Susie and Atrios have both cried foul on this:

WASHINGTON — Faced with anxiety in financial markets about the huge federal deficit and the potential for it to become an electoral liability for Democrats, the White House and Congressional leaders are weighing options for narrowing the gap, including a bipartisan commission that could force tax increases and spending cuts.

This is disaster capitalism:

step one, pervert the financial system into a kleptocracy, steal everything in sight

step two, use the inevitable crisis as a way of destroying democracy and steal what is left

Charter schools and the attack on public education

According to U.S. Census data, well over $800 billion is spent on education, public and private, at all levels in the United States each year.20 This makes it roughly the same size as the U.S. trade deficit with China. The private sector wants to get its hands on this money. Along with politicians, it is determined to break the power of the teachers’ unions and to attack one of the last bastions of decently paid American workers. The budget problems resulting from the current recession will provide them cover in doing this.

[I'm stickying this because, dammit, it seems unfoily to me, and everybody's assuming LIBOR is some sort of neutral measure. Takedown, anyone? -- lambert]

Bloomberg has an interesting article whose headline, if taken literally, puts shock doctrine right out into the open:

Libor Holds Central Banks Hostage as Credit Freezes?

(Note the usual lack of agency. LIBOR's just a number. How can a number hold anyone hostage? Only sentient beings can hold each other hostage.)

Anyhow -- with the usual caveat that I'm trying to learn all this stuff as I go along, and anybody who steps in with clarification or a takedown will be doing a public service -- LIBOR is the London Interbank Offered Rate, a "daily reference rate based on the interest rates at which banks offer to lend unsecured funds to other banks in the London wholesale money market (or interbank market). " It's one component of the TED spread, a number Krugman warned us to watch back in February:

The TED spread is the difference between the interest rate banks charge each other on 3-month loans (3-month LIBOR) and the interest rate on 3-month U.S. Treasury bills. It’s a measure of financial jitters. If banks believe that their peers are solid, they should be willing to lend each other money on almost the same terms as money lent to Uncle Sam. When they start demanding a big interest rate premium, that’s a sign of fear.

Hold that idea, "measure of fear," in mind. Because LIBOR has an interesting backstory. Let's read on in the article we originally started with:

SEC Loosens Accounting Rule Banks Blame for Crisis

The standard, also known as "mark to market," has led portfolios to plunge in recent months as banks affixed fire sale prices to their assets, a move that sometimes required them to raise still more capital to meet regulatory requirements. The measure also led to clashes between corporate executives and independent auditors over how low the markdowns should be forced to dip.

Long-troubled Douglass High could lose its identity

Many Douglass supporters accept that some high schools should move to more state-of-the-art buildings, but they argue the disappearance of Douglass' program altogether would mark the loss of an institution that has stood as a symbol of community resilience in the 9th Ward for decades.

Nantrell Malveo, a 2008 graduate, compared her experience at Douglass favorably to her time at a Jefferson Parish school generally considered to be better.

"I learned more at the run-down school (Douglass) because I could relate to it, and it taught me to fight for what mattered," Malveo said.

Times:

The improvisational nature of their effort has turned President Bush and Congressional Democrats into virtual bystanders, sometimes uncertain about what comes next and left to wonder about the new power dynamics in the capital. Seemingly every time lawmakers tried to get a handle on what was happening and what role they might play with elections around the corner, Mr. Paulson and Mr. Bernanke would show up again on Capitol Hill for another evening meeting with another surprise development.

"Seemingly"? Really. Does anyone believe this is a coincidence?  Read more…

First Obama started moving part of the Democratic National Committee to Chicago. Then he began pushing to prevent Clinton's name be put in nomination, contrary to all precedent.

Then he arranged to replace Iowa Democratic workers with his own staff and now he is taking control of the DNC voter files for North Carolina.

All this is keeping with the shock doctrine of hitting people with so many radical changes all at once that they don't have time to take stock of what is happening and respond.

Why did he vote for the FISA bill, because he caved? Or because he wants police state powers when he is president?