Dow 10,000!

Remember in the late 1990s when Dow 10,000! was all anyone could talk about (when our mouth wasn't jammed with lobster tail and champagne)?

Well, we all might get another chance here again shortly (when our mouth isn't choking on dust and squandered opportunities).

The back of the envelope calculation is really quite simple:

$10 trillion in national debt is a b*tch for a country's currency to carry on its back. Throw in the growing wealth gap, the trade gap, our addiction to outdated energy technology, financial sector uncertainty (greed/stupidity), two wars, high interest consumer debt and upside down entitlement programs and well, we laugh out loud when the "eggheads" tell us that the underlying fundamentals of our economy are sound at the present time.

Or that people aren't hurting.

Phil Gramm's recent comments do not reflect the thinking of economic conservatives who want to be taken seriously in 2008.

And believing that doesn't mean that we're a New York Times worshiping Communist.

Or Chicken Little.

Or that we don't think that America is the greatest f*cking country on the planet.

It just means that we believe that these guys are the smartest folks in the room.

Not some GOP dinosaur who hasn't had a good new thought in 15 years.

Phil Gramm: "Thank God The Economy Is Not As Bad As You Read In The Newspaper Every Day." (UPDATED)(UPDATED)

So says the massively overcompensated, massively out-of-touch rich white guy. 

The very day that Gramm's boss - Senator John McCain - is out on the campaign trail trying to connect with voters and feel their (very real) economic pain.

You couldn't make this sh*t up if you tried. 

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(UPDATED) Team Obama goes yard on this (and who else believes Team Obama is cutting a battleground state TV commercial starring Phil Gramm right now?).

Meanwhile, the McCain campaign claims that Gramm's views do not reflect McCain's thinking. 

We absolutely believe them.

Just as we absolutely believe that they need to kick Senator Gramm's ass off the Straight Talk Express.

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(UPDATED, UPDATED) This just gets better and better.

Senator Gramm, in NYC to represent John McCain's economic politicies before the WSJ editorial board, is standing by his initial comments.

And dragging the entire country of Mexico into his shit storm of a party:

"If you listen to our leaders, we can't compete against Mexico, for God's sake," Gramm continued. "If they don't think we can compete against Mexico who can we compete against?"

Hey, why stop a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the face at the water's edge? Let's insult our neighbor while we're on a roll!

All snarking aside - Cut. This. Guy. Loose.