Open Thread . Wachovia Bank Bought By Citibank

http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/

Wall Street Journal poll…who won the debate.
McCain was leading…please vote to make sure he stays up.

Test….I posted a comment thrice, but it hasn’t appeared. hmm

I am so discusted with the party I used to belong that I am sick. what I am more angry at is all the blind lemmings that can’t see that this is all the dems fault since long ago. TRAITORS who want to sell us off to the highest bidder because they hate this country. I’m voting strait republican from now on.

Epic Madness

Back in time, over two hundred years,
By documents which a nation reveres,
A more perfect union’s foundations were laid
By which a great people a Republic was made.

Lest all the power be seized by the one,
A rigorous separation was done,
So that three branches all power would share,
And no man to seize the totality dare.

Our founding fathers, though it’s little discussed,
For popular vote had exiguous trust,
“Democracy” for them a mob rule would denote,
Instead, they ordained the electoral vote.

Securely in history, then, you will trace
This madness of the quadrennial race,
Hardly new were the campaigning or strife,
Only the actors were larger than life.

Now a senator has established her fame,
When she’s known sufficiently by her first name,
So Hillary let the gambit begin,
Announcing that she was in it to win.

From Chicago her chief competition emerged,
Whose popularity had recently surged,
With fanfare announcing his candidacy,
Though he spoke from Springfield, no Lincoln was he.

Opposing them, an old warrior with scars,
Who had been tortured for the Stripes and the Stars,
A maverick known to all parties was he,
Though few thought the final triumph he’d see.

The toast of the big town, America’s mayor,
Not long took his candidacy to declare,
He seemed to have vanished some time in the fall,
One wondered if he’d been campaigning at all.

The governor of Massachusetts declared
Himself in the race but unevenly fared,
With much money spent and few primaries won,
He exited promptly– like father, like son.

By custom, Iowa winnowed the field,
A folksy Arkansan the victory sealed,
But when other victories he could not secure,
Naught but his own loss he’d proved to ensure.

The maverick senator had won after all,
His party’s standard he’d carry this fall,
The other side still had no nominee,
Barry or Hillary– who would it be?

In caucus and primary, victory they sought,
In epic manner the battles were fought,
When Barry’s soldiers overpowered their foes,
Hillary’s quest was soon in its last throes.

So Barry emerged on top in the race,
His party’s majority gave him the embrace,
A gun to a knife fight he boasted he’d bring,
Like Virgil, “of arms and the man” must we sing?

The voters, to whom the definitive voice
By tradition belongs, now establish their choice,
Their country’s fate in the balance now hangs,
Of anguish, patriots groan in their pangs.

The poet, perhaps, but an idler seems,
Of goodness and beauty abstractly he dreams,
As the heart moved him, so did he relate
The epic campaign of two thousand and eight.

The quadrennial madness now having braved,
Naught but his country’s salvation he craved,
And howbeit those running for office behaved,
Heaven he prays that the Republic be saved.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4p1G3r0948

It’s abit off topic… but thought a good laugh (it’s at the very end…), was needed at this point.

Ha!Ha! McCain banned MoDo from his plane!
http://edgeoforever.wordpress.com/2008/09/29/bravo-mccain-modo-banned-from-his-plane/

I recently took money out of an AIG retirement annuity and today deposited the funds in our Wachovia checking account. Tomorrow I am going to write a Wachovia check on those funds to be rolled over into an IRA at Morgan Keegan. I hope we are doing the right thing. I almost want to take the cash and put it in a safe deposit box. However, we are seniors and will have to pay high taxes at tax time for the annuity if we don’t roll it over.

Obama makes me feel like we may never see cash again and he will issue chips with that logo of his and we will begin dealing in Obama chips and gold coins with his face on it. (This is my recurring nightmare.)

I urge everyone to read this link to: “George Soros: Barack Obama’s Money Man and Agenda Puppeter”.

In it, you will find that, if things aren’t going BO’s way toward the end of October, Soros will enter with an October Surprise of his own that will help Obama:

http://raymondpronk.wordpress.com/2008/09/18/goerge-soros-barack-obamas-money-man-and-agenda-puppeter/

Scary because it’s plausible!

since its an open thread….

How low can obama get…..

Barack Obama’s campaign earlier this month sought to find a r a p e victim to appear in a campaign commercial, according to an email obtained by Politico.

Kiersten Steward, director of public policy at the Family Violence Prevention Fund, served as a conduit between the campaign and victims and women’s advocates.

“Obviously, this is a big ask and I haven’t seen a script but presumably it will be a brief this is what happened to me, we need someone who will fight for women like me, these are the guys to do it,” Steward wrote in a September 15th email. “Again, that’s just my assumption given how these things
usually go.”

Steward, a former top aide to Rep. Maurice Hinchey (D-NY), said the Obama campaign would have a crew in Washington and was hoping to film that week.

She didn’t respond to a message.

The Obama campaign wouldn’t detail the strategy behind finding an individual to discuss such a sensitive topic, but did suggest the ad may be aimed at underscoring their candidate’s support for abortion rights and ongoing effort to retain those women that backed Hillary Clinton in the primary.

“Choice is an important issue and we’re going to continue talking about it in battleground states through the election,” said spokesman Bill Burton.

Virginia is one of those swing states that Obama is especially focused on, and that’s where one r a p e victim received the request to appear in an ad. Mikele Shelton-Knight declined to do so.

http://www.politico.com/blogs/jonathanmartin/0908/Obama_sought_rape_victim_for_ad.html#comments

I have a small account with Wachovia and this is an excerpt of the press release they sent us… hmmmmm….

Customers of both companies should continue banking as usual, and feel confident that their deposits are secure. Also, employees and vendors should continue to operate business as usual.

At this time, there are no changes to Wachovia’s board of directors and two Wachovia directors will join Citigroup’s board.

Wachovia Corp. will remain headquartered in Charlotte, NC. Wachovia Securities will continue to be headquartered in St. Louis, MO. Citigroup will headquarter the retail bank in Charlotte and the investment bank in New York.

Wachovia’s investment bankers were Goldman Sachs, Perella Weinberg Partners and Wachovia Securities, and its legal advisors are Sullivan & Cromwell and Simpson Thacher & Bartlett.

At this rate, we are going to have just three or four
“Mega Banks”" Morgan/Chase, Bank of America, Citibank, and probably Wells Fargo. Just a few huge “too big to fail” monopolies controlling all commerical, investment and insurance banking in the country. Gramm-Leach Blilery deregulations gave birth to the “mega bank, not the mortgage crises like many assume.

FDIC has to up insurance way beyond $100,000.( Or maybe that’s the plan- merge all these banks and then the goverment’s insurance liability drops way down?) Is it any wonder people and company are parking money in T-bills? It feels like no where is safe at this point.

THE REPUBLICANS KILLED THE BAILOUT BILL

WOW. I never thought they would have the courage.

If anyone believes in Freedom, the govt cannot assume this debt in our name.

The really good part is the house was supposed to go on vacation this afternoon until jan 2009. Ha! Not so much.

Keep one very important thing in mind – democrats had the votes to pass this and they ELECTED not to. Not that they should have but what business do they have saying republicans blocked it when republicans gave them 60 plus votes and they still couldn’t pass it. They wanted a bi partisan pass and what they got was a bi partisan fail.

I’m LITTLE STUNNED!

I’m glad they’re not going to bail out the banks. We shouldn’t bail out the banks.

This is dooms day for Pelosi Reed and Obama – NO LEADERSHIP IN CONGRESS!

McCain/Palin could get this economy rolling again. They know how to let the failures fail and let the financial institutions with integrity rise to the top.

It’s obvious that Pelosi is playing political roulette with the precarious economy. In a political year, she is doing everything she can to make the Republicans look like the bad guys. In the meantime, while Nancy is playing political games, our economy is collapsing.

On Nov. 4, I am voting a straight republican ticket.

Is there a link to Nancy’s speech? So much for Obama giving himself credit yesterday for solving the bailout crisis.

Bad bad bad. I am concerned at the economy crashing without the bailout. Then Obama will get elected and poof! Instant third world country complete with a banana republic style dictator.

i am so proud of the pubs’ for killing this, along with the 90 some democrats.
Pelosi, is a total idiot. Instead of rallying the house with a bi-partisan speech she trashed republicans and blamed everything on them.
She is the worst politician i have ever seen.
She killed it. Boehner said he expected 12 more republicans to vote but it did not happen because nancy got up and trashed them, even though the republicans have tryed to pass regulation laws on Fannie and freddie since 2003, and democrats were calling them racist for trying to stop lending to minority’s and folks who could not afford it.
I am happy it did not pass. They should pass the Cantor bill which would revolutionize the economy.

This election cycle has made me take off the partisan goggles and realize that dems have been so damn crooked and dishonest. I know republicans are crooked to, both parties have good and bad.
But this batch dems have in congress is the worst i have ever witnessed. Speaker pelosi deserves the blame for the failure of this bill and i am glad she blew it up with ignorant partisan rant.

I’m sorry. As I listen to Pelosi, I’m getting more and more pissed.

So they voted down the bill because they were afraid they’d lose their elections?

This is a CONGRESS?

Dusty Foggo plead guilty today to steering contracts:

WaPo

Barney Frank is looking like a fucking idiot right now. He is now proving that he has no clue what to di in this crisis. Same ofr Pelosi. LOL!

Pelosi, Frank, Reid, Obama, you have nobody but yourselves to blame.

Just call me if you need me.

lynn sweet nails it:

“Speaker Pelosi called a bill that failed and the market plunged.”
http://blogs.suntimes.com/sweet/2008/09/house_rejects_bailout_bill.html

pelosi runs the house. If something has to pass pelosi is not supposed to let the bill go up for a vote until she knows it will pass. Well how did that work out? DOWn: -617

I am loving that this whole deal is blowing up in the face of Pelosi and Harry Reid and Barney Frank.

There is no leadership from Pelosi in this deal. There is no leadership from Obama in this deal.

The deal, as proposed, was a bogus deal and I am glad it was shot down cold this morning.

To the Democrats and Republicans that voted this boondoggle down, I say as an American, THANK YOU!

Now, throw the likes of Pelosi, and Frank, and Reid, and Obama out on their ass, and get a real Bill in there that will do some good. But please, no boondoggle bail out is wanted or needed.

Obama is crying now.

Democrats are absolutely playing politics with this whole thing.

America needs to send them a lesson they will never forget.

Why would Nancy Pelosi make such a partisan speech at this time. She is not a leader at all. And neither is Obama.

No way do I want Obama as President with a Pelosi led Congress.

We must get John McCain in the White House as our next President!

McCain-Palin ‘08
Hillary ‘12

Reps. Cleaver, Clay and Conyers opposed the bill.

In an earlier thread, someone said members of the Congressional Black Caucus were in full support, however, these three are in that Caucus.

What’s going on here? Anyone know why they opposed? And, was the Black Caucus split?

The gall of her to push her partiasan propaganda on us all. She knew this was televised and thought this was an oppotunity to bolster up Obarfo. It backfired!!!!

Oh, and the Dow is down 679 points. 700 is unprecedented. So if you think there’s no crisis–well, just keep your head buried in the sand.

Yesterday Obama said McCain deserved no credit for the bail out, yet today they are trying to say the failure is all his fault.

Typical socialists.

CWJ (crazy whack job) Pelosi has blown it. what is wrong with her? the bill was a very tough bi-partisan effort. and she gives an ultra-partisan speech just before the vote. She is seriously CWJ.

Pelosi’s speech was an outrage. It’s the same exact bull crap they have been pulling for days now rolled into one long rant. My former party is filled with self serving porkers. Disgraceful. Watch the spin coming down the pike and some how the Evil One Obama will make this McCain’s fault.

I want a petition to sign that kicks these arses out of a job.

OMG! Pelosi’s speech is on CNN. NOW she’s touting Clinton’s record to bash Bush. No wonder the Repugs voted no. Nancy Pelosi must be replaced. She actually said the Republican Party is over. Way to negotiate Nancy–you dipsh**t!

hey, where is beebop? heard she/he lost 150K in the stock market. you okay, beebop?

OMG! Some Republican got up and said the bailout is the Bolshevik Revolution. Said in time of crisis people give up freedom for profit. Funny, I didn’t hear Republicans saying that after 9/11. Didnt hear them saying that people shouldn’t give up their civil right to the Patriot Act, but they have no problem allowing Americans to lose everything they have so they can stand by some pseudo-free market values.

Update: Dow now down to -7-1 biggest point drop ever in one day

Credit markets frozen–that means businesses cannot do business–have to fire employees, banks are shut down, can’t sell your house or buy a house, etc., your portfolio or retirement investment is worth almost nothing. Oh and after the banks fail, millions of houses will default and in our lifetimes our houses will have no value because foreclosures will be rampant on the market at discounted prices.

But let’s applaud those Republicans and Democrats who voted no.

Poor leadership Speaker Pelosi .I did not think her ratings could get any lower she should be resigned

Pelosi had her wig handed to her today, and she set the deck herself. Pelosi yaks off the Pub’s and does not have enough D’s to go along…90+D’s said No as well.

Obama is telling people he wants this bill passed, yet Pelosi is calling it Bush’s Bill.

The D’s are acting like little weasels….the R’s are saying it’s not the bill we want.

McCain should come back to DC and work this..

let f*ckin obama win now, he will have to lead for 4 years undr a f*ckin depression

The bill was defeated because it was a bad bill, bad for the country, bad for the taxpayers, not because of Pelosi. All she did was piss off and alienate the Republicans but they didn’t vote against the bill out of spite. They voted against it because it was a bad bill. So did over 90 Dems!

Have I mentioned that Bush gets what he deserves here too..

he has only cared about himself for so long the R’s dumped him on his head too.

Let it sink baby…. let it sink………….
You tell me who looks better now…. McCain who went to work or Obambi who was getting a tan……?

Dow down !!!!!!!!!!!!!
Obama down !!!!!!!!!!!

So basically the world economy is going to go on hold until those pompous assholes in the congress get their precious re-elections? The French once stormed a building called the Bastille; perhaps it’s time for Americans to storm Capitol Hill.

The one thing I like about R’s is that when it comes to principle they will stick to their guns……… And the only person who knows how to fight them tooth and nail was Bill Clinton, the dwag himself and Hillary….

I missed HILLARY!!!!!!!!!!

Dear Congress and Mr President:

I’m against the $85,000,000, 000.00 bailout of AIG. (That’s 85 BILLION DOLLARS).

Instead, I’m in favor of giving $85,000,000, 000 to the American taxpayers.

We Deserve It. Consider it a stock dividend for investing in our country.

To make the math simple, let’s assume there are 200,000,000 bonafide taxpaying U.S. Citizens 18+.

FYI, Our population is about 301,000,000 +/- counting every man, woman and child. So 200,000,000 might be a fair stab at adults 18
and up.

So, if we divide 200 million adults 18+ into $85 billon that equals $425,000.00.

My plan is to give $425,000 to every person 18+ as a “We Deserve It Dividend”.

Of course, it would NOT be tax-free. So let’s assume a tax rate of 30%. Every individual 18+ has to pay $127,500.00 in taxes.
That would send $25,500,000, 000 right back to Uncle Sam. But it means that every adult 18+ has $297,500.00 in their
poc ket.

A husband and wife would net $595,000 .00.

What would you do with $297,500.00 to $595,000.00 in your family?

Pay off your mortgage – housing crisis solved.
Repay college loans – what a great boost to new grads
Put away money for college – it’ll be there.
Save in a bank – create money to loan to entrepreneurs.

Buy a new AMERICAN car – create AMERICAN jobs

Invest in the market – capital drives growth

Pay for your parent’s medical insurance – health care improves

Enable Deadbeat Dads to come clean – or else

Remember this is for every adult U S Citizen 18+ including the folks who lost their jobs at Lehman Brothers and every other company
that is cutting back. And of course, for those serving in our Armed Forces.

If we’re going to re-distribute wealth let’s really do it…instead of trickling out a puny $1000.00 ( ‘vote buy’ ) economic incentive that is being
proposed by one of our candidates for President.

If we’re going to do an $85 billion bailout, let’s bail out every adult U S Citizen 18+!

As for AIG – liquidate it. Sell off its parts.

Let American General go back to being American General.

Sell off the real estate.

Let the private sector bargai n hunters cut it up and clean it up.

Here’s my rationale. We deserve it and AIG doesn’t.

Sure it’s a crazy idea that can ‘never work.’

But can you imagine the Coast-To-Coast Block Party!

How do you spell Economic Boom?

I trust my fellow adult Americans to know how to use the $85 Billion

We deserve a dividend more than I do the geniuses at AIG or in Washington DC .

Oh, and remember, The Family plan only really costs $59.5 Billion because $25.5 Billion is returned instantly in taxes to Uncle Sam.

Ahhh…I feel so much better getting that off my chest.

Kindest personal regards,

A Creative Guy & Citizen of the Republic.

GOD IMAGINE A GOVERNMENT CONTROLLED BY DEMOCRATS LIKE NANCY OBAMA AND REID>>>>

I might have to move to Alaska…..

Black lawmakers are against the bill because ACORN doesn’t get its 20% to help fund the loans for lower income home owners who shouldn’t have qualified for a loan to begin with. ACORN is a big part of why they voted against it. Senator McCain has it right, the republicans did not bring this on. The democrats have fought anybody trying these last several years to put any kind of legislation in to hold this firms and banks accountable. Also since ACORN was established, banks were forced to give loans to people who didn’t qualify or they were severely and financially punished by the FEDs. The democrats did this not the republicans. This is their baby so let them choke on it.

This vote should not have happened on the eve of Rosh Hashanah but maybe the Jewish New Year will give Congress the break it needs to consider a better alternative.

Happy 5769!

Here is the text of the McCain campaign statement:

“From the minute John McCain suspended his campaign and arrived in Washington to address this crisis, he was attacked by the Democratic leadership: Senators Obama and Reid, Speaker Pelosi and others. Their partisan attacks were an effort to gain political advantage during a national economic crisis. By doing so, they put at risk the homes, livelihoods and savings of millions of American families.

—McCain-Palin senior policy adviser Doug Holtz-Eakin

Note: Before McCain Came To Washington, Senate Democrats Called On McCain For Leadership In Economic Crisis

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV): “We Need The Republican Nominee For President To Let Us Know Where He Stands And What We Should Do.” Reid: “We need, now, the Republicans to start producing some votes for us. We need the Republican nominee for president to let us know where he stands and what we should do.” (Sen. Harry Reid, Press Conference, Washington, D.C., 9/23/08)

Obama “Just call me if you need me” Obama showed NO LEADERSHIP.

Now is the time for McCain to seize the moment on this BIG TIME! I think the McCain team will be able to come up with a New Bill. Again, I am hoping that Hillary Clinton will be able to join with McCain and get a good Bill soon.

What is everyone hearing on all this?

Now more than ever…we need…

McCain-Palin ‘08
Hillary ‘12

I’m in a mood for a revolution. If these idiotic politicians cant bury the hatchet, and come together as americans in this moment of crisis, its best that a million people march to the capital, and demand that these idiots do their job in a responsible manner. I’m tired of these partisanship. who is to blame or who is not to blame. who gets the credit or who doesnt get the credit. idiotic.

Obama wll now win in a landslide. The blame game for this bill won’t matter because the sense of crisis itself will cause voters to want a new party in the White House. Perfectly orchestrated by the Dems. They want these headlines to cntinue. I wouldn’t be surprised that tomorrow’s tracking polls will have Obama up by double-digits. America has gone to hell.

Here is my summary of Pelosi’s speech, having read it in full:

“We are on the precipice…
Why’d they call it the great depression? it wasn’t great (ba-dump-bump)…
Barney Frank rulz, Bush droolz…
Main street, Wall street, golden parachute…
Now give us more money, so we can give it to these companies, so they can fund our campaigns.”

CNN reporting that John McCain is about to hold a news conference.

NY Post: THE MELTDOWN’S ACORN

As Congress slogged toward an appar ent financial-market rescue bill over the weekend, the time arrived for a closer look at the roots of the crisis.

Who were the culprits?

Many and varied.

But as Election Day grows ever nearer, the role of one candidate in particular stands out: that of Barack Obama.

I think in some ways, this is a cleansing action. The price of oil is dropping big time. That is good news.

the media is blaming McCain and i am sure alot of folks are mad about that. Here is the thing, they said when he went that he ruined the bill, they brought it to a vote and said it is Mac’s fault.
That works in his favor. America is against this bill and if they keep saying mac killed it then americans will love him.
Not to mention, speaker pelosi is the culprit. She could have passed this bill without a single republican vote.
90 dems voted against and the republicans were against this from the start.
When he went to washington only 4 house pubs supported it. Now 66 supported it. If Pelosi and the dems would have left politics at the door it would have passed.
In her speech before the vote she said the bill was proof that republican policy failed and this is an end to the republicans.

Also, you guys who keep saying republicans were against regulation. Do you forget that since 03 they tried over and over to pass regulation???
You sound like idiots. Their against to much and poor regulation. McCain sponsored a bill in 2005 for regulation. You sound ignorant in the words true definition. Even Bill Clinton blames the dems for not allowing new regulation laws. He said last week that dems would not let him,bush, or any republicans regulate Fannie and freddie.
Get your facts straight. I know as democrats we tend to be partisan and happy when we can blame the other side. This not one of those cases. Check the record.
Also, if you mention Phil Gramm that was not to dereg the housing market and dems voted for that bill overwhelmingly and the other guy who wrote it is an Obama advisor. Stop the ignorance.

Cha-ching

Great time for Opportunity!! Mac was going to loose the way it was going with the 700 billion ….it was going to be Obama’s game..

But now all bets are off, and good leadership will be needed…the D’s will not do this on their own..they will not, or they will loose the election.

The hard ball of politics with brass knuckles is going to happen now. It is Macs’ only chance.

The D’s were just plain stupid to run crap in the nose of the R’s before the vote…how stupid..colossal.

I think Kristol is right, McCain needs to suspend his campaign again. This time no issue of debate. PLus, this would mean no risk of Palin debate!

Donald Trump says oil has dropped $10 today, down to $96 a barrell and will continue to drop like a rock. He also says we’ll do fine wo a bailout. Economy will come back and skyrocket. I trust him more than this stupid analysts.

Obama: I have a depression too!!!

Jack Cafferty is lying sack of crap. He is blaming this ALL on the republicans and McCain. He says they failed to come up with the 11 votes.

HELLO!!! 90 something Democrats voted against it too.

Nancy Pelosi is going through fasting and prayer before she calls the ‘One’. she has lost, and has disappointed the ‘One’. fasting always helps. lol

I’m watching FOX. CNN=Crackhead Nightly News.

Oh, this is rich. Somebody on FOX (BO supporter) is spinning this with something like:

McCain was supposed to deliver x-number of votes. Obama 120. Obama delivered 140, McCain didn’t deliver what he promised, therefore, it was all McCain’s fault.

Bull Hockey. 11 votes could have come from te 95 democrats who voted against it. Nice try but it is all baloney.

I say, let’s throw them all out and elect Donald Trump/Bloomberg ticket.

Major Garrett reports that Obama did not take a stand on this bill. Does anyone have links to his taking credit for the whole thing?

Now that the dems are going to blame the Republicans for the failure to pass, shouldn’t they (the Republicans) take this opportunity to point out the flaws of the bill and the fact that the Dems were adding money for ACORN and offer to the public the reasonable measures that need to be added to make the bill feasible?

Henny Penny, Goosie Lucy and Turkey Lurkey have all been sent a message today.

To Paraphrase Pelosi’s message to Wall Street that the party is over. Antsy Nancey got her comeuppance from quite a few of her own party members in this vote. Not everyone in what remains of the Democratic Party believe as she does – that party gloating transcends that which relates to taking care of the country.

SHE NEEDS TO GO – BIG TIME AND FAST

I think McCain needs to put a new plan out there…

we have to accept that the bad loans have been floating bad paper for 20+years, and now they need to got to jail…this means many were cooking the books.

I love when the D’s don’t get their way. Then the burn down the house and then call the fire department…90+D’s did not vote for the bill..that’s huge.

do you think some are closet PUMAS?

Follow these comments:

http://blog.pumapac.org/2008/09/29/super-massive-black-monday/#comment-171871

I for one am glad. This bailout was another hugely wrongheaded, rushed decision brought to you by the same assholes who brought you the war in Iraq in conjunction with the same assholes who brought you this financial/housing mess to begin with.

NO bailout for Wall Street. If our economy is in such dire straits–and it clearly is–take action to restore jobs, infrastructure and (oh yeah Obama) provide some relief to people in bankruptcy. Handing a blank check of taxpayer money to Paulson and his billionaire buddies to play with is not a good idea on any planet.

I called CNN and pointed out that the 11 vote gap would have been covered by the 90 Dems that voted against the bill. The agent said he’d forward it to the news desk. Here’s hoping.

I am so ashamed that Nancy Pelosi is my congressional Rep, I wish I could help vote her out but the sick, pathetic thing is that she’s still very popular here in SF.

Why does it have to be a bailout? Why not a combination of bailout and loans? I’m not in favor of our government buying up worthless mortgages in order to keep people living in homes they couldn’t afford in the first place. Let this also be a lesson to people of my generation, the Gen- Xers, and entitled, Hopium-smoking Gen- Y, that it’s time to be fiscally responsible. No more running back to your mommy and daddy or the government to help bail you out of selfish, bad decisions arising from a live for today/ worry about tomorrow mindset.

When all is settled, I believe what went down today isn’t about politics per se, but rather it’s essentially a fight over principles. I cannot in good conscience support a plan that bails out irresponsible behavior and punishes middle-class people like myself who already pay a heavy tax burden. No way am I going to pay for people living above their means to continue keeping their homes. I rent in a middle-class neighborhood in San Francisco, the two home to my right are both up for sale, one going for about $880K and the other $850K. People, these aren’t mansions by any stretch, these are 3 BR single family homes built in the 50s. Housing prices are so over-inflated that they need a market adjustment, and I don’t mean a government-sponsored variety.

A statement from Senator Barack Obama.

I cannot express in words how much I deplore the action today of the House of Representatives. Not without a teleprompter. But let me say this.

I have spoken out against the predatory practices of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac ever since I came to this country in 1961. And I spoke out against this when it wasn't popular. I spoke out against it again when Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were founded and I spoke out against it when President Jimmy Carter signed the bill that put this all in motion.

I watched from the sidelines as the great President Ronald Reagan took over the reins and continued to support this questionable piece of legislation. And I often talked about this with my good friend Madeline Talbott who became head of ACORN in Chicago. I told Madeline's community organizers what I thought of it; I marched in cadence with them into the lobbies of Chicago banks to express my displeasure. I have been against this from the beginning.

The Republicans are trying to bamboozle you. The Okey Doke. Do you know what the Okey Doke is? They're trying to tell you the economy must run free. And there are certain numbers of my party such as my opponent Senator John McCain who want to lay the blame on the practices of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

I have always been a staunch supporter of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac ever since I came to this country in 1961.

I have spoken.

Sen. Barack Obama
Obama for America
http://obamaforamerica.com

(Yes this is a joke! )

NRO

Just thought I’d send some thoughts from small-business America. My husband’s business is a canary in the coalmine. When tax policies are favorable to business, he hires more guys, buys more goods, etc. When he is taxed more heavily, he fires people, doesn’t buy anything new, etc. Well, duh. So, at the mere thought of a President Obama, he has paid off his debt, canceled new spending, and jotted a list of whom to “let go.”

The first of the guys will get the news tomorrow. And these are not minimum-wage earners. These are “rich” guys, making between $200,000 and $250,000 a year.

My husband will make sure that we’re okay, money-wise, but he won’t give himself a paycheck that will just be sent to Washington. He’ll make sure that he’s not in “rich guy” tax territory. So, he will not spend his money, not show a profit, and scale his workforce down to the bare minimum.

Multiply this scenario across the country and you’ll see the Obama effect: unemployment, recession, etc. No business owner will vote for this man, but many a “middle-class worker” will vote himself out of a job. Sad the Republican can’t articulate this.

No one in good faith, can honestly claim that the current bailout scheme on the table of Paulson, Frank and Dodd is the only option. It is not the only option.

The trillion dollar taxpayers bailout scheme, being peddled by Hank Paulson, Barney Frank, Chris Dodd, et al. is doomed to fail, this will not solve anything. It will trigger Weimar hyperinflation immediately, will bring down
the whole banking system, and, contrary to Gordon Brown’s fantasies, will not save the hopelessly bankrupt British banking system.

The option is a multi-stepped solution:

First, as properly regulated banking is an essential aspect of any economy, we must save the state and Federally chartered commercial banks and thrifts. That means two things: First, we must extract the relevant banking functions from banks which have often become virtual casinos of speculative bets, and second, we must restore the modern regulatory regime established by President Franklin Roosevelt, beginning with the restoration of Glass-Steagall.

Second, Congress, in coordination with the Fed, must establish a two-tiered credit system. The Fed must immediately increase short-term rates to 4 percent, to send a clear signal that the U.S. government is behind a strong dollar.

Third, Congress, using its Constitutional authority, must issue trillions of dollars in low-interest credit for earmarked infrastructure projects, in the vital interest of the nation. We need high-speed rail and maglev, nuclear power, water management, new hospitals, repairs on our bridges and roads. These kinds of projects should be financed through capital budgeting, authorized by Congress at 1-2 percent interest.”

Fourth, the United States, Russia, China and India must take the lead in convening a treaty conference to establish a new international financial system, based on fixed exchange rates, along the conceptual lines of what Franklin Roosevelt did in 1944 with the original Bretton Woods System. We can and must put the bankrupt current international financial system through bankruptcy reorganization, and launch, on a global scale, the domestic capital investment in massive infrastructure.

The Glass-Steagall Act of 1933 was one of the most important banking regulations ever passed, as it prohibited any commercial bank from engaging in investment banking activities. As FDR told the House of Morgan: You can be
a commercial bank, or an investment bank, but you can’t be both. This was done to prevent a raft of abuses which occurred in the 1920s and early 1930s, as the bankers saved themselves at the expense of their customers and the public.
Glass-Steagall forced the House of Morgan to split into two separate institutions, an act for which FDR has never been forgiven by the bankers; but FDR was entirely correct, as recent events have demonstrated. The banks began to
chip away at Glass-Steagall in the 1980s, and it was finally repealed in 1999, after the illegal merger of Travelers and Citicorp to form Citigroup in 1998. The repeal of Glass-Steagall opened the floodgates, as the banks expanded
their speculative activities, until the distinctions between commercial banking and investment banking have virtually disappeared. As has the solvency of the system.

Should the bailout be rejected, the British banking system will collapse immediately, with the U.S. banks collapsing on its heels. With or without the bailout, we face the disintegration of the banking system, thanks in large part to deregulation and globalization.

Saw this post on American Thinker about Soros. Soros is bad for America.
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September 29, 2008

How allies of George Soros helped bring down Wachovia Bank

By Ed Lasky

Wachovia Bank, a major institution, has seen its stock plummet and its continued viability called into question, as the nation’s financial crisis muddles forward. [Update: shortly after publication of this article, Citigroup agreed to purchase Wachovia's banking operations in a deal facilitated by the FDIC.]

Largely ignored in this crisis is the key role played by Herbert and Marion Sandler, founders of Golden West Financial (GDW), one of the largest savings and loans in the nation. Wachovia purchased GDW for $24 billion dollars in 2006. This was one of the worst merger and acquisition deals of all time for the buyer, and remarkably excellent timing on the part of the seller. In essence, Wachovia bought a financial time bomb ticking away, one that exploded this year, bringing down yet another former financial titan and further wrecking Wall Street. [Update: see this commentary from Bllomberg on the role of GDW in the fall of Wachovia.]

How did this transpire and who are the Sandlers?

Herbert and Marion Sandler, a New York lawyer and Wall Street analyst respectively, bought a small California thrift in 1963 and built it into GDW — one of the largest thrifts in the nation. The company’s business was built on adjustable rate mortgages (ARMs. These were mortgages offered at low “teaser” rates that ratcheted upward as interest rates increased. They were often sold aggressively to unsophisticated home buyers who did not comprehend the vast financial risks they were taking, or who assumed that housing prices would rise high enough to provide a profit to them when they sold their houses. They were targets for lenders peddling mortgages that should have been stamped with a skull and crossbones, for these were among the most seductive and dangerous types of mortgage.

This book of business is the core reason for Wachovia’s current difficulties

The Sandlers knew their business far better than any other person could. Not only were they the founders and major owners, they famously ran the company as a husband and wife team for all these years.

So why did they happen to cash out at precisely the right time? Did they see the handwriting on the wall, realizing the massive risks inherent in the mortgages they originated throughout one of the most overheated real estate markets in the nation’s history? They are not talking, but when smart people cash in some of their chips, it’s rarely a good time to bet against them. Nevertheless, Wachovia bet 24 billion dollars and lost big time.

The collapse was primarily caused by the GDW purchase, which became an albatross around Wachovia’s neck soon after the purchase. “Wachovia found itself in ARM’s Way” was the headline of a recent Wall Street Journal article. A huge percentage of these Wachovia ARMs were made to deep subprime borrowers with very poor credit scores. Most of these were “inherited from its ill-timed acquisition of Golden West” at the end of the housing boom in 2006.

The Sandlers have started to invest their billions of dollars politically, in the manner of George Soros, sugar daddy of many far-left wing groups and an early and prominent supporter of Presidential candidate Barack Obama. Soros has developed an empire of so-called 527 groups, putatively independent political activists groups that have influence within the Democratic Party. These 527 groups include the Center for American Progress, MoveOn.Org, Human Rights Watch, Media Matters and a slew of other like-minded groups .

This set of political organizations also includes the International Crisis Group, whose foreign policy staff is likely to contain the embryonic future of the State Department in an Obama Administration . Eli Pariser, who heads MoveOn.Org, boasts about his group’s role in the Democratic Party:

“Now it’s our party: we bought it, we own it, and we are going to take it back.”

They have already done so, in large measure.

The top four donors to these 527 groups in the last Presidential election cycle (2004) were Soros, Peter Lewis of Progressive Insurance, Steven Bing, and Herbert and Marion Sandler . Collectively they gave 78 million dollars to left-leaning 527 groups. That was just in 2004. They have become much more ambitious over the last few years.

Soros, Lewis, and the Sandlers form a core group of billionaire activists and Democrat partisans who have formed a group called The Democracy Alliance. They realized that they could magnify their power by working in unison and tapping other wealthy donors to further their agenda (the superb Boston Globe article “Follow the money” is a good primer on how money and 527 groups have come together to have a huge impact on politics in America).

The Democracy Alliance is a major avenue to help them achieve their goals. The roster of its growing membership consists of a list of billionaires and mere multi-millionaires who collectively hope to give upwards of 500 million dollars each year to further promote a left-wing agenda. A partial roster of the Democracy Alliance membership can be found here.

Half a billion dollars a year can purchase a great deal of influence.

The Sandlers certainly know quite a bit about leverage from their savings and loan days.

Among the beneficiaries of their largesse: Air America, ACORN (a group that has very close and long lasting ties to Barack Obama and has a long history of engaging in voter fraud. Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (basically a private detective group focused on the private faults and foibles of Republicans), Media Matters, a media watchdog group that engages in harsh partisan attacks against media figures and articles it considers supportive of Republicans). The list goes on and on.

They are not merely out to elect Democrats, but to also permanently realign U.S. politics and shift our society and culture in a far-left wing direction.

One of the steps the Sandlers have taken on their own is to start ProPublica with a 10 million dollar donation, a sum which they promise to replenish annually. This is an outfit that will engage in investigative journalism and will provide its “findings” to larger media outlets for greater impact at no cost. American Thinker was among the first outlets to express wariness over ProPublica and the approach it would take given the ideology of its founding couple. Even Jane Mayer of the New Yorker described the Sandlers as hard-core partisans. Other publications shared our concern about ProPublica. Investor’s Business Daily commented in an editorial:

Could a couple of left-wing billionaires really be sincere about creating a “nonpartisan,” “non-ideological” center for investigative reporting? Or is the pair just paying more to drive the media agenda further left?

One problem: The Sandlers fund both leftist causes and the Democratic Party. In fact, they rank in the top tier of donors. In 2004 they gave MoveOn.org $2.5 million, or as much money as their philanthropic ally, George Soros.

Along with Soros and billionaire Peter Lewis, the Sandlers fund some of the most important players of what is now known as the “progressive” left. In 2003, the three together funded about a third of the Center for American Progress think tank, which has close staff ties to Hillary Clinton.

Now if this enterprise were called a “progressive” nonprofit, as other projects are, it wouldn’t be news. But given the chairmanship of Herbert Sandler, and Steiger’s claim that ProPublica will be run according to the “strictest standards of journalistic impartiality and fairness,” there’s reason to wonder if this isn’t a new bid to drive the political agenda leftward under media disguise.

“We will look hard at the critical functions of business and government, the two biggest centers of power, in areas ranging from product safety to securities fraud, from flaws in our system of criminal justice to practices that undermine fair elections,” its Web site says.

I would be very surprised indeed if the malfeasance of ACORN will ever be investigated by Publica, for its undermining of fair elections.

Unsurprisingly, though, ProPublica has already shown that agenda-driven journalism is its founding principle. One of its first pieces of “investigative journalism” was an attack on the oil and gas industry for developing the Marcellus Shale (a vast natural gas reservoir located in northeast America). ProPublica reported that developing this domestic energy source would damage the environment and advocated that these resources not be developed.

The New York Sun took ProPublica to task for the accuracy of its reporting and for the foolishness of its conclusion:

Geology.com reports on a study earlier this year by a geology professor at the State University of New York at Fredonia, Gary Lash, who found that the Marcellus Shale may contain more than 500 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.

If 10% of that is recoverable, it could supply America’s natural gas needs for two years and would have a “wellhead value” of $1 trillion, according to Geology.com. In other words, by the time the story is over, upstate New York will end up looking not like Appalachia but like Dallas or Dubai.

The national security consequences would also be considerable. Every unit of energy that comes from upstate New York is a unit that doesn’t have to come from Iran or Venezuela or Saudi Arabia or some other nation hostile to America and known for spawning or supporting terrorists.

As for the environmental risks, they are surmountable. As we noted in our July 25 editorial, “The Barnett Shale,” that natural gas field has been mined without any ill effects on the metropolitan area of Dallas Fort-Worth, which sits atop it. Not only have there been no ill effects, there have been remarkable benefits in terms of prosperity, growth, and increased tax revenues.

Maybe the Sandlers are helping their political ally George Soros, a hedge fund manager who runs an offshore fund whose investors may well include some of the world’s wealthiest and most anti-American petrocats. Shielded from scrutiny by offshore operations, the names of Soros’s investors are a closely-guarded secret. But perhaps more than a few of them would look askance at expedited development of our own energy resources. We would be less dependent on petrodollar rich abroad, and the price of oil and gas would weaken, should domestic energy resources like the Marcellus Shale be developed.

While the Sandlers personally made 2.4 billion dollars on the 24 billion dollar sale of Golden West Financial to Wachovia, the employees (including their own former employees) and shareholders of Wachovia, including those who have invested their retirement money and children’s college funds in Wachovia stock and bonds, are not doing nearly so well. Communities where Wachovia has branches that may be closed as a cost-saving measure will also suffer. But worst hurt of all will be the homeowners who were sold mortgages that they should have never been offered, by a lender far more sophisticated than they were.

And here I thought that Democrat partisans were supposed to protect the little people.

So far as I know, the Sandlers have not offered to reinvest any of their gains into Wachovia to help it recover. It appears to be far more fun taking those ill-begotten billions and use them to fund an ever-expanding “left-wing conspiracy.”

Keep an eye on the Sandlers if Barack Obama becomes President. As I wrote, they know about leverage.

Ed Lasky is news editor of American Thinker.

So are we now seeing that competition is being taken out of the market. Who will end up owning America? Who owns or has stock in Citibank?