When I was a kid we used to look forward to Superman comic book episodes in "Bizarro World." It was a place where you had to do everything ass backwards, a cubed shaped planet called "Htrae," (which is earth spelled backwards.) First appearing in DC Action Comics issue #263, Wikipedia reminds us: "In the Bizarro world society is ruled by the Bizarro Code which states "Us do opposite of all Earthly things! Us hate beauty! Us love ugliness! Is big crime to make anything perfect on Bizarro World!" In one episode, for example, a salesman is doing a brisk trade selling Bizarro bonds: "Guaranteed to lose money for you!" Later, the mayor appoints Bizarro No. 1 to investigate a crime, "Because you are stupider than the entire Bizarro police force put together." This is intended and taken as a great compliment."
Lately I've come to the feeling that we are living on the bizarro world of Htrae instead of earth. It's apparently a big crime now for a bank to make a loan that is safe and sound all on its own, and doesn't require government backing from the FHA, or packaging into a risk avoiding "security." What a strange world to think that the government now owns and guarantees 80% of the mortgages issued in the former "free market" we call the real estate industry. Yet like the demise of Fannnie & Freddie, the former backers of shaky mortgage paper, the FHA is now seeing a 23% default rate in its "portfolio." They might as well just borrow the line from Action Comics: FHA - "Guaranteed to lose money for you!"
And consider the stock market, where the play de jour is to try and make money by "shorting" stocks in a bad economy--making money from declining fortunes of the companies that issue the stocks. Bizarro indeed! But lately the short sellers have taken a big hit because, in the midst of the worst economic crash since the Great Depression, the stock market has put in a Bizarro Bear rally. All this while real earnings in companies that make up the S & P 500 have fallen off a cliff. Here's a chart from the folks at "Chart of the Day."
Wow! Talk about nasty "fundamentals!" Real earnings have taken the worst plunge in the history of the market since 1935! Time to buy stocks in Bizarro world! And while everyone stands in awe of this amazing bizarro bear rally, insiders, those with the big money in the know, are busy selling their stock shares like there was no tomorrow.So what a world we live in here on Htrae, where public money from the weakest goes to support the bad bets and private investment losses of the wealthiest. And all of this happens with the willing aid of the government that is supposed to be "of the people, by the people, and for the people"... you know, all of the folks out there on Main Street with no jobs or health care. No money for health care in Bizarro world! We spent it all to bail out the big banks. And all this goes on because our regulators, congressmen and government leaders appear to be "stupider than the entire Bizarro police force put together!"
GOOD NEWS! Unemployment continues unabated, foreclosures are at an all time high, credit is contracting at record levels, banks are failing everywhere, commerce is slowing to a crawl! It's a recovery! Excuse me. I have to go practice walking backwards.
