I ran across this a few days ago, and forgot to post it until now:
Did terrorists cause the housing mess?
Yeesssss. Clearly, without any terrorist attack, the US economy would have never have had any problems. I expect a similar explanation for the dot-com bubble any day now. Called "Did terrorists use a mind-control ray to cause us to invest in companies consisting primarily of cute logos and catchy names?" or something similar. After all, we're much too smart to lose money all on our own. Must be those pesky terrorists.
Posted by Ardith at February 19, 2008 08:41 PM | TrackBackI can see it now -- the conversation somewhere in Afghanistan around 2000:
OBL: The plan is brilliant! But what are the long-term goals?
KSM: Uh ... knock down the buildings?
OBL: No, no, I mean long-term.
KSM: Uh ... provoke retaliation and gain attention for our cause? Enlist supporters around the world? Make Americans feel unsafe?
OBL: Longer!
KSM: Oh! I know! Disrupt the US economy!
OBL: Good, but what about 2007? What do we want to happen in 2007? Tell me!
KSM: 2007, 2007 ... Oh! I know! Flood America with easy credit so that unsuspecting Americans will take out mortgages they can't afford, causing the housing market to crash and sending banking firms into insolvency! Thus empowering the People's Republic of China and various Gulf states to become even greater creditors to the United States, imperiling its economic hegemony! Driving up interest payment costs, endangering Social Security and Medicare and therefore the very lives of America's elderly when Social Security goes bankrupt in 2042!
OBL: Yes, yes! Ha ha! It's brilliant, Khalid!
KSM: Osama! Do you realize what this means?
OBL: What?
KSM: We've invented the Seldon Plan!
Posted by: Wilson at February 20, 2008 08:27 AMThat. Was. Brilliant.
Posted by: Ardith at February 20, 2008 09:30 AM!!
Ardith and Wilson, do you know what we need? An American version of Les Guignols, and you two are just the ones to start it.
Posted by: Sharon at February 24, 2008 02:21 PM