On the front page of CNN.com, I read two headlines this afternoon, in this order: "Paulson braces public for months of tough times" and "Batman dethrones Spidey as superhero king." Without having seen "The Dark Knight" but being reasonably familiar with the characters involved, I believe the two stories are related.

A few days before Gore's speech,  Rynn and I posted an Excel Spreadsheet over at Grist's blog analyzing costs for eliminating 95% of fossil fuel and chemical greenhouse emissions sources over the course of 30 years, including a 90% emissions cut over 20 years. We analyzed both costs for doing this with existing technology (no major breakthroughs) and doing this with modest and aggressive improvements in technology. We included both aggressive and moderate deployment of efficiency upgrades - using only existing technology. It contains no policy recommendations, because we want to it be a useful resource for anyone, regardless of whether they share our policy views.

It's no newsflash that there is a tremendous amount of anxiety and uncertainty in and about the U.S. economy.  And there is plenty of good reason for such anxiety and uncertainty.  Unfortunately, however, the economic irrationality that accompanies the psychology of economic bubbles also accompanies the pscyhology of bear markets.

Yes, the FDIC will place banks that have mismanaged assets into conservatorship.  Yes, banks and investors have and will continue to realize losses due to bad loans and menacing conditions in the commercial and consumer lending markets.  But no, the U.S. banking system will not collapse, and the average American's deposits are safe and secure (provided the deposits are FDIC insured and under $100,000 in the aggreggate).

The MSM, however, has created panic by talking about instability in the banking industry and showing the run on IndyMac.  Sadly, we live in a country beset by lack of knowledge about macro-economics and micro-economics.  And that includes the talking heads on the news.

Did anyone see Al Gore on Meet the Press this morning?

How is it that this guy is not in charge? How is it that the boldest thinker on climate, energy and the economy is on the sidelines at this moment?

Don't get me wrong, I'm not looking to start a draft Al campaign here (staunch Obama supporter that I am), but it's pretty clear that he's got to be involved in an active way, with some clout behind it if we're going to leverage the intellect.

   I called the death of Indymac Bancorp on Monday, July 7th. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation seized Indymac on Friday, July 11th.

  I called the implosion of the two Government Sponsored Entities in the mortgage business, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac on Wednesday, July 9th. Sunday, July 13th the White House announced a bailout for them.

  Want to know what happens next? It’s ape ass ugly and it’s going to happen to you, so don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Bill Moyers' guest on his latest Journal program was William Greider, who Bill descibed as a former "top editor of The Washington Post, a columnist for Rolling Stone, and is now National Affairs Correspondent for The Nation."

Greider says the reasons that we are having the crisis in banking and financial systems are the conservative free market ideology and stripping of regulatory laws. He says Alan Greenspan and the Federal Reserve share in the responsibility, as they "tipped hard (...) in favor of capital and against labor." Meanwhile, they discouraged economic growth, full employment, and rising wages. He says there is also "a level of fraud" that includes lies from and to banks, mortgage houses, their customers and bond buyers.

According to Greider, the current crisis has provided an opening "for a deep transformation in American politics." He says that people have to "get out of their sort of passive resignation" and take on a "much more serious role as citizens." They have to "be willing to punish the political powers," and force a change in "values of the system." Greider says he is optimistic because he thinks the "lovely story" that has been told about the "magic of the marketplace" is over.

I am getting old (57) and I have seen better times.  Not in terms of my own finances, because truthfully I am about as prosperous as I've ever been, which is comfortably middle-class.  I have been poor and this is better.  Or in terms of my own mental health; I have been terminally depressed, and this is better.  But in terms of the rest of the world, our own nation, I have seen things slide down hill.  Of course, the global economy, not just our own, is in sorry shape, the dollar is depreciating, oil prices are going to the moon, inflation is rampant, there is turmoil in the Middle East.  Still, having lived through the seventies, I feel like this is deja-vu all over again.  We can survive this.

Other things are not so easy to fix.  And I don't mean that flippantly.

I just got an email from Moveon.org; they've released an entertaining new video titled 'All in your head' that uses clips of McCain, Phil Gramm, and Bush to show their views that economic problems are all psychological.

I've tried to embed the video, but in case it doesn't work for you, the quick links are:

On Moveon's site

On Youtube directly

Watch it!  Spread it!  Digg it up!

Full text of their email below the break...

I had never heard those words. As I watched job after job go overseas, somehow, I'd always escaped it myself. Until now.

In a comment on the note I posted Friday, EdlinUser mentioned an article describing culinary schools that profit from tuition derived from high interest loans. The article, he said, "reported that far more chefs are being graduated than jobs available. Many new chefs are $20,000 or more in debt and forced to take cooking jobs that pay $10.00/hr." I searched through Google for that item and didn't find it but found several others just as applicable to the topic.

    In The 1920s Credit Bubble, I explained how a credit binge gave rise to serial bubbles in housing, durable consumer goods, and the infamous stock bubble of the 1920s.  Last week in The Panic of 2008: a Turning Point I gave a big picture overview of how our current credit crunch is unfolding.  At that time I pointed out that there were some important differences between our credit crunch, and the collapse of the 1920s credit bubble into the Great Depression.

   So a chronological examination of how the apparently mild if abrupt downturn that began in late 1929 transformed into a much more serious downturn that ultimately snowballed into the Great Depression will tell us what events to watch for.  That is the goal of this diary:  to peer into our near future by examining how events unfolded during the year following the stock market crash, 1930.

Al Gore's speech yesterday was, in a sense, nothing new.  Politicians and pundits have been observing that our economic woes, our Middle East-focused foreign policy disasters, and the climate crisis are all linked to our stubborn addiction to fossil fuels.  But Gore -- who has been emphasizing this point longer, more passionately, and more effectively than any other U.S. leader -- pulled it all together in an extraordinarily cogent, forceful manner.  It was a truly great speech, one of the few that really encapsulates the central national challenges we face now.   If you haven't already, read it, and then then send it to everyone who will listen.  The video (and a petition to sign) are at wecansolveit.org. (And at the banner ad at the top of the Kos homepage). The text of the speech is here.

After seeing Lava20's diary on how to beat the credit card companies at their own game, and reading the comments from people who had ideas of their own about how to eliminate credit card debt -- and the laments of some commenters who needed more help -- I didn't see anyone who had tried the method that I used.

I started to write it into a comment, but it was so long, it merited its own diary.

Let me preface by saying, I am awful with finances and something of a procrastinator, so it's easy for me to get into trouble managing debt.  This method worked for me because it was so damn simple, and entirely goal-driven.  Follow me below the fold for the explanation.

I've been grateful that as I've written this week about the burden that middle-class families are suffering from college debt -- their own, and their children's -- several Kossacks have read my notes and written about their own struggles and perspectives on the problem. Thanks again to the Rescue Rangers for picking up a couple of my diaries, and the links to parts one, two, three and four are here.

I'm making what I think is a simple point:

Mike Allen's Playbook on Politico had this tidbit from Prince of Darkness Novak today:

"After Sen. John McCain publicly repudiated his close friend and adviser Phil Gramm's comments about a ‘nation of whiners’ and a ‘mental recession,’ the two old political comrades patched up their relationship. Gramm apologized to McCain for his remarks ... McCain told Gramm not to worry about the expected pitfalls of a campaign surrogate. Gramm will continue as an adviser and surrogate."

Catch that, mainstream media?   Phil Gramm of "mental recession" and "nation of whiners" fame is STILL advising John McCain.

I have been looking forward to participating in Barack Obama's presidential campaign, because we need a break from the horrible policies of the neo-cons, particularly Bush and Cheney.

However, I am not going to be able to do so anymore.

It's too late for me.  It's too late for my kid.  

Okay I will be covering the following in this diary:

1.  Lowering interest rates.

2.  Balance transfer options.

3.  Credit improvement.

Just a reminder, these are the things that I saw work for people while I worked in various departments of the two largest credit card companies. (Especially customer service) I wish you all the best.  I will try to follow the comments, but don't forget to email me.

This won't solve all your problems.  This is for the regular person.  Hopefully it will save you money.  Hopefully it will prevent or stop the bank from robbing you blind.  If this diary helps one person, then i'm very happy.  If you do save some money, and the mood hits you don't forget we have a convention coming up.... Donate To The DNC

When he vetoed the Taft-Hartley Act of 1947, President Harry Truman called it "a slave-labor bill." The Republican-controlled Congress called it "an end to chaos," and overrode Truman's veto immediately. They were both politicking ahead of a defining campaign year.

The Presidential election of 1948 was a pivotal, fiercely fought contest for the soul of America. Post-World War. Early Cold War. Backlogged domestic issues. A nation starving for a new direction. A time when working people thought their wartime sacrifices and unresolved problems on the home front would take center stage. Indeed, the parties vying for the Oval Office crafted their campaigns (and parties themselves) around varying notions of what it would take to swing the working class vote their way. >>