tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-319615822024-03-08T02:10:51.452-05:00Save The Middle ClassJeffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06398048905874691130noreply@blogger.comBlogger695125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31961582.post-59584183125687376722008-09-29T23:06:00.002-04:002008-09-29T23:50:06.020-04:00Why Did The Bailout Fail?Today's defeat of the Wall St. Bailout happened for many reasons but the main one is that this bill is very unpopular and its an election year. House Republicans need something to bring back home to their districts to avoid a complete rout in November. They think they have found their talking point. <br /><br />I was also against the bill for many reasons but I also know that without some sort of plan the economy could spiral out of control. Bad debt has infected nearly every sector of the financial markets. Remember they were told these mortgage backed securities were safe investments with many having an A rating. Today's record point drop in the stock market showed that we are dangerously close to the tipping point. Banks have stopped lending to each other and each day another large institution fails. We are in the most serious financial meltdown since the depression. Wall St. executives are the robber barons of our time and another great depression could be looming. What can lawmakers do now? First and foremost any rescue plan should include taxpayer ownership of the companies that require a bailout. There needs to be some upside for the taxpayers after the investment firms have cleared their books of these bad assets. There must be a limit to executive compensation in all forms. There must be a tax on all investment transactions to pay for this huge bailout. We must also lower our corporate tax but cut out all loopholes. Corporate tax receipts as a percentage of our GDP are at a historic low. What good is a 35% tax rate when only small business is paying that? We must outlaw lobbying, it is legalized bribery and we should amend the Constitution to stop this incredibly destructive practice. <br /><br />Today over 1 trillion of value was lost. The Dow is now lower than when President George W. Bush took office. We have all effectively lost 8 years of retirement savings and in twenty years the number of elderly who will live in poverty will grow unless a drastic market rebound occurs. The elimination of pensions for defined contribution plans made most people stock holders. This was a deliberate move by Wall St. for expanded profits. Now most Americans invest in stocks and its this fact that has made some institutions too big to fail. This problem is now worldwide and it threatens to wreak financial havoc throughout the world. <br /><br />Our country is in danger of becoming a third world nation. We no longer are a manufacturing giant, in fact we hardly manufacture anything here. We are the world's largest debtor nation and our levels of poverty are getting close to third world status. Our population is less educated and the quality of our jobs is on a steady decline. <br /><br />This is the result of deregulation and the idea that industry can police itself. John McCain recently said that deregulation has helped grow the economy. My 401(k) statements show that to be untrue.Jeffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06398048905874691130noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31961582.post-13830155779314649222008-09-28T19:32:00.001-04:002008-09-28T19:34:14.484-04:00Wall St. Bailout ImminentCongressional leaders and the White House agreed Sunday to a $700 billion rescue of the ailing financial industry after lawmakers insisted on sharing spending controls with the Bush administration. The biggest U.S. bailout in history won the tentative support of both presidential candidates and goes to the House for a vote Monday.<br /><br />The plan, bollixed up for days by election-year politics, would give the administration broad power to use taxpayers' money to purchase billions upon billions of home mortgage-related assets held by cash-starved financial firms.<br /><br />President Bush called the vote a difficult one for lawmakers but said he is confident Congress will pass it. "Without this rescue plan, the costs to the American economy could be disastrous," Bush said in a written statement released by the White House.<br /><br />Flexing its political muscle, Congress insisted on a stronger hand in controlling the money than the White House had wanted. Lawmakers had to navigate between angry voters with little regard for Wall Street and administration officials who warned that inaction would cause the economy to seize up and spiral into recession.<br /><br />A deal in hand, Capitol Hill leaders scrambled to sell it to colleagues in both parties and acknowledged they were not certain it would pass. "Now we have to get the votes," said Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., the majority leader.<br /><br />The final legislation was released Sunday evening. House Republicans and Democrats met privately to review it and decide how they would vote. "This isn't about a bailout of Wall Street, it's a buy-in, so that we can turn our economy around," said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.<br /><br />The largest government intervention in financial markets since the Great Depression casts Washington's long shadow over Wall Street. The government would take over huge amounts of devalued assets from beleaguered financial companies in hopes of unlocking frozen credit.<br /><br />"I don't know of anyone here who wants the center of the economic universe to be Washington," said a top negotiator, Sen. Chris Dodd, chairman of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee. But, he added, "The center of gravity is here temporarily. ... God forbid it's here any longer than it takes to get credit moving again."<br /><br />The plan would let Congress block half the money and force the president to jump through some hoops before using it all. The government could get at $250 billion immediately, $100 billion more if the president certified it was necessary, and the last $350 billion with a separate certification _ and subject to a congressional resolution of disapproval.<br /><br />Still, the resolution could be vetoed by the president, meaning it would take extra-large congressional majorities to stop it.<br /><br />Lawmakers who struck a post-midnight deal on the plan with Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson predicted final congressional action might not come until Wednesday.<br /><br />The proposal is designed to end a vicious downward spiral that has battered all levels of the economy. Hundreds of billions of dollars in investments based on mortgages have soured and cramped banks' willingness to lend.<br /><br />"This is the bottom line: If we do not do this, the trauma, the chaos and the disruption to everyday Americans' lives will be overwhelming, and that's a price we can't afford to risk paying," Sen. Judd Gregg, the chief Senate Republican in the talks, told The Associated Press. "I do think we'll be able to pass it, and it will be a bipartisan vote."<br /><br />A breakthrough came when Democrats agreed to incorporate a GOP demand _ letting the government insure some bad home loans rather than buy them. That would limit the amount of federal money used in the rescue.<br /><br />Another important bargain, vital to attracting support from centrist Democrats, would require that the government, after five years, submit a plan to Congress on how to recoup any losses from the companies that got help.<br /><br />"This is something that all of us will swallow hard and go forward with," said Republican presidential nominee John McCain. "The option of doing nothing is simply not an acceptable option."<br /><br />His Democratic rival Barack Obama sought credit for taxpayer safeguards added to the initial proposal from the Bush administration. "I was pushing very hard and involved in shaping those provisions," he said.<br /><br />Later, at a rally in Detroit, Obama said, "it looks like we will pass that plan very soon."<br /><br />House Republicans said they were reviewing the plan.<br /><br />As late as Sunday afternoon, Republicans regarded the deal as "a proposal that is promising in principle, but that is still not final," said Antonia Ferrier, a spokeswoman for Missouri Rep. Roy Blunt, the top House GOP negotiator.<br /><br />Executives whose companies benefit from the rescue could not get "golden parachutes" and would see their pay packages limited. Firms that got the most help through the program _ $300 million or more _ would face steep taxes on any compensation for their top people over $500,000.<br /><br />The government would receive stock warrants in return for the bailout relief, giving taxpayers a chance to share in financial companies' future profits.<br /><br />To help struggling homeowners, the plan would require the government to try renegotiating the bad mortgages it acquires with the aim of lowering borrowers' monthly payments so they can keep their homes.<br /><br />But Democrats surrendered other cherished goals: letting judges rewrite bankrupt homeowners' mortgages and steering any profits gained toward an affordable housing fund.<br /><br />It was Obama who first signaled Democrats were willing to give up some of their favorite proposals. He told reporters Wednesday that the bankruptcy measure was a priority, but that it "probably something that we shouldn't try to do in this piece of legislation."<br /><br />"It's not a bill that any one of us would have written. It's a much better bill than we got. It's not as good as it should be," said Democratic Rep. Barney Frank of Massachusetts, the House Financial Services Committee chairman. He predicted it would pass, though not by a large majority.<br /><br />Frank negotiated much of the compromise in a marathon series of up-and-down meetings and phone calls with Paulson, Dodd, D-Conn., and key Republicans including Gregg and Blunt.<br /><br />Pelosi shepherded the discussions at key points, and cut a central deal Saturday night _ on companies paying back taxpayers for any losses _ that gave momentum to the final accord.<br /><br />An extraordinary week of talks unfolded after Paulson and Ben Bernanke, the Federal Reserve chairman, went to Congress 10 days ago with ominous warnings about a full-blown economic meltdown if lawmakers did not act quickly to infuse huge amounts of government money into a financial sector buckling under the weight of toxic debt.<br /><br />The negotiations were shaped by the political pressures of an intense campaign season in which voters' economic concerns figure prominently. They brought McCain and Obama to Washington for a White House meeting that yielded more discord and behind-the-scenes theatrics than progress, but increased the pressure on both sides to strike a bargain.<br /><br />Lawmakers in both parties who are facing re-election are loath to embrace a costly plan proposed by a deeply unpopular president that would benefit perhaps the most publicly detested of all: companies that got rich off bad bets that have caused economic pain for ordinary people.<br /><br />But many of them say the plan is vital to ensure their constituents don't pay for Wall Street's mistakes, in the form of unaffordable credit and major hits to investments they count on, like their pensions.<br /><br />Some proponents even said taxpayers could come out as financial winners.<br /><br />Gregg, R-N.H., said: "I don't think we're going to lose money, myself. We may _ it's possible _ but I doubt it in the long run."Jeffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06398048905874691130noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31961582.post-4620717303872943232008-09-25T23:07:00.000-04:002008-09-25T23:08:39.529-04:00Jobless claims pushed to 7-year highHurricanes Ike and Gustav and weak economy push jobless claims to 7-year high<br /><br />CHRISTOPHER S. RUGABER<br />AP News<br /><br />Sep 25, 2008 09:23 EST<br /><br />New claims for unemployment benefits jumped last week to their highest level in seven years due to the impact of a slowing economy and Hurricanes Ike and Gustav, the Labor Department reported Thursday.<br /><br />The department said new requests for jobless benefits for the week ending Sept. 20 increased by 32,000 to a seasonally-adjusted 493,000, much higher than analysts' expectations of 445,000.<br /><br />Wall Street was more focused on Washington, though, where lawmakers and the administration appeared to be moving closer to a $700 billion bailout package for the financial system. Stocks rose, with the Dow up more than 200 points in early trading.<br /><br />The two hurricanes added about 50,000 new claims in Louisiana and Texas, the department said. The four-week moving average, which smooths out fluctuations, rose to 462,500. That's the highest it has been since Nov. 3, 2001.<br /><br />The level of new claims was the highest since shortly after the 9/11 attacks, when it reached 517,000.<br /><br />David Resler, chief economist at Nomura Securities, said Thursday's figure is the second-highest since July 1992. Claims have topped 500,000 only a handful of times in the past twenty years, he said, and were consistently above that level during the 1991 recession.<br /><br />Even excluding the effects of the hurricanes, jobless claims remain at elevated levels. Weekly claims have now topped 400,000 for ten straight weeks, a level economists consider a sign of recession. A year ago, claims stood at 309,000.<br /><br />The report "reflects a marked deterioration in the job market," Resler wrote in a note to clients. "That deterioration may well accelerate as the distress in the financial markets deepens and the effect of credit impairment spreads to other sectors."<br /><br />The number of people continuing to draw jobless benefits last week was 3.54 million, up 63,000 from the previous week and nearly a five-year high. The four-week average of continuing claims was 3.49 million.<br /><br />Other economic indicators Thursday were also negative. The Commerce Department said that orders for big-ticket manufactured goods fell by 4.5 percent in August, far more than the 1.6 percent decline economists expected.<br /><br />And new home sales fell by 11.5 percent in August, the Commerce Department said in a separate report, to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 460,000, the lowest level in more than 17 years.<br /><br />Hurricane Gustav first had an impact on jobless claims for the week ending Sept. 13. The department said Thursday that Louisiana reported an increase in claims of 18,409 during that week, mostly due to Gustav.<br /><br />The financial crisis, falling home prices and slowing consumer spending continue to apply the brakes to the U.S. economy. The unemployment rate jumped unexpectedly to 6.1 percent in August, the highest level in five years.<br /><br />Last week, drug maker Schering-Plough Corp. said it plans to cut 1,000 sales jobs to reduce costs, part of a 10 percent reduction in staff announced in April. Also, the nation's largest chicken producer, Pilgrim's Pride Corp., announced it would reduce 100 jobs besides the 600 job losses it previously announced.<br /><br />Source: AP NewsJeffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06398048905874691130noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31961582.post-60904558549624658692008-09-23T22:37:00.002-04:002008-09-23T22:42:14.550-04:00Republicans: Proud of DeregulationLet their own words hang them. If you vote for more of this shit then you deserve the economic hardship that is sure to follow.<br /><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/0ycPJr7YWmQ&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/0ycPJr7YWmQ&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>Jeffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06398048905874691130noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31961582.post-50367079471071898442008-09-22T23:54:00.001-04:002008-09-22T23:55:37.143-04:00Obama Ad On HealthcareWhere has the discussion of health care gone? People will still get sick even in the middle of a financial meltdown.<br /><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/XWX6d7r-bpk&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/XWX6d7r-bpk&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>Jeffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06398048905874691130noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31961582.post-89933216833689487182008-09-22T23:22:00.000-04:002008-09-22T23:24:59.709-04:00The Truth About Middle Class Tax Cuts<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/ITT75RROgQ8&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/ITT75RROgQ8&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>Jeffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06398048905874691130noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31961582.post-18153436818494261552008-09-22T22:41:00.002-04:002008-09-22T23:02:51.675-04:00No Bailout Without OwnershipThere can be no bailout of Wall Street without ownership by the citizens of the United States of the companies requiring bailouts. Why should our hard earned money be used to prop up entities whose greed and shoddy business practices got us into this mess? <br /><br />It is inevitable that the taxpayers will be called upon in order to stem the tide of damages being inflicted worldwide. What is also obvious is that the financial condition of this country is dire. We are the worlds largest debtor nation and our levels of consumer debt are at record levels. The Conservative mantra that deficits don't matter is ridiculous as is indicated in the constant decline of the U.S. dollar. We must get our financial house in order. How can we even consider tax cuts with a deficit expected to top one trillion dollars in the next fiscal year? <br /><br />Will the United States have an Argentina like meltdown that will plunge a vast percentage of our population into poverty overnight? I believe that remains a possibility. <br /><br />Please call your elected representatives and tell them a no strings bailout is unacceptable.Jeffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06398048905874691130noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31961582.post-76589491686736863102008-09-20T10:20:00.005-04:002008-09-21T21:36:44.766-04:00We Were Days Away From A Complete MeltdownWow we were literally days away from a worldwide depression the likes of which we may have never experienced. Ask yourself one really big question and that is who fought for this deregulation. Both parties fought for this to some degree but the lions share of the blame goes to the Republicans who believe industry can police itself. How does that philosophy seem now? If the people of this country elect John McCain who voted for every deregulation law ever put in front of him then they deserve the economic collapse that will surely come with that decision.<br /><br />From David M. Herszenhorn of the Washington Post:<br /><br />It was a room full of people who rarely hold their tongues. But as the Fed chairman, Ben S. Bernanke, laid out the potentially devastating ramifications of the financial crisis before congressional leaders on Thursday night, there was a stunned silence at first. <br /><br />Mr. Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr. had made an urgent and unusual evening visit to Capitol Hill, and they were gathered around a conference table in the offices of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.<br /><br />"When you listened to him describe it you gulped," said Senator Charles E. Schumer, Democrat of New York.<br /><br />As Senator Christopher J. Dodd, Democrat of Connecticut and chairman of the Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, put it Friday morning on the ABC program "Good Morning America," the congressional leaders were told "that we're literally maybe days away from a complete meltdown of our financial system, with all the implications here at home and globally."<br /><br />Mr. Schumer added, "History was sort of hanging over it, like this was a moment."<br /><br />When Mr. Schumer described the meeting as "somber," Mr. Dodd cut in. "Somber doesn't begin to justify the words," he said. "We have never heard language like this."<br /><br />"What you heard last evening," he added, "is one of those rare moments, certainly rare in my experience here, is Democrats and Republicans deciding we need to work together quickly."<br /><br />Although Mr. Schumer, Mr. Dodd and other participants declined to repeat precisely what they were told by Mr. Bernanke and Mr. Paulson, they said the two men described the financial system as effectively bound in a knot that was being pulled tighter and tighter by the day.<br /><br />"You have the credit lines in America, which are the lifeblood of the economy, frozen." Mr. Schumer said. "That hasn't happened before. It's a brave new world. You are in uncharted territory, but the one thing you do know is you can't leave them frozen or the economy will just head south at a rapid rate."<br /><br />As he spoke, Mr. Schumer swooped his hand, to make the gesture of a plummeting bird. "You know we'd be lucky ..." he said as his voice trailed off. "Well, I'll leave it at that."<br /><br />As officials at the Treasury Department raced on Friday to draft legislative language for an ambitious plan for the government to buy billions of dollars of illiquid debt from ailing American financial institutions, legislators on Capitol Hill said they planned to work through the weekend reviewing the proposal and making efforts to bring a package of measures to the floor of the House and Senate by the end of next week.<br /><br />Lawmakers in both parties described the meeting in Ms. Pelosi's office on Thursday night with Mr. Paulson and Mr. Bernanke as collaborative, and that they were prepared to put politics aside to address the needs of the American people.<br /><br />While Democrats initially said after the meeting that they planned to use the administration's proposal of a huge rescue effort to win support for an economic stimulus package, they pulled back slightly on Friday morning, saying that their top priority was to help put together the bailout package and stabilize the economy.<br /><br />But it was clear they continued to examine ways to make clear that the government was stepping up not just to help the major financial firms but also to protect the interests of American taxpayers and families by safeguarding their pensions and college savings, and by preventing any further drying up of consumer credit.<br /><br />In addition to potential stimulus measures, which could include an extension of unemployment benefits and spending on public infrastructure projects, Democrats said they intended to consider measures to help stem home foreclosures and stabilize real estate values.<br /><br />Among the potential steps Congress can take include approving legislation to allow bankruptcy judges to modify the terms of primary mortgages - authority that the bankruptcy laws do not currently allow and that the banking industry has strenuously opposed.<br /><br />But the Democrats said it was too soon to discuss such details, and that they were awaiting a draft of the proposal from the Treasury Department.<br /><br />"We have got to deal with the foreclosure issue," Mr. Dodd said. "You have got to stop that hemorrhaging..If you don't, the problem doesn't go away. Ben Bernanke has said it over and over again. Hank Paulson recognizes it. This problem began with bad lending practices. Those are his words, not mine, and so this plan must address that or I'll be back here in front of a bank of microphones at some point explaining the next failure."<br /><br />Even before the drafting of the plan was complete, the Bush administration and the Fed began efforts to sell the idea of a huge rescue to potentially skeptical rank-and-file members of Congress. Mr. Paulson and Mr. Bernanke held a conference call with House Republicans to explain their thinking.<br /><br />Senator Richard C. Shelby of Alabama, the senior Republican on the Senate banking committee, said in a television interview that cost to the government of purchasing bad debt could run to $1 trillion - a potential warning sign since Mr. Shelby is a longtime skeptic of government intervention in the private market.<br /><br />Until Mr. Shelby was interviewed on Friday morning, officials on Capitol Hill had been careful not to discuss specific figures, though the rescue envisioned by the Treasury Department clearly entails a government appropriation of hundreds of billions of dollars.Jeffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06398048905874691130noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31961582.post-56082876212015141592008-09-19T18:43:00.002-04:002008-09-19T18:44:27.919-04:00Canadian VacationI am away in Canada until Sunday and will report back on some interesting conversations I had with average Canadians. We really are becoming the worlds joke.Jeffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06398048905874691130noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31961582.post-20914397407258293912008-09-17T18:12:00.002-04:002008-09-17T18:22:05.793-04:00When Will This Economic Nightmare End?<a href="http://money.cnn.com/2008/09/17/markets/markets_newyork/index.htm?cnn=yes">The horrible economic news just keeps coming. When will the people of this country wake up? </a> <blockquote>Stocks plummeted Wednesday, with the Dow industrials falling 449 points in its second worst session of the year, as the government's emergency rescue of AIG amplified fears about the stability of financial markets. <br /><br />The Dow Jones industrial average (INDU) lost 449 points, or 4% and fell to the lowest level since November 2005. The Standard & Poor's 500 (SPX) index lost 4.7% and fell to its lowest point since April 2005. The Nasdaq composite (COMP) lost 4.9% and ended at its lowest point since August 2006.</blockquote>Now watch MSNBC's Chris Matthews take apart a Republican asshole. It says all I want to say and more.<br /><iframe height="339" width="425" src="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22425001/vp/26761964#26761964" frameborder="0" scrolling="no"></iframe>Jeffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06398048905874691130noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31961582.post-1558322178522839572008-09-15T23:55:00.004-04:002008-09-16T00:09:47.382-04:00The Bad Economic News Keeps Coming<a href="http://money.cnn.com/2008/09/15/markets/markets_newyork2/index.htm?postversion=2008091517"> Stocks See there worst one day decline since 9/11.</a><br /><br /><a href="http://money.cnn.com/2008/09/15/news/companies/AIG/index.htm?postversion=2008091522">The nations largest insurer near collapse as a result of the credit crisis. </a><br /><br /><a href="http://money.cnn.com/2008/09/15/news/economy/wamu/index.htm?postversion=2008091518">Nations largest thrift lowered to junk bond status .</a> <br /><br />This is the result of greed furthered by a lack of regulation. The Republican mantra was let industry police itself. If you think that philosophy works then keep voting for these clowns. It happened in the 1980's with the Savings and Loan crisis which nearly culminated with a censure against John McCain for helping Charles Keating bankrupt his institution at a cost of 2 billion to the U.S. taxpayers. <br /><br />If you don't learn from history you are bound to repeat it. How many times can we repeat these same mistakes.Jeffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06398048905874691130noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31961582.post-6127137617952025612008-09-15T00:05:00.005-04:002008-09-15T01:00:24.438-04:00In Frantic Day, Wall Street Banks Teeter<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/15/business/15lehman.html?_r=1&hp=&pagewanted=print&oref=slogin">Just when we thought the economy had bottomed comes this news of one of the most troubling days in Wall Street history. </a><blockquote>In one of the most dramatic days in Wall Street's history, Merrill Lynch agreed to sell itself to Bank of America for roughly $50 billion to avert a deepening financial crisis, while another prominent securities firm, Lehman Brothers, hurtled toward liquidation after it failed to find a buyer.<br /><br />The humbling moves, which reshape the landscape of American finance, mark the latest chapter in a tumultuous year in which once-proud financial institutions have been brought to their knees as a result of hundreds of billions of dollars in losses because of bad mortgage finance and real estate investments. <br /><br />But even as the fates of Lehman and Merrill hung in the balance Sunday night, another crisis loomed as the insurance giant American International Group appeared to teeter. A.I.G. sought a $40 billion lifeline from the Federal Reserve, without which the company may have only days to survive.<br /><br />The stunning series of events culminated a weekend of frantic around-the-clock negotiations, as Wall Street bankers huddled in meetings at the behest of Bush administration officials to try to avoid a downward spiral in the markets stemming from a crisis of confidence.<br /><br />"My goodness. I've been in the business 35 years, and these are the most extraordinary events I've ever seen," said Peter G. Peterson, co-founder of the private equity firm the Blackstone Group, who was head of Lehman in the 1970s and a secretary of commerce in the Nixon administration.<br /><br />It remains to be seen whether the sale of Merrill, which was worth more than $100 billion during the last year, and the controlled demise of Lehman will be enough to finally turn the tide in the yearlong financial crisis that has crippled Wall Street and threatened the broader economy. </blockquote>We all need to ask ourselves how we got here. It was the systematic deregulation of an industry that controls our nations finances. Ask yourself who was to benefit from these weaker regulations? Does anyone still think that industry can police itself? The Republicans systematically rolled back depression era regulations which were put in place to avoid a repeat of the Great Depression. Who helped to roll back these regulations?<br /><br /><a href="http://suzieqq.wordpress.com/2008/03/30/mccains-friend-phil-gramm-linked-to-subprime-disaster/">One needs to look no further than Phil Gramm who is a top economic advisor to Senator John McCain. </a><blockquote>The general co-chairman of John McCain's presidential campaign, former Sen. Phil Gramm (R-Texas), led the charge in 1999 to repeal a Depression-era banking regulation law that Democrat Barack Obama claimed on Thursday contributed significantly to today's economic turmoil.<br /><br />"A regulatory structure set up for banks in the 1930s needed to change because the nature of business had changed," the Illinois senator running for president said in a New York economic speech. "But by the time [it] was repealed in 1999, the $300 million lobbying effort that drove deregulation was more about facilitating mergers than creating an efficient regulatory framework."<br /><br />Gramm's role in the swift and dramatic recent restructuring of the nation's investment houses and practices didn't stop there.<br /><br />A year after the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act repealed the old regulations, Swiss Bank UBS gobbled up brokerage house Paine Weber. Two years later, Gramm settled in as a vice chairman of UBS's new investment banking arm.<br /><br />Later, he became a major player in its government affairs operation. According to federal lobbying disclosure records, Gramm lobbied Congress, the Federal Reserve and Treasury Department about banking and mortgage issues in 2005 and 2006.<br /><br />During those years, the mortgage industry pressed Congress to roll back strong state rules that sought to stem the rise of predatory tactics used by lenders and brokers to place homeowners in high-cost mortgages.<br /><br />For his work, Gramm and two other lobbyists collected $750,000 in fees from UBS's American subsidiary. In the past year, UBS has written down more then $18 billion in exposure to subprime loans and other risky securities and is considering cutting as many as 8,000 jobs.<br /><br />Gramm did not respond to an e-mail, and was unavailable for comment, according to a UBS spokesman. The bank has no official position on the subprime crisis, the spokesman said, but is a member of the Financial Services Roundtable and other industry groups that are actively lobbying Congress on the issue.<br /><br />Now, some housing experts and economists see Gramm's thinking in the recent housing proposal from McCain, the Republican Party's presumed presidential nominee. Gramm is often a surrogate for the Arizona senator, particularly in meetings focused on the economy. And McCain has hinted he'd consider the former Texas senator for Treasury secretary in a McCain administration.</blockquote>If America votes for more of this crap then they deserve what will come. We have gone from surpluses to record setting deficits. We have seen the value of our homes collapse and the greatest increase in consumer indebtedness in our history. Our middle class is nearly gone and yet this election remains close. What more will it take for us to wake up and say ENOUGH?Jeffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06398048905874691130noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31961582.post-46661563052522652062008-09-13T13:27:00.001-04:002008-09-13T13:28:50.743-04:00If You Love Animals You Need To See ThisThis made me angry. Is this the type of person we want a heartbeat away from the Presidency?<br /><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/EQobIUE1zTU&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/EQobIUE1zTU&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>Jeffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06398048905874691130noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31961582.post-91535022424356833102008-09-13T00:39:00.002-04:002008-09-13T00:40:31.690-04:00The Lies Of John McCainPlease pass this onto 10 people and ask them to do the same. We can not allow the lies to continue. The future of our country is at stake.<br /><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/IH0xzsogzAk&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/IH0xzsogzAk&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>Jeffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06398048905874691130noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31961582.post-78058393451047126902008-09-09T22:18:00.001-04:002008-09-09T22:21:52.056-04:00Wow She Lies As Easily As She Talks.The problem is that our electorate is too lazy to check the facts and they know that. Show this video to everyone you know.<br /><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/OfLDjmKfigw&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/OfLDjmKfigw&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>Jeffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06398048905874691130noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31961582.post-71374000317977418792008-09-07T17:02:00.003-04:002008-09-07T17:28:39.396-04:00The Weeks Economic News - And it's All BadJust when you think things have got to get better we are inundate with stories that show the worst is yet to come:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/06/business/economy/06econ.html?bl&ex=1220932800&en=0e4d71145da494a5&ei=5087%0A">Unemployment Soars. </a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/06/business/06lend.html?ref=business">Foreclosure Rate Soars.</a><br /><br /><a href="http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5h0UnBlC_4jFvwbQeEH9sVsyGVQGQ">Gov't takes over Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.</a><br /><br />How can anyone even consider staying on the same course? Have we all lost our collective minds. This mess was years in the making. It is lack of regulation that have led us to where we are today and what does john McCain promise? He promises more of the same. Is there anyone who still believes that less regulation is the way to grow this economy? This idea that less regulation will cause industry to police itself is as crazy as believing that Sarah Palin is a true reformer when her history shows us the opposite. Are we really that lazy that we will no longer investigate what we are being told? Those who have the most to lose seem to understand less than those who have everything to gain. We risk becoming a society of haves and have nots without a knowledgable electorate. Today it is easier than ever to fact check and learn the truth. <br /><br />We have turned the Presidential election into a popularity contest not a test of ideas. We elected the person we most wanted to have a beer with and 8 years and a devastated economy show where that led us. Are we willing to make the same mistake again? Our standard of living is on the decline. We are now a paper tiger saddled with the world's largest national debt. Is this really the direction we want to take? Or military might can only take us so far. So what we can destroy the world 100 times over. Will that fact educate our people, provide decent affordable health care for all or keep our poverty rates from soaring? The answer is no.Jeffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06398048905874691130noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31961582.post-82165488609354728472008-09-06T16:02:00.002-04:002008-09-06T16:08:25.952-04:00McCain Son's Bank Goes Belly Up<a href="http://www.cnbc.com/id/26567780/for/cnbc/">I guess the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. Does anyone remember the Keating 5? </a><blockquote>Regulators shut down Silver State Bank, saying the Nevada bank failed because of losses on soured loans, mainly in commercial real estate and land development. It was the 11th failure this year of a federally insured bank in the U.S.<br /><br />Nevada regulators closed Silver State and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. was appointed receiver of the bank, based in Henderson, Nevada. It had $2 billion in assets and $1.7 billion in deposits as of June 30.<br /><br />Andrew K. McCain, a son of Republican presidential nominee John McCain, sat on the boards of Silver State Bank and of its parent, Silver State Bancorp, starting in February but resigned in July citing "personal reasons," corporate filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission show. Andrew McCain also was a member of the bank's audit committee, responsible for oversight of the company's accounting.</blockquote>I guess like his father, he doesn't really under the economy. Being part of the audit committee that is supposed to catch these things is troubling. I wonder how much this loss will cost taxpayers. I am sure it will be less then when his father used his influence to help Charles Keating which cost taxpayers billions. <br /><br />Lets hope this incident will remind people of the corruption that John McCain was part of in the Savings and Loan crisis.Jeffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06398048905874691130noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31961582.post-91236364080815271462008-09-04T19:02:00.000-04:002008-09-04T19:03:56.450-04:00Jon Stewart Shows Hypocrisy As Only He Can<embed FlashVars="videoId=184086" src='http://www.thedailyshow.com/sitewide/video_player/view/default/swf.jhtml' quality='high' bgcolor='#cccccc' width='332' height='316' name='comedy_central_player' align='middle' allowScriptAccess='always' allownetworking='external' type='application/x-shockwave-flash' pluginspage='http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer'></embed>Jeffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06398048905874691130noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31961582.post-49348907930546335852008-09-03T23:16:00.003-04:002008-09-03T23:22:17.992-04:00Palin Stint As Mayor Included An Explosion of Meth Labs in Her Town<a href="http://www.juneauempire.com/stories/030805/sta_20050308002.shtml">What does it say for a city government that sees its meth labs explode year over year? I say it screams incompetence. </a> Now lets talk about Sarah Palin's record as Mayor and Governor then decide if she is ready to be a heartbeat away from the Presidency. Remember she would be second in line to the oldest President in history. Are we really willing to take that chance?Jeffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06398048905874691130noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31961582.post-38929785786222741172008-09-02T23:10:00.003-04:002008-09-02T23:16:14.913-04:00Does Sarah Palin Share the Views of Her Church<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/09/02/palestinian-attack-in-isr_n_123297.html">It seems her church feels Israel being attacked by Palestinians is justified. </a><blockquote>After several months of scrutinizing Barack Obama's former place of worship, reporters are now taking a close look at Alaskan churches frequented by presumptive Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin.<br /><br />As the Huffington Post reported earlier Tuesday, Palin addressed a gathering at the Wasilla Assembly of God, asking them to pray for oil pipeline development and "God's will" in Iraq. Meanwhile, the Boston Herald and Newsweek have both identified Wasilla Bible Church as the Alaska Governor's most recent church. And it was at that Bible Church where a recent guest described a Palestinian attack on Israeli citizens as part of God's judgment coming to pass on Earth -- an analysis likely troubling both to Jews, as well as to mainstream foreign policy analysts.</blockquote>This woman was not vetted at all. She was simply picked because she was a woman and she was extremely pro-life. The Republicans felt Hillary supports would support Sarah Palin just because they both have vaginas. John McCain had six months to pick a Vice President and this is what he came up. This was a purely political pick with no regard to the country he says he puts first. If you want more pain vote for McCain.Jeffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06398048905874691130noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31961582.post-77576965788505924252008-09-02T22:23:00.001-04:002008-09-02T22:25:39.700-04:00Former POW With McCain on Why He Should Never Be President.<object width="470" height="393"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/_KjsEs46C70&hl=en&border=0"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/_KjsEs46C70&hl=en&border=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="470" height="393"></embed></object>Jeffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06398048905874691130noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31961582.post-59328357484483534572008-08-29T12:22:00.002-04:002008-08-29T12:33:46.539-04:00McCain Picks Sarah Palin as his VP<a href="http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/08/29/palin.republican.vp.candidate/index.html">McCain Picks Sarah Palin the first term Governor of Alaska as his running mate.</a><blockquote>Sarah Palin, 44, is a first-term governor who unseated incumbent Gov. Frank Murkowski in the Republican primary in 2006 and went on to defeat former Gov. Tony Knowles, a Democrat, in the general election.</blockquote>I would say it will be kind of hard to say Obama is not ready for the Presidency when you select the first term Governor of Alaska to be the second in line to a 72 year old. If McCain is elected she could very well one day become the President. Keeping with Republican tradition <a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121746477267499109.html?mod=googlenews_wsj"> she is also under investigation in Alaska.</A><blockquote>When Sarah Palin was elected governor as a Republican outsider in 2006, she didn't just take on an incumbent from her own party. She took on Alaska's Republican establishment.<br /><br />Ms. Palin vowed to clean up a long-cozy political system that had been sullied by an FBI corruption investigation. She endeared herself to Alaskans by making good on her reform promises and showing homey touches, like driving herself to work.<br /><br />Now, one of the bright new stars in the Republican Party has suddenly become tarnished. The state legislature this week voted to hire an independent investigator to see whether Ms. Palin abused her office by trying to get her former brother-in-law fired from his job as an Alaska state trooper.<br /><br />"This is a governor who was almost impervious to error," says Hollis French, a Democratic state senator. "Now she could face impeachment, in a worst-case scenario."<br /></blockquote>If you want more pain then vote for Mccain. This just shows it is business as usual for the Republicans who have steadily destroyed the American Middle Class.Jeffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06398048905874691130noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31961582.post-9153803819395459292008-08-27T00:23:00.002-04:002008-08-27T00:28:13.062-04:00Brilliant Speech By Hillary ClintonI think this speech just sent shivers down the spines of the Republicans who were hoping for a fractured Democratic Convention. The Republicans truly are bad for the average working American. When will the middle class stop voting against their own economic best interests?<br /><br /><iframe height="339" width="425" src="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22425001/vp/26414383#26414383" frameborder="0" scrolling="no"></iframe>Jeffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06398048905874691130noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31961582.post-45615998618256946402008-08-25T22:11:00.001-04:002008-08-25T22:11:53.212-04:00Healthcare In America<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/Y_Y4Kn4U6P4&color1=11645361&color2=13619151&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Y_Y4Kn4U6P4&color1=11645361&color2=13619151&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>Jeffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06398048905874691130noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31961582.post-5990088920435654262008-08-21T21:59:00.001-04:002008-08-21T21:59:59.984-04:00A Must See - Sometimes The Truth Isn't So Pretty<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/LW4msHu_9EQ&color1=11645361&color2=13619151&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/LW4msHu_9EQ&color1=11645361&color2=13619151&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>Jeffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06398048905874691130noreply@blogger.com0