John McCain Campaign an Embarassment to Republican Party

Sarah Palin has become a caricature and unfortunately has taken John McCain with her. Now he is standing at the podium calling out for "Joe the Plumber," who apparently didn't show up and Fox News is interviewing "Tito the Builder," Sarah Palin's new sidekick. To make matters worse, Sarah Palin has "gone rogue" for even attempting to say a few words of her own, and all of this is wrapped up in a bubble of negativity, race-baiting, and mixed messages. How did John McCain stoop so low?

Throughout all of this, Barack Obama has run a tight campaign, raised a gazillion dollars, adhered to an inspiring message of change, appeared Presidential and has appeared completely on message every-time, is thoughtful and engaging, has rally's filled with cheers while McCain's have been filled with boos, has inspired many Americans to vote and be engaged in the political process for the first time and yet there are still so many Americans who say they are still undecided. How in a thinking brain can Americans look at the evidence and still consider John McCain and the Republican party worthy contenders for the Presidency?

And, I haven't even mentioned the economic meltdown that should be sweetening Obama's pot as far as Americans are concerned. Yet, these people will apparently vote themselves out of economic existence because they are so ignorant that they can't cross the great racial divide to vote for the best Presidential candidate of any race that America has had in a long time; an intelligent contender who actually has a good chance of leading us out of this mess. It is virtually impossible for anyone in the thinking set to comprehend how Americans can be so ignorant after all of this time that they can watch the talking heads on Fox News laugh and mock any guest with even a remote sense of intelligence.

Americans are out there standing up today shouting out at the McCain/Palin rally "Obama is a muslim, Obama is a terrorist" and building up so much antagonism that skinheads were arrested this week for attempting to plan to assassinate Obama. The McCain campaign is stoking this fear. Why would the Republican Party let itself be hijacked by anti-intellectual, pro-America, pro-white, pro-evangelist faction to the point where they are considering Sarah Palin for an important leadership role going forward? What will happen to the idea-based conservatives like Peggy Noonan, David Frum, Chris Buckley, David Brooks and others who believe in the Reagan's Republican party of small government, low taxes and free-market capitalism?

Hopefully they will have the next 4 years to think about it.

Obamercial is Flawless

On the eve of Obama's 30 minute prime-time infomercial, the critics were weighing in on this unprecedented occasion, well I keep hearing that Ross Perot did one but I must admit I don't remember it and I haven't looked it up, that it could wind up being a foot in mouth, over-confident, over-the top propaganda message, that it may backfire, that it was too much of a risk at this late stage, or the sheer cost of it is absurd, why is Fox delaying the world series for it, and that Obama is unfairly spending ill-gotten gains because he reneged on his pledge to accept public financing and the accompanying fund-raising cap even though at the time they were skeptical of his ability to raise cash on the open market. Even I was starting to dread the decision as too risky.

Well nervous nellies, it was flawless! Every lingering doubt, every policy point and all fears were put to rest as Obama delivered his message as a narrative through the eyes of middle class, swing-state based Americasn in a well-produced, engaging 30 minutes that was inspiring. How dare he make us hard-hearted folks feel hope for America? Well, if you caught John McCain on Larry King after the broadcast that was certainly his tone, whining, complaining and pushing his negative Obama message missing the opportunity once again to brush off Obama and tell the captive American audience why they should vote for him.

You watch one half hour of feel-good TV, followed by 12 minutes of grumpy old guy and you start to wonder why he still has statistically significant support. Either it is a testament to John McCain's credentials as a formidable candidate that he can run a disastrously disjointed, negative campaign, even choosing a woefully inadequate running mate and still be within a few digits in the polls or Obama is a black man.

Fine Time for a Rally: Dow jumps 889 points

This is all I heard or read today right off the top of my head: GM is begging the government for money to buy Chrysler, Consumer Confidence is at 38, the lowest it has been on record since the index began in 1967, the Case-Shiller Index which measures median housing prices in the top 20 U.S. cities is down another 16.5%, Whirlpool has joined the daily layoff brigade announcing its own 10% reduction and a bleak outlook along with most other retail for 2009, average consumer debt is now $17,000 per household, AIG is asking for still more money after already receiving $127,500,000,000, the Governor of NY revised this year's deficit upward to nearly $2,000,000,000 and next year's deficit at $12,000,000,000 and projected NY State job loss of 160,000, recession begets depression, its going to get worse before it gets better, the whole world is on the verge of a global recession, the Federal Reserve is having 2 days of meetings to decide how much more to cut the federal funds rate as if there is any more to cut and how will it help at this point since all the major financial institutions and corporations are getting bailed out anyhow, yet somehow, the Dow rallied on this expected rate cut to the tune of 889 points.

Double take. I must have taken a different boat to work today. The economic fundamentals couldn't be weaker; fine time for a rally.

Pre-Election Fatigue

Since I started my job, the television sets in the break-rooms have all been tuned to CNN, all day, every day, without a break. I wonder if someone will turn the channel, maybe, after the election. I am not sure if this is the custom or borne of necessity; satisfying the news-addicted selves that many of us have become. Nevertheless, every time you get water, coffee, prepare your breakfast and/or lunch, there is one of them talking, Obama, McCain, Palin and sometimes Biden; his rallies get the least coverage.

When I come home, we have the news on, with a little more flexibility in that we flip through all the news channels, listening to all the pontification on the election as if it is a sporting event; the play by play with all of the obvious commentary and conclusions batted about with authority. The all-knowing pundits making fools of themselves especially those sincerely defending the erratic actions of the McCain/Palin campaign; so dark, so extreme the comedy. But now, I have to say, I am absolutely sick of it!

Today, as I was in the kitchen and Obama was on, a co-worker commented that he was just as "dirty as the rest of them," and he was not saying anything new; it was the same old yadda yadda that he's been hearing for weeks, no months, probably a year at least. Before I go on I must interject, why do citizens expect impeccable behavior from politicians when the nature of the beast dictates that you have to get your hands dirty to succeed? It is a necessary evil if you want to survive; serving the people sometimes means subverting the people in order to continue to serve the people.

No politician can be pristine yet the expectation of some kind of morale facade is deeply rooted in the election process. And, for the duration of said election cycle, the politicians sling mud at each other while we all pat ourselves on the back resplendent in our candidate's ability to take a moral highground just a little higher than the opponent's. Satisfactory. Job well done. And if not, what he or she should or should not have said with the same jawboning of an academic exercise. Filler. Commercial. Filler. Flip the Channel.

Anyhow, I digress. I deftly steered my co-worker to some non-partisan websites and explained that one can separate the stump from the message and when you dig deep into the message you get a different picture of the candidates that will clarify all the sound-bites. After he conceded that I was right about Obama, he happily went on and I happily scored another one for the cause. But, I couldn't help that he was right about the elections season overload. I am starting to turn away from all the noise; not just me, many of us are now suffering from pre-election fatigue, all wanting the election to be over, to be done with the incessant partisan rant and to be happy that we have elected a better President than what we now.

So tonight, I found TiVo again and tried to reclaim some connection to the fall TV season. What, 6 episodes behind on Mad Men? I've got a lot of catching up to do.

Confessions of a Weary Blogger

Today, for the first time since I began writing this blog back in June, I decided I should take the day off. The main reason is the addition of a full time job. When I added a full-time job to my schedule, I added a full-time job to the full-time job that I already had; mother of 2 and CFO of 2 LLCs and CEO/CFO of the household. Yet through it all I have adhered to the schedule that I initially set when I started this blog.

I didn't want to be a blogger who wrote a few times willy nilly until the blog trailed off into nothingness and I didn't want to be a blogger posting several times a day every day. To strike a balance that I could reasonably keep, I decided on the schedule of a single post M-F reserving the weekends for family demands which, if you have one, are plentiful. It has been working all of this time until today when I realized that I probably cannot keep up this schedule for too much longer if I ever plan to get any sleep.

Currently I begin writing sometime after 10pm with the goal of getting to bed by midnight which I have so far failed to achieve; usually it is closer to 1am. At the 10pm hour, everyone is in bed, the house is quiet and I can separate and find the time to think. Even if I wasn't writing I would be thinking for I have always been a bit of a night owl. Nevertheless, the reality is that I have to be alert and primed for my job every day all day if I plan to keep it.

Every person's job in the private sector requires pristine dedication and overt proof of indispensability; a tough order for any job holder but a requirement in today's economy. It is impossible for me to be comfortable and take my job for granted having narrowly survived a layoff this week while witnessing the news of thousands more being downsized from major corporations, the likes of Chrysler, Goldman, Xerox and Merck. The employment outlook is grim for the upcoming year and to lose one's job in this economy is a looming prospect; any day, any hour, any time into a world of shrinking opportunity.

Therefore, in the interest of preserving my job and by extension preserving some sanity, I will be reducing my output to M-Th. I think it will be fine.

The Politics of Race

The Meltdown of the McCain/Palin campaign over the last few days is making me start to feel bad for John McCain. After all, he has sacrificed his reputation for this campaign though, thank goodness, America will forget in due time. Two things were going to happen when John McCain selected Sarah Palin as his running mate; she was going to energize the Republican conservative base and perhaps skim off former Hillary supporters who, in their disappointment appeared to reject Barack Obama out of hand or she would personify exactly what she was thought to be at the time, a neophyte lacking the credentials to be Vice President.

It seems that the latter has come to pass and though we are not shocked, we are still surprised to see it unfold before us. And, though she was chosen to energize the base, none of us could have imagined the devisiveness that has come to characterize her campaign and by extension, John McCain's. From her mouth has emanated a charged vocabulary with an undercurrent no doubt influenced by her virtual isolation in Alaska.

On the eve of the possible of election of a 1/2 black man as President, America reveals its racial divisions once again for all the world to witness. This is supposed to be the greatest country in the world yet the Republican candidates for Presidency stoke an unspoken but understood prejudice that is seized upon with gusto and widespread support. This is kind of frightening. It reminds me of the division that we had in the democratic primaries where Hilary had to deliver her people to Obama much to the distress of herself and her supporters - an open wound fueled by the competitive division between a white woman and a black man both vying to become the historical first President of their kind. In time, Democrats came around to support the greater good, a Democrat for President.

Now with the increasingly hostile and corrosive campaign that Palin spews and McCain condones, we are left with people who have a more insidious separation, a racial divide rooted in hundreds of years of history that was only equalized by law less than 50 years ago. The very same separation that may cost Obama the election if Americans fail to look beyond race once they hit the voting booth; proving that the Bradley effect is no myth, but reality.

News Addicts: Post Partisanism & Neo-Socialism

This has been the most engaging and engrossing news cycle to the point where many of us are becoming news addicts; major media including the New York Times are profiling self proclaimed news addicts, to the detriment of the new fall television season. The news has become the ultimate reality show, providing all the scintillating drama we need complete with the "so you want to be the next vice president," contestant resoundingly unqualified but resplendent in her $150,000 wardrobe. Even material from fake news comedy and comedy sketch shows is news on the mainstream news networks; the shows that take the news and riff on the news create incredibly hilarious segments that become news in themselves. Yep.

Americans are simultaneously voting for their American Idol and their next President. When times are bad, Americans look to escape reality, in the 1930's they went to the movies, to be swept away from reality, to root for the underdog, the Presidential campaign is entertainment. But, at the same time, Americans need a President who has the potential to lead them out of the misery. We are conflicted enough to be almost fooled again by the same tactics that re-elected George Bush but at the same time we recognize the deception and we want to rise above it this time around.

However, the news is so biased that all it takes is a click to find the right news that tells you what you want to hear: "We report. We decide. You listen. You believe." Somewhere in all of this many have become news addicts because of the need for actual information; we are in a recession but no news organization wants to declare it, everyday is like groundhog day on wallstreet where the market reacts to the news of the day and/or moment as if the economic realities of yesterday were forgotten. Never in so long can I remember a time where we were inundated with facts; financial facts of a complexity that we suddenly have to comprehend as taxpayers; a historic democratic primary leading to a potential historic first for the Presidency and a downright raiding of the public trust to the tune of $2,000,000,000,000.

As the Republicans trump out their usual party platform of conservative values, small fiscally responsible government, low tax Americana, they are overseeing the largest nationalization of private enterprise in collective memory. Socialism, the evil political term of the week, has already been embedded in our progressive tax policies of subsidies, tax credits, social security and public health programs. It is the Republicans, not the oft-described liberal socially radical democrats who are presiding over this post capitalist neo-socialism. To encapsulate further irony, all of this was done in the name of saving our wealthy financial institutions to avoid an economic devastation of all society. How Odd!

This is why it is a troubling reality to watch the Sarah Palin supporters boo loudly at every mention of socialism because of the misconstrued notion that Barack Obama is a socialist for even suggesting that we spread the wealth around by repealing the Bush Tax cuts for those making over $250,000 a year. Politically incorrect is making a comeback and I'm adding my two cents: Do you really think the crowd booing at socialism even understands what it means or that they make more than $250,000 a year? Or do you really think that faced with an 'ism they are concluding the worst because neither they nor Palin understands the term; these the people survivng on welfare, food stamps, medicare, medicaid and other benefits of the public largesse. And for those of them who are working, that, in fact, 95% would benefit from the Obama tax cuts.

This is why we are still worrying; those of us who watch too much news. Polling is misleading and so we try to ascertain which way the wind is blowing.

Layoffs

There were layoffs at my job today; a 30% cut of my department. We were quivering in our boots. My company has seemingly solid financials but in order to stay competitive, maintain profitability and survive through the economic downturn, they have to be shrewd; conserve cash, trim unprofitable sectors, and reduce headcount.

As we struggled through each hour and minute waiting for the tap on the shoulder, there was an eerie quiet, we did not speak, we did not speculate and we did not work. I sat with a heavy heart and hollow gut even though I thought I was prepared. Since I was just hired, I am very aware that I am LIFO (last-in-first-out) especially in these economic times; there is no expectation of job security. I know I was fortunate to land the job in the first place but I still expected it to last a little longer than 5 weeks.

Nevertheless, no amount of expectation or preparation can reduce the emotional devastation of layoffs; the organizational ties that are suddenly and unexpectedly shattered. You immediately feel the loss of those who are let go as you try to assess your pecking order; you are on a rudderless ship, all the bosses are behind closed doors; your fate hanging in the balance.You find your thoughts turn to the realities of finding a job especially in a tight market until day's end and the firing stops and you have survived. Then you wonder whether or not you have witnessed the first round as you look around at the empty cubicles; will there be more? You pledge to tighten the reins and save even more emergency cash as you digest that the sad reality of this day could have been yours.

Benefits of Racial Doubt

The politics of race is back in the spotlight as America is poised to elect its first black President. The McCain/Palin supporters are being reminded of this on a daily basis as they are wooed on the pretense that they are more "pro-America" than Obama/Biden supporters, that Barack Obama's middle name, Hussein, has muslim/terrorist implications certainly heightened by his connection to Bill Ayers, former '60s radical protest bomber now conveniently recast as a domestic terrorist, and by their own rejection of Obama, simply because he is a black man.

General Colin Powell said it best this weekend when he crossed his party-line to endorse Senator Obama for President stating eloquently that the Republican party was narrowing in its scope, in that it was now tending to be more exclusive than inclusive. And, if in fact Obama was a muslim which he is not, what is so wrong with being American and muslim? Why should/would this be a limiting factor in the land of the free and the home of the brave?

Unfortunately for Obama, in a vast swath of the country, old prejudices die hard; ignorance and provincialism has rendered a large portion of the conservative, fundamentalist Christian population, unrepentingly racist. Gov. Sarah Palin has been out preaching to the choir, allowing them to draw the very conclusions that they are expected to draw to great affect. Sen. John McCain, having been subject to a racial mudslinging by George Bush and Co. during the 2000 Republican primaries, must be turning in his sleep as he struggles to rectify his campaign's cognitive dissonance; dependence on these "rural folk" for votes causing him to implicitly condone their racial outlook by omission of strong condemnation.

Democratic Sen. John Murtha stated a few days ago that his home base of western Pennsylvania is racist, basically a bunch of rednecks and he has implored them to look beyond race and listen to what Obama is saying. This has been the battle cry of many Obama supporters, including union leaders and the like in these traditionally working class (white) areas.

Disaffection with the Republican party together with the economic decline, housing bubble and Wall Street collapse has inadvertently propelled many rural Americans to rethink their racist underpinnings simply because the democratic nominee for President is telling them what they want to hear and just so happens to be a black man. What a turnaround! Black Americans aren't used to getting the benefit of the doubt.

Obama Tax Plan: Rates Similar to Clinton, less than Reagan.

Senator Obama is getting hammered on his tax plan and I have read it. Why doesn't Senator Obama dispel the current talking points sweeping the news media and clarify his plan? He must definitively state that his tax plan returns to tax levels similar to what we had during Clinton when the country experienced a great degree of growth. In addition he should reiterate that President Reagan had higher tax rates in key areas such as capital gains and everyone loved Reagan.

Overall, Obama is essentially repealing the tax cuts of the last 8 years. Those with the funds did make money, all you have to do is compare the Fortune 500 data for these last 8 years. Is it not fair to attempt to level the playing field by giving the middle class the tax cuts this time around?

Also, Obama should point out some of the following facts as well, lest people believe he really is about to set up a socialist state. It is ironic that John McCain is stirring up socialist distrust in Obama's tax plan while President Bush and his Republican appointees are busy ploughing tax dollars into and claiming an ownership stake in private financial enterprises across the globe. This is way more expensive socialism than what Obama is proposing.

(Note: The following list is by no means comprehensive or else I would be here all day):

1. The tax plan does not give tax credits back to those who do not pay taxes but in fact eliminates taxes for seniors earning less than $50,000 - it is not welfare for the lazy paid by the hard-working.

2. The tax plan does not tax people grossing $250,000, it is the tax on the adjusted gross income meaning you have to earn much more than $250,o00 in order to pay taxes on $250,000 after all of your deductions and credits

3. Maybe he should stop mentioning the $250,000 level unless he is going to clarify #2 above. Grossing $250,000 is barely enough to live comfortably on the East Coast in NY. We live on Long Island; we know this is far from any feeling of wealth whatsoever. This is why scale of top 10% of wage-earners should be geographically adjusted. Yes, $250,000 in Appalachia is a lot of money.

4. Most of all, explain the tax credits that he is giving such as aid to families with children in college, mortgage tax relief, and low income tax relief and that he is not giving tax breaks to those who do not pay taxes. If he is, he will have to cut this part out!

For those of you who have read Obama's tax plan, it appears rational and fair in theory. For those of you who hear it second-hand through your biased media venue, it sounds a whole lot more suspicious than it really is.

Frozen Credit Markets: What They Are Not Telling Us…

…And why they are not telling us. Those three toxic words driving the financial crisis and the credit freeze: credit default swaps (CDS). They cannot tell us because it is too big to comprehend and too hard to explain. CDS contracts are essentially bets on the bets on the bets that the underlying financial instruments, mainly mortgages, would continue to be profitable. The bets on the bets on the bets are a whole lot bigger number than the underlying mortgages themselves. MIT caliber mathematicians came up with those statistical models; risk moves towards zero when divided into infinitesimal slices shared by a greater mass of investors. Of course this is only good when underlying values increase; nobody calculated the downside. Whoops! First we have to understand credit default swaps...

From wikipedia:

“In layman’s terms the CDS is essentially an unregulated insurance policy. It guarantees the performance of a security instrument, e.g., a mortgage. The buyer of the CDS pays the maker a fee or “premium” (think insurance) for protection against a loss. Historically the US Treasury has not classified derivatives as “insurance,” and therefore they trade free of any government regulations. Because of that, the firm selling the CDS is not required to set aside any reserves from the premiums received to insure against possible future loss claims. This obviously makes the sale of the Credit Default Swaps extremely profitable and default loss payments very expensive.”

“Credit default swaps are the most widely traded credit derivative product. By the end of 2007 there was an estimated $45 trillion to $62.2 trillion worth of credit default swap contracts outstanding worldwide.

Today, AIG asked for even more money; we the taxpayers have already loaned them $85,000,000,000 then another $38,500.000.000 and now they want another $12,000,000,000. If you insert AIG in where it says "the firm" in the above quote then you will understand AIG’s problem. They sold a lot of CDS and all of those mortgage losses mean potentially trillions in loss claims; that’s a heck of a lot of payouts. Insurance is good when everyone pays premiums but only a few collect; there are simply too many people collecting due to these defaults. All of those failing mortgages mean billions, even trillions, in insured defaults.

Adam Davidson of NPR stated that “The pure size of the CDS business is enough to make a failure of AIG a threat to the entire global economy…The fear is…if AIG collapsed, banks would stop lending money to each other. The Treasury Secretary and the Federal Reserve Chairman, Paulson and Bernanke respectively, know this and that is why they keep pumping the money into the credit markets. Over $2,000,000,000,000 has been committed by the Treasury and the Fed so far but the banks are not budging, they are still not lending money to each other; the credit freeze is not thawing. With trillions of CDS sold, no one knows how deep it goes. All of this money may just be a drop in the bucket.

The next President is going to have to understand this because this economic chasm is like quicksand. It is going to swallow up a whole lot of dough. NPR tried to explain it and 60 Minutes tried to explain it but it is too monumental an amount to comprehend and maybe it is better if we don’t know and just hope that some institutions become greedy enough to start lending again. This is essentially what we are left with to solve this crisis, hope. Huge risks yield huge rewards, the American taxpayer has already taken on that premise. If we can convince more institutions to put equity into this new game then fear diminishes and lending begins. Thus, the big outlay on the part of banks around the world. But then again, maybe we shouldn’t be running on so much debt after all. What point expansion if the debt overcomes the gains in the end?

Joe Who? McCain flashes New Gimmick, Obama Wins

Oh no, not another gimmick! Halfway through this debate, I was ready to call John McCain the winner but alas it was not too be. Somehow, he got side-tracked by his new gimmick of the day, "Joe the Plumber," the guy who said Obama scared him because if he bought the business that he has been working for all of these years, he would make over $250,000 a year which qualifies him for tax increases under Obama's plan and he felt he should be able to keep more of the money he will earn. Heck, Republicans think this and they keep the taxes low for those who make the most as usual. Obama proposes more tax cuts for the middle class instead, noble yes, doable? probably not.

Nevertheless, McCain did not seal the deal in the 2nd half, leaving Obama to make his declarations with relative calm and ease. Even the Fox News people are waxing philosophical on how Obama was unflappable, how he detailed his plans, how he spoke directly to the American people, how he said the middle class deserved a tax break, how he diffused the criticism of Bill Ayers, how McCain failed to trump him on the abortion issue...and so on.

I am not sure I expected much from this debate other than to hear more about the new economic plans that were unveiled this week. They were barely mentioned and definitely not answered; well, broadly I suppose but not specifically. McCain once again takes the cake for his sweeping "I know how to fix it" non-specific solutions to America's ailments which caused him to fail the 2nd half of the debate; Obama continued with specifics throughout and out-explained McCain on McCain's own policies. Oh Well.

If I go back to my response regarding debate #2 on Tuesday, October 7, 2008, 2nd Presidential Debate Leans Obama, I can basically write the same review so why re-invent the wheel. Obama won for the same reasons he won last time. Another thought is that McCain still thinks he can win with the same nastiness and shallow assessment that George Bush unleased on him in 2000. Well, George Bush used it again in 2004. It took a dose of economic reality for Americans to wake up to the truth of deceptive politics. They don't like it right now, so much. Of course, this does not mean that they can't be deceived again. It will all come around, again.

Presidential Debate #3: Truth or Smear?

Tomorrow, the 3rd and final Presidential Debate will take place at Hofstra University, one of Long Island's premier institutions of higher learning. Once again Americans will have high hopes of hearing a meaningful discussion about the issues. After all, both Obama and McCain have introduced brand new addenda to their economic plans this week and we want to hear about them. Also, the debate has been painted as McCain's last attempt to shine given that recent polls show an increase in Obama's lead.

McCain, fresh off his pandering-to-the-base tour, has offered up yet more gems of economic inconsistency touting benefits that still tilt toward reducing the tax burden of our wealthier denizens. He has also hinted that he will bring up Obama's connections to Bill Ayers. Does he not realize that Obama's lead has increased exponentially since those attacks began? Well, Obama did say that he was surprised that McCain did not bring up those negativisms to his face during the last debate and now, McCain the man seems compelled to respond. This is the conclusion we all would make, I suppose, if we were coming off the same tour as McCain; egged on by his narrow-minded rabid fans.

McCain seems to have forgotten that he has plenty of guilt by association skeletons in his closet too so he may want to leave that stuff on the redneck trail where it belongs. Moreover, he had better be mindful that he will be in a blue state tomorrow with actual thinking people who will not respond to anti-intellectual cheap shots, or will they?

Obama also has plenty of explaining to do because I swear the man is on democratic liberal crack unveiling reams of spending plans to help everybody. I don't know how he expects the taxpayers to pony-up that kind of dough now that we have guaranteed all the bank deposits in the world. After all, that $500,000,000,000 deficit that has already been projected for the 2009 U.S. budget is definitely double by now.

Irrational exuberance has now taken over the U.S. government; the national debt clock in Times Square has run out of digits but somehow we have unlimited funds to guarantee the world financial markets and give tax breaks to poor Tom, healthcare-less Dick and jobless Harry. All hands are out and less money is supposed to come in? I hope these candidates find some financial rectitude and tell it like it is tomorrow.

World Bails Out World

Apparently, the Dow rose 936 points today, the single highest gain in 75 years, because more than a dozen European countries pledged billions of dollars to prop up their banks and ailing companies and because the Japanese lent $9,000,000,000 to Morgan Stanley. Yet, when the U.S. Congress pledged $700,000,000,000 to do the same thing for America, the Dow fell nearly 800 points.

I guess investors are more confident now because taxpayers the world over are taking on an unprecedented amount of debt; all governments are bailing out their banks. It wasn't enough for America to do it, the whole world has to do it. All governments must over-leverage themselves to bail out all of their banks and corporations that are over-leveraged, because all of our economies are doomed if the credit markets remain frozen. Edward Yardeni, the investment strategist, stated in the New York Times today that all of these bailouts will essentially “provide unlimited liquidity to the world’s banking system."

Is it really better to shift responsibility for all of that debt from private banks and corporations to the public trust? Is anyone going to stop and assess whether any real change in the fundamentals will occur. Are company profits going to suddenly improve so those who still have jobs can stop worrying about being laid off? Are new jobs going to be created for those who need them? Is the magic fairy going to wipe out everyone's credit card debts? No, no and no. Unfortunately, all the taxpayer will get for their largesse is a big, fat, whopping bill.

Republican or Democrat: Which Side God?

I grew up in a Christian family that is pretty devout; not just showing up at Church on Sundays but attending weekly bible study and religious events. I, on the other hand, never internalized this part of my upbringing and to this day my family spends countless hours trying to convert me once and for all to the fold. So far I have remained unmoved until this week when the urge to pray has overtaken me as I witness the current political, social, and economic climate in the United States.

Christian conservative values are most aligned with and championed by the Republican party yet Republicans have by far engaged in the most immoral behavior over the last 8 years; there is not one single aspect of this Republican government that has not been cited for deceptive and/or criminal behavior. Yet, the Republicans continue to hold the monopoly on religious allegiance even while construing falsehoods and stirring the pot of prejudice and ignorance.

Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska has been out spewing the most vitriolic attacks on Sen. Barack Obama this week with little concern that the Alaska legislature was due to report today on whether she abused her power as Governor. What brazen gall? Unfortunately, they found her "slap on the wrist" guilty so it will be a wash; her evangelist base has already forgiven her every transgression thus far. Why does belief in God give you a free pass to despicable behavior?

With the backing of conservatives and evangelists everywhere, the McCain-Palin ticket has been encouraged to win at any cost; resorting to the politics of fear as the only strategy left at their disposal. It does not seem like the most Christian-like behavior especially when juxtaposed with the Obama campaign's message of hope. What does this say about America and its democracy? After all of this nastiness, the polls still indicate a fairly close race and this is why I am praying. Dear Lord, please be on the side of Obama. Amen.

What Happened to John McCain?

Most Americans had respect for John McCain whether or not they agreed with his politics. That respect has been severely strained for some and completely broken for others. He has allowed Sarah Palin to whip his supporters into such a far right frenzy with all the trappings of ignorance and prejudice that they all have lost sight of reason. This is a shame considering that John McCain was the first to declare earlier this year that he wanted to run a "clean" campaign.

The Dow has nose-dived 2000 points in the last 5 days to less than 8,600 points; my brain still cannot comprehend. The Federal Government through the treasury and the Federal Reserve has committed trillions to rescuing the economy without any negligible effect. This downturn is so serious, even the rich are losing money. Yet, all we hear from McCain-Palin is nasty attacks about Barack Obama's connection with Bill Ayers, the 60's era anti-Vietnam Domestic terrorist turned educator, who Obama worked with on education reform.

Joe Conason of RealClearPolitics.com wrote today:

"Entering the election's final weeks, the rhetoric of the former maverick and his lipstick-toting pit bull, Gov. Sarah Palin, has turned so ugly and inflammatory that their rallies have begun to sound like lynch mobs."

"What these concluding weeks have told us about the Republican candidate, to the shock and surprise of many of his admirers, is that he misunderstands the meaning of honor. Evidently he believes that the credit he accrued for suffering bravely for his country in Vietnam somehow licenses him to campaign as crudely and deceptively as he can, if that will help him to win. He seems not to realize that the respect he earned so many years ago requires him to uphold a higher standard of decency in politics."

Even Cindy McCain has jumped into the fray declaring that Obama, who has lobbed his own attacks on MCain though he has not sunk as low, has run the "dirtiest campaign in American History." What? The heights of denial to which the McCain campaign has sunk will require years of therapy to unwind, for all of us. Obama has kept calm, continues to evoke a Presidential aura and push his economic policy to salvage America; meanwhile McCain's supporters are so rabid, it is clear that they are beyond listening to his economic prescriptions. Ever thought a 1/2 black man with a funny name could be President? McCain really thinks so and he is fighting against it like mad.

Republican Platform Defies Logic

Thomas Frank writing in today's Wall Street Journal captures my thoughts today, I need not say anymore:

"OK, let me get this straight: The central axiom of conservative Republicanism is that government is inherently corrupt and can't do anything right.

Over many years of ascendancy, conservative Republicans have filled government agencies with conservative Republicans and proceeded to enact the conservative Republican policy wish list -- tax cuts, deregulation, privatization, outsourcing federal work, and so on.

And as a consequence of these policies our conservative Republican government has bungled most of the big tasks that have fallen to it. The rescue and recovery of the Gulf Coast was a disaster. The reconstruction of Iraq was a disaster. The regulatory agencies became so dumb they didn't even see the disasters they were set up to prevent. And each disaster was attributable to the conservative philosophy of government.

Yet now we are supposed to vote for more conservative Republicans because we learned from the last bunch of conservative Republicans that government just doesn't work."

2nd Presidential Debate Leans Obama

I was looking forward to the debate today because of the promise that the questions would come from the people. Apparently, 6 million questions were submitted so it was surprising that the chosen questions were quite similar to those of the first debate especially when it came to foreign policy. It sounded like the whole foreign policy section of the first debate with the same answers, almost word for word. The domestic questions were a little more personal but here again I was expecting a debate centering more on the current economic crisis.

Just like the first debate, Obama's answers were well articulated and he even explained McCain's health care policy and tax policy a little better than McCain did; McCain simply did not present enough detail of his plans. Americans are really looking for detail on how problems will be fixed going forward in light of the 2009 budget deficit of $500,000,000,000 and $1,500,000,000,000 pricetag for the 2008 bailouts thus far if you tally what the Federal Reserve, Treasury, and Congress have committed so far.

We are in serious trouble financially. Obama has some concrete ideas; McCain's plan is "trust me, I'll fix it." Either way there is plenty of spending on both sides and cutting current spending to allow for new spending effectively leaves us with the same deficits. I do worry that a democratic administration will spend more on entitlements but I worry more about where a continuation of the Republican economic ideology will take us. All we have to do is look around.

World Upside Down

On Friday, America passes $750,000,000,000 bailout bill to help ease credit markets. Today, the Federal Reserve offers $300,000,000,000 per month for the next 3 months in Term Auction Facilities or short term cash to the credit markets.

It didn't work and the stock market was down 800 points at midday eventually closing down 369 points. The Dow is now less than 10,000. World markets nosedived as well. Investors fear the worst. The credit markets are still frozen.

What do the Presidential candidates do now? Assure the American people that they have a plan to help us?

Well, the people in glass houses, McCain & Palin start throwing stones, launching a full throttle smear campaign against Obama; the same Ayers, Wright, Rezko, Hussein smears that we heard earlier this year in the democratic primaries are back with a vengeance.

Obama lobs one back with high mention of the Keating 5 Savings and Loan debacle. Try as he might to talk about the economy and solutions, he is dragged down into a slug fest.

Tomorrow, the Presidential candidates debate. America is in a major recession, this is what we need to talk about. What are their plans for America going forward? This is what America needs to know. The best answer should win.

The nastiest candidate in this presidential campaign can't also be the best candidate to lead us out of this misery we are in.

Bailout Bill Stinks

Oh how our Congress people, House and Senate, held their noses to sign the new bailout bill which was suddenly more appealing because it included an additional $110,000,000,000 in what are essentially earmarks. So, the last great act of George Bush’s Presidency, which has been characterized by reckless and excessive government spending, is to alleviate the credit crisis by enacting the largest most reckless government spending bill with the purpose of bailing out Wall street in the name of saving Main street. The House and the Senate drank it, swallowed it and made it better by increasing the monetary size of it. I’m glad they got that straight…not!

Democrats and Republicans should be ashamed at their own shortsightedness that all they could do to solve the credit crisis was to take the one and only $700,000,000,000 offer from the Bush Administration, courtesy of appointees Paulson and Bernanke, and make it even more egregious than it already was. After the House bill was soundly defeated on Monday, not one solitary Congressperson or Senator could offer another approach that would achieve the same end without selling the taxpayer a bridge to nowhere? The best they could do was take the same bill, triple the number of pages and to take a phrase from Ted Stevens, almost but not totally disgraced Senator from Alaska who was head of the transportation committee when he resigned, “stuff that bill like a turkey.”

In the interim between Monday’s failure and Friday’s begrudging acceptance of this disastrous piece of legislation, the Federal Reserve pumped hundreds of billions more into the monetary system so in essence we, the taxpayer, spent more than $1,000,000,000,000 this week on the premise that we had to do something. There is a difference between needing a solution and accepting a bad solution out of sheer ineptitude. If I were Barack Obama I would abandon this race and let McCain win. He might have to repeat his “thing with Hilary” but I would let the Republicans take George Bush’s mess and go down with that ship. After all the expenditure and economic disaster yet to come, I say, let them have it.

VP Debate Delivers As Expected

The Vice Presidential debate tonight will probably deliver as expected. After all, the stakes have been set so low that as long as Sarah Palin proves she can walk and chew gum at the same time, she will have done well. No matter how well he performs, Joe Biden will be Joe Biden so he will not have any measurable affect.

Palin has been so demonstrably incoherent in her last few interviews that any stringing of words together will be an achievement. The sad fact about Sarah Palin’s position tonight is that she is the representational recipient of every prejudicial and sexist treatment that could possibly be bestowed upon a woman. Since she was chosen as John McCain’s running mate just over a month ago, she has been shielded from the usual interaction with the media that is the normal rite of passage for any candidate, male or female, who runs for higher office.

We the people have the right to ask questions and the media is typically our surrogate in this regard. However, McCain’s campaign decided to put on the white gloves with her and browbeat all of the media outlets into compliance screaming bias and elitism and every ignorant smear in the book. The result is that the most popular governor in the United States, who originally started out smart, charming, brash, and forthright, has devolved into a clueless, unworldly, fundamentally incurious sycophant right before our very eyes. When your own words are used verbatim in a comedy sketch, the only people that are still on your side are the diehard Republicans, albeit those with a lower IQ.

Unfortunately, the McCain campaign overplayed their hand and left enough room for us to draw the same conclusion they had that she was not adequately prepared to assume the role of Vice President at this juncture. They should have let her talk to her instant fans, all day, everyday, and they may have grown to love her more and may not have be doubtful of her abilities on the eve of what will prove to be her defining moment. Alas, McCain mishandled her well pretty much how he has handled all women. If we vote this woman into office, she will undo every benchmark to equality that women have fought for and kept; for this, she cannot win. Maybe she can come back in a future campaign when, having learned her lessons well, she will be equipped to completely fool us the next time around.

P.S. She delivered on style but not substance; Biden delivered on substance but not style. Tie.

Denouement

It is a foregone conclusion that the Senate will pass the aptly renamed Economic Recovery Act that the House failed to pass on Monday. It has now ballooned from 110 to over 400 pages and includes all kinds of incentives, essentially additional expenditures, to make it palatable for those who were formerly against it.

At this time, we the public are completely in the dark about what these additional expenditures are only that the bill includes an increase in the threshold for FDIC insured deposits from $100,000 to $250,000 and that it includes tax breaks for whom we do not know. Unfortunately for the taxpayers, these are unfunded tax breaks; what's another few billion added to the tab?

I still contend that there were other alternatives to loosening the credit markets, which is the fundamental problem that needs correction, without taking a bad $700,000,000,000 bill and adding sweeteners to it. The bill is still poison; it will still kill us but now it will taste better going down. Cold comfort.