This article from Vanity Fair makes it easy to understand what caused the world’s economic meltdown. Short, clear, & covering all the bases, Nobel-winning economist Joseph E. Stiglitz’s piece, “Capitalist Fools,” tells a long story that begins w/ Ayn Rand, her acolyte, Alan Greenspan, & Ronnie Reagan, and continues to the Crash of 2008. POWERFUL & GRIM!!!

As a kicker, there’s another piece from the same issue about the gilded Wall Streeters, & their mighty fall.

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there’s Bernie Madoff & his $50 billion Ponzii scheme, Rod Blagojevich allegedly auctioning Barack’s seat, & Sam Israel III, who hasn’t gotten as much ink—to name 3 solid citizens. I’m sure they’re the tip of the iceberg.

Corruption & greed are the oldest stories ever told, but in the last several years materialism has reached unprecedented heights. Middle-class folks were living like millionaires, & suddenly there were thousands of billionaires. Didn’t it seem too good to be true? As “The Real Housewives of OC” hobble along in their Louboutins, there’s a fall-of-Rome feeling in the air.

While The Big Three are begging for a multi-billion dollar bailout, Jack Nicholson might be wondering what took them so long?! Jack got rid of gas in 1978, anticipating the Green Wave by almost 30 years. Check out this video:

Two monkey waiters in Japan, Yat-chan and Fuku-chan, are serving customers at Kayabukiya, a local hangout just north of Tokyo. Tourists, from around the globe, are flocking to see them. Leave the bananas at home. These simian staffers prefer to be tipped with boiled soy-beans. Yum!

Gangs of Somali pirates armed with automatic weapons and rocket-propelled grenades have been hijacking ships and holding crews for ransom… Even a super-tanker! The UN chief says pirates are estimated to have been paid between $25/ 30 million in ransom. The brazen bandits are building sprawling stone houses, cruising in luxury cars — even hiring caterers to prepare Western-style food for their hostages, transforming their poor villages into boomtowns.

Mickey Cohen would be proud of these marauders; terrorizing the high seas and raking in the ca$h.

We are at the beginning of the greatest financial disaster the world has ever seen!!! That’s right, Apocalypse NOW!!! If McCain/Palin–Bush acolytes repackaging themselves as “mavericks”–were to be elected, there’s no hope.
Fear-monger McCain is erratic & unbalanced–an OLD POLITICAL HACK. His big push is desperate smears & pimping those winking women: Palin & now his heiress wife.
During the debate, he kept saying– “I know how to fix that!” “Oh, I’ve done that before!” Does he mean tricks learned during his involvement in the Keating Savings & Loan scandal/Fed. bailout, and that old chestnut Bush couldn’t get thru–privatization of Social Security???
NOT ONCE DID MCCAIN GIVE A REAL SOLUTION, JUST NON-ANSWERS!!!
I’m so glad Obama spanked him on singing Bomb, Bomb,Bomb Iran.

THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT ELECTION IN HISTORY! LET”S WAKE UP ON NOV. 5 WITH A SOLUTION: VOTE FOR OBAMA!!!!

I hope the American people rise to the occasion & ELECT HIM. Unfortunately there are so many ignorant people–& THE RED SIDE IS FULL OF DIRTY TRICKS.
You can’t count McCain out: Karl Rove is behind him. Now that Sarah Palin is in the picture, all I can say is one word–MELANOMA. It’s extremely serious. For that reason alone, I thought he was irresponsible to run. If elected, this female, a creationist, who doesn’t believe man has anything to do w/ global warming, could be one skin cancer away from the Presidency. Will she soon tell us the world is flat?

that’s what the US govt. will begin doing.
Re: the economic catastrophe–THE SMOKE WON’T CLEAR EASILY & IT WAS ALL CAUSED BY GREED.
As Rome burned, Brit artist, Damien Hirst, 43, sold 223 works– all made in the last 2 years–at London’s Sotheby’s. Unprecedented, his clear-out sale of formaldehyded sharks & shiny butterflies, which previewed from the Hamptons to Delhi, fetched $198,000,000+. Is this where the billionaires are parking their spare change?

Amid the complete devastation on Galveston Island, the old mob-owned supper/gambling club, the Balinese Room, is gone. Run by Texas boss, Sam Maceo, in the 40s& 50s you could lose your shirt there, in style. Sorta like Wall St.–but with good food & Sinatra entertaining!

& dressed to kill….
Dear Reader: Pls, don’t be aghast at the sheer vanity of this trivial fashion info!
TT& JL
Residence: Los Angeles
TT’s Signatures:Mixing it up; no brights or prints–neutrals, blk, denim.
Fashion Icons: Garbo (personal clothing,) Millicent Rogers, Betty Catroux, Kate Moss, Bugsy Siegel, Fred Hughes, Lapo Elkann.
Must Wear: Giant blk Victorian Medusa cameo mounted in coiled onyx.
Handbag: B.V. python.
Favorite Purchase 2008:faux snakeskin sandals w/ just the right heel–from “Hot In Hollywood” on HSN.
JL’s Daytime Looks: Puma velour track suits, Sulka paisley robe.
Fashion Icons: DD Ryan, Cary Grant, Bugsy Siegel.
Shirts:Comme de Garcon, Helmut Lang.
Sunglasses: Vintage Gaultier–flat lense.
Best Accessory: Charley–the smart, scrappy white “Foo” dog.

China’s opening ceremonies were spectacular!!! I thought it impossible to outdo the magnificent show put on in Athens–but w/ unlimited money & great ability the Chinese did it. Director Zhang Yimou: What a job!!! Might and the collective spirit were emphasized. There were no individual performances. The sheer manpower & creativity was breathtaking–& scary. Now, 1.3 billion strong w/ the world’s 3rd largest economy—like the roots of this country, it’s built on slave labor.

During trips made there (all work oriented) I observed unusual things:

1.) The govt. keeps things shut tight. I saw a dozen drug dealers shot by a firing squad on the news there. I’m shocked someone stabbed the American tourists. It doesn’t surprise me that the perp took his own life afterward.

2.) I saw a brochure for a golf course in the wealthy Shenzhen industrial zone, directly across the harbor from Hong Kong. You often see HK businessmen taking their clubs on the ferry to the mainland for a round. The club’s clientele must have been having trouble w/ the difficult game: the brochure told perspective members that in golf a high score was the best score!!!

The 1st events I saw were swimming. The girl swimmers were camera-ready:wearing waterproof makeup & stud earrings! It seemed so strange & artificial, like Esther Williams at MGM!!!

Saw Mongol, will see the Dark Knight. I luved Christian Bale in American Psycho!!! So funny.

Stayed in & watched TV. WOW! On TCM, old fave, Sweet Smell of Success (1957), then Rope (1948) from Hitchcock. Had never seen it. Pyrotechnic filmmaking, it’s made w/out cuts. So pervy & disturbing, particularly for the time. HITCHCOCK WAS OUT THERE… He did the 1st American picture about a serial killer, Shadow of a Doubt, several years earlier. Rope is about a thrill-killing. The perps are a rich male couple who think they are superior. Leopold & Loeb-types. Saw Frenzy (1972) for the 1st time in years…it’s very shocking too. (Hitch was wild. I heard on some show that he wanted to call North By Northwest, the picture w/ scenes at Mt. Rushmore, The Man In Lincoln’s Nose.) Then I saw High Fidelity…liked it.

Looked at a documentary on the Ramones. I get the Sex Pistols–but not them!!! The music is so bad, & they’re so stupid. JL walked in & said,”Spare me!” So I did.

War, global warming, missing bees, hyper-inflation, deflation, foreclosures, Fannie, Freddie, Indymac, just the beginning…Iran, bombs, terrorists, torture, reality shows….the election…will it all turn into Road Warrior????!!!!

Madonna & Alex Rodriguez. Kaballah, soulmate, British accent, children’s books…Whatever. Who cares? It’s just tired….She has yet another upcoming tour, Sweet & Sticky. I wonder what advance sales are like? If you’ve missed her, menopausal Madge will be on stage until she’s 60!!!! She’s inked a decade-long pact with Live Nation concert promoters.
Speaking of traif, have you watched Bizarre Foods w/ Andrew Zimmern? I like him. Balls, cheeks, guts!!! It’s all there. He eats it! The show can be fascinating.