Credit Crunch

Credit companies are tightening up everywhere. Even companies that don't have a lot of delinquent accounts are lowering credit limits. For example, Canadian Tire says that it doesn't want its credit cards to be used as last resorts by people who've maxed-out their other sources of credit.

Two things:

1. Rising consumer debt has been caused, to a great degree, by the need to maintain consumption levels in the face of stagnant or shrinking wages and decreased job security. While some Canadians have been frivolous, it seems the vast majority of us are just making the mortgage, buying the groceries, maintaining the car and the work wardrobe and etc. Whatever one thinks of Canadians' spending habits, bear in mind that without this "living beyond our means" the economy would have probably been in a recession long ago.

2. Canada's financial sector isn't in as catastrophic shape as the U.S.A.'s financial system, and this seems to be due to greater regulation here.

1. is worse than 2. and that appears to be the area where "free market capitalism" has had greater sway, subjecting workers' incomes to the "market" where power and politics have as much to do with the capitalists' victory as anything else. Where things aren't as bad appears to be where rational regulation has been used. Go figure.

USA and Saudi Arabia and the dollarization of international oil

I was reading an article by Anthony Black in the new "Mayday Magazine" wherein I learned a new fact! The dollarization of the international oil market wasn't a natural thing (what i'd thought) but an agreement between Saudi Arabia and the USA in 1973.

This article says a tiny bit about that. Probably some other stuff too. Didn't read the whole thing. Gotta work.

We're at war ... with failure!!!

Is that a gripping enough post title?

The excuse for it is that I think the same explosion of activity that governments can get to when there's a war on ought to be mobilized to deal with the fact that our present economic course is unsustainable and there's no "Plan B."

It's going to take a major effort to transform a world full of 6.5 billion people to raise living standards and lower resource consumption. Modern science and technology will play a big part, but they need to be harnessed by democracy, not profit.

They're shutting down the steel mills ...

In my home town.

Lack of demand they say. People ain't buying houses n' cars the way they used to. 'Course, all that home-buying n' [why'm I talkin' like Jim-Bobby? That's his shtick!] car buying was often done on credit in recent years.

Also, our consumption levels are unsustainable. To think that we're supposed to be models for China and India to emulate, it's ridiculous.

But what should we be doing as a society? Where will the jobs be?

What I do know is that we don't have any viable politicial parties up for doing anything more than tinkering with a system that is killing us.

First Wednesday in November

Well, the classy, non-psychotic guy won. Great.

[conspiracy theory]The American ruling class has been engaging in naked brutality and theft because their's is a dying empire and there's no more time for the luxuries of compromise and generosity. Plus, their right-wing counterattack has been much more easy and more successful than they'd imagined it would be when they started in 1980. However, after two stolen terms for bush II, they realize that they shouldn't push their luck. They also realize that they have to give the sensible majority of their subjects a reason to care about politics again. So they pick the charismatic representative of the oppressed minority and then even cynical US-leftists can think it's an important moment. They buy it hook, line and sinker. But then it's back to business as usual. The Repugs will make out all right. They've got that $700 billion and then some to spend as they see fit.[/conspiracy theory]

But I don't think the US ruling elite is that smart. For one thing, a lot of the storm troops of the repug administration were bible-college law school grads who fit right in on the idiot right-wing blogosphere.

It really just is the case that Barack Obama is an African-American who has managed to play the game so well that he won the Democratic nomination and then went on to defeat the candidate from the party that screwed the country over for 8 long years.

In other news, Ontario has become a have-not province. D'you suppose all the lefties who said that manufacturing jobs were important and that they'd be threatened by free trade will get an apology from the assholes at places like the C. D. Howe Institute? (Answer: Of course not!)

It's 19 degrees Celcius on November 5th. In all honesty, I really can't enjoy the weather all that much when I realize that it's all a part of global warming.

Election Fever!

I hope Obama wins. But then he'll inherit a lovely mess and he's ideologically bankrupt.

Disband the RCMP?

Discussed here.

I'm starting to think we should.