Here’s a brutal article on how public opinion is managed, massaged, and paid for by the US government. A brief excerpt:

These records reveal a symbiotic relationship where the usual dividing lines between government and journalism have been obliterated.

Internal Pentagon documents repeatedly refer to the military analysts as “message force multipliers” or “surrogates” who could be counted on to deliver administration “themes and messages” to millions of Americans “in the form of their own opinions.”

Though many analysts are paid network consultants, making $500 to $1,000 per appearance, in Pentagon meetings they sometimes spoke as if they were operating behind enemy lines, interviews and transcripts show. Some offered the Pentagon tips on how to outmaneuver the networks, or as one analyst put it to Donald H. Rumsfeld, then the defense secretary, “the Chris Matthewses and the Wolf Blitzers of the world.” Some warned of planned stories or sent the Pentagon copies of their correspondence with network news executives. Many — although certainly not all — faithfully echoed talking points intended to counter critics.

“Good work,” Thomas G. McInerney, a retired Air Force general, consultant and Fox News analyst, wrote to the Pentagon after receiving fresh talking points in late 2006. “We will use it.”

Again and again, records show, the administration has enlisted analysts as a rapid reaction force to rebut what it viewed as critical news coverage, some of it by the networks’ own Pentagon correspondents. For example, when news articles revealed that troops in Iraq were dying because of inadequate body armor, a senior Pentagon official wrote to his colleagues: “I think our analysts — properly armed — can push back in that arena.”

For years the media was asleep at the wheel, again. Credit to the New York Times for digging this up. Now, who’s getting fired over this? How much tax payer’s money was spent on this?

Infrared picture of the Andromeda galaxy. Like this picture? Good news, pictures will get even better. Andromeda is approaching Earth at about 670,000 miles per hour and will collide with us pretty soon (in galactic terms):

The Andromeda Galaxy is approaching the Sun at about 300 kilometers per second (186 miles/s.), so it is one of the few blue shifted galaxies. Given the motion of the Solar System inside the Milky Way, one finds that the Andromeda Galaxy and the Milky Way are approaching one another at a speed of 100 to 140 kilometers per second (62–87 miles/s.; 223,200–313,200mph).^[18] The impact is predicted to occur in about 2.5 billion years

Let’s call a spade a spade: There are a bunch of cowardly assholes living in the Middle East subjecting women to unspeakable treatment. Consider what our billions in Iraq are buying us:

Authorities in the southern Iraqi city of Basra have admitted they are powerless to prevent ‘honour killings’ in the city following a 70 per cent increase in religious murders during the past year.

There has been no improvement in conviction rates for these killings. So far this year, 81 women in the city have been murdered for allegedly bringing shame on their families. Only five people have been convicted.

During 2007 the Basra security committee recorded 47 ‘honour killings’ and three convictions. One lawyer in the city described how police were actively protecting perpetrators and said that a woman in Basra could now be murdered by hired hitmen for as little as $100 (£65).

The figures come despite international outrage which followed The Observer’s coverage of the death of 17-year-old Rand Abdel-Qader, who was murdered by her father last April in an ‘honour killing’ after falling in love with a British soldier in Basra. The 4,000 British troops stationed in the city since the invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein in 2003 withdrew to the airport last September.

Rand Abdel-Qader was killed after her family discovered that she had formed a friendship with a 22-year-old infantryman whom she knew as Paul. She was suffocated by her father then hacked at with a knife. Abdel-Qader Ali was subsequently arrested and released without charge.

Rand’s mother, Leila Hussein, who divorced her husband after the killing, went into hiding but was tracked down weeks later and assassinated by an unknown gunman. Her husband had told The Observer that police had congratulated him for killing his daughter.

What kind of pathetic culture is at work here? It must be rare you say? There are more honor killings each year than the entire US KIA count in the Iraq war. Look at our friendly ally Saudi Arabia. Women can’t vote, aren’t allowed to drive, must be covered and cannot be seen with any man who is not her husband. To get your blood really boiling read this and ask yourself: Why is Saudi Arabia even allowed to be in the UN? Oil, maybe?

Ideally i would like to extent the subject to the death penalty, as Saudi Arabia’s record is abysmal here as well. But, as an American, what is my credibility on the subject as my country keeps unsightly company on the subject:

Most Executions carried out in 2007

A senior interrogator for the US Army is still haunted by what he witnessed the US do to its prisoners. But what is just as bad, as every good military officer knows (John McCain who was tortured in Vietnam stated the same): Torture does not work. President Bush sold the American soul for nothing. Here’s what actually worked:

I refused to participate in such practices, and a month later, I extended that prohibition to the team of interrogators I was assigned to lead. I taught the members of my unit a new methodology — one based on building rapport with suspects, showing cultural understanding and using good old-fashioned brainpower to tease out information. I personally conducted more than 300 interrogations, and I supervised more than 1,000. The methods my team used are not classified (they’re listed in the unclassified Field Manual), but the way we used them was, I like to think, unique. We got to know our enemies, we learned to negotiate with them, and we adapted criminal investigative techniques to our work (something that the Field Manual permits, under the concept of “ruses and trickery”). It worked. Our efforts started a chain of successes that ultimately led to Zarqawi.

Over the course of this renaissance in interrogation tactics, our attitudes changed. We no longer saw our prisoners as the stereotypical al-Qaeda evildoers we had been repeatedly briefed to expect; we saw them as Sunni Iraqis, often family men protecting themselves from Shiite militias and trying to ensure that their fellow Sunnis would still have some access to wealth and power in the new Iraq. Most surprisingly, they turned out to despise al-Qaeda in Iraq as much as they despised us, but Zarqawi and his thugs were willing to provide them with arms and money. I pointed this out to Gen. George Casey, the former top U.S. commander in Iraq, when he visited my prison in the summer of 2006. He did not respond.

Perhaps he should have. It turns out that my team was right to think that many disgruntled Sunnis could be peeled away from Zarqawi. A year later, Gen. David Petraeus helped boost the so-called Anbar Awakening, in which tens of thousands of Sunnis turned against al-Qaeda in Iraq and signed up with U.S. forces, cutting violence in the country dramatically.

Our new interrogation methods led to one of the war’s biggest breakthroughs: We convinced one of Zarqawi’s associates to give up the al-Qaeda in Iraq leader’s location. On June 8, 2006, U.S. warplanes dropped two 500-pound bombs on a house where Zarqawi was meeting with other insurgent leaders.

I truly hope we will go through a cleansing and recognition of what happened and why it was wrong. Only this way can America reclaim the moral high ground.

Days of headlines and horror stories about the terror attacks in India. What are the lessons? What should be the next steps?

1. Dumb question: Why did it take India’s cops/military three days to overwhelm 10 guys with rifles? That is just pathetic. Clearly improvements can be made there.

2. What was the goal? Besides the obvious goal of spreading fear, terror and PR, I suspect the actual strategic goal was to destabilize Pakistan. Yes, not India, but Pakistan. It is in Pakistan where we see the greatest spread of fundamentalist Islam. Pakistan is already considering moving troops from the border to Afghanistan toward the Indian border out of concern for Indian reprisals. It is important here that India not take the bait and focus on blaming the Pakistani government for the attack and create further political tension. Coordination to combat the common cancer is required.

The simple issue has been the same for years. Pakistan does not have control over its tribal regions. Much has been said that maybe they don’t want to. Either way not acceptable. The US and NATO do not have enough resources in Afghanistan and nobody is doing anything substantial in northwestern Pakistan. Until the world makes a decision that this problem will be addressed in a major way, everybody should just pull out and stop pretending. A German General expressed his frustration today:

The training scheme was “a miserable failure,” Ammon told DPA, the German press agency, after describing the German record in Afghanistan to a gathering last week of a reservists’ association. The government had provided a mere €12 million for training the Afghan Army and police while the United States has already given more than $1 billion, he said.

Afghanistan/Pakistan are the problem areas. It cannot be stated enough how misguided the Iraq invasion was. The opportunity cost is enormous. To this day I do not see the push to get to the heart of the issue. And the true danger remains that Pakistan will fall under the control of the Islamists who then have control over Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal.

3. Lastly, this type of attack can happen anywhere in the world. How difficult do you think it is to get 10 guys into the US via either border? Or Europe? Not hard. Access to weapons? Easy as well. Protection? Little to none. Those are the facts. No airport security will protect from this type of approach. Does anyone really think cities like Kansas City, Des Moines, or Denver would be better prepared than Mumbai? I hardly think so.

Unless the Afghanistan/Pakistan problem is seriously addressed, this threat will continue to hang over our heads.

I keep repeating: You cannot take anything at face value. The media reports like a mindless engine, churning out conflicting reports, often polar opposites of the truth. Consider some of these headlines, just from this weekend:

Holiday sales off to a strong start

Holiday shopping season off to modest start.

Then you have:

Black Friday sales chalk up 3% gain from last year and then:

Shoppers turn out, but hold on to their wallets

Confused? It could be worse:

Microsoft in $20 billion Yahoo deal and then

“Total Fiction” There is no $20 billion Microsoft deal to buy Yahoo search

or how about these headline from the same site no less:

Pros say: Expect cash raising sell-off compared with:

What the pros say: “Explosive” rally coming

Seriously, are you kidding me?

In a word: Anemic. The pictures below were taken on Black Friday afternoon in Phoenix, Arizona in a mall on Camelback Road, one of the more upscale areas in Phoenix. While people were about, there were few people with shopping bags, and quite few stores were downright empty, no shoppers, none. The Apple store was filled with people, but not outrageously so, and few seemed to buy.

Phoenix Mall 1

Desperate times call for desperate measures (as seen today in Phoenix, Arizona):

I love it when people who, by admission, know nothing of a subject give advice on it anyway. Religious leaders giving advice on sex is as fruitful as a car salesman giving advice on surgery. Whatever your opinion may be on the Dalai Lama, statements like these are just not useful or practical.:

Sexual pressure, sexual desire, actually I think is short period satisfaction and often, that leads to more complication,” the Dalai Lama told reporters in a Lagos hotel, speaking in English without a translator.

He said conjugal life caused “too much ups and downs.

“Naturally as a human being … some kind of desire for sex comes, but then you use human intelligence to make comprehension that those couples always full of trouble. And in some cases there is suicide, murder cases,” the Dalai Lama said.

Sex leads to suicide and murder? Seriously dude, you missed out and you know it. I honestly feel sorry for people like him, as the religious constructs they live under force them to adopt a lifestyle that is simply unnatural. How horrid then for old virgins to give young people advice on sex? The outcome can ultimately only lead to sorrow. Examples include the Catholic Church telling people that condoms are not effective against Aids, and abstinence programs resulting in higher instances of oral and anal sex among teens.

Please, religious leaders, stop preaching about subjects you know nothing about. And, I may add, that includes what happens after death. You haven’t been there, so you don’t know either. Please stop pretending you do.

The ECB is reportedly getting ready to cut rates again by 50 basis points. After being horridly behind other countries in terms of aggressiveness, questions are being raised as to opportunity cost of its incremental approach:

Lorenzo Bini Smaghi, an ECB executive board member, argued this week that in “spaghetti westerns”, the “goodies” won if they shot first – but they had to hit the target: “There is no scene more depressing than one in which the cavalry is surrounded, without any ammunition left.”

In the meantime disagreements about a European stimulus plan continue to delay meaningful action:

There have been calls from outside Germany for it to beef up fiscal support, but Ms Merkel has been wary of raising public borrowing to stimulate demand, fearing that the extra income could boost Germans’ savings rate, which is already high.

The chancellor defended her government’s modest fiscal stimulus – worth €12bn over the next two years – as a “measured and proportional response . . . tailored to the situation”.

Ms Merkel’s comments came as the European Union proposed a €200bn economic stimulus plan aimed at avoiding a deeper recession through tax and infrastructure plans. There were immediate doubts as to whether member states would back the measures…..

“Angela Merkel and other conservative leaders such as [Italian premier Silvio] Berlusconi may well water down the plan and refuse to make the necessary national investments,” said Poul Nyrup Rasmussen, the former Danish prime minister who heads the Socialist party in the European parliament.

I’m not sure this movie will have a happy ending…

Not a great PR move here:

Two British and one Irish security guard have been plucked from the sea by a military helicopter after jumping from a chemical tanker seized by pirates off Somalia.

Their decision to abandon the two dozen crew members still on board attracted some criticism, but their British employer insisted that the three former soldiers were heroes who had resisted a sustained attack by heavily-armed pirates with great courage and would have been killed if they had stayed any longer.

“They were unarmed. They had no other option…As far as I’m concerned they deserve a medal,” said Nick Davis, a former British army pilot who runs Anti-Piracy Maritime Security Solutions (APMSS) out of Poole, Dorset.

Dumb questions: Why were they not armed? Why are they called anti-priate experts?

People are stupid, that’s really the only comment I have on a tragedy such as this:

A Wal-Mart worker died after being trampled when hundreds of shoppers smashed through the doors of a Long Island store Friday morning, police and witnesses said.

The 34-year-old employee, a temporary maintenance worker, tried to hold back the unruly crowds just after the Valley Stream store opened at 5 a.m.

Witnesses said the surging throngs of shoppers knocked the man down. He fell and was stepped on. As he gasped for air, shoppers ran over and around him

Nice.

Wishful thinking maybe? Or truly deluded of what damage he has done? Take your pick. President Bush stated the following today:

“I’d like to be a president (known) as somebody who liberated 50 million people and helped achieve peace,” Bush said in excerpts of a recent interview released by the White House Friday.

“I would like to be a person remembered as a person who, first and foremost, did not sell his soul in order to accommodate the political process. I came to Washington with a set of values, and I’m leaving with the same set of values

Let’s right size these statements shall we?

1. President Bush commenced a first strike war using false information and under a false premise. That is an indisputable fact. Peace? What peace? Iraq, after hundreds of thousands of deaths and displacement of millions, is hanging together by a thread, supported by billions spent every day on military efforts and bribes of the locals. Afghanistan is as violent as ever with the Taliban expanding its power base.

2. I can’t speak to his soul, but I can speak to the soul of the American democratic system. President Bush trampled on the United States Constitution. He and his lieutenants manipulated the legislature and judiciary wherever possible to get what they wanted: Unlimited executive power; a direct contrast to the intent of the founding fathers. Under his order people where tortured in direct violation of the Geneva Convention. Secret prisons were kept around the world. Extraordinary renditions occurred. Legal representation was denied, innocent people were held for years and tortured only to be later released.

Consider this:

Judge Richard J. Leon of Federal District Court in Washington ruled that five Algerian men had been unlawfully held at Guantánamo and ordered their release. He said: “Seven years of waiting for our legal system to give them an answer to a question so important is, in my judgment, more than plenty.”

Of the 770 detainees grabbed here and there and flown to Guantánamo, only 23 have ever been charged with a crime. Of the more than 500 so far released, many traumatized by those “enhanced” techniques, not one has received an apology or compensation for their season in hell.

What they got on release was a single piece of paper from the American government.

The founding fathers would turn in their graves. Add to these facts the record of record spending and an out of control federal debt, you have the most irresponsible and inept president in history.

If these are “values” he is so proud of, then he shall be judged by their record of their accomplishment. And that record shows an abysmal failure by any objective standard. And that is what history will show.

If President Bush truly believes what he says he believes he is surely delusional.

Christopher Hitchens raises some good points here:

The US is the most religious country within the developed world with over 90% of the population identifying themselves as Christians and roughly 50% not believing in evolution. Religious groups have a very significant influence in the political process, as evidenced, for example, by the uncompromising Republican party platform on abortion (no abortion even in the case of rape/and incest).

Islam is known to be the world’s fastest growing religion, despite all the negative publicity generated by its extreme elements.

Surprising then may be the fact that non-believers and atheists in aggregate rank as number 3 in the world. In most developed countries, increasingly educated and progressive societies have been shedding religious traditions. I suspect that, in the fullness of time, that this ranking will move upward.

Christians, surprisingly, only represent 33% of the world’s population (and that number is decreasing). I say only, because given the historical context that seems rather low:

a) Christianity was the state demanded religion in the Western World and was imposed globally on many nations during colonialism.

b) Christians claim that only through the acceptance of Jesus Christ can souls be saved and reach eternal life in the presence of God. After 2,000 years of preaching the gospel, is 33% not an abysmal record? In other words, 67% of the world rejects Christianity outright.

Or maybe the truth is a lot simpler. A person is most likely an adherent of the religion he or she grows up with. With over 6.5 billion people on the planet, and the vast majority of the population growth coming from the often non-Christian developing world, the statistics then become a numbers game. Look at the geographical distribution of religions in the world, compare it with the population growth rates in these countries, and voila, there’s your projected relative growth of respective religious faith. Nothing divine about.

Terror attacks are unfortunately nothing new. In my mind, however, these particular attacks in Mumbai signify a methodology that I’m surprised hadn’t been employed before:

The hooded gunmen, firing automatic weapons and throwing hand grenades, attacked at least two luxury hotels, the city’s largest train station, a Jewish center, a movie theater, a popular restaurant and a hospital — sites with generally little in the way of security — late Wednesday. Several survivors said the attackers sought out American and British citizens in particular, and the standoffs with the gunmen continued Thursday at the two hotels, which were burning, and, according to some unconfirmed reports, at the Jewish center.

The aim of September 9/11 was as much symbolic as it was aimed to produce high shock value. Even Al Qaeda could not have predicted that the Twin Towers would crumble like they did, causing the death of thousands. Their aim was to strike at the heart of what they perceive to be the root of imperial power: Money. The World Trade Center represented the concentration of the world’s capitalistic system.

Most attacks thereafter have been blast oriented aimed at infrastructure venues, i.e the train terror attacks in Spain and England.  But these attacks are involved, requiring explosives and complex planning thereby increasing the likelihood of being foiled. Because of this, these attacks can’t occur very often.

But these attacks in India may be a forbearer of what is to come. Real terror that can actually achieve major results in terms of shutting down economic activity in a country. Why? Because it is repeatable, is easily implemented with small arms, and can happen any time, anywhere, and there is no real protection from it in a free society.

Jesse Ventura, a former Navy Seal and former governor of Minnesota, has stated before that one could shut down the US with several small Seal like teams inflicting horrible terror actions across the country.

One has to wonder why no terror organization has done it yet. What would happen if small teams in coordinated fashion would open fire in movie theaters, shopping malls, hotels and hospitals? Total utter chaos and complete fear coupled with martial law. Were the attacks in India a dry run? Will they serve as a model?

One shudders to think. None of this is discussed in the public discourse. While billions are spent on airport security, the simple fact is: there is no security. In this sense, President Bush’s effort to “take the fight to the enemy” was a worthwhile goal. However, by invading Iraq, much needed resources were pulled away from Afghanistan. And, as is evident, Al Qaeda is alive and well. The only good news is that, with each attack, Al Qaeda makes itself more enemies.

The insanity continues and will be with us for decades. Attacks such as in India will come to the US. It is just a matter of time.

Amazing graphic from Yale University. How bad is this year? This bad:

Kudos to Andrew Sullivan for this great clip.

The moral: When in trouble make new friends!

From the man who predicted it all, not encouraging news:

Well Iceland is not known for riots, but people are pissed and scared as Iceland is facing financial collapse. The financial crisis is global. Tensions are running high:

As regular readers know I’m very supportive of Obama and find him, so far, very pragmatic and intelligent. I’m also a very aggressive critic of a media landscape that is either ideological, or simply apathetic in their analysis. Very few, if any, can be found to be, independent, hard hitting and holding people and parties accountable.

Often reporters or analysts are simply too close to the people they cover. A critical, analytical view can be difficult to maintain, or even become impossible. As human beings we are all biased. But we need to keep our biases in check, otherwise all our analysis becomes jaded and we view the world only through an ideological lense and become blind to contrary information.

The Bush administration and its Rovian tactics actually made media outlets like The Huffington Post possible. A sincere feeling that truth was kept from the American people, and a general sense of outrage in response to the policies of the Bush administration, allowed Arianna Huffington to tap into a void. Through her wealth and vast social and political connections, and good business acumen, she was able to launch The Huffington Post and create a small, but growing media organization. Fair play to her.

The content: Very liberal, left leaning material. Some of it quite good, but solidly lacking in terms of objective analysis. Arianna herself writes a column, but by no means in depth analysis on any particular topics, but rather with a tilt toward the gossipy:

Another tidbit: Obama once called Hillary “directly from his cellphone to hers” just to “check in.” Awww. Just like Harry and Sally calling to check in with each other while watching TV.

And while it doesn’t have the exhilarating excitement of Billy Crystal’s mad dash to the New Year’s party, or the exquisite tension of Tom Hanks’ last-second return to the top of the Empire State Building, Obama’s climactic proposal to Hillary seems to have done the trick: “She feels like she’s been treated very well in the way she’s been asked,” said a close associate of Mrs. Clinton.

Colin Powell and George Bush never really got along. Powell was like a trophy wife, brought aboard to make Bush look good. But it was never a love match. Even when Powell gifted Bush with that sparkling vile of fake anthrax and the decisive UN speech in the run-up to the war, the love just wasn’t there. And we see what that got us.

On the other hand, Condi Rice was Bush’s office wife. She adored him. He put stars in her eyes and made her heart skip a beat. But that didn’t help her do a single worthwhile thing as Secretary of State.

That’s all fine and dandy, but I suspect it will be difficult for her to hold an Obama administration to account with the same passion as she tried with the Bush administration. Consider this:

She is a close friend of Barack Obama, the President-elect - who, with Hillary Clinton, has posted on her site - and, at a dinner in London on Wednesday night, joked: “I only text three people - my two teenage children and Barack Obama.”

Will she and her site be critical of her personal friend? Somehow I don’t see it, but we’ll see. I’m skeptical for now.

What’s our media landscape look like? Voters generally have three choices:

1. Go with generic apathetic programming focusing on high level reporting afraid to offend anybody

2. Go with right wing media (Hannity, Limbaugh)

3. Go with left wing media (Daily kos, Huffington Post).

Have you ever noticed there are really never any independents on the news talk shows? From the right we have…from the left we have…..HEY! what about us millions of independent voters who are sick of the labeling and just want a factual discussion of the issues?

Maybe there is a God?

I should not be laughing at what is surely a very painful experience for her, but the irony was too hard to pass up, especially after all the demonizing things she has said about other people for the sake of filling her own purse…

For Ann Coulter classics go here.

Robert Redford speaks sense and truth here:

My take: They know they are working against the democratic process by trying to sneak this through. But then, they were never that interested in upholding the Constitution.

If Cisco (CSCO) systems is undergoing a forced production shutdown over the holidays, then what does this imply for companies that are in real trouble? Shutdown for a month?

A highly insightful interview on the macro economy and trends. Jeremy Grantham gives a great historical overview and minces no words.

The YouTube clip is a short version, the full interview is here.

Actually it is more than that. After committing an additional $800 billion today to help unfreeze credit, the US government’s total initiated obligations now exceed $5 trillion dollars.

Today’s step was helpful in that 30 year mortgage rates experienced their largest one day drop ever. This move should help spark interest in loans and will hopefully help thaw the credit market.

If you are worried about what all that spending will do to the financial future of the country you are not alone. Worse, we have yet to see a material improvement in the equity markets. Besides the technical bounce from last week and likely mark-ups by funds this week there is little indication that there is any trend change.

There are however, increasingly diverging opinions about which direction the markets will take from here. Caution is prudent whether you are leaning short or long. In my book, this can go either way, although I suspect we may see a short term down move sooner rather than later.

The European Union is not unified.  Germany is apparently caught up in internal politics that keep Merkel from making decisive decisions. Not a good time to putz around:

Sarkozy, as the current president of the European Union, has taken the lead on coordinating a European response to the crisis and at times annoyed neighboring countries by using the crisis to push a traditionally interventionist French agenda for the rest of the bloc, which comprises 27 countries.

Merkel, held back by a quarreling coalition government less than a year before elections, has been accused of dithering and keeping too low a profile at a time when other countries look to Germany, Europe’s biggest economy, for leadership.

More evidence of Germany’s problems was released on Monday: The Ifo index of business confidence, one of the most reliable predictors of economic activity in the euro zone, which comprises 15 countries, fell to its lowest level in 15 years.

Against this dark backdrop, Sarkozy and Merkel sought to paper over their differences. They committed themselves vaguely to take further action if needed, and said that they were both open to the idea of increasing help for European carmakers.

But the tension remained on display.

“On the necessity of taking other measures,” Sarkozy said in a thinly veiled reference to continued German foot-dragging, “France is working on it and Germany is thinking about it.”

While I’m encouraged by Obama seemingly to take the bull by the horn, I’m concerned that many in leadership positions in the world have yet to grasp the severity of the situation. Consider this sentence:

Merkel said Monday that Germany, the EU’s largest contributor, might increase a €23 billion national stimulus package as early as January if the economy slowed further.

Might? If? Seriously, are they that clueless? Absolutely reactive behavior. Slowness to respond is what caused the situation to get as bad as it has. Continued slowness and lack of coordination will continue to be a drag on recovery and may, in fact, make things even worse.

Well what can you say? You know things are bad when:

1. Tiger Woods gets canned from his endorsement deal with GM after seven years

2. Monkeys are the new restaurant help….

The continued volatility in the US equity markets is nothing short of amazing and frightening at the same time. To put things in perspective: At some point today the S&P 500 had rallied 16% off of the lows set last Friday. 16%! Today alone we had stocks like Citigroup and Goldman Sachs rally 60% and 30% respectively. Is this healthy? Of course, not. This type of action is more reminiscent of a banana republic. So what’s going? A number of items:

1. We are in a bear market, and bear market rallies are among the most vicious.

2. We had been tremendously oversold and continue to be that, so a rally was in the cards as I had talked about before

3. We had finally a positive news cycle. The government guaranteeing Citigroup’s bad assets brought significant relief to the financials. Obama’s news conference announcing his economic team and indicating urgency in trying to solve the crisis gave a good excuse to rally.

4. Short covering. The last hour produced a rip your head off short covering rally forcing the market higher than it would have otherwise

So are we in the clear? By no means. In fact the Dow dropped an insane 230 point in less than 4 minutes close to the end. It was so violent and fast the chart above doesn’t even show it. Stunning volatility.

Also note that several key stocks did not participate in today’s rally: Google (GOOG), Research in Motion (RIMM) were notably absent at the end of the day.

Bottomline: A trader’s paradise. But even trader’s have to be extremely careful. Taking a bathroom break with an open position can be costly!

A harsh judgment from Steve Forbes on Henry Paulson:

Forbes magazine President and CEO Steve Forbes called Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson “the worst treasury secretary we’ve had in modern times”, citing, among other things, the government’s handling of the housing crisis.

In an interview with CNN’s Wolf Blitzer on Sunday, Forbes repeatedly called on the treasury secretary to be more straightforward about the money used to bail out mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

I can’t disagree. He kept saying things were fine for the longest time when things weren’t, and he was slow to move. How did he ever become head of Goldman Sachs?