The gift that keeps on giving

The feisty frequent traveler (picture a hungover Madeleine Albright on steroids) has told somebody that she is canceling her plans to move to Michigan where her “boyfriend” lives (she’s older than I am). What we think is happening based on the flimsiest of rumors and snarky speculation is that she got dumped. The wildest buzz, from the impeccably secure source of my dentist’s wife, is that she may have to stick around to answer some sticky questions about her performance when she was at the Tri County Cap, another government sinecure that she managed to snooker for twenty or so years.

We do know that she said she didn’t get fired from that place that her bullying helped to build, earning it the sobriquet “Marge Mahal,” but some higher authority (like there could be?) tried to split up her job and give her first choice, for less pay. But in the murk of the latest whisperings winding around the old court house in Ossipee, some of us are very curious to see if Marge is giving up on her Michigan beaux who she has been meeting, we suspect, at the semi-annual conferences. She has after all given up her cozy if contentious slot as a commissioner which pays about ten grand (?) a year for a once a week gig. Some cynics will wonder if she will give up going on these ridiculous conference trips all over the country if there is no boyfriend waiting at the other end of the flight. Maybe the commissioners should send him a bonus for saving the county money.

I know of at least one person who thinks that Margie will try for a job in some sort of supervisory capacity when the new nursing home is getting built. I would think that she should not benefit from such a position after lobbying so heavily for the new building. It would be such an obvious conflict of interest, not that I think that would stop her from trying. But I do know others who will try to stop her.

In other news: The re-count on the Carroll County sheriff’s race has concluded that there was a one vote discrepancy and that Frannie Lord lost by 17 votes instead of 18. I can’t help but wonder if that letter that Michael Callous wrote to the Daily talking about the potential sheriff “swaggering” along side his foxy blond wife in “six inch heals” (sic) was the death knell for Lord who most thought would win handily. Not trying to stir things up here, much. I’m just sayin’…

I have a question for Hank Paulson: Say a person sells their house because they are moving to a new job. Is it possible they won’t be able to buy a house where they are moving to because they didn’t get enough for the old house and the credit is now so tight because of all the loser loans that got us into this trillion dollar mess? Who bails their sorry ass out?

I forget how many years ago it was when ballsy Lee Iacocca went to congress to get a bail out for Chrysler. Bodacious audacity, it was thought at the time. 1.5 billion freakin’ dollars to help keep a company afloat that employed tens of thousands in the heartland, never mind all the derivative companies through out the land who depended on the vast car manufacturer. Well, they did it and got paid back. But even in today’s dollars, does 1.5 BILLION compute to 1.1 TRILLION? And aren’t we mostly bailing out egregiously greedy Wall Street hot shots who would sell anybody anything for an ounce of Colombian to do with their friends on their 60 foot Cape Hatteras in Long Island Sound? The old argument that Wall Street “doesn’t make anything” is a good one in this case.

And what is really bugging me is that over the last weekend AIG was looking for another 20 billion from a private source to make it 40 billion in order to survive. It didn’t happen. By Monday they were asking the government for a little help to the tune of 75 billion. Paulson and the CNBC barkers (not Erin Burnette though) were saying no way. The next day, the newspaper of record had headlines in rather large font saying the gummint (emphasis on the last four letters) will loan AIG 85 billion. Ten more than they were asking for. I just want to know if any lobbyist made money on that transaction and I bet one of our polymath commenters will tell me.
All in all it’s been a good week, for Wall Street. And me, for getting to pick on the Barge some more.