oh and cool...

Cannot be arsed reading this, but Barack X?

Oh and work

Funny. There was a big bit in the NY Times which prompted a memo going out a couple of days ago.
Meanwhile, as I said here earlier, things are afoot already. I've had to sign a COnfidentiality Agreement. The funny thing on that was, the lawyers had worded it - literally saying "in the broadest sense possible" - that it actually means I'm not permitted to talk about work with anyone outside the company. Even if my job is primarily dealing with external parties...
That report said layoffs would start in 2 weeks. Not heard anything yet ;-)

Constitutional theories

So thinking about the American election. The standard line from us on the "left" is that whoever is lected, they are merely the puppet of the corporate capitalists. And that's pretty much true. And I don't expect Obama to go too far from that model.
Except...
The American constitution basically posits the President as a monarch. The system of government was defined in terms of its opposition to a monarchy, and a particularly discredited one at that. So although there are separations of powers, those powers are still defined in terms of their relative power to the Presidency - that is, to a monarchy. This is an attempt to create a constitutional monarchy as opposed to the absolutism of a Bourbon-style monarchy, or the corruption of the court of George III.
The upshot being, that there is still a monarchistic, absolutist potential in the role of the presidency. This is usually tempered by the fact that those standing as president are generally corrupted by decades of political life (Bush, Snr, Cheney or Nixon) or are corrupted by personal trauma and compromise (Clinton, Reagan or Kennedy).
That Obama is being widely compared to FDR is not merely that this is a Democrat going into power in the midst of a huge financial crisis. It's also that FDR was a hugely intelligent and determined person. But mostly, I think, he was the last president who had the capacity to act as a monarch. Which he did.
Roosevelt's acceptance of the nomination said:
"Throughout the nation men and women, forgotten in the political philosophy of the Government, look to us here for guidance and for more equitable opportunity to share in the distribution of national wealth…"
Which is almost identical to the message of 'Change' and the "redistribution of wealth" which Obama is proposing.
These twin themes tie to something in American culture which is deeper and more profound than the knee-jerk rightist nonsense of the last 40 years. On one side, it's that sense of a nation of outsiders, pioneers, looking for an honest buck for an honest day's work and perhaps a bit of sidelining outlaw life. On the other hand, it's also a deferential search for an authority, with a definite moralistic bent no matter how secular they may be, to replace the monarch and lead them by the hand into the land of milk, honey and forgiveness.
If Malcolm was their own Black, shining Prince; perhaps Barack Obama is about to be their orator-King, a Plebeian Tribune become Caesar, but with the wit of an Augustus, rather than the half-assed Nero we've had for the last 8 years.

Interesting Times

So nearly the entire banking system of the Western capitalist world has been to a greater or lesser degree nationalised since I last wrote. That's a pretty substantial move.
You could argue that it validates Marx, suggesting the move towards the state as the monopolistic force of capitalism is underway. Most MArxists argue the opposite, that this is the state supporting its rich; redirecting the wealth of the state for the benefit of the wealthy like some neo-feudalist robber barons.
Personally, I think the logic of capitalism dictates this move, as banking is the cornerstone of the system. However, it's bizarre that I haven't seen any forward looking analysis of where these steps take us in the long-term. It seems pretty obvious that if countries bail out banks, then the only solid investment that isn't meaningless becomes the bonds that nations issue to fund their bailouts. This in turn leads to further disinvestment from other corporations, including banks. So it's either a vicious circle or, if I get more detailed about the hypotheses, it is in fact a feedback loop. The inevitable result of this will become questioning the liquidity of nations. At some point, the interest on multi-trillion dollar debts becomes os prohibitive that nations become effectively bankrupt. With it, the rest of the financial system will collapse. Iceland is guinea-pigging this theory, and they're being left out there to hang because frankly Iceland is neither important nor dangerous enough to mattter. But what if the next country going under is Germany or the UK?
SInce the beginning of September too, Obama has moved very close to closing out the deal, as they say, in the US. 19 days to go, and everyone who wants him to win - which is about 95% of the world's population - is holding their breath and hoping some nasty disappointment isn't going to happen on November 4th. That Americans can't be *that* stupid, ye gods no. McCain has fought a nearly flawless campaign for Obama, making a complete arse of himself at every turn and throwing away any semblance of a chance. Presumably he's been paid to chuck it, as nobody could be quite so impressiveley incompetent and mean it. But nobody got rich overestimating the American voter, so we'' hold our breath and see.
I'm also going to hold my breath adn see what happens with the writing. I've sent the first bit off looking for an agent. I don't expect immediate success; in fact, I don't really expect anything, as this whole thing is outside my experience, I'm not really sure what can or might happen. But it is the next thing to do, and I can write, so sooner or later this will lead to more interesting times.
If I'm really lucky, I might lose my job soon. Sure, that sounds weird in light of the total collapse of capitalism, but I think that's still a ways down the road. The bailout will work for the few decades - hopefully our kids will wise up before that too hits the big ol' Swanee. No, the great thing of a payoff and hit the road would be to give me time to write, to put me on the consultancy path with a safety net, to let me spend more time with the kids. It's just a perfect situation if it comes together. And I'm pretty confident this time that the gig's up. I suspect most of TW4's activities will be moving to IPC. (And this isn't insider information - I'm just making a guess and starting wild rumours. If anybody actually read this blog, I could get in trouble ;-)

That'll do for now. By the way, that photo isn't doctored, it's from the end of the 3rd debate last night.