I hope the roundtable can reaffirm strengths America possesses that will help the recovery gain traction whenever that may be.

Growing up Democratic, my instinct is to be pro regulation, because the system is predicated on ‘motivated self interest,’ but could rules of play put the country at competitive disadvantage?

BTW, if McCain is so about ‘character,’ they why has no one made anything of McCain’s cheating on his first wife with Cindy and then abandoning her because she became disabled and less physically appealing? What’s worse she held vigil for him while he was a pow.

BTW, if McCain is so about ‘character,’ they why has no one made anything of McCain’s cheating on his first wife with Cindy and then abandoning her because she became disabled and less physically appealing? What’s worse she held vigil for him while he was a pow.

Or if it’s about being against America how about Sarah Palin’s husband being a member of the Alaskan Independence Party until a few months ago he was an active member.

They want to actively pursue secession for Alaska from the United States. The leader Joe Vogler was an extremist and very ant-American.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alaskan_Independence_Party

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Vogler

Hello Tom,
Many thanks to you and your team for your superb work.

How much has speculation in commodities, particularly oil futures, affected the global financial markets?

Yesterday, Thursday, I read an article in the Long Island Press, “How Wall Street Is Screwing America,” by Jed Morey, that suggests that speculation in commodities, particularly in oil futures, could be as significant as the losses related to the housing mess.

The reason why this story might have received scant attention could be because of those who are currently in power.

“In 2000, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and British Petroleum became the primary founders of a little-known exchange based in Atlanta, Ga., known as the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE). A year later, it purchased the London-based International Petroleum Exchange (IPE), and was renamed ICE Futures. It was an acquisition that was fairly straightforward until 2006, when the CFTC (US Commodities Futures Trading Commission) – seemingly out of nowhere – officially recognized ICE as a foreign-based exchange because it had purchased IPE…

“…based in London, and no longer subject to federal trading regulations… could trade every type of commodity … without spending limits or federal oversight.”

The timing coincides with a steep rise in the price of commodities futures, not only oil.

With the Dow at 8,600 McCain keeps talking about Ayers? Is that a mark of a true leader or a grumpy old man? Who can answer?

I am amazed at the way the media laps up (almost without challenge) the McCain/Palin claims about Obama’s ‘terrorist’ connections and NEVER turns the tables to look at McCain’s own cozy connections with the likes of G.Gordon Liddy, an unrepentant criminal or Palin’s open support of a group whose founder sought sponsorship from Iran in 1993 so that he could air his anti-American opinions at the UN.

“I hope the roundtable can reaffirm strengths America possesses that will help the recovery gain traction whenever that may be.”

Frederic C., I’m very sorry to say that you can forget about any type of recovery that will take us back to a time resembling anything like late 20th century prosperity.

None of the “fundamentals” that brought us out of past economic downturns exist anymore.

For instance:
1.) we no longer have a solid (core) manufacturing base to take advantage of a decrease in the value of the dollar
2.) the U.S. is unlikely to recover its position as “the Unique Supreme” banking, trading and investing center it has been in the past
3.) the U.S. is not designed in a structurally efficient enough way to do well in a $3.50 and up dollar/gallon gas environment and we cannot easily change this fact(see #4 below)
4.) critical infrastructure is failing and we do not have the money to make the repairs or transitions that will help to make us competitive going forward
5.) resource,transportation, and energy costs are now prohibitively expensive in a time when we need cheap resources to recover
6.) our education system is failing, and more importantly is failing to provide a significant enough new generation of qualified talent for our workforce/leadership
7.) all of the above make it unlikely that credit will ever flow in this country as freely as it has in the past
8.) all of the above make it even less likely that there will ever be a significant enough job recovery to help pull us out of the dire straits we now find ourselves in.

We all have the past thirty years of leadership in our country to thank for not having enough foresight to prepare us for the times we are in. To be sure, some have warned of the changes that were needed for decades, but they went unheeded.

Thank especially the Republican Revolution which has put the “quick investor profit” motive above all other needs in our country.

Good luck to you, Sir, and to us all… we’ll need it.

Oh, and don’t forget our outrageuos National Debt.

Dear Tom,

We have been victims of an ideology that we have been spoonfed.

We were told that the folks on Wall Street were smarter than the rest of us and that we should not do any thing to impede their wealth creation formula.

Wall Street pushed for outsourcing of jobs, they pushed downsizing, rightsizing, re-engineering, privatization, etc. the result of all this was a population that were unemployed, under-employed, broke and indebted.

To then keep our economy going they invented sub-prime, and the un-employed and under-employed lapped it up and wall street prospered.

What we need are leaders who will push for us to be Americans, not white/black/yellow/latino/gay etc. If we do not come together and become our brothers and sisters’ keepers no ideology on earth can save us from ourselves.

Listen to these to Indian proverbs “I have looked at the enemy and he is us”. “There should be no tree foolish enough for the branches to fight each other.”

God bless!

I keep hearing how the unscrupulous lenders took advantage of us by letting us borrow beyond our means, thus producing the house of cards that is falling around us.

My question is, what about the professional real estate brokers who, as professionals, should have known that a borrower could not afford that “loan” that looked so appealing? How culpable are the brokers? Shouldn’t they have stepped in and told the Jones’, “gee 50% of your gross income on a mortgage that you’ll only be paying the interest on for the first 5 years, is really risky. Maybe you should look at downsizing the scale of the house you want”.

Were the brokers as greedy as the lenders?

Thank you.

Brokers? How about the Jones’ themselves? Shouldn’t they have raised the same issue? “Gee 50% of our gross income on a mortgage?”

Can someone please please PLEASE correct the misconception that the sub-prime housing collapse is due to minorities? The conservative think-tank the Heritage Foundation published a study in 2005 which showed that less than 9% of risky, sub-prime loans went to minorities, meaning that 91% WENT TO WHITE PEOPLE. This “theory” is an invention of race-baiting conservative pundits trying to scare people from voting for Obama.

The question I have heard no one talk about is, “How much has our spending in Iraq, without any effort to increase revenue to pay for it, affected the current economic crisis?

Why is anybody surprised by this? If I ran my household like the world market I’d be broke too. Credit is not money and it is all speculative. Consumer protection in regards to bad lending practices is protecting our national security more so then fighting any axis of evil. Capitalism can only exist when people rights are protected. Republicans may call that socialism but what do you call the Government bailing out banks? Karl Marx was right.

When are the candidates going to focus on American UNDER-employment as one of the root causes of this crisis? Millions of manufacturing jobs have been lost in the past few years. These workers are in massive credit card debt, and losing their homes. John McCain says they are not coming back, and these workers need to be retrained to join the service sector; Barack Obama says they will be replaced by “green” manufacturing jobs. And the availability of construction jobs has masked the effect of these workers leaving manufacturing– but those jobs are going away as we speak.

Neither of the candidates stated ideas seems to be big enough to address the problem. Americans need to MAKE things, things that Americans and others around the world want to buy.

What are the candidates planning for a full court press on addressing under-employment as a root cause of today’s financial problems?

what about when you had that clown O’Rourke on and you didn’t challenge his “profit is king” with Smith’s observation on profit vs wages and the effect they each have on cost to market? this is that, this is that, this is a profit balloon exploding in an economy where wages have been diminished and profit inflated.

then there’s Smith’s observations regarding productive vs non-productive labour. after thirty years of being brain lashed that we are a service economy, maybe somebody should have their face rubbed in it.

you guys didn’t do as good a job as you think you did, though certainly a better job than most .

good luck, see you on the other side.

stewart mcgaw

Dear Tom,

I was very taken aback at your comments to the caller from Acton whose small business (jewelry) is suffering in this economy. You didn’t respond to her comment. Instead, you said something very dismissive about her profession and said it sounded more like a “fun hobby…sitting at home making bracelets and macrame.” Really! Would you say something so presumptuous to a tradesman like a carpenter–that his small business sounds like fun, messing around in the kitchen and hanging out at Home Depot? Making snap judgments, as you did, about the validity and importance of American small-business owners’ endeavors is really unhelpful and contributes to a cultural climate in which corporate fat cats skate free and little guys (or gals) get the very short end of the stick. I’m sorry to hear you toe the big-business line.

How is it that McCain / Palin can be taken seriously at all?

They’ve been here in Wisconsin avoiding all discussion of the economy in favor of accusing Obama of being a terrorist.

I never thought I’d live to see a major presidential or vice presidential candidate inciting crowds to something near violent fury.

The blaming of minorities (and Jimmy Carter!) for the current economic crisis seems like the latest in a series of proto-fascist moves by the Palin bunch.

Fascist governments engage in a control economy. Fascist governments are militarist. They govern by fear and fury.

Fascist governments engage in endless wars against nameless enemies. They use resentment and blame minorities for the anxieties of the common man.

Fascists express disdain or contempt for the institutions that offer credible information about what is going on in the world: universities, the press, scientists, etc.

They spy on their citizens. They justify abuses of power with the authenticity of their love for country.

Are we becoming a fascist state?

How dare you run the Palin slim talk about Ayres and not bring up the Palin connection to the AIP… You only add to the insanity. (in fairness to your guest he tried to give a reasoned answer)

Say it Joe! Say it Jack!

God help us if this foolish old man is elected president.

Palin’s rallies are so like “two minutes of hate” from our friend George Orwell’s 1984.
Is that book still taught? Those who don’t know history……

I am confidence. As someone that has started three startups, I’m starting a new one right now. I have cash in the bank and see opportunities all over the place.

The time to hang in there is now!!!

Palin is a populist demigod period.

Palin’s connection to the AIP via her husband Todd (a member from 1996-2000) is fair game if you ask me.

Why it’s not being bought up in contrast to Palin’s diatribes is beyond me.

The AIP was vehemently anti-American, come on get on this Tom and company.

Christopher you ask “are we becoming a fascist state?”
I would say we kind of crossed that line.

Our government sanctions torture and imprisons people without a trial and the suspension of habeas corpus.
They have been spying on us, National Security Agency is listening to every phone call of our troops in Iraq.
Our justice department was turned into a branch of the Bush administration.
The Bush administration has run this country using fear and secrecy.

The McCain and Palin run their campaign with more fear mongering and in as if they are taking a page from the Goebbels play book in demonizing their opponent.

“I am just so fearful that this is not a man who sees America the way you and I see America, as the greatest force for good in the world. I’m afraid this is someone who sees America as ‘imperfect enough’ to work with a former domestic terrorist who had targeted his own country.”

The above is taken from a Palin rally in Florida.
Apparently Palin’s husband Todd saw America as ‘imperfect enough’ to join with a secessionist political party that advocated terrorism.

It’s going to be one hell of a century. Maybe something fun will happen. *shrug* It’s really all we can hope for, given our inability to impact the situation.

In response to Gen H:

The Boston Globe yesterday ran a story on how gas prices and the failing economy are affecting artists in the traveling crafts circuit. (pA10 in my edition) The article gives a value of $13.8 billion in 2000 for this business (figure from The Craft Organization Development Association). It was absolutely inappropriate for Tom to trivialize this caller and treat her as some sort of hobbyist.

As a person who has bought many items from independent artisans directly or through coops and small retailers, including housewares and furniture, I can attest to the fact that much of their work is far superior in quality to what is available through larger retailers (and imported from China, as we constantly hear). Taking the higher quality and thus longer working life into account, it is also cost-competitive over the long term.

I know this makes me unfashionable, but I am pleased that I have kitchen chairs that will probably outlive me. I bought them directly from their makers, a father and son whose workshop is in Indiana. My chairs are solid as a rock, comfortable and beautiful. (And I did shop the regular stores and found nothing even close, especially on the sturdiness and comfort fronts)

Gen. H, Thank you!! I was that caller, and I felt dismissed by Tom, simply because of the nature of my business. Just because I am doing work I enjoy does not mean it is not a valid business, contributing in whatever small way to the overall economy, and feeling very directly the impact of the fragility of the economic structure.

I had hoped to express the fact that the weakness of the middle class in our economy has given no strength to the overall market as the top of the heap is now taking a hit. Washington has assured us over time that all is well, because that is what it may look like when we look at averages,or the surface of the bubble. In the studios, the shops, the galleries, the craft shows, where many are struggling to make a living, often without health insurance, we are feeling the impact of what is happening. For the five years I have been in business, I have seen the economic uncertainty first hand, as well as the gap between the haves and the want to haves.

Small business makes up the majority of our economy. But the rescue efforts are going to the top….so perhaps they will again trickle down? When will we learn? We will be entering a critical few months for the retail sector, which has been propping up our economy. If we do not get money to the consumers, and the retail sector takes a dive during the holiday season, we will see this wildfire of destruction continue.

My business may seem trivial to Tom. But it may seem less trivial to the suppliers, whom I am purchasing much less from, the magazines I am not choosing to run ads in, the shops who want to buy my work, but don’t have the sales to support that. I do not have employees that I have to worry about laying off. My overhead is minimal. But I am in business. I am feeling the direct effect of this economy.

Beyond being dismissed for my apparent lack of real business knowledge…because I was an artist or because I was a woman??….perhaps Mr. Ashbrook needs to see that cultural enrichment comes in forms that extend beyond books, music and movies. The visual arts are the poor stepchild of the arts apparently in the world of NPR. Perhaps if Mr. Ashbrook knew how many artists listen to NPR while they work in their studios he might have taken what I was saying a bit more seriously.

By the way,…this artist has an MBA.

Judy

I heard your call and didn’t think Tom condescended to you or treated you like your business was “trivial.”

Maybe your being a little over-sensitive. And the idea that somehow NPR slights the arts — do you often listen to public radio or watch public television? — is a little odd.

There were three panelists and tons of calls to take. Your call was interesting and important. So were other things that were being said.

That’s my impression — just as another listener.

“It’s going to be one hell of a century. Maybe something fun will happen. *shrug* It’s really all we can hope for, given our inability to impact the situation.”

Perhaps a President can be caught with an intern or something like that. Just for the fun of it. Oh what fun it is to watch a sex scandal unfolding on TV amidst the peace and prosperity. I guess fun can become boring too after a while. So we went for honor and dignity in 2000 promised by the daddy party. What now?

Hey Sheeple- while yo are all sitting around fawning over you peteitic presidential candidates given to you by the RNC-DNC

This is planned – engineered and supported by the banksters and their mouthpiece media outlets. Watch what comes out of the G7 banksters meeting. Ask yourself what in the HELL is a “Republic” such as the USA, with its own Constitution (and its own Bank, wink -wink) going to do a deal with a bunch of world central bankers? The 800B bailout was a test to see what “pansies” we really are and of course we know how limp wristed our elected Representatives are. No protests- no uproars- just a bunch of Sheeple.

Those of you that think markets are free….the trading markets are nothing more than what is driven to them by the amount of Fiat money credits into the money system….it’s like money laundering with credits created from fiat banking systems.

“Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of happiness ” This will take on a whole new meaning.

“America is Now a Dictatorship”

“Oppose the Banker Dictatorship”

“The Financial 911 is a Scam”

“No Emergency Powers for Wannabe Dictators”

“Restore Constitutional Government NOW”

“End the Fed! Gold is Money!”

State and Municipal government bankruptcies are likely within the next few weeks. My guess is that is what the action in the stock market is discounting right now. If you are in Massachusetts or California and rely upon state assistance, there will be disruptions.

A global summit is being announced at which the bankster dictators will tell us their plans for remaking the world economy in their image. Anticipate a new global financial regulatory body (perhaps even a new World Central Bank) and moves in the direction of a World Currency. Please note that participation in such by the United States is predicated upon RATIFICATION by the Congress. If the Banker Dictatorship bypasses this requirement, we can take that as further evidence that the Constitution has in effect been suspended and that dictatorship is a concrete reality in America now.

They have everything they need. They control credit-Energy and food. Most importantly, they have the MSM….media is the key control. The Sheeple will be watching. The Sheeple will be looking for leadership inthe New World. The weapons that are so nicely used against other countries…will now be used on US for crowd control. Laugh at the RNC-DNC police state, its just a warm up kids.

I pray that I am wrong. But if you look at history for the last 1000 years and more specifically, the last 100 years…you will see that this Can and WILL happen. We bought into WWI, we bought into WWII, Korea and Vietnam- Desert Storm….and hook line and sinker for IRAQ. Ask yourself how did Hilter do what he did…Germany was BROKE, flat BROKE, Hyper inflation, no Friends. Banks and financiers were Hitler’s only firends. Hilter preached exactly the tone some of our folks are looking for and some of the world is looking for. They want to follow…they want Motherland to take care of them. All you need is media control, financiers, weapons and a mouthpiece that people will follow. And follow the German People did.

Good Luck everyone.

In response to Alex:

Hey, the National Enquirer turned out to be right about John Edwards’ mistress. Now they say they’ve got Palin’s lover–with a name and photo splashed across the cover. Who knows…? Hang in there, everybody!

What I meant to say prior to the early return key: Hey Sheeple- while you are all sitting around fawning over you pathetic presidential candidates given to you by the RNC-DNC world party…the party McBama plan is working. Divide and conquer…it’s so beautiful.

Get focused on the real truth people..the only Change coming our way, aint what you think it is!

This is planned – engineered and supported by the banksters and their mouthpiece media outlets. Watch what comes out of the G7 banksters meeting. Ask yourself what in the HELL is a “Republic” such as the USA, with its own Constitution (and its own Bank, wink -wink) going to do a deal with a bunch of world central bankers? The 800B bailout was a test to see what “pansies” we really are and of course we know how limp wristed our elected Representatives are. No protests- no uproars- just a bunch of Sheeple.

Those of you that think markets are free….the trading markets are nothing more than what is driven to them by the amount of Fiat money credits into the money system….it’s like money laundering with credits created from fiat banking systems.

“Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of happiness ” This will take on a whole new meaning.

“America is Now a Dictatorship”

“Oppose the Banker Dictatorship”

“The Financial 911 is a Scam”

“No Emergency Powers for Wannabe Dictators”

“Restore Constitutional Government NOW”

“End the Fed! Gold is Money!”

State and Municipal government bankruptcies are likely within the next few weeks. My guess is that is what the action in the stock market is discounting right now. If you are in Massachusetts or California and rely upon state assistance, there will be disruptions.

A global summit is being announced at which the bankster dictators will tell us their plans for remaking the world economy in their image. Anticipate a new global financial regulatory body (perhaps even a new World Central Bank) and moves in the direction of a World Currency. Please note that participation in such by the United States is predicated upon RATIFICATION by the Congress. If the Banker Dictatorship bypasses this requirement, we can take that as further evidence that the Constitution has in effect been suspended and that dictatorship is a concrete reality in America now.

They have everything they need. They control credit-Energy and food. Most importantly, they have the MSM….media is the key control. The Sheeple will be watching. The Sheeple will be looking for leadership in the New World. The weapons that are so nicely used against other countries…will now be used on US for crowd control. Laugh at the RNC-DNC police state, its just a warm up kids.

I pray that I am wrong. But if you look at history for the last 1000 years and more specifically, the last 100 years…you will see that this Can and WILL happen. We bought into WWI, we bought into WWII, Korea and Vietnam- Desert Storm….and hook line and sinker for IRAQ. Ask yourself how did Hilter do what he did…Germany was BROKE, flat BROKE, Hyper inflation, no Friends. Banks and financiers were Hitler’s only friends. Hilter preached exactly the tone some of our folks are looking for and some of the world is looking for. They want to follow…they want Motherland to take care of them. All you need is media control, financiers, weapons and a mouthpiece that people will follow. And follow the German People did.

Good Luck everyone.

I suppose it isn’t PC to say, but not everyone faced with foreclosure is an innocent victim. When my husband and I bought our house, we got a fixed rate mortgage. We used most of our savings to help pay for our house (yes, we were lucky to have savings). The idea that we have to pay for those who made stupid decisions infuriates me. Didn’t anyone realize that adjustable rate mortages would eventually increase?

We didn’t refinance to go on a fancy vacation, or buy new cars – why are we supposed to pay for the people who did?

In short, I am sure some people were victimized, but more people were just plain greedy, and wanting to live the good life. An easy short term solution blinded them to common sense.

John McCain has presented himself throughout his entire career as a man of honor and integrity. His recent demagoguery proves otherwise. A University of Wisconsin study has shown that between 9/28 and 10/4, virtually every ad run by the McCain campaign was negative (by contrast, during the same period, it found 34% of Obama’s ads to be negative).

It would be hard to understand McCain’s pathetic recourse to hatred if it were not seen as Standard Operating Procedure by the Republican party for winning elections. It’s part of a longstanding strategy of divisiveness. And, unfortunately, it has worked. Otherwise it wouldn’t have been used. There are innumerable examples, such as how Michael Dukakis’s candidacy was sunk by association with Willie Horton. The basic idea, which is to conjure up an enemy as a scapegoat for society’s ills, gets repeated ad nauseam from one decade to the next, whether it’s tarring people with the brush of communism at the height of the cold war (as shamelessly practiced by Republican Sen. Joseph McCarthy), demonizing those who disagree with them as unpatriotic (recall Republican National Chairman Richard Bond’s keynote address at their convention in 1992, when he said “We are the real Americans”), or, as in McCain’s attempt to paint Obama as “different” from average voters, appealing – implicitly or otherwise – to outright prejudice. McCain even goes so far as to imply that Obama is a “terrorist” in disguise (terrorism having replaced communism as the current incarnation of evil that mobilizes fear and anger among voters).

Republicans have succeeded in disenfranchising Democratic-leaning voters and keeping voter turnout small among such groups. They have succeeded in using “wedge” issues like abortion to get poor and middle-class people to vote against their economic interests. Such Rovian strategies, in combination with the general fecklessness of the Democrats in providing alternatives, have allowed Republicans to gain control of all three branches of government. The result of such dominance is clear, as shown by the current worldwide economic crisis. While the Democrats hardly represent saviors for the poor and middle-class, one hopes that the Republican policy of whipping up fear and anger will fail at the national level. Otherwise, we will be paying a grave price for generations to come.

A recent interview with Thomas Frank who writes a column at the Wall Street Journal dismissed the accusations of borrower ignorance as blaming the victim. And in defense of this gave the statistic that 80% of prosecutions for fraud are being made against the lenders
for a variety of fraudulent actions specific to them.

Recently I read a blame the victim piece about human
frailty and how it’s to blame. Nah, fraud is not a human frailty, fraud is a crime.

To catch up on the activities of The Party That Wrecked America, see Frank’s book “The Wrecking Crew.”

Neither of the candidates stated ideas seems to be big enough to address the problem. Americans need to MAKE things, things that Americans and others around the world want to buy.

What are the candidates planning for a full court press on addressing under-employment as a root cause of today’s financial problems?

Chris in Boston,

http://www.votenader.org/issues/
http://www.gp.org/platform.shtml

What we need to do , right now, is do away with the thought of a consumer based economy, it never was and never will be possible to pay people for doing nothing, as in not producing income by adding value, a service economy does not produce anything, it enslaves people to serve the ones with “real money and real jobs”. Government has spent money that wasn ot generated in this country and all the while we have mortgaged our children’s future, to buy Ipods, cell phones and flat screen TV’s made by people with real jobs . Thus our transfer of wealth to foriegn nations.

And for all this we had to create dumb consumers, destroy our education system so we will have stupid kids who will spend money and buy on credit with the money no one is making??????????? go figure!!!!

It is amazing how effective Republicans still are at controlling the debate. The media are willing to spend an entire week (again) entertaining Palin’s lies about Obama, but really no attention is being paid to the fact that Palin is MARRIED to someone who believes Alaska should secede from the union.

About three quarters of a million Americans were killed last time states seceded from the union.

Is that a form of radicalism anyone is interested in?

I think it’s all more about how to say “he’s an uppity negro” without actually saying it.

HOW TO INSTANTLY RESTORE CONFIDENCE & TRUST, ELIMINATE FEAR & PANIC, AND SUPER-CHARGE THE AMERICAN ECONOMY–ALL FOR CHUMP CHANGE.
I invite you to step out of the box for a moment and entertain the following idea seriously. It will only take a minute of your time, but it could save the day–and save 799 billion 700 million dollars, to boot. How about we try “Trickle” UP for a change?
The following idea was tossed off humorously on a late-night talk show last week, just before the “bail-out” bill was passed (citation below). Here it is:
There are about 300 million people in the U.S. Give each American one million dollars. That’ll cost the government $300 million. Now, before you dismiss the idea as frivolous, please take just that moment I requested to picture what could happen:
For mere chump change (in Washington terms), the government could take an action that would instantly eliminate the FEAR & ANXIETY the pundits are promulgating, stimulate the economy like nobody’s business, get all the homeless off the streets, take care of everyone’s health insurance coverage, and allow people to: pay their mortgages, pay off their credit cards, buy that hybrid car, pay for their kids’ education, and even sock some cash into those poor, beleaguered banks. And the government would still have 799 billion 700 million dollars to throw away on the suffering lenders, if they so chose. (Unless, of course, all those dollars are imaginary…)
Are you tired of hearing how terribly “complex” the financial problem is? As one who has been plenty “trickled down” upon, it doesn’t seem such a mystery to me. Those who have lent money to me (banks, mortgage and credit card companies) have all been happy to charge obscene, escalating interest rates on those loans, and then to pile on exorbitant late fees, coupled with further jumps in interest rates, when I became ill and unable to keep up payments with my disability income–and then refused to refinance on terms that would have made repayment possible for me. Yet, whenever I have put my own savings into their coffers, they’ve rewarded me with a whopping *half-a-per-cent* interest on my money. Even I, a math moron, can do this math. It equals foreclosure. I lose my home; they lose my payments.
And, OK, admittedly there might be a few short-term problems that arise when *we the people* are bailed out–instead of *they* the inscrutable “financial markets”. (Who are those guys, anyway?) For instance, there might possibly be some job vacancies that need filling.
Here’s where that fat savings comes in handy–you know, the 799 billion 700 million dollars we saved the government a few paragraphs back. This money can be used for the bankers, lenders, speculators and obscenely rich who will now be looking for work (since one million each won’t even begin to fill their economic black holes), employing them to fill the newly vacant positions: emptying bed pans, cleaning floors, digging coal, manning assembly lines, processing sludge, collecting trash, and the like.
As for the other jobs, I expect most doctors, nurses, educators, scientists, etc., will want to keep being doctors, nurses, educators, etc., at least after the first flush of jubilation. (Even a million won’t last long.) But at least the “Engine of the Economy” recently given a nod by the politicians–the many millions upon whose backs the few thousands ride–could take a breath, get out from under their load of debt, take a look around and start working on fixing the country’s energy and economic problems for the long haul, i.e., for our children, and their children, and their children’s children–who we don’t hear about very often.
Just a thought. (It came from Russell Crowe, talking with Dave Letterman.)

P.S. to Mr. Eibner (12:07 post): Maybe in this case it wouldn’t be such a bad idea for the “Motherland” to take care of the actual people, instead of the gougers and gamblers.

OOps–sorry about that mass of verbiage. I did use indentation, but my format was ignored in transit. Should have skipped lines.

Good show, but typical liberal leftist media types leave out a few things:

1. The economic crisis can be traced back to the relationship between Ayers and Obama, which is homosexual in nature.

2. Ayers and his wife are terrorists using Obama in a ploy to take control of the US government and deliver into the hands of a world-wide Maoist conspiracy to overthrow the West.

3. Obama’s wife Michelle is actually a transvestite named Michael Jones. Michael is known in South Chicago as a ruthless drug lord. He carries a switchblade. The Mexicans call him “El Diablo.”

4. The Obama children were acquired by an illegal adoption. Their natural mother? A black prostitute from South Carolina.

5. Obama knocked up Bristol Palin and refused to marry her when confronted with his deed. This guy just has no class.

You have a right to know America. You better start asking questions.

Do you know the real Obama? Ask yourself. Who is this guy, anyway?

A global summit is being announced at which the bankster dictators will tell us their plans for remaking the world economy in their image. Anticipate a new global financial regulatory body (perhaps even a new World Central Bank) and moves in the direction of a World Currency.

. . . Roswell, Area 51, MIB’s, grays, the Illuminati, hollow earth, black helicopters, Queen Elizabeth cooking up heroin in the basement of Windsor castle, the Freemasons and, of course, you-know-who.

Do you know the real Obama? Ask yourself. Who is this guy, anyway?

You violated our agreement, Archie.

You were not supposed to release this information until AFTER the election! Remember that little meeting we had at the Illuminati headquarters in Davos? The plan was was to plant the Obama-oid in the Democratic race, and ensure his election by our Palin-oid in the GOP. Once Obama’s true nature was revealed after he won, the country would be thrown into such chaos the reptilian Overlords could easily take control.

But you let the deal go down and you know what the punishment for that is, Archie.

Luckily Plan B – global economic meltdown – is working perfectly.

Here it is:
There are about 300 million people in the U.S. Give each American one million dollars. That’ll cost the government $300 million.

. . .

Even I, a math moron, can do this math.

Truer words were never spoken. $300 million buys you ONE dollar per person. Spend it wisely.

Giving 300 million people $300 million means you have given each person $1. Giving $1 million to each of 300 million people requires a total of $300 trillion. I guess comedians don’t need to do basic math.

In short, I am sure some people were victimized, but more people were just plain greedy, and wanting to live the good life. An easy short term solution blinded them to common sense.

This is all true, as I’ve pointed out many times here.

BUT it’s not a sufficient condition for the meltdown.

The banks still WROTE those mortgages, and other banks and investors in the secondary market bought them without exercising due diligence, and bundled good mortgages with bad. So, yes, the foreclosures can be attributed to the greed and recklessness of individual homebuyers and I have little sympathy for someone who took out a 0-down interest-only morgage, or used a home equity loan to finance a vacation or a truck. But they were only hurting themselves.

The “professionals” at the banks and investment houses exercised their own greed and recklessness in ways that have brought risk and ruin to 10’s of millions of innocent people. So it was they who did FAR more damage.

Tom,

Did you just seriously ask Zanny Minton Beddoes if Obama is a Moaist? Seriously? Why stop there, why not ask if Obama is really a double-agent spying for Muslim terrroists? Repeating lies and hateful speech does nothing but spread such evilness. I was really shocked to hear you ask such a question.

What is clear is that Gov. Palin is the ONLY candidate currently running who was NEVER investigated by the FBI, has para-military weapons training, a history of abuse of power both as a mayor and a governor, has lied about EVERY aspect of her political history, a religious extremist who believes that the Rapture is at hand and thinks America should hand her the keys to our bank accounts and nuclear weapons without even interviewing for the job. And is married to a man who shares her republican ideas of bringing down the federal government in favor of State and tribal rule.

However, Gov. Palin happens to be a White Female and is thus allowed to be and do whatever she darn well pleases. Afterall, Hillary Clinton was given Carte Blanche to play on racial sterotypes, cultural warfare and lie about her fake “35-years” of experience (as Bill Clinton’s other half). Claiming foreign policy by “I can see Russia from Alaska” is just as legitimate as using marriage to a political leader as grounds for “elected experience. It’s the new Feminism.

In Response to: “I was that caller, and I felt dismissed by Tom, simply because of the nature of my business. Just because I am doing work I enjoy does not mean it is not a valid business, contributing in whatever small way to the overall economy, and feeling very directly the impact of the fragility of the economic structure.” -Judy

Judy, most listeners thought that Tom was dismissive of your call. However, I don’t think you should take it personally because he was a bit off during today’s show. I’m not sure if he was distracted, was multi-tasking. He is usually such a great guy, we all forget that he is only human and can have a bad day just like all of us.

Even without an MBA Judy, being able to run a successful craft business in 2008 is impressive on it’s own. A caller yesterday told Tom that both political parties don’t really understand small businesses. Maybe you should contact Tom and suggest a show with a panel of small business owners including you. It would be educational for us all.

“None of the “fundamentals” that brought us out of past economic downturns exist anymore.”

John Petesch, that’s right. But, there are also some fundamental values that are at risk of being legacies of the past due to zero-sum partisanship and commercialism. Such as: liberal education, unionism, doubt, questioning authority, &c..

And, I think we need to get real about what is a good standard of living. There is still toilet paper on the shelves. The economy needs to adjust to increased fuel efficiency and reduced demand due to reduction and reuse.

I think too many American’s sense of self worth, meaning and happiness is wrapped up in access to material things. We must continue to be a net exporter of good values.

Turn on commercial t.v. and listen to the infomercials that pass for “morning news programs.” The rancid froth of the Rush Libaughs, the unfortunate response that was (is?) Air America, the Hannities and the vanities.

We see the role, “trust,” plays in the financial system, imagine the turn around America can make if there is a revival of liberal values. Imagine feeding money back into schools where our children can be educated and immune to the hate that is perpetuated for the sake of political gain.

And, I think we need to get real about what is a good standard of living. There is still toilet paper on the shelves. The economy needs to adjust to increased fuel efficiency and reduced demand due to reduction and reuse.

I think too many American’s sense of self worth, meaning and happiness is wrapped up in access to material things. We must continue to be a net exporter of good values.

This all sounds good in a platitudish way, but what does it mean in hard, cold realities?

It’s not at all clear to me that recycling and reuse costs jobs. I was the chairman of my local government’s recycling committee for several years and all the studies I saw suggested that properly implemented recycling and reuse programs had a net economic benefit.

Also the “material things” which are at risk here are not the ego-satisfying stuff like widescreen TV’s and snowmobiles, but more basic stuff like food, shelter, and medical care.

And while I’m all for exporting “good values” if we can find a market for them, I’m MORE interested in exporting stuff that people are interested in buying. My employer is a major exporter, and my job along with thousands of others in New England depends on their success and competitiveness. So it’s simply not true that the US is no longer capable of being competitive in real nuts-and-bolts industrial design and production, if we want to.

“The “professionals” at the banks and investment houses exercised their own greed and recklessness in ways that have brought risk and ruin to 10’s of millions of innocent people. So it was they who did FAR more damage.”

“You were not supposed to release this information until AFTER the election! Remember that little meeting we had at the Illuminati headquarters in Davos?”

What have you done with Peter, you imposter!! You gave the charade away: you’re showing a sense of humor AND real analytical ability. You should be ashamed of yourself: stealing someone’s cyber-id like this.

As the right wing says that we don’t know who Obama is, I need to know who Palin is. What is her connection to the Alaska Independence Party and what is it set up to do? Is it to “remove one star from the American flag”? If we don’t know the answer how can we know who she is and what it would mean to have her in power, especially as she wants to serch the Constitution to find a way for the Vice President to have more power over the United States Senate.

I find it deeply disturbing Tom repeated the wild claims by Senator McCain and Governor Palin about Barack Obama, using some of the same terms—especially in the dramatic tone he used— thus perpetuating the slurs and sensationalizing rather than bringing facts to bear.

Why not dramatically repeat and pepper your guests with questions about Governor Palin and her husband’s documented association with the secessionist Alaska Independence Party and all the hatred that the organization’s founder has espoused toward America? The Palins’ association with AIP is not something that happened forty years ago but in this decade and as recently as last year when Governor Palin recorded a welcome message to the AIP conference. At least this is something that’s documented with Governor’s Palin’s welcome message to AIP on YouTube.

Please, we need a civil, informed debate in this—as Peter Matthiessen said on your Oct. 8 program—most important election in at least 81 years.

The Ayers issue is not about character, it is about political philosophy. Ayers has a deep contempt for capitalism and our political system. There is no doubt I my mind that Obama is hiding his beliefs. Obama has more in common with the political philosophy of Bill Ayers than Bill Clinton. That worries me deeply.

The Ayers issue is not about character, it is about political philosophy. Ayers has a deep contempt for capitalism and our political system. There is no doubt I my mind that Obama is hiding his beliefs. Obama has more in common with the political philosophy of Bill Ayers than Bill Clinton. That worries me deeply.

Then don’t vote for him.

This is absurd. How about Palin’s political philosophy.
By your reasoning she supports successionism.

Bill Ayers is not running for president.
As for contempt for capitalism and our political system, well right now I have a lot contempt for the former and I am putting my hopes in the latter.

The question that ought to be put to McCain and Palin is NOT why they bring up Ayers. The real questions are these:

If you really believe that Obama has connections to domestic terrorism, in our time, how could you talk about ANYTHING BUT that connection?

If you really believe Obama is sympathetic with terrorism or sponsored by Palestinian terrorist organizations, how could you stand on a stage and talk about tax policy with him?

If you do NOT believe the things you are saying, please explain to the American people (if it isn’t as obvious as it seems) how you could have imagined they would be so dumb?

….And Dan, the idea that Obama’s political philosophy has anything to do with Ayers is simply belied by the facts. You have your facts wrong.

How do I know? Well… Obama’s political philosophy has been publicly examined by liberal and conservative people for about four years now. He has been in the very center of public attention for two years — more than any other candidate in memory. Many decent conservative thinkers in good faith simply disagree with his policy proposals and “political philosophy.” No serious question has been raised about his loyalty to this country or his belief in basic free market ideas.

Obama, in other words, has been intensely and thoroughly “vetted” — much more so than Palin. How has he been vetted, you ask? It’s a good question, Dan, and I’m glad you ask it.

Obama has been at the center of public scrutiny for two years. He’s a senator and was in the State Assembly of Illinois. Millions of people have heard what he had to say and voted for him. That is pretty good vetting.

Is that all? No, Dan, and I appreciate your healthy skepticism.

Obama has written two best selling memoirs. You don’t have to like or read them. But they’re there, and they’ve been available for critique and questioning for years.

Obama has given dozens of (successful) interviews with news organizations all over the country.

Obama has given several major nationally published and broadcasted speeches on the major issues of our day. Again, you don’t have to agree with him. But he has said what he believes and given no reason to doubt him.

He has participated in over twenty nationally televised or published debates with the best politicians in the business — including John McCain, who has NOT raised these questions in debates.

He has been thoroughly inspected, scrutinized, probed, and investigated by what is commonly held to be the most ruthless and successful “opposition research” organizations in the country — run by, of course, The Clintons.

He has come through all of this not unblemished but certainly not giving any reasonable person cause to suspect his loyalty to this country.

Any more questions?

The idea that Obama has been thoroughly vetted is a laughable; from my perspective he is all rhetoric with no apparent or accessible record. And I don’t confuse Ayers terrorist acts with his political philosophy. Likewise I don’t believe Obama believes in the violence of the Weather Underground. However I strongly suspect Obama has more than a passing sympathy with Ayers ideas of social justice and social change. Here is a link to a speech Ayers gave in 2006 in Venezuela. http://billayers.wordpress.com/2006/11/
This is not a person I would want to have had any influence on an American President. Ayers makes Bernie Sanders look like Barry Goldwater.

Dan –

You say you “strongly suspect Obama has more than a passing sympathy with Ayers’ ideas of social justice” yet you offer absolutely no evidence to substantiate your suspicion.

Think about the position in which you leave your fellow citizens. How can we prove that Obama does not share these sympathies. If someone asks me to prove that you are not a terrorist sympathizer, where would I begin?

Obama has been in the Senate for four years; he was in the state legislature of Illinois for seven. He’s had constant attention paid to his views and his philosophy for years. There is no reason to suspect him of being some kind of revolutionary.

He has spoken repeatedly about his association with Ayers and investigations by the Times and CNN have corroborated his claims. He attended a coffee breakfast at Ayers’ home in 1995. He later served for a brief time on a charitable board that included a former Reagan ambassador.

Ayers currently serves on a board that includes the Republican governor of South Carolina. Do you “suspect” the governor of South Carolina of plotting to blow up the Pentagon?

Dan, I’m beginning to think you scan the internet for websites that will reinforce the conclusion you’re eager to draw: Obama is a kind of Manchurian candidate, so brilliantly skilled at mass manipulation that he can fool tens of millions of voters — except for Dan and Sean Hannity!

No, Dan. I just don’t believe it. You’ll forgive me, but you’ll have to do better than this.

And another thing, Dan.

You say my argument about Obama having been “vetted” is “laughable” — but again, you don’t contest a single point I have made specifically.

What is “laughable” about any of the different ways I outlined that you may have drawn an informed decision about Obama? (The interviews, the debates, the books, etc.)

Again, I wasn’t saying that my points proved you ought to vote for him. I was just saying that there has been plenty of opportunities for people to get to know Obama as well as criticize, question, and test his “political philosophy.”

He’s done a little bit more than Palin’s two interviews, I think you’ll admit.

I think most people will see that to believe YOU they have to accept the possibility of a cunning and secret conspiracy on Obama’s part that is hard to imagine.

To believe me, they just have to appeal to their own common sense.

And one final thing, Dan.

I followed the link you provided and read that cacamamie speech by Ayers, given two years ago in Central America.

What’s your point? I’ve never heard Obama talk like this or say anything remotely related to these things.

What provoked your “suspicion”?

You need to face the possibility that you are paranoid, Dan. Maybe you need to believe that a black man could only have gotten this far in American politics with the help of an international communist conspiracy.

Seems pretty foolish to me.

Anyway. Enjoy yourself. The Reagan revolution has 3 weeks to live. Then we’ll see what we’ll see.

Please name once piece of legislation authored by Obama during his years in the Senate, federal or Illinois. If he truly cared about some issue deeply, he would author a bill, right? I mean this is the change guy. He’s got some core beliefs that must be represented in the legislation he authors, I would assume.

Obama’s job is to lead and inspire, which ability he has amply demonstrated (unlike grumpy old man McCain). This ability right now is 100 times more important than a piece of legislation he may or may not have introduced in the past. After the dark ages of one party Republican rule this country is in shambles economically and diplomatically. Therefore, it is urgent and imperative that Republicans be made as irrelevant as possible in the coming years to restore what’s been damaged and squandered by Bush and his rubber stamp Republican Congress. Let them mourn the lost permanent majority, cool off a bit, regroup, re-asses and perhaps in 10-15 years they come back with new ideas and new contract with America.

[...] been doing a lot of thinking over the last couple of weeks. I’ve listened to a lot (and I mean a lot) of NPR and have been reading a lot of wiki pages, et al., and I have come to what I believe [...]

Jack –

You’ve hit upon what I think is actually a good argument against Obama. Congratulations for not writing in to tell us Obama is a terrorist. It’s a refreshing change from what McCain and Palin are saying.

To me, the point is not that he didn’t write legislation, but while in the state house he seems to have avoided being associated with controversial votes.

Students and professors from his law school liked and admired him, but they remember him for his evasion of taking sides. He always wanted to find ways of finding points of agreement, etc.

There are different ways of thinking about and explaining this. I definitely shy away from the more conspiratorial explanations and am inclined to interpret it more generously.

Obama’s nature is not taking a side “by gut instinct” and sticking to it. He’s thoughtful and thinks that everyone can be included. It’s potentially a weakness, but the opposite sure hasn’t worked.

I’d take him over the mindless, shallow and vindictive and aerial wolf-hunting governor of Alaska any day. But that’s just me.

Frederic C.,

Here Here, brother!

Christoper has done a very good job of putting rational thought back into the discussion.

Ayers is a poor distraction and the McCain people have acknowledged this by insisting on keeping on this talking point. The economy is a losing proposition fro McCain.

Right now both candidates are airing negative ads.
However McCain and Palin are clearly going down a path that is very dangerous and using rhetoric that is spiraling out of control. Witness the McCain town hall meeting in Minnesota this past week. McCain had to publicly announce that Obama was decent American and he was met with booing and hissing.

It seems that Obama/Biden are on their way to winning the election. The issue for me is that this kind of hate mongering and extreme divisiveness will leave this country with 30 to 40 million extremely angry people.

Dan Chris has already done an good job of debunking your thesis on Obama. My question for you is can you put aside your ill-informed rhetoric and do some proper searching on the information you need to make a good educated decision? Or are you going to keep posting obscure speeches by Ayres hoping to divert attention away from issues and facts.

I would also like to add, I don’t like Obama that much.
He is smart, intelligent and I think he will be alright as a president should he get elected. We need a strong and smart person to lead this country out the mess we are in now. We someone, like FDR, who is capable of restoring faith and calm to the people and who can work to get the country back from what seems to be a pretty dark place. I’m not sure Obama has what it takes, he has shown a calmness and the ability to think rationally, that’s a start for me.

McCain has shown he would be a disaster and his leadership qualities are erratic and his style borders on manic. He makes me think of fear, and as FDR once said, “The Only Thing We Have to Fear Is Fear Itself”.

“Ayers has a deep contempt for capitalism and our political system. There is no doubt I my mind that Obama is hiding his beliefs”

Gee, absolute certainty after cherry picking the facts.

Do you really believe that Warren Buffet would endorse AND advise someone that has ” has a deep contempt for capitalism and our political system. ” Yet you ignore this and base your conclusion on this Ayers nonsense.

If you don’t like Obama’s policy proposals, then don’t vote for him. But to base your vote on this ridiculous stuff qualifies you as a “low information voter.”