don't forget the camel scrotem!

There are bankruptcy stories that are full of the blood and bones of children and workers, all ground up neatly, fairy tale wise, to be eaten by bondholders - and then there are fabulous bankruptcy stories in which the violence really is symbolic, and reaches into the very vacuum of our ersatz culture. The NYT story of the end of the Yellowstone club and the bankruptcy of its owners, Edra and Tim Blixseth (divorced) includes, in the inimitable po faced style of the Times, the following graf:

“Among examples of profligate spending Mr. Blixseth cites in the filing is a $90,000 party that Ms. Blixseth had at Porcupine Creek for more than 100 guests. Guests were invited to whack piñatas shaped like Mr. Blixseth and which contained chocolate coins wrapped in gold foil. Voodoo dolls resembling Mr. Blixseth — complete with stickpins — were also on display. (Ms. Blixseth acknowledges that the party did indeed occur.)”

There is also this:
“Members say, mostly with fondness, that Ms. Blixseth’s aesthetics were more madam than monarch. Indeed, décor in some parts of the clubhouse almost smacked of Montana bordello. There, just as at Porcupine Creek, quality met kitsch, with Persian carpets and antiques rubbing up against huge marble statues and a couch covered in real zebra skin.
“I mix centuries together,” Ms. Blixseth acknowledges. She opens an ornate trinket cabinet to retrieve a brown, gourdlike object. “Do you know what this is? A camel scrotum! It holds water.”

Of course, this bankruptcy was made possible by your friends at Credit Suisse, who though Mr. (Toxic) Blixseth's ideas were worth about 400 million dollars. Luckily, in the great poker game between banks and the world central bankers, that money was no doubt taken care of by using state money. Because, after all, what is more important than a bank? It spreads money around so optimally. Ask any University of Chicago economist.