Belrad's Universe - March 26, 2008

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Hello and welcome to Belrad Universe, the fastest-growing talk show in the United States today. I am your host, Bryan Belrad.

We've got some interesting stuff ahead for you in today's program. First up: the democratic division - hurting? Or helping? Also, we've got a unique perspective for you on the collapse of financial giant Bear Stearns, and, with the new movie coming out, many of us are wondering: What is "Stop-Loss"?

First, to the democrats. Most analysts seem to believe that the continued contention between Hillary and Barack is harming the eventual democratic nominee's chances of winning the election in November. However, I would contend that it is actually helping, because, while nobody is paying any attention to McCain, Hillary and Barack are constantly in the spotlight. They're getting all the attention, and building all the recognition.

People are learning about them. The debate continues to draw people in, and that's making them learn what their ideas are, what their plans are, and how they would shape America's future. Meanwhile, all most of us know about McCain is his name, and even that is fading into the background. He is, most probably, the most neglected major Presidential Candidate in history. By November, it will be Hillary or Barack's name on every tongue. McCain will be a distant memory, forgotten.

Most elections are decided by name recognition above all else, and all the discussion right now is focused on 'Who is it going to be? Barack? Hillary?' We all wonder how it will go, what they're going to say next. And all the while, McCain might as well take a vacation, because no one is paying any attention.

Both Hillary and Barack are getting all kinds of free publicity, free exposure, of the very best kind - and none of it comes out of the campaign budget! McCain can't even get that kind of publicity, no matter how much he pays. The benefit to the eventual nominee is priceless.

This is exactly like the Starbucks thing. Yeah, they had to train their clerks. Whatever. We all know there is no reason that couldn't have been done after closing, or even as people came on or off their shifts. Why did they close down for three hours to do it? Because it got them massive press attention. You just can't buy advertising like that.

They're loosing the coffee war to Dunkin Donuts, and they needed a shot of turbo-mocha to get them back in the game. So, that's exactly what they engineered.

They shut down their entire organization for three hours - at the busiest time of the day? That kind of stunt is for only one purpose: to grab headlines.

This division in the Democratic Party is good for another reason too - it's great for fundraising. Both candidates just have to hint that they need a little more 'oomph' to finish off the other guy, and millions appear in the war chest. McCain can't touch that ability.

And that, in turn, settles another big controversy. Is the media not covering Barack well enough? Come on... How many debates have there been? How many interviews? And, with all the attention he and Hillary both are getting now? Sheesh, if anything, it's McCain who isn't getting "thoroughly vetted by the media" as Sean Hannity so eloquently put it. In fact, the only places that McCain's name even comes up is on his and the other extreme Right fringe shows - and even there, it's maybe half as often as Barack's name does.

And something else we've all been looking at these past few days: As many of us have heard, the financial firm Bear Sterns has collapsed under the crushing pressure of the failing economy. Hey, if a whole country's financial system fell out of the sky and landed on you, you'd be squished too.

Here's the stats - In early 2007, Bear's shares were worth about $170 each. When JP Morgan Chase snatched them up, they were worth $2 - for a total sale price of $236 million. That's a net equity loss of $80.5 billion. Wow!

Where did all the equity go, I wonder? Well, since none of it ever actually existed, I suppose you might just call this a 'market correction'.

More significantly, this episode differs from the collapse of Enron in two main ways. First, Bear had no actual goods - their only real assets were buildings. Enron actually sold something. Second, Enron fell to corruption at the top, Bear had the rug pulled out from under it.

Apparently, all those tax breaks for the ultra-rich didn't help the rich all that much, since they're losing money hand over fist in the market's continuing downward slide. Well, more of a plunge, really.

But most importantly of all, the death of the great bear is a herald of things to come. Not since the Great Depression has a financial institution failed due to the forces of a faltering economy.

So, we've got unemployment - not government figures, but real numbers of people who are actually out of work - far in excess of anything we saw in the 1930's, the dollar is worth less than ever in the country's history - and still falling at an ever-increasing rate, an inflation cycle that is running out of control, foreclosures the likes of which this country has never seen, and, now, with the stock market primed for a titanic collapse, our financial firms are starting to fold.

Could somebody tell me how, aside from Hitler, this is different from the 30's? How about you, Mr. Hannity? You keep saying "the economy is stronger than ever"? What are we missing? What's left?

Come on, people! Our banks are going under! Wells Fargo is in massive legal trouble for their efforts to tear down America's economy - maybe they are terrorists; they're doing a lot more to harm this country today that anybody in the Middle East. Citibank has needed to be bailed out a couple of times now, the latest from our good buddies in Dubai. How many other banks is the government artificially propping up?

And what will happen when they finally do go under? Yes, the money is FDIC insured, but, 1) what will paying on that kind of cash do to the federal budget?, and 2) they're only insured up to $100,000 per account. Beyond that, all the money goes Poof!

Now, a lot of folk have been told - incorrectly - that this whole mess is because a bunch of people took out loans that they couldn't afford. But not so fast there! Aren't the banks supposed to be screening people? Sure, a few loans will go bad no matter what you do, but all these banks approved these mortgages that are now failing. So, really, whose fault is that?

The banks, most especially Wells Fargo, got greedy. They pushed too far. They've tinkered with the loans, raped equity, forced fraudulent foreclosures, and tried to make a quick buck in rapid mortgage turnovers. They turned this whole country into a Vaseline-fest in the name of profit.

But, worst of all, they were stupid. They pursued tactics that would make them an extra dollar today, at the expense of making thousands tomorrow. Anything to get those stock prices up, eh?

Well, they've made their mess. I say let them wade in it. Let the banks, like Wells Fargo, suffer the consequences of their actions, just like everybody else. And about time.

Finally, there's a movie coming out about a soldier who is being sent back to the war, instead of being discharged, even though his term of service is up. It's called "Stop-Loss", and it's got a lot of people wondering: What is Stop-Loss?

Stop-Loss is basically a form of the draft, except, instead of conscripting service members from the general public, it forces veterans, who have already done their duty to their country, to go back into harm's way to "feed the meat-grinder".

Why are we doing this? Well, traditional drafts are very unpopular, and, by drafting only people who are already soldiers, we can continue to claim to have an all-volunteer army - even if a good chunk of those serving are now doing so against their will.

In short, the military needs more bodies. Not enough people are choosing to re-enlist (guess why), and, even with the poor getting crushed by the sad state of the country today, not enough are getting conned into signing up.

We have the largest standing army today that we have had in the entire history of our country, including the Civil War, and we still don't have enough. So, if we can't entice those who are already in uniform to stay in uniform, we'll make them do it instead.

I encourage everybody who hears this to go see that movie. Learn about the issues involved, about how our heroes are being treated.

Well, that's all for this time. Remember, you can reach us any time by email at Show@BelradUniverse.com. We love to hear from you.

Until next time, stay safe, everyone.