0000 Derek http://cheekandbluster.com/index.php/?p=250 [... READ ON ...] Continue reading →]]> Just when you thought my blogging inconsistency couldn’t get any more shameful, here it is – my first post since September.  As even a cursory glance will show, C&B has been mute during a period filled with events of historic significance: the spectacular collapse of American financial conglomerates, bringing the national (and hence, global) economy to the brink of utter ruin; the election of the first African-American President of the United States, who furthermore appears to be capable of getting America up off the mat;  and the lamentable passage of Proposition 8 in California, inserting language into the state constitution to strip rights away from gay people… to name a few.

Therefore, what out of this abundance of profound current events is it that has finally dragged me back to the blogging pad?

This past weekend, my previously blogged-upon fantasy football team, the E.J. Junior Sr. Junior High Grumpy Hippos, ended a dismal 2008 season out of the league playoffs.  In the two coming weekends of playoff games between the four qualifying teams, we remaining six losers have the option of playing each other in meaningless “grudge matches” if we want.

2008-whip-standings

I emailed such a challenge to fellow playoff outcast Heath, our league’s commissioner, owner of the Opa Locka Bowlsnappers.  I reasoned that he would be smarting from his playoff exclusion more than anyone else, because it represents the end of his stunning streak of four consecutive league championships. What’s worse than missing the playoffs after a Snap da Bowl four-peat? Losing a grudge match to the league’s last-place team, i.e., mine.

Heath emailed me back a little while ago to accept my challenge. He did, however, ask me one question that I wasn’t immediately ready for: “What do you want to call the game?”

Having now spent a not-too-long but nevertheless indefensible amount of time considering possible answers, I turn now to you, the reader who somehow is here despite my not having posted in ages, to resolve this hugely significant matter. Please consult your deepest moral fiber, and vote.

UPDATE: no need to try to vote, because the poll is closed. The image below shows the final result.

poll results

Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,
]]> http://cheekandbluster.com/2008/12/09/a-poll-of-monumental-importance/feed/ 1 The Fed Gets in Bed with AIG http://cheekandbluster.com/2008/09/17/the-fed-gets-in-bed-with-aig/ http://cheekandbluster.com/2008/09/17/the-fed-gets-in-bed-with-aig/#comments Thu, 18 Sep 2008 02:53:43 +0000 Derek http://cheekandbluster.com/index.php/?p=205 [...READ ON...] Continue reading →]]> Another day, another eighty-five billion dollars.  If you’ve had your back turned, or your earbuds in, or you’ve been transfixed by Sarah Palin’s boobs the last week or two you may not have noticed the Federal Reserve opening its checkbook.  $85 billion for insurance behemoth AIG, $70 billion more to feed into the market so that credit won’t totally evaporate, and last week’s credit lines of up to $100 billion each to bail out mortgage guarantors Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.  Congratulations, fellow taxpayers – for the low, low price of $350 billion we are now the proud owners of three huge, insolvent companies.

If you’re wondering how this is a good investment, the answer is, it’s not. It’s not so much an investment as it is a protection shakedown.  We propped up three massive entities with over a quarter of a trillion dollars in ballast to prevent them from toppling over and squashing us all.  So what do we do with our still-unsquashed selves now?

robert-reichHell, I don’t know. Consult somebody smarter than I am – namely, former U.S. Department of Labor Secretary, current U.C. Berkeley Professor of Public Policy, frequent economic commentator for NPR, CNBC and other such outlets, Robert Reich.  Fortunately for my purposes, Dr. Reich also keeps a blog (newly added here to the C&B blogroll), whereupon he posted about this spate of bailouts back on Monday, while AIG still teetered. The crux:

What to do? Not to socialize capitalism with bailouts and subsidies that put taxpayers at risk… the best way to rebuild trust is through regulations that require financial players to stand behind their promises and tell the truth, along with strict oversight to make sure they do.

We tell poor nations they have to make their financial markets transparent before capital will flow to them. Now it’s our turn.

Read his entire post here.

Tags: , , , , ,
]]> http://cheekandbluster.com/2008/09/17/the-fed-gets-in-bed-with-aig/feed/ 0