And So It Begins ….
Courtesy of Karl Denninger at The Market Ticker
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The sheriff in Alabama’s most populous county may call for the National Guard to help maintain order, a spokesman said Tuesday, after a judge cleared the way for cuts in the sheriff’s budget and hopes dimmed for a quick end to a budget crisis.
Eek.
Jefferson County is the county in Alabama that contains Birmingham; it appears that the Sheriff’s Department is going to get hammered now.
The county’s economic problems stem from a number of bad bets made with….. guess what…. exotic financial instruments sold to the county by…. you guessed it…. big banks.
May I make a suggestion? Send The Guard up to NY and arrest the bankers responsible for peddling this trash to the county, then bring ’em back and hold a citizens court.
Naw, we couldn’t do that. It would look too much like Salem, right?
If you’ve ever had the illusion that these "exotic products" were good for people in general (instead of the bankers peddling them), including the folks who were sold them, this nasty series of events should permanently disabuse you of that notion – especially when there are armed National Guard troops attempting to maintain civil order.
