by William Skink

The Missoulian had a cute story recently about a very important Montana banker, Tom Swenson, and his upcoming chat with Federal Reserve’s Sith Lord, Darth Yellen. The purpose of this meeting? Tom is going to tell Janet what the little people in Montana think about the economy:

In a few days, Bank of Montana CEO Tom Swenson will fly from Missoula to Minneapolis to sit down with one of the world’s most powerful economists – Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen.

There, he’ll give her and the rest of the Fed’s Board of Governors his feedback on what regular folks think about Montana’s economy.

Isn’t that adorable? Here’s some more specifics:

“I’m giving feedback on the perception of economic conditions in the area,” Swenson explained. “What the Fed is trying to do is get real-time data. They want to hear what regular people feel about the economy, which a lot of times is contradictory to what economists report in the paper. They’ve got hundreds of statisticians and historical data, but they are trying to get directors to provide real-time and experiential data on our communities, and they will use that information to make the best real-time decisions.”

Fuck that noise. When the hell has the Fed shown they are interested in listening to regular people? Who really thinks the Federal Reserve even acknowledges reality beyond the no-interest liquidity scam Wall Street and corporations are continuing to exploit at the expense of the financially raped taxpayer?

While Tom is wining and dining Darth Yellen, Missoula is gearing up to vote yeah/nay on a 158 million dollar public school bond. Last June, Helena saw their school bond get voted down. Is a repeat in Missoula possible? It’s possible, but doubtful. Missoula loves it some good bond, passing a parks bond that should have been called the softball field and parking lot bond. And we’re talking a bond to benefit school kids, so if you vote against this bond you obviously hate kids and want to kill their future.

Or, maybe taxpayers are beginning to experience bond fatigue.

In Seattle (h/t @Lgpguin) the League of Women Voters is urging a no vote for a 930 million dollar transportation levy. From the link:

“The league’s good government positions state that levies should be used for capital projects, not maintenance. Frequent, sequential levies demanding more tax revenues from those with and without financial means to pay for them is not a reliable way of funding,” said League President Amanda Clark.

“As we look into the very near future and see even more levies on the horizon pushing homeowners’ property taxes to unmanageable levels, we are concerned about the ability of even well-off Seattleites to remain in their homes.”

When the next crash happens (not if), the problems of financing new schools and transportation infrastructure could be replaced with food shortages and empty ATMs. Greece, after all, is our future if something doesn’t happen to disrupt the current trends of wealth consolidation for the 1% and austerity class warfare for the rest of us.