Next Great Depression or Next Great Boondoggle?

Get in on the top floor of the Next Big Bailout!

Its the end of the world, the economy is in ruins, the spectre of the Next Great Depression looms. Unless, of course you are on the 'take' end of the apparently inevitable bailout. The old feeder has been out of town for a few days, but all I heard on the TV and radio is that this credit crunch, combined with the collapse of the Fannie and Freddie mortgage rackets threatens another depression.

I cant' see it. The stock market hasn't collapsed. Gasoline prices continue to decrease. I still get junk mail from banks offering to lend me stupendous amounts of money for sub-prime rates.

The best analysis I've seen so far is at the Marginal Revolution. Read these posts: Where is the Credit Crunch?; Questions that are rarely asked; and A Supply Side Approach to the Crisis for a view that is a bit less dramatic than the one pumped up by the slavering media and our presidential contenders.
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If WaMu is going broke, how come I got an offer from them in today's mail to lend me $10,000 at 1.66% interest, said rate guaranteed through June, 2009? If I deposit the enclosed check, the money will be mine. Of course, the only reason I get such offers is that I have always paid these types of loans back promptly. But at the offered rate, I could hedge inflation by putting the loan proceeds into a CD.
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Them as are going broke from making bad investments or ill-advised loans should suck it up on their own. Let them sing along with John Lee Hooker: Serves me right to suffer.
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A bit of comfort and perspective from via Genevieve at Prairie Bluestem:

Capitalism is not the free world.
Capitalism is a term devised by Marxists to describe what they thought were the worst aspects of our freedom.
We should never let any corporation or bank or computer company pose as the embodiment of our freedom.

James Healy, The Heelers Diaries.

Big Nigerian Scam Operator Busted

US Representative William Jefferson

No, I'm not talking about the widow of the late Nigerian Army Colonel Obumbo who has $30 million in a secret bank account and needs your bank routing numbers to get it to America. No handsome share of the loot will be forthcoming to anyone scammed by Louisiana Representative William "Cool Cash" Jefferson. The bum was finally indicted for a raft of crimes far worse than the Nigerian e-mail scams:

The indictment handed up in federal court in Alexandria., Va., Monday is 94 pages long and lists 16 alleged violations of federal law that could keep Jefferson in prison for up to 235 years. He is charged with racketeering, soliciting bribes, wire fraud, money-laundering, obstruction of justice, conspiracy and violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.

Jefferson is accused of soliciting bribes for himself and his family, and also for bribing a Nigerian official.

Almost two years ago, in August 2005, investigators raided Jefferson's home in Louisiana and found $90,000 in cash stuffed into a box in his freezer.
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The impact of the case has stretched across continents and even roiled presidential politics in Nigeria. According to court records, Jefferson told associates that he needed cash to pay bribes to the country's vice president, Atiku Abubakar.

Abubakar denied the allegations, which figured prominently in that country's presidential elections in April. Abubakar ran for the presidency and finished third.

The indictment does not name Abubakar. But it describes Jefferson's dealings with an unnamed "Nigerian Official A" who was a high-ranking official in Nigeria's executive branch who had a spouse in Potomac, Md. One of Abubakar's wives lived in that Washington suburb.

Court records indicate that Jefferson was videotape taking a $100,000 cash bribe from an FBI informant. Most of that money later turned up in a freezer in Jefferson's home.

Of course, as his friends will point out, an indictment isn't a conviction. The poor chump still claims he is innocent. He just likes to keep his money in the freezer. Its a free country, ain't it?