Mwanwhile, over in Euroland, the pols of Germany seemed to have joined their buddies in France in agreeing to a monumental screwing of their respective constituants on behalf of their buddies in the banking business. I say "seemed" because
1. It's not a done deal, and
2. I don't think it's going to happen.
My Euro pals tell me Frau Merkel is going to get her butt kicked in the elections next month and if that happens, kaput goes Germany's participation. And then, the Gods of Craziness are at work. New York D.A. Cy Vance apparently had one of those "Oh S&%$" moments today involving his case against DSK causing a major hickup in the re-election ideas of He With The Hottest First Lady Around. Not that DSK is viable but the Socialists are now a real threat and add in that fact that they will certainly play the "Sarkozy was responsible for the set-up" (if there was one) card, the Presidency of France is up for grabs. You can't make this stuff up.
Back over here, I spent a lot of time speaking with folks about the fall-out from a non-deal on the debt limit and got absolutely zip, nada, niente. Not even my really smart friend, Gerry, had a view. We are in never, never land sports fans with the only clear consenus being it would be better if this thing got resolved. Remarkably, one among them was musing as to whether, if an event of default occurred, would private contracts such as collateralized derivative contracts be affected. Answer; nobody knows. I sure as heck don't. In the mean time The Leader keeps blubbering about private jets and hedge fund managers' compensation supported--as it is now the party line's major talking point--by Little Paulie Krugman in the Times today. Forget about the fact that a removal of the tax breaks afforded to private jets, if removed, would supply something like $3 billion over TEN years and that the ridiculous capital gain treatment of the fees paid to fun managers was put into the Tax Code by none other than my old friend Chuckie Schumer, senior DEMOCRATIC Senator from the state of New York. All over the city there are private prayer rooms in Synagogs and Churches where people ask the Almighty to protect Chuck and watch over him come re-election. Little Paulie forgot to mention that, but it is equally ridiculous for Republicans to continue to refuse to discuss REVENUE RAISING MEASURES such as a re-do of the ENTIRE tax code as has been discussed in this space numerous times. Where do we get such men?
In the midst of all of this, there was one tiny sliver of sunlight. Yesterday marked the final tertimony of Shelia Bair before a governmental committee. She retires next Friday which also happens to be the birthday of my triplet grandchildren. A joyous day indeed.
And so we come full circle. In case you are wondering about the title of this entry it is the last eight words of the Declaration of Independence, 235 years young on Monday. Those guys meant every word they wrote and to them, honor was probably the most important. Where do we find men such as this so needed throughout the world? It seems giants such as these are no more.
Have a wonderful Independence Day. See you on Tuesday.
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