Blogosphere Enlightenment
We chanced upon this interesting ‘discourse’ and thought it illustrates the “sanctimonious fatigue” from the anti-hicks with what they call “reverse snobbery”, aka culture war.
Self-styled liberal blogger: “Some of us, in fact, don’t give a rat’s ass where she [Ed: Gov. Palin] comes from.”
Commenter: “Really? Did you support Obama over Clinton and Edwards because you liked where Obama wants to take us all next. or because you liked where he comes from?”
Sexist Men at Work?
A British academic concludes from her study that men with sexist views ‘earn more’ than their modern-thinking brothers. It could be because “more traditionally-minded men are interested in power, both in terms of access to resources – money in this case – and also in terms of a woman who is submissive.”
A shot across the brow for self-proclaimed progressive men?
Elegy for Wall Street (as we know it)
It’s perhaps fitting that on the last summer day of 2008, the end of a swashbuckling Wall St era falls on a day when New Yorkers bid farewell to Yankee Stadium. The latter’s planned demise marks the untimely death of standalone investment banking all the more poignant, and prompts many a soul-searching moment: is it the beginning of the end for New York as we know it?
Of course, any self-respecting New Yorker would shoot down the idea in no time. But changes … they are a-comin’. Perhaps all the doom-and-gloom is really a blessing in disguise lest the latte-sipping, arugula-munching city sophisticates go over the cliff over Sarah Palin.
The Week in Review
In honor of the historical week that has changed the landscape on Wall Street, here’s a recap (courtesy of Reuters).
Friday September 12 – NY Fed president Timothy Geithner convenes an emergency meeting with Treasury Department officials and top executives at all the major Wall Street banks over Lehman rescue.
Saturday September 13 – While discussions over Lehman continue at the NY Fed’s Lower Manhattan building, AIG begins talks to regulators over its survival.
Sunday September 14 – Lehman finds no buyer but a group of 10 global banks and securities firms form a $70 billion loan program to help ease a credit shortage.
Hysteria Watch
Needless to say we love nothing more than the hysteria from the uppity. In all fairness, ivy-educated and self-styled feminists are not the only ones who feel ‘insulted’. Some middle-brow state school ‘progressives’, males and females, are no less sanctimonious, if not more outspoken with their contempt for Governor Palin.
Alas, the splendid irony completely escapes them. As one of our friends points out, in his trademark deadpan tone, “It’s kinda odd that an attractive, relatively devout mother of 5 who by all all accounts is basically together if not Harvard material gets people so bent out of shape.”
Self-serving “News”
In case you’re mired in the financial meltdown, Yahoo News got some timely distraction for you. One of today’s headlines reads, Poll: Obama tops McCain as football-watching buddy.
Eye-catching as it is, however, if you drill down, the devil is in the details.
The AP-Yahoo poll finds that by a margin of whopping (given its margin of error is 2.3 percent) 3 percentage points, Sen. Obama leads Sen. McCain as the choice of football buddy. Of course, people’s preference vary by race, age, whatnot. Well, that’s pronunced, is it not? To say that the AP-Yahoo News’ political coverage is as ‘fair and balanced’ as Fox News is nothing short of a compliment.
Stop the Press: LEH Gone
We could be forgiven for sounding a bit elegiac but this just came in over the wire: NYSE suspends trading in Lehman Brothers share.
NEW YORK, Sept 17 (Reuters) – The New York Stock Exchange’s regulatory arm said on Wednesday that trading in shares of Lehman Brothers Holdings, Inc has been suspended, effective immediately.
The exchange said that a listing was no longer considered suitable after the investment bank filed for bankruptcy on Monday.
Political Nexus of the Fallen
If anything, the glee of a sewing circle over the paroxysms underway in the financial market presents a splendid bit of irony in an otherwise tumultuous week.
On the heels of de facto nationalization of Fannie and Freddie, venerable Lehman Brothers fell on its sword, dying an ignominious death, followed by an eleventh-hour rescue of AIG that “brings on bloodbath”, as investors fear more shoes may drop.
Mind you, this is an election year. The “bewildered” candidates offered standard boilerplate responses. While partisans are parsing whether the economy is “fundamentally strong”, political junkies dig the piles and uncover some interesting factoids.
