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POPSObama Conducts First Presser as President-Elect This is from Obama's temporary site, Change.gov . It's a site to release news about the transition and progress toward building a cabinet. It'll probably give you an idea of how WhiteHouse.gov will look under President Obama. The use of Youtube is interesting, since you can obviously go ahead and post these videos anywhere, making them a lot more user-friendly than videos on Bush's site. He may regret it though, since he makes a joke at Nancy Reagan's expense; "I have spoken to all of them who are living -- I didn't want to get into a Nancy Reagan moment, doing any seances..." That one may turn up on a website or two with some forced outrage. Still, I suppose anyone with TiVo could upload a cable news version, but this just makes it that much easier. I guess we can consider this one a test run.
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POPSBanks “We have better things to do with that money you gave us than lend it out”
The US has shoved 5 trillion dollars at this problem since the crisis started last year. Enough is enough. Money alone is clearly not sufficient, and that means more stern measures need to be taken. The financial industry, whose hubris is so great they just announced 70 billion of bonuses for themselves after getting a taxpayer bailout, needs to learn that they exist for the purpose of serving the overall economy, not themselves. This is especially true of banks, whose entire business model relies on the government giving them the right to create money, to borrow money at concessionary rates that no one else receives, and so on. Banks are entirely creatures of the government who exist because the government gives them what amounts to a license to print money under certain circumstances. They are in no way a "naturally free market". So if they won't do what they have to do, if they won't responsibly execute their duties to the country, then they will have to be made to do so, and it
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POPSSlaves to the market... While Hedges article is over the top... he does make a few good points. Somehow, people have been duped into the idea that "serving a market economy" is a goal in and of itself... that good will flow from that activity. The truth is, we create markets and financial systems to serve the common good... and without keeping that underlying premise in mind we are bound to repeat these mistakes.
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POPSThe various attempts While people attempt to fix the taxes, they also try to fix the entire system? Well that's just crazy. Sure they can make it "better" but what if we do change it and something like our economy falls even more. That would be bad. We should not be trying to change it, but trying to fix it.
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POPSLooting your retirement fund to fix the economy It would be a very different story for the very wealthy.The top 20 percent of earners own more than 70 percent of IRA and 401(k) assets, and, for many of them, the McCain plan represents a terrific opportunity. They could access funds (which they contributed pre-tax in the first place) by paying only one-third the tax they normally would. Without rules to prohibit it, many could withdraw $50,000-a-year from their regular 401(k)s at 10 percent tax and immediately reinvest the funds into a Roth IRA, where all future earnings are tax-free. Others could find equally creative ways to move money around to take advantage of the low tax rate without adding a dime to savings. No doubt the economy is bad, but ruining the old age of millions of middle-class retirees while creating yet another tax boondoggle for the wealthy is no way to make it better.
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POPSEconomic Stimulus Package Poll A second round of stimulus checks are being discussed in Congress and many wonder whether this will really help stimulate anything but our deficit. Provide your input and answer the poll at RussJohnson.com.
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POPSShameless Leftwing Political Thuggery Pay no attention to the street Bolshevik(Obama) who funneled millions to ACORN along with Ayers to topple an economy and fix elections.Pat attention to our fabricated panel findings.
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POPSBernanke, Paulson, Trichet May Act to Unblock Lending (Update1)
Rates are also surging in the commercial paper market that many U.S. companies use to finance their day-to-day operations. Yields on overnight U.S. commercial paper jumped 0.94 percentage point to 3.68 percent. `The Federal Reserve must now act as a clearing house'' for banks and ``must also take another bold step: outright purchases of commercial paper, said Bill Gross, manager of the world's biggest bond fund at Newport Beach, California-based Pacific Investment Management Co. Europe's Dow Jones Stoxx 600 Index having its steepest intraday decline since 1987 and emerging markets, until now the locomotives of the world economy, hit particularly hard: exchanges in Russia and Brazil halted trading. One less complicated step would be for central banks to lower rates in concert. Traders are betting that the Bank of England will lower rates at a meeting this week, and that the Fed will cut its benchmark by at least half a point at or before an Oct. 28-29 gathering.
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POPSThe Bailout, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, The Fed and Monetary Policy The Cato Institute has been following the crisis in financial markets since the very beginning. From the sub prime crisis to Fannie and Freddie to the $700 billion bailout, the recent financial events have given our analysts and experts plenty to talk and write about. We decided to pull together the op-eds, podcasts, reports, and publications from our scholars on this issue, so all these resources can exist in one place. We hope it’s a useful tool for your research. "The Bush Legacy: Deflation or Inflation?," "The Greenback and Commodity Prices," "Milton Friedman: Float or Fix?," "Washington Is Quietly Repudiating Its Debts," "The Greenback and Commodity Prices," "Polluted Markets," "The Fed Plays With Fire," "Greenspan's Bubbles," "Keep Complaining about the Economy, "Asset Bubbles and Their Consequences," more op-eds, podcasts, reports, and publications at link: http://www.cato.org/special/financial_crisis/
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POPS"I'm Barack Obama, and I Approve This Bailout" Both left and right on Main St. oppose the bailout bill, and for good reason. Take a look here at how mad many on the left are. Here is his punch line to the get-a-long Democrats in Congress--call it a hard left hook: To the former, the Democratic Party, I say: your support of this Bill as it stands or in any form that simply hands over money and asks the market to take care of the mess makes you our enemies, not our advocates. ...then he lands one squarely on Obama's jaw: To Barack Obama I say: you are a fraud on public credulity. You are no more a "change" agent than I am the Pope. With your support of this bailout, you have acted in direct contradiction to your promise of change Last chance to call your house rep before they RUIN both the market and the economy with those latest Bailout bill.
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POPS720 Full Time Staff Take Down U.S. Economy Are you scared of ACORN? They do have almost 1,000 employees. Their membership is approximately 75% elderly black women. Active members number approximately 50-100 people in 110 cities. That is one POWERFUL organization if you believe right wing pundits. If you believe right wing pundits.
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POPSFactCheck: Who's really responsible for crisis? "Screwing up takes a great deal of cooperation." D's blame R's and R's blame D's - but those accusations (and I have made them, too, sorry to say) are far too simplistic to help us fix the problem. Here's a list of contributors to the perfect storm.
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POPS After Bailout, Economy Will Still Be Lousy You'll simply be spared some sort of wipe out. Meanwhile, the economy is likely to continue its down drift, with all the hallmarks of a recession. If strained consumers expecting some kind of immediate relief grow cynical when it doesn't arrive, it could even deepen a downturn as consumer confidence quakes once again. So, do the economy a favor, and curtail your expectations. Here's what the bailout will and won't do, in the areas that matter most to consumers: Housing. Homeowners at risk of foreclosure won't enjoy much of a bailout at all. The plan calls for the government to "encourage" banks to help out borrowers who are in arrears by writing off some of the loan amount or negotiating more agreeable terms. But voluntary programs to help stressed homeowners have been marginally effective at best. The ultimate financial fix would be a fast-forward button that rushed us to the end of the housing bust, which underlies the entire meltdown. But that's beyond the government
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POPSEconomic times may lead to a DIY Renaissance How many times have you been at a crafts fair and looked at an object for sale and said "I can build that"? Then why not do it? Buying the materials may sometimes cost a little more than just buying the product but you have more of a 'connection' to the item if you build it yourself. And you may have leftover material to start another project. Also, DIY is a form of 'revolution' that says we do not have to be dependent on others to have what we want. This is one reason why I enjoy growing my own food, aside from the greater variety and fresher quality than what I get at the supermarket, I don't have to worry about pesticides and other contamination. Who knows, you may discover a hidden talent.
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POPSBush to address country about bailout plan I personally still think it is BS that this thing has such a RUSH on it. If it is that bad, then why did they not fix it a few weeks ago or a month ago. Forecasting could have shown projections on where things were going. There is definitely something else behind this whole thing to RUSH things through. Hell - did they not RUSH through the war package that was needed and for how many billions?
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POPSMcCain on the Economy Continuing to provide evidence that he has no clue, McCain Says the fundamentals of the economy are strong AND the economy is in crises.
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POPSHeh!!! IT’S TIME TO DRILL By TWENTY POUND SLEDGE Music lyrics and performed by Alfonzo Rachel We can fix it if we drill here right now. They say it’s going to take 10 years well, They said that 10 years ago so, Had we done it then we’d have the oil now, litigation is the time they’ll drag out. Everyday I here this was a war for oil, though we have our own underneath American soil. If that were really true, then why didn’t you prevent the war by stepping aside so we could get our own crude? The only bloody hands would belong to the left. Aptly named sinister, and taxin’ us to death, The ministers of victimization, who keep us in a state of a dependency nation. REPEAT CHORUS A MACHO SAUCE PRODUCTION
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POPSObama's plan for America New book out today, if you really want to understand why millions of Americans are excited about Obama's plans for the future of our country, stop listening to the hype on tv and read this book!
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POPSMcCain Hopes Amnesia Will Get Him Elected.
The American people would have toforget the last eight years to elect McCain and they would have to fall once again for the politics of divide and conquer, the politics of personal destruction rather than a politics that looks at facts and future plans. McCain has been part of the problem and now he's going to go in a fix it all? What a joke. The Republicans are FEMA. The Republicans are a still devasted New Orleans. The Republicans are stealing billions of dollars from taxpayers and putting profit into the pockets of Wall Street bankers. (maybe even TRILLIONS, with this latest bailout of failed mortgage companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac). The Republicans have led us into a war losing 4,000,plus of our own troops and now probably having killed 500,000 Iraqi's or more, cost us more billions (and maybe TRILLIONS) -- and this is for facts we now know are not true...Iraq had no connection to 9/11 and no WMD's But, forget all that. Amnesia. Vote for McCain. He has Alzheimer'
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POPSHow to Stay on Message Team Obama demonstrates the fine art of not letting the other guys change the subject. In response to the McCain campaign's attempt to pre-spin Obama's convention bump , the Obama campaign blows them off and brings the conversation back to McCain's " how many houses? " scandal. Fix your own problems before manufacturing one for your opponent, John.
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POPSFed Chairman: Economy Bad, Worst "in Memory" It is not just gas prices. Bernanke talks about how inflation has not yet had its full effect , comparing it to a storm that has not yet fully hit the mainland: "Although we have seen some improved functioning in some markets, the financial storm that reached gale force'' around this time last year "has not yet subsided, and its effects on the broader economy are becoming apparent in the form of softening economic activity and rising unemployment,' Bush and McCain do not acknowledge this, and Obama's policies would never fix it. The role that both Bush and Congress have played in RUINING the economy through government overspending (on unjust wars), devaluing the dollar (which is a key factor in inflation), and causing a rise in oil prices, are not discussed. The Fed is not innocent and causes inflation too by printing more money for government overspending from thin air! The Fed Chairman is using this to try to obtain new powers for th
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POPSNaomi Klein: Bush Sees Crises in Fuel, Food, Housing and Banking as Chance to Exploit Us More
... Food, fuel, housing, climate change -- talk about these crises. First, start with oil. Klein: There really is a kind of a tsunami of shocks facing not just the economy but people's lives, people's real lives. They're all intersecting. They're making each other worse. And I think we really are seeing some very live examples of what a write about in the book, which is how there is a strategy. And this is what I mean by "the shock doctrine." There is a clear political strategy, and has been for several decades, to exploit these moments when people are desperate for quick-fix solutions and more inclined to believe in a kind of a magical cure, to push through very, very unpopular policies that don't actually solve the crisis at hand, that don't actually help people, but are incredibly profitable for multinational corporations. And I think we are seeing a very vivid example of this with this speech from George Bush yesterday, where he is taking a very real crisis, which is demandi
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POPSThe Throw-Away Culture: Do you Own your Stuff? Our new economy may be just the motivation people need to stop and think before they toss. If something breaks our first instinct is to throw it away and buy it new, instead of trying to fix it. But even if we wanted to fix it, manufacturers have made it difficult for us to repair, re-use or upgrade our stuff. Mr. Jalopy urges technology companies to create forums for consumers to share ideas, and pushes car companies to sell patterns so people can create accessories like seat covers....he wants companies to make schematics readily available so consumers can fix and re-imagine the objects they buy.
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