ON AN ORGANIZED COUNTER-OFFENSIVE

BETTER LATE THAN NEVER

One of my favorite from the 1990s is the movie "Independence Day", where almost unbeatable aliens almost annihilate the human race.  If you haven't seen it, do rent it. 

There's a moment in the film, where the American heroes finally come up with a plan to beat the aliens and communicate it to a hodge podge array of military pilots around the world from many nations, via Morse code.

I couldn't find a YouTube clips of the scene, but here's the relevant excerpt from the screenplay, with my favorite line in bold from the movie, involving some British pilots working with Israeli and Arab pilots in the middle eastern desert:

"ANGLE - ARABIAN AIR FORCE CAMP

	Dozens of Arab pilots are gathered around a large radio as the
	Morse code comes through.  Thomson quickly kneels down, taking
	
notes.
			THOMSON
	It's from the Americans.  They
	want to organize a counter
	offensive.

			REGINALD
	It's about bloody time.  What do
	they plan to do?"

What brought the line to mind is the spirit in which the world markets reacted last night, to the news that the U.S. Federal government may finally be planning a coordinated response to pro actively address the financial crisis that's almost brought most markets around the world to their knees this week.

As the Wall Street Journal summarizes:

"The federal government, acknowledging the need to take a more comprehensive approach to the financial crisis, is working on a sweeping series of programs that would represent perhaps the biggest intervention in financial markets since the 1930s.

At the center of the potential plan is a mechanism that would take bad assets off the balance sheets of financial companies, according to people familiar with the matter, a device that echoes similar moves taken in past financial crises. It's size could reach hundreds of billions of dollars..."

Of course, unlike the movie, the plan is going to be hugely controversial and expensive, with a lot in it for everyone to complain about.  And in a particularly heated election year, both political parties will do their best to tear it apart while publicly taking credit for it's crafting and implementation. 
It's going to be a big, royally messy spectacle, and who knows if the markets will continue to receive it as well today as they did yesterday afternoon and evening.

But despite all those issues, it's still an attempt at an organized counter-offensive by the good guys.
And it is about Bloody Time.

P.S.  The movie also has one of the best political speeches given by a fictional American President this side of Obama.  I was able to find a clip of it on YouTube if you haven't seen it:

Enjoy.

Comments

[Vanessa]

Thanks for the article, I agree its about time someone is taking action. People are worried and all the panic talk on TV doesn't help so I'm avoiding it! And Independence Day is one of my favorite movies, I always watch it when it comes on cable.

[Alex Tolley]

If the action is just to replace toxic debt with treasury securities, it will be the biggest bailout in history with the taxpayer footing the bill. I'll await the details before I decide whether it is good or bad. Clearly the markets liked it today, we'll see how they digest it over the next week or two as details are made available.