Finally, on this last night of October, herewith is the second and final Hallowe'en graphic for 2009, following as it does my Hallowe'en 2009 Graphic #1, and continuing the tradition of my Hallowe'en graphics from years past, which include Hallowe'en Politics Graphic #1, Halloween Politics Graphic #2, and Hallowe'en Politics Graphic #3. In 2007, I created and published Hallowe'en 2007 Graphic #1, Halloween 2007 Graphic #2, and Hallowe'en 2007 Graphic #3. The 2008 round featured Hallowe'en 2008 Graphic #1 and Halloween 2008 Graphic #2.

And to complete this night of haunted horrors, readers might be wondering what would be something that would scare a person known on the Internet as the "Dark Wraith." That is a fair question, and I shall now share with you a partial list of things that give me, an economist, cause for nightmares.

Here we go: a list of things that go bump in the night, frustrating my fitfil bouts of unrestful slumber.

• The Federal Reserve announces in a press release that accommodative monetary policy will end immediately because of the looming threat of inflation. The notification explains that consumers and businesses should expect to see "aggressively" rising interest rates over the coming months. Cryptically, the communiqué from the Fed ends with the one-line paragraph, "All hail Cthulu."

• The U.S. Mint announces that the "In God We Trust" statement on the back of American currency will soon be replaced with "Pull my finger!"

• The entire staff of the President's Council of Economic Advisers is arrested in a raid on an illegal off-track betting parlor on the south side of Toledo. The President's chief economic adviser, instead of keeping quiet during his arraignment, hollers to the judge, "Hey, we hadn't been paid in two months! What were we supposed to do?"

• In a strange twist on one of those conservative teabagger demonstrations, the entire crowd — including everyone in the liberal counter-demonstration — spontaneously, and all at once, starts singing Kumbaya, while they hold hands and sway in unison.

• The Chinese start importing bags of dollar bills to be sold at Walmart at low-low prices even the competition can't beat.

• Secretary of the Treasury Timothy Geithner, in an interview aired on 60 Minutes, appears to be inebriated and blurts out, "I want to have Sarah Palin's love child."

• In a bold move intended to stop antitrust actions being taken against Microsoft by the European Union, Bill Gates buys the European Union.

• After finalizing his purchase of the EU, Gates releases European Union 2.0. It immediately crashes all of Western Europe.

• Hackers crack into the central computers of the nation's largest banks; they then transfer all Tier 1 capital into start-up company Happy Weed Transgenics, Inc. (The company's IPO goes quite well the next day.)

• Congress taxes sex. When proceeds from the tax prove disappointing, Congress amends the legislation to tax only boring sex. Revenues skyrocket.

• On-the-scene security cameras at the New York Stock Exchange capture footage of Warren Buffet running across the floor of the Exchange screaming, "Sell! SELL! They're COMING!" The video goes viral on YouTube.

• The Treasury Dept. has increasing difficulties borrowing money, so it hires Hannah Montana to sell Treasury securities to kids in select, up-scale urban markets.

• Not to be outdone, the underwriting arm of Goldman Sachs hires Whitney Houston as the Featured Performer on digital versions of prospectuses.

• The Senate, in a desperate attempt to stave off bankruptcy, partners with a leading fast-food chain and renames the Senate chambers the "Taco Bell Senate Bowl."

• Not to be outdone, the House of Representatives partners with a well-known restaurant chain and renames its chambers the "Cracker Barrel House." Citizens across the country agree.

• Independent investigative reporters capture a grainy video of what appears to be President Barack Obama and executives of FOX News in a secret, late-night meeting at a Denny's on the outskirts of Peoria, where the audio seems to indicate details of their continuing operation of saying things that drive each other's followers bonkers, just so the apparent enemies can keep their respective ratings high. Rumors run rampant that the video also seems to show that the "waitress" serving them was none other than former Vice President Dick Cheney in drag, trying to figure out what the group was up to.

Okay, that's enough of my nightmares for one Halloween. I trust that you find these horror stories every bit as terrifying as I do.

Pleasant dreams, fellow lurkers in the night of Empire.

Tonight, I will broadcast a special episode of Dark Voices Radio from 10:30 to 11:30 p.m. It promises to be yet another evening of talk radio rants, political and economic analysis, and other fun content.

Okay, maybe it won't be fun; but who needs fun on talk radio when we have the on-going drama in Washington to amuse, annoy, and frustrate us?

Speaking of amusement, annoyance, and frustration, let's talk news here at The Dark Wraith Forums.

Pope Benedict XVI is encouraging Anglican congregations to join the Roman Catholic church to repudiate what conservative Anglicans view as the outrages of female clergy and the consecrations of gay bishops.

Rumors cannot be confirmed that the Pope is promising Anglican converts to Catholicism front-row seats at the next burning of female witches and men who dress like the Pope, himself.

Apparently, the health-care public option is back on the table, with the latest incarnation having an opt-out provision for states. That would, of course, make it an optional public option.

That's nice, but it seems that possibility of fines and jail terms for people who don't get health insurance is still on the table, with support coming from all kinds of places, including even a blog called "Economix" run by that bastion of all things institutionally liberal, The New York Times.

Obviously, dedicated readers here at The Dark Wraith Forums know very well that the only source for all things related to economics is right here. Unlike my fancy less-than-peers, many of whom could be featured in definitional FAIL, my economic forecasts and predictions are pretty much on target. My disdain for institutionally approved economists, by the way, includes 2008 Nobel Prize economics winner Paul Krugman, yet another lousy economist who's lousy because he takes money to be a shill instead of practicing his craft to be an economist. (That goes for his sycophantic peer, Brad Delong, too.)

Returning briefly to that mandatory health care insurance idea, let me mention here in writing what I said on last week's edition of Dark Voices Radio: If the health care reform bill that becomes law includes mandatory health insurance, I will blog every step of the way I take to prison.

I promise you that. You think I'm joking? Watch me.

Enough about the future; it's gotten to be such a downer ever since the Fall from Eden.

On a more up-beat note, the U.S. has now had 100 bank failures for the year. Yes, claiming that's good news is sarcasm. Many of these banks are failing because of bad management, but the underlying problem is not the banks, despite what you might have heard. The Federal Reserve failed massively in its role as the regulator and supervisor of banks; but more importantly, it failed in its most important long-term role as the sole authority over monetary policy; and for that failure, what has happened? The chief architect of that failure, Ben Bernanke, has been appointed by President Obama to a second term as Chairman of the Federal Reserve. As galling as that is, Bernanke's predecessor, Alan Greenspan, is treated as some sage old wise man despite having degenerated from a competent, if pale, shadow of his master, Paul Volker, into a man whose last decade as Chairman of the Fed was hallmarked by spiteful manipulation of the money supply against President Clinton's economic success, followed by lying to Congress in 2001 about the need for massive, irresponsibly long-term tax cuts for a "recession" that did not exist.

Why did Greenspan do that? Ah, yes, it's because a government running budget surpluses does not issue Treasury debt, which is the means by which the Federal Reserve has control over the money supply through what are called "open market operations," as I explained in Part One of my series, "The Federal Reserve under Fire." Those early Bush Administration tax cuts, rubber stamped by the tax-cut freak Republicans who ran the Congress, threw the federal budget back into the deficits that Clinton's era had overcome.

Criminally malfeasant men who should be in prison are honored.

But that's only because they are doing the public's business with criminal malfeasance.

Okay, I've groused enough. It's what I do when I get ready for a show. It's the ambience I'm after.

Enough. I need to get the intro ready.

Stay as long as you like. Get yourself something to eat out of the fridge, and don't forget to leave a tip in the jar.


It's almost showtime for the Dark Wraith.

The Dark Wraith Forums herewith continues what has become an annual Hallowe'en tradition of publishing frightfully scary digital graphics, each series a veritable festival of truly terrifying pictures that began during the Hallowe'en season of 2006, when I created and published Hallowe'en Politics Graphic #1, Halloween Politics Graphic #2, and Hallowe'en Politics Graphic #3. In 2007, I created and published Hallowe'en 2007 Graphic #1, Halloween 2007 Graphic #2, and Hallowe'en 2007 Graphic #3. The 2008 round featured Hallowe'en 2008 Graphic #1 and Halloween 2008 Graphic #2.

Submitted for your approval is the terrifying Hallowe'en 2009 Graphic #1, a vision of horror that should scare the living Hell out of just about any Right-wing lunatic.



The Hallowe'en festivities have now officially begun here at The Dark Wraith Forums.

Run for your lives, good people.

The Dark Wraith will bring more bad dreams to your bedside in the days to come.