Sad update: Pink Floyd’s Richard Wright Dies at 65. A week of loss. I don't know how they are related but there seems to be a spiritual crisis going on in America — as evidenced by the loss of Lehman Brothers, one of our oldest investment banks — loss of lives in the L.A. Metro train crash and Hurricane Ike, and the loss of David Foster Wallace — one of our brightest literary lights.
Tectonic' Market Shift as Lehman Fails, Merrill SoldWe can and will rebuild America. We are in a crisis brought on by greed, Mother Nature and human error. But I believe this is the most important time in our lives to come together and realize we are all ONE. No one can do it alone; we were never meant to. We can't just pull ourselves up by our bootstraps without help. This is a hard lesson in cooperation, but we will survive these strange times and not only thrive, but transcend these "regressive" forces. Pray for those who lost loved ones in the hurricanes and Los Angeles Metro train collisions. It's the perfect time to build a better, stronger, more compassionate United States of America.
FREEDOM FROM FEAR"Barn burned down, but now I can see the moon."
Don't panic. Fear is "False Evidence Appearing Real." We have so much in this country. What if we simplify our lives and quiet the nagging desires for more? Instead of economic growth, why not economic stability? Sometimes you have to hit bottom to really find out what you're made of. Maybe this financial crisis will cause us to really focus on creating the new green industries that will save our jobs and our environment. Despite appearances, good is winning and this time in our history is actually the best time for us to regroup, rebuild, reconnect and learn some spiritual lessons in helping each other. Let's look up, not down, and embrace the new enlightenment which is coming in with a bang, not a whimper.
Though trickle-down Reaganomics is clearly the cause of our economic woes, there is no need to panic over the so-called 'recession.' Everything that is happening is simply showing us that predatory lending and greed-based corporatism has got to end. Capitalism run amuck has run amuck. For many years I've seen this coming -- in the obsessive advertising products we don't need and creating industries out of our insecurities. The outsourcing and 'buy, buy, buy' mentality is what needs to be changed. We will create green industries at home. We will become more conscious of those in need. We all need to simplify and take care of each other. This morning I had a very calm feeling about the stock market and the sub-prime catastrophes. People who panicked, sold and lost. Those who were not ruled by false evidence appearing real (fear) were fine. I almost sold my stock, then meditated, and decided to sit still. My stock went up. Americans are powerfully resilient, industrious and innovative. Fearmongering will not take hold here. Obviously we cannot sustain a consumer society without bringing manufacturing jobs back here, but we should open our minds to embrace the train that has already left the station: globalization. There is no turning back, so we better love our neighbors as ourselves. Including some of the United Arab Emirates. Abu Dhabi is an amazing place. Do not be in fear of "the other." Anyway, when you keep your heart on the spiritual values of life —— love, charity, truth, empathy, generosity — you really know what's important. My family could live in a one bedroom shack and still be happy because we finally have our values in the right place: love, friendships, family... and dogs.
Something Good Always Comes of Bad
Even the severed branch grows again.
And the sunken moon returns
Wise men who know this
Are not troubled in adversity.
__________________________________
Please contribute your thoughts on our economy and tell us what you think will happen next. Will the Fed cut interest rates? What is the best idea for the American economy? Create new "green" jobs? Drop prices? Force oil barons to share profits/ How can we survive these difficult times, and what is the solution? I have a utopian solution and my optimism may annoy some of you, but if you can think outside the box and take a brave leap in your thinking you will see a silver lining here. Our vets will be coming home from Iraq with wounds to heal. We will need to support over 25,000 Iraq vets for lifetime disabilities. We will need to treat them for post traumatic stress syndrome as well. FEMA will need to help the hurricane victims. The Fed should be bailing out the homeowners who were victims of predatory lending practices — instead of bailing out only Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and Bear Sterns. Please leave your comments here.
THE LAW OF ATTRACTION
There are certain laws in the universe that we all believe in. The law of gravity comes to mind. We all know that the law of gravity exists. However, we cannot see it, touch it, or sense it. We just believe and it is true. The same is true for electricity. We know what it does, but does anyone know what it is or how it works? What if there was a law that would bring you everything in the world that you wanted? There is, it is called the law of attraction, and it is at the basis of this new movement called “spiritual marketing.
The law of attraction states that we attract everything in our life. Everything that we are, everything that we have, and everything that we do is a result of what we believe. Our thoughts are the most powerful force in the universe. Can you imagine controlling your thoughts and in controlling your thoughts you are able to attract everything that you always wanted in your life? I know it sounds too good to be true, but think of this. How many thoughts do you have each day? How many are positive? How many are negative? Whatever you focus on you attract. If you focus on what you don’t have, you are focusing on lack and things will never change. If you focus on the negative, you will bring about negative results. We all have the power to choose our thoughts, and in that power lays the potential to be, do, and have everything you’ve always wanted. The law of attraction and spiritual marketing go hand in hand, and I can say that I’ve experienced it firsthand.
What Does This Have To Do With My Business?
So you’re probably saying, okay, I believe in the law of attraction –but how will this help me in my business and personal relationships? Did you know that when you are meeting with a prospect or
client they are influenced not by what you say, or even how you say it but by your presence and the energy you send out?I couldn’t believe it either. People are influenced by your words only 7%; by your tone of voice 38%; and by your energy and the way you conduct yourself and believe in yourself 55%! Isn’t that amazing? We all try to come up with the correct words or the correct presentation and even try to match the tone of voice of the person we are talking to. The real power is in your belief, how you believe in yourself, the outcome that you expect to happen and the energy behind your presence.
_____________________________
RABBI MICHAEL LERNER
Materialism and greed which has become a run-away epidemic in the contemporary capitalist world in general, and in the U.S. in particular, is the root of the problem. Once again, the responsibility is on ordinary citizens to stand up and talk back to the politicians in both parties, and to do so in a way that demands a new set of values to run our economy, so that materialism and selfishness is put on the defensive and caring for each other becomes the central motif. It is only when some serious political leaders are willing to make that the center of their campaign, to demand that love, generosity and caring for others is the shaping force determining their policies, that the American people will be able to take that part of their consciousnss that wants such a world but believes it impossible, and finally transcend their fears and act on their highest desires rather than sinking into the other fearful part of their consiousness that leads them to seek magical solutions in repression and denial of much of what they know about the failures of the economy and of our foreign policy.
--Rabbi Michael Lerner is editor of Tikkun Magazine and chair of the Network of Spiritual Progressives. RabbiLerner@Tikkun.org
DAVID FOSTER WALLACE REST IN PEACE
NEW YORK (AP) — The literary world is in grief for David Foster Wallace, an author of seemingly unstoppable curiosity, imagination and ambition who apparently killed himself last week. Readers are seeking out his work, including his 1,000-page novel "Infinite Jest" and the essay collection "Consider the Lobster." Published in 1996, "Infinite Jest" cemented Wallace's reputation as a major American literary figure. The 1,000-plus-page tome, praised for its complexity and dark wit, topped many best-of lists. Time Magazine named "Infinite Jest" in its issue of the "100 Best English-language Novels from 1923 to 2005." Wallace received a "genius grant" from the MacArthur Foundation in 1997.
Wallace, who wrote with an explosive, ironic, but deeply serious passion about subjects ranging from tennis and politics to mathematics and cruise ships, was found dead by his wife in his home Friday night, according to the Claremont, Calif., police department. The 46-year-old author apparently hanged himself.
"He was the best of our generation, and his death is a loss beyond describing," Richard Powers, winner of the National Book Award in 2006 for the novel "The Echo Maker," told The Associated Press on Sunday.
"I am so sad — stunned — it reminds us all of how fragile we are, and how close at hand the darkness is," said fellow author A.M. Homes, whose books include the novel "The End of Alice" and "The Mistress's Daughter," a memoir. "He was a wonderful writer, a generous friend, and a singular talent."
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For incredible analysis of the Sarah Palin-Charlie Gibson interviews please tune in to The Basham and Cornell Show Radio We broadcast live from Las Vegas weekday mornings at 8 am Pacific (11 a.m. Eastern) on KLAV 1230 AM and we are simulcast worldwide on the web. All our interviews are in the "Audio Archives" and can be listened to at Basham and Cornell Radio If you've missed our show, check out the audio archives. We have interviewed Pat Buchanan, Rep. Robert Wexler, John & Elizabeth Edwards, Dennis & Elizabeth Kucinich, John Dean, Bill Press, NBC Bureau Chief in Tel Aviv Martin Fletcher, Pulitzer Prize winner Charlie Savage, Congressman Charlie Rangel, Valerie Plame, Christine Pelosi, Dahr Jamail, Senators Mike Gravel, Byron Dorgan and more.
Hi Lydia.
ReplyDeleteLydia in fact on Wall Street things are much worse then your post suggests,
ReplyDeleteLehman brothers had to declare bankruptcy,
Merril Lynch agreed to be bought by Bank of America so they did not have to declare bankruptcy,
and American Insurance Group is begging the US treasury for a loan to remain solvent. (Their market cap has shrunk 50% in the last month alone.)
The fall out will be a sizable down turn today in the markets, of around 3-4%, which will affect other weakened financial institution balance sheets.
Add to that oil is still falling (around 4% at the moment) and it looks like the large investment funds including the large pension funds are losing Billions.
But in human terms many people in and around NYC and other financial centers are worried abut their jobs, because when Merril Lynch is fully integrated into BoA how many jobs will be cut?
Will AIG cut jobs to cut costs?
And if Lehman brothers goes on to the chopping block in their bankruptcy, where will those people find jobs in the shrinking investment industry in this recession?
In effect only two of the five large investment banks still exist as separate entities.
This crunch and crash is far from over.
Unemployment was at 6.1% before this historical crisis on wall Street, which will send shock waves into the economy as a whole.
GM and Ford are starting to beg congress for loan guarantees like Chrysler got in the early 1980's to retool and try to make a come back.
In the coming quarter, things don't look good for a big Christmas Sales season, which means quite a few retailers could face similar situations next year, find outside fiscal help or go belly up.
2009 looks much bleaker after this weekend.
Because more mortgages will go into foreclosure, and more jobs will be lost.
This election really will make a big difference in what happens next year, because if McCain wins he might not be just McSame for four years, but McHoover also.
Hi everyone. I know, last night I saw the news on CNBC and was posting all about it, then it wouldn't publish.
ReplyDeleteI just posted more on Lehman, an article on Bloomberg.
The financial community is on shaky ground due to lavish private and public borrowing. This was caused primarily by Congress which cannot control their spending, and which also pushed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to buy risky mortgages which resulted in the sub-prime lending collapse.
ReplyDeleteBut don't worry, Obamamessiah will fix everything by implementing the biggest tax increase in U.S. history, disguised as a "tax break for the middle class".
Yo Bozo you left out the PRIVATE marketeers used some dodgy magic to try to turn sub prime toxic puss loans from the mortage industry, into AAA prime investment vehicles, and sold them to anybody who would BUY then and then PRETENDED that the toxic loans loaded CDO's and SIV's were worth hundreds times what they would have to be marked to if brought on to their balance sheets and fed thru any accurate accounting procedure.
ReplyDeleteThe banks even when they KNEW they held that poison refused to admit they held the toxic crap, and kept claiming everything was OK till it just blew up when they couldn't lie effectively enough.
If the bankers had done due diligence, and kept themselves to above board practices could have never gotten themselves into this situation, but you refuse to lay the blame where it really belong, because in your insane delusions republicans aren't to blame even though they fought to get the rights to do exactly what they did to start this mess in the first place them prevented proper oversight when it could have stopped the whole criminal mess in it's tracks years ago just because the right wingers were making so much money
But you'll blame anybody but Phil Gramm, The republican idiocy of the last 28 years, the clowns running the house from 1994-2006, the lack of any REAL oversight by Bush ET al to stop this run away train while the greedy bastards were still able to BILK people out of trillions, and the fact it is based on the right wing lies, the markets are truly free, and the government always does bad.
Typical right wing kool aid delusional thinking from the Franny Fraud.
BTW short of a miracle at this time AIG is toast.
ReplyDeleteIt lost 19 billion dollars of market cap or over 61% of it's stock price last Friday.
CNBC is reporting AIG needs $75 billion in NEW capital to save itself.
ReplyDeleteFreedom Fan said...
ReplyDeleteThe financial community is on shaky ground due to lavish private and public borrowing. This was caused primarily by Congress which cannot control their spending, and which also pushed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to buy risky mortgages which resulted in the sub-prime lending collapse.
But don't worry, Obamamessiah will fix everything by implementing the biggest tax increase in U.S. history, disguised as a "tax break for the middle class".
Sorry Fascist Foole, but Congress has been controlled by you idiots for the past 14 years with the exception of the last 20 or so months..............the faqcts which slimy little liars like you LOATHE so much are that the repug congress, led by Phil Graham who was McSame's chief economist repealedThe Glass- Steagall Act which led to the current mortgage meltdown that has infected the entire economy..........prior to Phil Graham and the repug congress's repeal of the Glass Steagall Act, Commercial banks were prohibbitted to underwrite or trade mortgage backed securitiies, as well as CDO's and SIV's.............this was a safety net put in place during the Great Depression to prevent economic meltdowns from becoming more widespread and bringing dwn the entire financial system and economy as a whole as is currently happening.........You repug idiots have been rabidly trying to remove all ther safety nets and neccessary regulation put in place by FDR for the last 70 or so years and NOW that you have succeeded history is repeating itself and we are having ANOTHER financial meltdown like the Great Depression because of the same repug economic snakeoil and economic mismanagement and self serving greed............your dishonest empty talking points are coming back to bite you.
Second Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Bear Stearns were bailed out by repug Bush cronnies........so dont even try to pawn off the actions of Paulsen, Bernanke and GWB as the Demacratic Congresses you lying troll.
Third Obama is proposing a tax cut that is over 300% larger than McSame's for 80% of America or the middle class or those earning between $37,000-$75,000, and is proposing cutting taxes for 95% of America while that idiot you calll a maverick is propsing more of the same, ie......BIG tax cuts for the top 1% and he is even proposing making health care benefits taxable income...........sounds like a tax INCREASE to me Foole!
Your time is over you clowns have been dead wrong about essentially EVERYTHING you've ever said, your policies are total failures just like your Moronic Monkey hero............. the dishonest Reich Wing MSM is gearing up to make one more attempt at making this appear close to help McSame steal this one............NOT THIS TIME!
We told you idiots the economy would implode because of repug economic mismanagement and we've been right about essentially EVERYTHING we've said just like you idiots have been dead wrong, the DOW is still well below the high of 8 years ago, and when you adjust for inflation its in a horrific bear market that when its over could make the 1970's and/or the Great Depression look like the good old days and you IDIOTS crow about how the economy is sound and inflation is low.........who's the out of touch elitists again?
ReplyDeleteLydia,
ReplyDeleteYou're on to the key concept here.
For too many years now, our national M.O. has been competition, not cooperation.
A serious change of our collective attitude must be adopted if we are to survive, let alone prosper.
While competition has its place, it has come to the critical point in our human history to understand the primary means to the common good can only come through cooperation.
Cooperation between business and government, not control of government by business is the change we need.
Cooperation between politicians and the people, not dominance over people by politicians, is the change we need.
The difficulty will be in overcoming the greed that infects our corporatist system. If they could embrace the long term view over the short term bottom line, that would be the change we need.
Hurricane Ike, Lehman Brothers, the Metro train collision in Los Angeles and the death of David Foster Wallace..
ReplyDeleteI am having trouble updating the blog. It keeps dropping items.
I'll fix it tonight, sorry.
Lydia add to that, Pink Floyd’s Richard Wright Dies at 65.
ReplyDeleteFreedom Fan said...
ReplyDeleteThe financial community is on shaky ground
You're an idiot.
Shakey ground my ass.
clif said...
ReplyDeleteLydia add to that, Pink Floyd’s Richard Wright Dies at 65
These are dark times.
Thats sad. Wright was one of the greats.
ReplyDeleteWe should all listen to Mike.
Mike predicted all this sh$t verbatim.
He's the prophet.
The stop market crashes, John McCain declares the economy is sound, and the press informs us that McCain has moved ahead of Obama in the polls.
ReplyDelete:|
Its a mad, mad mad mad mad mad world.
If Barack Obama doesn't fire his campaign manager and bring in someone who knows what they're doing, then he's not showing the leadership he needs to show.
ReplyDeleteThe war in Iraq was proven to be based on false premises and is as we speak, a disaster, Afghanistan is out of control, gasoline costs 4 bucks a gallon, companies are going under left and right, the Airlines are bankrupt, the Mortgage industry is bankrupt, the banks themselves are now failing daily, and we’re hated by nearly 2/3rds of the world. In fact, the Stock Market effectively CRASHED today, as we speak, dropping 500 points.
And on this same day, we’re notified by the press that John McCain has moved into the lead.
If David Axlerod can't win with odds like these, then its time to find someone new.
BARTLEBEE said...
ReplyDeleteclif said...
Lydia add to that, Pink Floyd’s Richard Wright Dies at 65
These are dark times."
Thats a shame, Pink Floyd was awesome, they were one of my favorite groups.................In fact I feel like listening to some Floyd now, I may go buy another Floyd CD.
BARTLEBEE said...
ReplyDeleteThats sad. Wright was one of the greats.
We should all listen to Mike.
Mike predicted all this sh$t verbatim.
He's the prophet."
Yeah, it sucks to be right almost all the time...........with how bad things could get i'll wish i was wrong.
Last year I told Fascist Fan, Crusty and Dolt the economic meltdown would most likely occur some time between August 2008 and March 2009........but for sure by March 2009.
What these idiots dont realize is that all these Wall Street firms and banks going bankrupt or being acquired are going to impact the economy by costing people jobs.................between the Wall Street firms, the banks, the auto companies and the airlines I say unemployment hits 7 1/2% by March then the vicious circle starts, because the layoffs will cause MORE bankruptcies and forclosures which will cause MORE layoffs.
When we hit rock bottom on this crisis the misery index when calculated using the real rates of inflation and unemployment before the hedonics scams and bogus stats could hit over 25%.
BARTLEBEE said...
ReplyDeleteThe stop market crashes, John McCain declares the economy is sound, and the press informs us that McCain has moved ahead of Obama in the polls.
:|
Its a mad, mad mad mad mad mad world."
Its amazing, up is down and black is white with these idiots.............as bad as things are going to get the silver lining is maybe this will turn the attention back to the real issues and real solutions rather than McSame's slimy lies and deflections.
Mike if you haven't yet, buy the latest David Gilmour CD,
ReplyDeleteOn An Island,
Richard Wright played on it with him,
and it is just like a normal Floyd Boys album post 1980 ...
in a way, sadly now, the last one ....
Once things are stabilized we need to bring back sensible regulation and oversight and accountability and tamp down the reckless speculation.............one of the first things that should be done once the financial and credit markets are stabilized is change the margin rate from 10% to 50% to cut the reckless speculation from the markets.
ReplyDeleteCool, i'll get that Clif, I want to get Dark Side of The Moon also.
ReplyDeleteDoesnt McSame and GWB saying the Economy is Sound remind you of Herbert Hoover and Andrew Mellon right before the Great Depression>
ReplyDeleteThe repugs put themselves in a box.........if they bail out all the elite wall Street firms with tax payer money they undercut and expose their free market, moral hazzard and personal responsibility talking points and rhetoric...............if they do nothing and let them fail and the entire ecomomic system implodes like what happened in the Great Depression they risk becoming the NEXT Herbert Hoover and Andrew Mellon, and losing the reigns of power for decades like they did.
The repugs are full of confusion, they've had their time and screwed it up every way possible.
Somebody help me here...who is this Charlie Rangel or Ringo or Rangell or Rambo guy? Is he someone I should know?
ReplyDeleteclif said...
ReplyDeleteSt Johnny of Hanoi recently made a statement about St Sarah of Wasilla;
"She knows more about energy then probably any one else in the United States"
It looks like McSame is delusionally senile Clif, did you hear that IDIOT say that Alaska produces 20% of america's energy when the TRUTH is its 3.5% of our energy..........she was only off by about 600% or so.
So McSame is Saying Palin knows MORE about energy that T Boone Pickins, Bill Richardson, the Current sec of energy, all the CEO's of the energy companies and PHDs and engineerrs, the city I work for has an energy resources manager its a complete joke to say Palin knows MORE about energy than ANY of these people...........i'll bet clif and myself know 10 times as much about energy as Palin does.
McSame making statements like that and saying the economy is sound only shows how delusional and out of touch he REALLY is.
Mike,write your next posting in Klingon....come on you can.
ReplyDeleteHey Rusty. Shithead.... here we are.
ReplyDeleteEnd of your boys 8 year rule.
Way to go.
Heckuva job dipshit.
stupid little halfwit twit.
ReplyDeleteMike, lets hope tomorrow doesn't turn out to be Black Tuesday.
ReplyDelete500 point crash today could mean a collapse tomorrow morning.
Wow, how sad. I just posted the sad news of Richard Wright's death.
ReplyDeleteFREEDOM FAN -- you are so wrong. Watch Chris Matthews and Pat Buchanan. Learn something.
ReplyDeleteThe financial crisis is caused by 8 years of REPUBLICAN RULE... by Bush regime de-regulating everything.. deregulating the mortgage lenders years ago, so market forces created predatory lenders which initially caused this credit crisis. It is a snowball effect and it's now spread to the banks. IN addition, the excessive spending is mainly from this illegal, immoral and horrifying Iraq war!
The Republican war.
Like I've said before, it's the biggest con job in the history of the world.
ReplyDeleteYou get the Republican politicians whose only interest is to make money for themselves and their buddies. They lie through their teeth to the American public about being for "fiscal responsibility" and "pro-life" and "family values" when in reality all they're interested in is not paying taxes and making money off of the people who do pay taxes. Idiots believe them and vote these crooks into office. They then proceed to do things that contradict their promises, brag about how they've gotten away with lying, soak in the cheers from those they lied to, and then lie some more to stay in power.
To all of those who worry about "Republican Values": Regulation of the industries IS fiscal responsibility.
Medicaid, Food Stamps, SCHIP, social security, IS pro-life.
Declaring wars on countries because someday they might be in a position to possibly attack you is NOT pro-life.
People living the life they have with the people they love IS family values -- even if it's a life style you don't participate in.
It's time for the Republican citizens out there to wake up and see how they've been lied to by their leaders and by the paid-blowhards like Limbaugh and Hannity. It's time for them to realize that America isnt a Leave it to Beaver episode and there are all different kinds of Americans who should be allowed to enjoy the same rights as the rest of us.
Damn it -- it's time to grow up now. Rusty, FreedomFan, Voltron -- your five minutes are up. I'm not a moderator here so I cant do anything about your moronic hissyfits except ignore them. It's time for real people to make real decision and real choices and I just plain dont have time to read your crap anymore. If you think America is fine the way it is, then vote for McCain and we'll see you in the unemployment line.
And speaking of other lifestyles, for those of you who know about my other online activities, I can assure you that community (for the most part) is very solidly in the Obama camp. There's more of us out there than you realize
Excellent points and analysis!
ReplyDeleteDid you see Biden put McCain in his place today?
Remember: McCain voted against CHILD HEALTH CARE 5 YEARS IN A ROW. HE'S A BILLIONAIRE BUT WON'T LET LOW-INCOME CHILDREN HAVE HEALTH CARE.
These people are pro-death, not pro-death.
Lydia Cornell said...
ReplyDeleteThe financial crisis is caused by 8 years of REPUBLICAN RULE...
No doubt there.
We all know that the mortgage crisis precipitated the financial crisis and the mortgage crisis was made possible by the "new mortgage programs" introduced and push into legislation by Dick Cheney and his pals.
Allen Greenspan said for years that the Bush economy was propped up by the housing market, and if that collapsed, the rest would go.
Greenspan was right.
And now, we're in the worst finanical crisis in a 100 years.
This is a ONCE IN A CENTURY event.
When it happened in the last century, stock brokers were leaping from windows. The country slipped into the great depression.
And while all this is going on, is Bush doing anything?
No. Because he, like John McCain and Sarah Palin, is an uneducated halfwit with no ideas, no plans, and no brains to carry them out with if he had them.
Lydia, I for one am glad the Fed Didnt cut rates any further, at this point any further rate cuts would not have lowered consumer borrowing costs at all and would have done little to help banks, while it would have significantly hurt the dollar and fueled inflation.............not to mention a rate cut would have been a clear sign of weakness when we need to make it appear the the financial markets are stable......it would have looked like a panic move that was clearly pandering to Wall Street and to the wealthy and it would have unsettled the market and left them lobbying and throwing a tantrum for more rate cuts.
ReplyDeleteYou know it Bartlebe..............you obviously heard Greenspan speak Sunday as well when he said this was a once in a century crisis......................Phil Graham the idiot that gives McSame economic advise is the one who lifted the Glass steagal act that allowed this crisis to spread to the ENTIRE financial system...................and your right Bush and McSame dont have any answers.......there ONLY answers are MORE of the stuff that got us into this mess like reckless unfettered deregulation and tax cuts for the wealthy that lead to Depressions............the factors that cause Great Depressions are Excessive debt, and uneven distribution of wealth were the wealthy become ever richer at the expense of the working class till no one has any money to spend but a few wealthy elites which causes masss layoffs and unenployment which creates a vicious circle that is hard to get out of.
ReplyDeleteLydia said "The Fed should be bailing out the homeowners who were victims of predatory lending practices — instead of bailing out only Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and Bear Sterns. Please leave your comments here."
ReplyDeleteLydia they should have done that from the beginning instead of bailing out the Wall Street elites with tax payer money..................Once things are stabilized they need to raise the margin limits from 10% to 50% to cut out much of this reckless speculation further the Fed should USE Fannie and Freddie to allow consumers to refinance at extremely low interest rates like 4% to avoid forclosure or lower their mortgage payments to free up more money to be put more in the economy.
Secondly Green jobs are the Answer, we NEED to stop mwasting money on wars and committ to a public works project that will make us almost energy independent in 15-20 years..........we need to focus on Wind, Solar and Natural gas, but also use clean coal, deep water drilling and nuclear it needs to be a multi pronged comprehensive effort that we devote ALL our resources towards much like the highway system after WW2.
Further we need to change from a consumption society to a society of savers that builds and produces more locally and builds things to last rather than produces disposable products that dont last but can be purchased for the present at least cheaply from China.
We need to stop living beyond our means and compromising our national security by borrowing money from countries that dont like us to buy oil and fight wars of choice based on lies to enrich the wealthy elites.
Bailing out homeowners behind on their mortgages for an interim could help curb the decline of the mortgage lenders by making their loans good for a bit more, but to what end? For how long? And how many homeowners, and on what criteria?
ReplyDeleteI'm all for helping homeowners in struggling times, but really the only thing thats going to really get things moving is to prop up these mortgage lenders for the longer haul, and encourage them to make loans.
Stimulating the housing market will stimulate all areas of our economy and drive the labor economy again, getting us going.
I'm mixed on the interest rate cut. Mikes right about it weakening the dollar, and its impact at this point would be marginal. On the other hand it could shore up a tumbling stock market.
Understand that the stock market can't take too many 500 point nose dives.
A few more and the nation could be bankrupt, and all the banks could fail.
We need to funnel in hundreds of billions of dollars into the mortgage industry and bring in the best highest paid financial consultants in the world to work to structure newer loan programs to get things moving again.
The one thing about republicans is they never turn to the "smart people" for help.
They always rely on their own inept, uneducated cronies who just make matters worse.
Being willing to admit the problem is bigger than themselves and hiring outside help would send a strong sign to investors that the govt is not walking away from a crisis.
We have got to get away from the "penal" mentality.
ReplyDelete:D
Ok, quit laughing folks. Penal means punative, not phallic, lol.
We need to curb that "gotcha" mentality for a while and realize that we're all in this together.
Punishing mortgage lenders now, during the crisis, or threatening to punish them will further stifle lending, growth, and drive us deeper into our downward spiral.
In fact, the mess we're in now is partly due to our early response to the mortgage crisis. We threatened lenders, brought in investigators, rewrote laws, all while we were falling off the cliff.
Its best to do that stuff either before, or after you've fallen off the cliff.
:|
Not while you're in the process of falling.
When you're falling off the cliff, you need to worry about things like grabbing onto branches and twigs, or even a handfull of grass. Anything to slow your descent.
Those branches might not be real stable, but if they slow the fall they just may save your life.
We scared the mortgage lenders and they in turn closed up shop.
ReplyDeleteNow, no ones getting loans thanks to the response.
A response that was headed by the Democrats in congress.
This crisis was created by the republicans, and their "special program" Mortgage loans.
But its in the democrats best interest right now, to perpetuate the crisis. So Congress is doing NOTHING, and Pelosi's out praising herself and the congress while America goes bankrupt.
The democrats in Congress won't do anything until after the election, and in fact, they'll do things to further perpetuate the crisis so as to hopefully sway voters to their side.
I know no one wants to hear that but its the truth. The republicans created it but the democrats are perpetuating it.
Lydia said "The Fed should be bailing out the homeowners who were victims of predatory lending practices — instead of bailing out only Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and Bear Sterns
ReplyDeleteand AIG it seems.
I understand what you guys are saying. You're focusing on penality. Principle. Accountability.
ReplyDeleteAnd all that is important stuff.
But not in the MIDDLE of a crisis.
As I've said before, the time to punish the Captain of the ship, the ship builders, navigator, whoever, is AFTER the ship is safely in harbor and the passengers safely on shore.
ReplyDeleteYou don't do those things when the ship is in the middle of the ocean, going down by the stern.
Any talk of investigations, grand jury's, special investigators, new penalties and restrictions, etc, will do nothing but speed up our descent to the bottom.
ReplyDeleteIs THAT what you want Lydia?
Clif? ... Anyone?
anyone at all.....
ReplyDelete:|
..Buhler...
lol, seriously though I'm not saying you're wrong.
ReplyDeleteI'm saying the timings wrong.
When we stabilize the markets, revalue the dollar, and get the economy back moving forward, THEN we can sit down and form some investigatory committees to look into some of these firms and players. But remember, even then, if EVERYBODY was "doing it", then we can't lock everybody up.
There was a mindset that permitted certain thinking, that trickled down from the government. So at the end of the day, the government is responsible, more so than the lenders. After all, they were just selling the programs the White House and Congress set up.
But until we get the economy going again, any talk of penalites and accounability will just keep driving us down until we land flat on the bottom.
ReplyDeleteAnd when that happens, mortgages will be worthless, your money will be gone, the banks will be bankrupt and people will be killing each other in the streets for food.
So I ask you again.
Is THAT what you want?
For yourselves?
Your families?
Your children?
Is THAT what you want?
We cannot spiral too much further. The DOW has gone from 15,000 to 10,000 in the past 3 years and most of that in the past few months.
If we have a few more 500 point crashes, the proverbial "bottom could fall out", and then there won't be any investigations or accountability, because there won't be any more money to pay for them.
Its time for us to stop thinking with our emotions (anger, rage, fear, etc) and start thinking with our brains.
Our big fat brains.
Emotions and determination will get you just so far, as we learned from the reign of the Bush regime.
ReplyDeleteBut sooner or later we have to put them on the shelf and use our heads to get out of a mess. And sometimes getting out of a mess means doing things you wouldn't normally do or want to do.
When you're starving, you'll eat bugs.
When you're being chased, you'll climb up to high places you wouldn't normally climb.
So now, when the country is sinking, we need to do some stuff we don't like, including "looking the other way" at some things.
For now.
Our focus has to be on saving these firms, or finding ways to make them solvent.
ReplyDeleteYou want to punish the firms but think of the investors. Think of the millions and millions of investors, and the hundreds of millions who will feel trickle down impact.
We have to focus on keeping our ship afloat, and that means keeping the engines running. The financial engines.
I don't have all the answers, and The Prophet Michael predicted this stuff years ago. And not once. He constantly preached on it, which is why I now call him "Prophet Mike". But I do know that the moment the Congress started talking about legislation and investigations, everything began to crash.
And I do know that until we stimulate the mortgage lending industry to begin lending again on a wide scale, nothing is going to improve.
And I do know that if we keep pushing for investigations and criminal prosecutions, as well as new legislation, tighter restrictions, too much regulation, etc, the economy will NOT come back.
ReplyDeleteAnd it will likely sink to the bottom.
Slip Slidin' Away
ReplyDeleteUS Daily Tracking
DailyKos.com (D) / Research 2000
Obama 48, McCain 44
Diageo / Hotline
Obama 46, McCain 42
Gallup
McCain 47, Obama 46
Rasmussen
McCain 48, Obama 47
From the comments;
Change from yesterday:
DailyKos.com (D) / Research 2000
McCain -1, Obama 0
Diageo / Hotline
McCain -1, Obama +2
Gallup
McCain 0, Obama +1
Rasmussen
McCain -1, Obama 0
Average Change:
McCain -0.75, Obama +0.75
Average Swing:
Obama +1.5
BTW;
Well the only reason that McCain leads in Rasmussen is because of the 2 changes up in ID Weighting. On the weighting previous to September 1 Obama would be leading 49-45!
Looks like St Sarah has lost her luster.
Palin's Favorability Numbers Eroding
As voters have taken a second look at Sarah Palin in venues like the Charlie Gibson interview and even Tina Fey's SNL sketch, they may not be as enamored of what they're seeing.
The Research 2000 poll for Daily Kos now has Palin's favorability-unfavorability scores at 45-44 -- just a +1. Six days ago, when the poll, launched, she was at a 52-35, a +17.
Yep she is ......
Now if you want some good news, new polls out today show Palin has dropped a whopping TEN POINTS since SATURDAY!
ReplyDeleteTEN POINTS.
:|
Thats a lot in less than a week.
Sorry Clif, I didn't see your post when I was posting mine. I just saw that she dropped 10 points on Countdown.
ReplyDeleteThats GOOD NEWS.
Is something REALLY BAD not being talked about?
ReplyDeleteReports of tragedy filtering out of Galveston and Bolivar
I kid you not when I say that he told me they saw AT LEAST 1500 bodies in trees scattered about Galveston. They also saw a lot in various ditches and marshes, esp. on the north side of East Galv. Bay, east side of Trinity Bay, and in the marshes between I-45 and Seabrook/Clear Lake/Deer Park.
It explains why they're not letting the media anywhere close to the Island except in limited sectors nd we're not hearing anything from or about the people who survived and those who stayed behind. It's like 20,000 people never
existed....where are they? Where'd they go? What are their names? Nothing....
Could that be why this is happening?
How long do they think they could keep this covered up IF this report is true?
Galveston officials restrict media access
and of course they are pointing finger at each other again like they did during Katrina;
Politicians, FEMA blame each other for relief missteps
It didn't take long for the finger-pointing to begin.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency came under fire Sunday as emergency workers were left undernourished and dozens of trucks of water and food had yet to be set up at distribution centers around Houston and surrounding communities.
And no sooner had the agency — widely condemned for its glacial response to suffering after Hurricane Katrina in 2005 — drawn sharp criticism as its leaders and spokesmen began to say it was someone else's fault.
Earlier in the day, a FEMA spokesman said delays in setting up staging points to hand out needed provisions had been caused by blocked roads.
By the evening, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said it was the fault of state officials who handed his department the "unexpected challenge" of having to prepare distribution points in addition to delivering supplies.
.... and this time we don't even haver Karl Rove spinning the emergency to undermine local democratic politicians, but just the normal Bush administration bungling ..... but the state is also governed by a republican.
Some of this is hinted in the press;
ReplyDeleteOn Peninsula in the Storm: No Way Out
Rescuers who finally made it on Monday to the peninsula, home to nearly 5,000 residents and a seasonal playground for thousands more college students and beach revelers, found row after row of concrete slabs where houses used to be. They said they made contact with at least 100 residents living there, but found no bodies. They expressed fears, though, that some of those who tried to ride out the storm may have been washed out to sea. The only way to account for them may be to determine every resident’s whereabouts.
Rescuers see few around to save
Galveston officials have estimated that 20,000 stubborn residents of the barrier island stayed behind as Hurricane Ike pounded homes and businesses Saturday.
The U.S. Coast Guard crews sent to rescue them are now wondering where they all went.
It's race against time to save Ike stalwarts
Gov. Rick Perry's office said 940 people had been saved by nightfall Saturday, but that thousands had made distress calls the night before.
Neoconservative ideology is to spend a billion dollars in Georgia! instead of here at home.
ReplyDeleteGeorgia and the Middle East are more important to the Neocons than spending the money on our own infrastructure which would make us safer.
We are not safe here anyway being broke with no troops to spare.
This is the result of Bush-McCain allowing "terrorism" to overtake us. AMerican citizens are in terror of no income, jobs lost, no money for food, gas or health care.
Bush-McCain has created the very terrorism they think they are protecting us from. After all, what is terrorism but EXTREME FEAR? Unstable, unsettled feelings of doom?
I'm a little curious,
ReplyDeleteOn Friday Bernanke at the Fed and Paulson at Treasury turned down loaning AIG $20 Billion to stop it from melting down;
On Monday Bernanke at the Fed and Paulson at Treasury turned down loaning AIG $40 Billion to stop it from melting down;
But last night it was a good idea for Bernanke at the Fed and Paulson at the Treasury to loan AIG $85 Billion to stop the very same meltdown?
So the government giving $85 Billion to save AIG is better then giving $20 Billion to save AIG is better?
For whom?
The taxpayers whose money they are using?
Well what they don't borrow from the Chinese, and ask the taxpayers to pay interest for decades on ....
No wonder the republicans who lead this government have been able to double the US debt in the last 7 1/2 years,
crash the economy,
and outsource the industrial base which most economies rely on to create real wealth, not just paper profits which evaporate when times get tough.
Given how they saved AIG and set up this fiasco in our economy, (not to mention the one in Iraq) ..... they want four more years to do more things just like this?
Right ........
BTW with all the other crap going on right now,
ReplyDeletebin Forgotten's al Qaeda is claiming credit for the car bombs which exploded outside the us embassy in Yemen.
NOW can we focus on getting bin Forgotten?
You know the guy Bush wasn’t too worried about in 2003.
The a$$hole McSame said he would refuse to go into Pakistan to get.
Can we get this f**king clown before he does more damage?
EVEN if it means deploying troops from Iraq to do it?
Even if it means admitting Barack Obama was right again?
Lydia, through all this sadness, perhaps we should all take time to celebrate the fact that our Constitution is still alive and we need to work together to keep it that way.
ReplyDeleteToday is Constitution Day. It was 221 years ago today that the grand document was signed in Philadelphia. Let's all work together to do what George W. Bush has failed to do. Preserve, protect and defend the United States Constitution against ALL enemies, foreign AND domestic.
I return you now to your regular talk back.
mBARTLEBEE said...
ReplyDeleteBailing out homeowners behind on their mortgages for an interim could help curb the decline of the mortgage lenders by making their loans good for a bit more, but to what end? For how long? And how many homeowners, and on what criteria?
I'm all for helping homeowners in struggling times, but really the only thing thats going to really get things moving is to prop up these mortgage lenders for the longer haul, and encourage them to make loans.
Stimulating the housing market will stimulate all areas of our economy and drive the labor economy again, getting us going.
I'm mixed on the interest rate cut. Mikes right about it weakening the dollar, and its impact at this point would be marginal. On the other hand it could shore up a tumbling stock market.
Understand that the stock market can't take too many 500 point nose dives.
A few more and the nation could be bankrupt, and all the banks could fail.
We need to funnel in hundreds of billions of dollars into the mortgage industry and bring in the best highest paid financial consultants in the world to work to structure newer loan programs to get things moving again.
The one thing about republicans is they never turn to the "smart people" for help.
They always rely on their own inept, uneducated cronies who just make matters worse.
Being willing to admit the problem is bigger than themselves and hiring outside help would send a strong sign to investors that the govt is not walking away from a crisis."
Bart, I think you misconstrued what i'm saying...........My number one point is to stabilize the economy and get the financial institutions lending again...........AFTER that we can commence with investigations, neccessary regulation or antitrust actions to break up institutions that have become too big and powerful but that could be years down the road.
For the record i'm not saying too just bail out all homeowners as that would be like throwing good money down the toilet,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,I do however disagree with you that we NEED to bailout all Mortgage firms and Wall street firms and banks, as that is also throwing good money that is a limited resource down the toilet.........we need to bail out the Firms like Freddie and Fannie and Merrill that are too big to fail and have relatively sound balance sheets.................We need to make sure the firms that have the best possibility of surviving are financially sound and are lending money we dont have the resources to prop all businesses and consumers that are in financial trouble and make them sound thats just throwing good money away if they either fail or need Billions more a few months down the road.
Heres my plan..........Make Sure Fannie And Freddie are financially sound and that they reduce mortgage rates to around 4% to help financially sound people save their homes from forclosure or refinance to reduce their monthly payment to put more money back into the economy..........We NEED to make sure Banks and Mortgage firms are lending and consumers have jobs and money to spend and the BEST way to do that is to make sure certain KEY firms are financially sound and have money to lend and that they HAVE to loan money to financially sound people at low interest rates.............further i think Freddie and Fannie and/or the US government should provide downpayment assistance to financially sound people with decent credit to get into a home as that will ALSO prop up the home market as well as the mortgage industry and multiple related industries that keep people working..............I have PERFECT credit but without downpayment assistance I would not have been able to build my house 3 1/2 years ago.
Further Bart, i'm being objective here, its not nor should it be the Fed's job to prop up the Stock Market or Wallstreet..............and for the record I have hundred's of thousands in the stock market and i would certainly benefit from that.
ReplyDeleteTo quote Barack Obama:
ReplyDeleteIn the past few weeks, Wall Street’s been rocked as banks closed and markets tumbled. But for many of you - the people I’ve met in town halls, backyards and diners across America - our troubled economy isn’t news. 600,000 Americans have lost their jobs since January. Paychecks are flat and home values are falling. It’s hard to pay for gas and groceries and if you put it on a credit card they’ve probably raised your rates. You’re paying more than ever for health insurance that covers less and less. This isn’t just a string of bad luck.
The truth is that while you’ve been living up to your responsibilities Washington has not. That’s why we need change. Real change. This is no ordinary time and it shouldn’t be an ordinary election. But much of this campaign has been consumed by petty attacks and distractions that have nothing to do with you or how we get America back on track.
Here’s what I believe we need to do. Reform our tax system to give a $1,000 tax break to the middle class instead of showering more on oil companies and corporations that outsource our jobs. End the “anything goes” culture on Wall Street with real regulation that protects your investments and pensions. Fast track a plan for energy ‘made-in-America’ that will free us from our dependence on mid-east oil in 10 years and put millions of Americans to work. Crack down on lobbyists - once and for all — so their back-room deal-making no longer drowns out the voices of the middle class and undermines our common interests as Americans.
And yes, bring a responsible end to this war in Iraq so we stop spending billions each month rebuilding their country when we should be rebuilding ours. Doing these things won’t be easy. But we’re Americans. We’ve met tough challenges before. And we can again. I’m Barack Obama. I hope you’ll read my economic plan. I approved this message because bitter, partisan fights and outworn ideas of the left and the right won’t solve the problems we face today. But a new spirit of unity and shared responsibility will.”
To quote John McCain:
The fundamentals of our economy are sound.
Which one looks out of touch?
Hockey mom outfit worth $2,500 -- just for the top
ReplyDelete"Hockey mom" Sarah Palin's shantung silk Valentino jacket for the Republican National Convention was worth $2,500, according to a story in
Is this "her" 400 dollar haircut moment?
Hello? If McCain [and George W Bush]Had His Way, That'd Be Our Social Security Money Wall Street is Losing
ReplyDeleteabout says it all,
Bush-McCain wanted to play on the Wall Street casino with your Social Security Insurance money, didn't they just bail out the insurance giant AIG and their Wall Street cronies?
Who would have bailed out average Americans of Bush-McCain had gotten their way?
Fiscally conservative?
ReplyDeleteSarah Palin's wasteful ways
Well in a George W Bush sorta way I guess .......
Is this one bad?
ReplyDeleteNow comes news of the next big bailout--
The Federal Reserve.
That's right, the Federal Reserve is out of money.
The Treasury says it will auction off T-bills today "to fund the central bank's operations to provide liquidity to financial markets."
Treasury to provide cash to Fed market liquidity operations
What does this portend?
My guess is inflation.
clif said...
ReplyDeleteIs this one bad?
Now comes news of the next big bailout--
The Federal Reserve.
That's right, the Federal Reserve is out of money.
The Treasury says it will auction off T-bills today "to fund the central bank's operations to provide liquidity to financial markets."
Treasury to provide cash to Fed market liquidity operations
What does this portend?
My guess is inflation."
Well Gold is up BIGTIME Clif..........so i think inflation is a pretty good assessment of whats coming..............im just glad the Fed didnt cut rates to fuel inflation even more.
We need to END this stupid war so BILLIONS isnt flowing out of our country every week........same goes for our dependency on imported foreign oil we need to become energy independent and start cleaning up our own backyard instead of fighting wars based on repug lies and self interests and enriching countries that hate us with our addiction to imported oil.
ReplyDeleteRobert Rouse said...
ReplyDeleteLydia, through all this sadness, perhaps we should all take time to celebrate the fact that our Constitution is still alive and we need to work together to keep it that way
The constitution is alive?
What constitutional protections do you think we still have?
Mike said...
ReplyDeleteBart, I think you misconstrued what i'm saying...........
No you misconstrued my comment as being a direct response to yours instead of being a response to Lydia's comment too.
I didn't see any stipulations in any of those comments for when these things should occur, and I think everyone is focused on "payback" instead of keeping our ship afloat, but if you're for waiting then great. Thats good. Because thats what we need to do.
But bailing out individual homeowners won't do much good if we let the mortgage companies that hold the notes on their homes collapse.
BANKS are collapsing right now.
BANKS.
When one goes it tends to have a ripple effect, and if the banks collapse our market collapses. Everythings trickle down and this casual attitude out of the Bush administration towards the issue is just insane. Same for the Democrats in congress. We need emergency measures and we need to put the talks of "gotcha" aside now, until this thing has passed.
Otherwise, there won't be anyone to get them, because there won't be any money to pay for invesitgations, attorneys, etc.
Remember I said we can't afford too many 500 point drops?
Well the DOW tumbled AGAIN today, another 450 points!
Theres not too much more it can go before we're officially bankrupt as a nation.
All the govt has to do is pull out emergency measures to stimulate the housing market and reduce oil prices and things will be fine.
But no one wants to do it.
And emergency measures means bailouts and stimulus incentives.
ReplyDeleteGive the mortgage companies a few hundred billion and tell them to write loans with it.
If they do, homes will start selling again. Meaning sellers will buy even more homes. And builders will build more homes. And workers can then go back to work. And retailers will be selling stuff again.
Its a cycle, and as Alan Greenspan said years ago, it was all propped up by the housing market. We need to prop up the housing market, then the ripple effect will work the other way, and the economy will come back strong.
John McCain claimed the fundamentals of our economy are strong on Monday.
ReplyDeleteWhich of course resurrected the ghost of Hoover,
So his handlers sent him back a few hours later to clean up his remarks ....
Then McCain came out with this little gem ....
John McCain claimed to take on the old boys network in Washington;
Obama's response?
"The ol' boys network? In the McCain campaign, that's called a staff meeting."
Damn did McCain's staff outsource his talking points to the daily show writers?
Or are they so busy tryin' to figger out how much their 401's have tanked they ain't watchin' one of the oldest boys of the old boys network in Washington?
McCain Attacks Wall Street Greed—While 83 Wall Street Lobbyists Work for His Campaign
ReplyDeleteWhen will they ever learn?
ReplyDeleteAlaska senator accused of causing flight ruckus
State legislator kept texting, threw water when refused alcohol, police say
An Alaska state senator caused a disturbance on an Alaska Airlines flight, including throwing a glass of water when flight attendants refused to serve her alcohol, but will not be charged with a crime, authorities said.
Sen. Lesil McGuire also continued using her BlackBerry after being asked to turn it off before the flight from Juneau to Anchorage, according to an Anchorage police report of the Sept. 4 confrontation.
According to the report, McGuire continued texting, leading the pilot to stop the plane as it was taxiing. McGuire, who leads the State Affairs Committee, was questioned by police at Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport but not charged.
However criminal acts aren't really new to her it seems;
McGuire served three terms in the state House before being elected to the Senate in 2006. She is married to former Rep. Tom Anderson, an Anchorage Republican who is serving a federal prison term on corruption charges.
When will they ever learn?
Did ya hear what McSame's uber rich new supporter said when she was trying to play surrogate?
ReplyDelete"The people out, you know, who are the rednecks or whoever, are bitter." - McCain surrogate Her Royal Highness Lady Lynn Forester de Rothschild,
Like I said did the Daily Show writers secretly sneak into the McCain campaign?
Or did the Onion just get the contract for his campaign strategy?
Anyway do you think Lady Rothschild and Carly Fiorina can sell the $100 million McSame as the non-elite candidate?
Oopsie,
ReplyDeleteMcSame is startin' to feel the McPain;
NYT/CBS poll,
Obama 48% Mcain 43%
URGENT NEW BLOG.
ReplyDeletePlease read it and understand what is really happening in America.
Beyond lies; This is what we're up against.