ThinkFast: September 30, 2008
ThinkFast: September 30, 2008
Nearly 90 percent of Americans are concerned that the failure of the Wall Street bailout package “could lead to a more severe economic decline,” according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll. In all, 45 percent supported the failed bill and 47 percent opposed it. 61 percent said that “there was insufficient assistance for the general public.”
“Sometime between Election Day and early December,” NBC News will make a final decision about who will permanently replace Tim Russert as the host of “Meet The Press,” the New York Times reports. Though the decision has yet to be finalized, the network is said to be “leaning toward an ensemble of hosts that would be led by Chuck Todd, NBC’s political director, and include David Gregory.”
Corinne Weber, a GOP county chairwoman in upstate New York, has resigned over a chain e-mail that she forwarded “to more than two dozen Republicans on Friday night that makes a veiled reference to Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama and suggests he is the Antichrist.” One county official pressing for Weber’s resignation said that the e-mail “didn’t reflect the views of the Republican Party.”
According to data from across 11 networks, the first presidential debate on Sept. 26 drew 52.4 million viewers, roughly 16 percent less than the 62.5 million viewers who watched the first debate between President Bush and John Kerry during the 2004 election.
On the trail today: Barack Obama will be in Reno, NV where he will discuss the current economic crisis. John McCain has scheduled a small-business round-table in Des Moines, IA.
Kyle Foggo, a former high-ranking CIA official, “pleaded guilty Monday to one felony corruption count, admitting that he had directed CIA contracts to companies operated by a longtime friend,” military contractor Brent Wilkes. Wilkes was sentenced to 12 years in prison for bribing Rep. Randy Cunningham (R-CA) “who had previously pleaded guilty to corruption charges and is serving an eight-year sentence.”
“The House and the Senate conceded Monday that they were in a stalemate over proposals to provide tax incentives for the production and use of renewable energy, leaving the future of the nascent industry in limbo.” Tax credits for both solar and wind energy “will expire at the end of the year unless Congress resolves the impasse.”
Despite Republican challenges, “state and federal courts have cleared the way for a weeklong period in which new voters can register and cast an absentee ballot on the same day in Ohio.” The Ohio Supreme Court and a federal judge in Cleveland on Monday upheld the weeklong voting period which begins Tuesday and ends on Oct. 6.
And finally: CEO Mike Zippelli, head of Classic Sleep Products located in Jessup, MD, wanted Congress to be fully prepared to stay all night working on the financial bailout. Last week, he sent a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) offering to donate 535 mattresses. “[I]t doesn’t matter what side of the political aisle you are on, solving this crisis is paramount,” he said in a statement. “Congress should be in session 24/7 until this issue is resolved, and I’ll make sure we give them tools to take some naps on the Hill.”
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Smaller Banks Prosper During Crisis
The Washington Post reports that “Banks throughout the United States carried on with the business of making loans yesterday even as federal officials warned again that their industry is on the verge of collapse, suggesting that the overheated language on Capitol Hill may not reflect the reality on many Main Streets.”
Which begs the questions: With bipartisan opposition from objective experts, why should any Congressman instead believe the very same Bush officials who helped create this crisis with their deregulation? These same Bush officials who just months ago said our economy was fine? All seems well with the majority of small banks across the nation.
The National Federation of Independent Business members only had 10% that said loans were harder to get in August. But only 2% cited that cost and credit as their number one business problem. However, this is well below the 37%; that noted credit as their biggest challenge in 1982.
Many small banks are rolling in extra cash. I called both of my banks to inquire if I could get a loan. They both asked me how much I needed and said they could have the paperwork done today.
After one week of Paulson demands, shouldn’t there be almost a unanimous consensus among Congressmen and bi-partisan observers before spending 5 percent of our entire economy? It’s time, as The Who said, that we “don’t get fooled again.”
September 30th, 2008 at 9:00 amNot the anti-Christ smear again. What if someone wants Armageddon to occur, to blaze the path for Christ’s quicker return?
Should they then vote for the anti-Christ candidate? Of course, that means a third Bush term….
September 30th, 2008 at 9:04 am“…veiled reference to Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama and suggests he is the Antichrist.” One county official pressing for Weber’s resignation said that the e-mail “didn’t reflect the views of the Republican Party.”
The official view of the Republican Party.
There, fixed it.
September 30th, 2008 at 9:08 amMaybe now Congress can get back to work and do something that will help the average person and make the big shots help to pay for this bailout.
OH, I know, we need more deregulation and bigger salaries for the CEOs!
September 30th, 2008 at 9:18 amWait. The Repubs made one of theirs resign over a smear on Obama??? What the heck day is this?? Did Hell freeze over??
September 30th, 2008 at 9:19 amMichael Lafferty Says:
Thankfully, it appears that Senator McConnell will be the unhappy recipient of farewell congratulatory remarks shortly after the next election. He’s only statistically even with a virtually unknown Democratic opponent as the election looms on the horizon!
From you keyboard to the voting booth, hopefully!
September 30th, 2008 at 9:19 amCorinne Weber, a GOP county chairwoman in upstate New York, has resigned over a chain e-mail that she forwarded “to more than two dozen Republicans on Friday night that makes a veiled reference to Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama and suggests he is the Antichrist.”
___________________________________________________________
So THAT’S where Danny Funderburk got it! Or maybe Funderburk forwarded it to Corinne Weber. No matter what happened, it appears that we have quite a few Republicans receiving this e-mail and passing it along. I predict Weber won’t be the only casualty over this.
September 30th, 2008 at 9:21 amGood point stateofthedivision. Maybe non-Republicans should start mass emailings telling everybody about the left behind, rapture ready Sarah Palin who hopes for Armageddon.
September 30th, 2008 at 9:21 amPolitical Cannibalism Theatre is so much fun.
It was sheer delight seeing even Republicans appalled by the bail-out bill yesterday.
They even eat their own.
September 30th, 2008 at 9:27 amBush wants a trillion dollars/American from the voters to GIVE to his Republican banker friends…some who are FOREIGNERS. Heard something yesterday that he is about to give a trillion to foreign banks on top of bailout..must be Federal Reserve privilage, it only belongs to taxpayers. Only idiots would support this.
September 30th, 2008 at 9:31 amAnyone watch the Couric interview with McCain and Palin?
It was embarrassing.
McCain’s attempt at humor failed miserably. His constant fidgeting revealed his uncomfortableness with either Katie, or his select VP.
When Sarah spoke, he looked down.
Then, the “gotcha journalism” proclamation! WTF?
A citizen asked Sarah about a possible US response to Pakistan, to which she answered in full detail, and that’s gotcha journalism?
No, gotcha journalism would take Sarah to task for her Bridge to Nowhere lies.
Gotcha journalism would not hold back due to a false perception of sexism.
Gotcha journalism would be hammering on Sarah’s church and her “witch hunting” preacher, as hard as they did to the other candidate with darker skin.
So NO, Mr. McCain. This was not gotcha journalism. If it were, trust me, you would not even be close in the polls!
September 30th, 2008 at 9:32 amThe defeated, proposed bailout legislation attacked the problem from the wrong end. Of course, it is so late “in the day”, but Paulson and Bernanke should have been looking to stimulating the base of the economy by shoring up mortgages through the creation of a new HOLC and taking pains to see that compensation improved at the working level rather than the executive. Efforts should have been put into stabilizing gas prices and other energy prices. Unemployment insurance and other forms of economic assistance such as heat subsidies should have been beefed and returned the US to a healthy consumer economy. Then money would “trickle up” capillarily rather than hoping for a few scraps to be cast down from high Olympus down here where all the “awful” stuff flows.
September 30th, 2008 at 9:35 amDRxJ, McCain showed his true personality during that interview didn’t he? Gotcha journalism when it was a citizen asking the question. Everything associated with him that goes wrong is somebody else doing something to him. He’s responsible for nothing. And he’s paranoid.
September 30th, 2008 at 9:36 amDRxJ Says
September 30th, 2008 at 9:32 am
Anyone watch the Couric interview with McCain and Palin?
________________________________________________________
I think I’ve gotten to the point where it’s just too painful to watch this train wreck. I know I need to pay attention because there is still a chance this joke of a team could actually be elected, but it’s getting tough. What used to make me laugh is now just making me scared.
September 30th, 2008 at 9:38 am777
The financial casino known as Wall St had great numbers yesterday…if you’re a casino.
As I look over the financial abyss of sewage spewing forth from what was once Banks, it occurs to me that the American taxpayer has been subsidizing these swindling, predatory loan sharks for decades.
Enough!
Mortgage bundling, hot swaps, residuals, futures, commodity fixing and other nefarious activities have been both their salvation and downfall.
Don’t feel sorry for these people, folks. Most have Swiss Bank accounts & they’ll be just fine, thank you.
Be sure to thank John McCain & Phil Gramm, as well. Deregulation among thieves was never a real bright idea, but McCain & Gramm truly believed business & profit ranked above fairness & common social good.
Remember this at the ballot box. Remember that those who favor profit over productivity are those who must pay a dear price now.
Just look at McCain over the last month. He’s flipped & flopped more times than a tadpole out of water. As he patronizes voters with double talk he has the ultimate Golden Parachuter, Carly Fiorina, on his campaign staff.
Oh, & did I mention Phil Gramm.
Phil, would you like some cheese to with that whine?
September 30th, 2008 at 9:38 amNo, gotcha journalism would take Sarah to task for her Bridge to Nowhere lies.
Gotcha journalism would not hold back due to a false perception of sexism.
Gotcha journalism would be hammering on Sarah’s church and her “witch hunting” preacher, as hard as they did to the other candidate with darker skin.
no that would be REAL journalism, not the coddling crap spread by the (now thankfully deceased, e.g.,) Tim Russert and the rest of the SCUM warriors for the status quo…
So NO, Mr. McCain. This was not gotcha journalism. If it were, trust me, you would not even be close in the polls!
September 30th, 2008 at 9:39 amSeptember 30th, 2008 at 9:32 am
In other news:
The Sun Rose in the East Today.
In spite of predictions of the end of the world should the bailout bill fail to pass, the sun continued to rise in the east, although the McCain campaign did note it was a bit later than yesterday.
A McCain spokesperson, speaking from the Palin Campaign Headquarters in Alaska, opined whether this heralded the beginning of the end, and predicted that the sun would rise at a later time each day until, at some point, it would fail to rise at all, plunging the land into darkness. Sales of solar-driven energy supplies plummetted on the news.
Others, however, pooh-pooed the doom-and-gloom scenario and predicted that, while there is decreasing amounts of sunlight now, sunlight will increase after the Winter Solstice. They based their statements on science supported by observations going back thousands of years to the building of the Great Pyramids and Stonehenge. Creations shot back, claiming that the Great Pyramids and Stonehenge were built before God created Heaven and Earth and were therefore tools of the Devil.
Walmart reported a run on flashlight batteries, and many banks have been inundated with customers seeking to withdraw their Daylight Savings.
/satire
September 30th, 2008 at 9:42 amThe economy of the SofA is a house of cards build on foundations of sand.
As Kevin Phillips has repeatedly shown, it’s an economy of NO substance, no concrete value except debt.
Debt is the sole and only ‘product’ created by this economy. We have no manufacturing base to speak of: its all been off-shored to save wages to the CorpoRats who have s[pent the last 30 years since, with the contrivance and connivance of the US Cenrtral Bank, they have been perfecting the art of decoupling wages and worker productivity.
These are spoils of that project. Let’em eat phuquing paper…
Any “fix” is necessarily temporary
September 30th, 2008 at 9:45 amRegarding our financial meltdown. The Democrats need to immediately take the initiative. They need to dump the bill that the Republicans wrote. Then they can immediately convene a “think tank” of leading economists lead by Warren Buffet. There should be an equal number of Democrats and Republicans on the committee and there should be a seat at the table for both candidates, since one of them is going to inherit this mess. I’m sure that kind of a committee could come up with a workable plan that won’t cost us taxpayers anything. A start can be a tax on every stock transaction like they have in Great Britain.
September 30th, 2008 at 9:55 amBilbo Hussein Baggins Says:
A start can be a tax on every stock transaction like they have in Great Britain.
September 30th, 2008 at 9:55 am
______
Didn’t FDR put a transaction tax in place to combat the speculation that led to the first Great Depression?
September 30th, 2008 at 9:59 am“The House and the Senate conceded Monday that they were in a stalemate over proposals to provide tax incentives for the production and use of renewable energy, leaving the future of the nascent industry in limbo.” Tax credits for both solar and wind energy “will expire at the end of the year unless Congress resolves the impasse.”
All this puts a lie to the Republican mantra that they are for renewable energy along with “drill baby drill”. Oh well, the incentives won’t be gone for long if Obama makes them a first order of business when he takes office.
September 30th, 2008 at 10:00 amRe: the Couric interview with McCain and Palin. Katie Couric is starting to grow on me and is earning my respect. Also, notice that flash of temper when McCain interrupted with his “gotcha journalism” line. Can you imagine how well that kind of behavior would go over in intense negotiations with foreign leaders.
September 30th, 2008 at 10:04 amBilbo, you’re spot on with your reasoning about McCain / Couric.
We all know Bush is a hothead, but McCain makes Bush look like a calm, reasonable leader. McCain is a true bully by nature. You can bet that, even though he was at the bottom of his class at Annapolis, he was the big man on campus because Daddy & Grandpa were both Admirals.
McCain has a history of shouting first & apologizing later. This isn’t leadership, it’s temper tantrums and expectations of always getting your way.
These qualities are dangerous in a congressman, let alone a President.
Will he be at the debate Thur night? Will he demand to be on stage, behind Palin, staring at her ass for the entire debate?
We’ll see. One thing for sure, if Palin stumbles or misspeaks, he’ll be the first to claim ‘gotcha tactics’.
Do our Country a favor…send McCain back the desert & Palin back to the Tundra on Nov. 4th.
September 30th, 2008 at 10:11 amSpin Fast
NBC’s Meet The Press may be revamped with an ensemble of hosts.
Insiders say executives are considering molding the new show after NBC’s most successful ensemble show, Seinfeld.
“It’s a perfect fit” said a waiter who is working on a script. “Four self-centered characters obsessed with the petty details and prejudices of life with no sense of responsibility and dubious job experience that nonetheless live charmed lives with no significant consequences! Isn’t that what political journalism is all about?”
September 30th, 2008 at 10:12 am“I’ll make sure we give them tools to take some naps on the Hill.”
Those fools don’t need any tools! They all have been asleep on the Hill and at the switch for the last eight years at least.
September 30th, 2008 at 10:17 amGood point, Crusty! Has it occurred to anyone yet that the Dems are now in the perfect position to create a Democratic Bill with Democratic principles(such as guaranteeing home loans so that people get to stay in their homes AND their mortgages don’t default so derivatives and securities are still worth something) and push it thru with the Democratic majority? The Dems then get to take credit for SAVING THE AMERICAN ECONOMY! The Dems have the rarest of opportunities to have their cake and eat it, too.
September 30th, 2008 at 10:28 amThere’s “stupid” you learn to live w/…
Corinne Weber, a GOP county chairwoman in upstate New York [... ] “didn’t reflect the views of the Republican Party.”
And then, there’s “stupid” that just hurts to look at…
September 30th, 2008 at 10:39 am“Bush a beaten dog”. I see that the American citizenry is finally waking up from the GOP stupor brought upon us by 30 years of trickle down BS. It is shameful that killing a million innocent people isn’t as big a problem as loosing a trillion dollars. I’m going down with everybody else, but I can’t help but say: It couldn’t happen to a more deserving bunch.
September 30th, 2008 at 10:52 amThe very fact the Pallid is even on the ticket is a distraction from the issues. This woman is so pathetically unqualified to be president.
September 30th, 2008 at 10:55 amGood Morning Campers, I was just remembering another better informed poster than myself (can’t remember your name, sorry) posted the fact that tonight at 11:59 is the end of our fiscal year..What doe’s that mean? Well, seem’s we could be in default for all gov crap by midnight…Many like myself know we have been in default since Jan.2000 in one way or another…
Yesterday I deleted 56 email’s before noon, junk from every political group I had ever peeked into and polatician that wanted me to sign a patitian…Already this morning my email’s (Incoming) have bombed me with 23….75% of these bomber’s want money, donation’s to help rich folk’s running for election’s..Few of the begger’s are normal non rich….Funny thing is I have only sent money to Kucinich and Defender’s of Wildlife in the past…My point on this rant is, support the deserving and delete all the junk…..P.B.&J …PS…..Ms. witch hunter walin palin hasen’t got me yet..
September 30th, 2008 at 10:56 amBilbo:
September 30th, 2008 at 11:01 amI don’t know what you are so worried about with McCain’s temper. It’s not like he will hold any negotiations with foreign leaders in the first place.
Walin palin is no more than the pretty face for a magic show….She’s there to distract while the main guy fool’s his audiance with his trick’s…mcnut’s will do more than steal your watch and pretend to give it back, he is insane enough to push all the buttons and blow up our beautiful planet…..Blessings
September 30th, 2008 at 11:01 am“According to data from across 11 networks, the first presidential debate on Sept. 26 drew 52.4 million viewers, roughly 16 percent less than the 62.5 million viewers who watched the first debate between President Bush and John Kerry during the 2004 election.”
That’s interesting. That’s networks of course.
So I wonder have 16% more people already made up their minds and couldn’t be bothered to watch?
How many people chose to watch on the web instead?
How many people working two jobs decided to catch the highlights and transcripts on the internet instead?
Is Nielsen still stuck in the past, as the pollsters are in not surveying cell-phone users?
I wonder….
September 30th, 2008 at 11:14 amI know she just got her own show but Rachel Maddow should be handed “Meet the Press” on a golden platter.
September 30th, 2008 at 11:48 amI don’t always agree with Ted Rall, but today’s op/ed was excellent:
BUSH, CONGRESS PARTY LIKE IT’S 1929Thu Sep 25, 7:59 PM ET
Save People, Not Bankers
NEW YORK–Seat belt laws embolden drivers to drive faster, causing a net loss of life. It’s the law of unintended consequences, also known as the Peltzman effect: the safer you feel, the more risk you take.
Sam Peltzman, the economist after whom said effect is named, says that government bailouts like the Bush Administration’s $700 billion attempt to stave off economic collapse are no more effective than “pouring money down a rat hole.” Moral hazard–rewarding reckless people and companies while allowing responsible ones to fail (hello, Lehman Brothers) may avert one economic crisis while planting the seeds of a worse one down the road.
“In the long run,” says Peltzman, “you’re just laying the groundwork for more because you’re giving people an incentive to take too much risk, where a big part of the risk gets laid off on the taxpayer.”
Be sure and check out Ted’s list of suggestions…
September 30th, 2008 at 12:04 pmEU says U.S. must meet finance crisis responsibility
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The United States must live up to its special responsibility to resolve the global credit crisis, the European Commission said on Tuesday, calling for swift enactment of a bailout plan for the financial sector.
In an unusually sharp statement, a spokesman for the European Union executive said the EU was disappointed at the U.S. House of Representatives’ rejection of a $700 billion (389 billion pound) rescue package for distressed banks and financial institutions.
“The U.S. must take its responsibility in this situation,” spokesman Johannes Laitenberger told a news conference, adding that Europe expected Congress to act fast.
September 30th, 2008 at 12:29 pmNow this is some bullshit right here:
http://www.democracynow.org/2008/9/30/headlines#13
September 30th, 2008 at 12:29 pmPee Ewwwwe, I see a cheery load of crap was just unloaded.
September 30th, 2008 at 4:30 pm