The IMF has warned of a possible global “meltdown” — and they’re not referring to global warming, they’re referring to the global economy. In the midst of this tragedy — and if the global economy does “melt down,” it will be an epic tragedy, with a high human cost among the most vulnerable people — in the midst of all this, there have been moments approaching comedy. Like this:

“Late on Friday, US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said the US planned to invest directly in banks for the first since the 1930s, following a similar UK programme of partial bank nationalisation.” [BBC Web site, 11 October 2008]

Yes, the Republican advocates of small government are going to partially nationalize the U.S. banking industry. For years, political conservatives have joked that a conservative is a liberal who had been mugged; now the political liberals are joking that a liberal is a conservative who has money in a U.S. bank.

After a church committee meeting today, Jorge and I were talking about the current financial crisis.

“…then I felt really bad when I looked at my pension plan,” Jorge said.

“You know what the solution to that problem is,” I said.

“Yeah,” said Jorge. “Don’t look at your pension plan.”

At this point, that’s about all we can do.

The only good news is that people who work on Wall Street are no longer considered folk heroes.

Oh, and Richard fuld, the former president of Lehman Brothers who got over three hundred million dollars over the past eight years (yes, that’s over thirty seven million a year), told Congress today, “I don’t expect you to feel sorry for me.” No, we don’t feel sorry for you, we just think you’re greedy and morally despicable.

No, Mr. Crankypants will not be watching the Olympics on television.

Mr. Crankypants is not interested in watching hour after hour of “human interest” crap. Especially when it is inarticulate and boring “human interest” crap:– “So, how did you feel when you won that medal?” “Ah, I felt, ah, well I felt, you know, pretty good, I guess, but it still hasn’t sunk in, ah, you know….”

Furthermore, the only Olympic sport that Mr. Crankypants might have some mild interest in — badminton — will not be shown on American television. If American badminton players Howard Bach and Bob Malaythong win a medal in badminton (as now seems quite possible), you might see video footage of them receiving their medals and being interviewed about how they feel. But you won’t see a full badminton match televised because television executives think it is a “sissy sport.” Sissy, my #$$ — put them on the receiving end of a 200 mph smash and they will quickly learn they are wrong.

And look at the stupid sports that are now included in the Olympics. You can get an Olympic medal in beach vollyeball, for pity’s sake, even though that isn’t a sport at all except in the minds of the marketers who sell beer and vacations. But you cannot get an Olympic medal in real sports like Ultimate frisbee (which is like a full-court press in basketball for a full hour on a field the size of a soccer field), or Freestyle frisbee (which is like gymnastics except much more difficult, and far more interesting to watch).

Then, too, Mr. Crankypants no longer watches much of anything on television. If he were to watch Olympics coverage at all, he wants to see every event streamed live online, with video archives available after the event is over. If the American television networks would allow that, then they could devote all their broadcast hours to the “human interest” stories, which is what gives them the highest ratings, so everyone would be happy.

No, Mr. Crankypants will not be watching the Olympics on television. There is nothing there that he wants to watch. Pfeh.