Monday, August 20, 2007

The Bears in the Cage

Over the weekend, a drunken Serb was killed and partially eaten after he climbed into a bear cage at the Belgrade Zoo. Apparently, the victim had been throwing beer cans, bricks, stones, and even mobile phones at the bears. However, after he climbed into the cage to show who was really boss, he probably lived long enough to regret his mistake. The two bears, Masha and Misha, "dragged the body to their feeding corner," started eating him like any other piece of meat, "and reacted angrily when keepers tried to recover [the body]."

The Republicans are more wary than the drunken Serb these days, but they have to wonder if they are going to be dragged into a bear cage as they watch the sub-prime mortgage crisis. Right now, it's sub-prime mortgage companies and the Wall Street firms that invested in their mortgages that are being eaten.

Who cares about them?

However, if heavily indebted consumers are dragged into the cage with Wall Street, the economy will be looking at a recession on top of the unpopular wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Katrina, the on-going health care crisis, and the various Alberto Gonzales scandals.

Given that all these other things have occurred on George Bush and the Republican Party's watch, the onset of a recession would mean that the Republicans would get eaten alive by voters.

Couldn't happen to nicer people.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

In the meantime, they drag the rest of us down with them. To me, seeing the repugs get their asses handed to them by the voters is a small consolation for the huge mess they have made.

Anonymous said...

How is sub-prime lending the responsibility of the Republican party ? Katrina? Afghanistan is now an unpopular war too ?

Vigilante said...

JD, poor regulation leads us to a BEAR market.

Anonymous said...

How is sub-prime lending the responsibility of the Republican party ?

JD, John Edwards has some very reliable inside information on this topic. That's probably how they know it's the Repubs fault.

Amazing Prof that you could type this whole post without a mention of that. Or did Rove dupe him into investing in a sub-prime lender?

Vigilante: Over regulation leads us to no market. I'll take unfettered capitalism over anything that smacks of marxism any day.

Ric Caric said...

I'm not saying that any recession resulting sub-prime lending mess would be the fault of the Republicans. But you can bet your bottom dollar that the Republicans will be blamed for it if it happens.

Anonymous said...

So, let me get this straight ... you are not actually blaming them, but you will blame them anyway.

Anonymous said...

JD-Politicians take the blame for weak economies despite having little to do with their success and failure. That's why Clinton received praise for a strong economy while he was president. It's all really a matter of public opinion, but if the market goes south President Bush will take the brunt of criticism for it. Didn't you take a US Government class in college?

Anonymous said...

Scott - Are you so arrogant to think that someone other than yourself might understand this simple concept? I was just pointing out to Prof. Caric that although President Bush and the Republicans are in no way responsible for sub-prime lending, he and his fellow travelers will have no problem blaming same on him. A bit hypocritical, no?

Ric Caric said...

There are three issues here:

1. Will there be a recession as a result of the sub-prime lending mess? Nobody knows

2. Will Bush be blamed if there is a recession? Definitely. That was the point of the top post.

3. Will the right-wing crank up the smear machine to make up for the recession? Of course. Maybe I should do another "Smearkrieg" post.

Anonymous said...

Except your anecdote employs a character that actively contributed to his fate. Perhaps you just thought it was cute, and decided to recount it for us. By it's inclusion it seems to display intent to link the repubs with their potential fate.

Had your anecdote been "a serb was eaten by a bear that someone else let out of it's cage" you might have some credibility on trying to distance your post from that implication. You didn't, so you don't.

Ric Caric said...

I'm clear about the difference between jumping in and being dragged in.

Anonymous said...

but your post isn't.