In Sunday’s New York Times McCain’s top economic advisor, Phil Gramm, ignores the financial experts and states there is no evidence de-regulation caused any of the global financial catastrophe.
“They are saying there was 15 years of massive deregulation and that’s what caused the problem,” Mr. Gramm said of his critics. “I just don’t see any evidence of it.”
So who caused it? Who do you think Gramm would blame? Yep, the Democrats and the downtrodden.
He blamed others for the crisis: Democrats who dropped barriers to borrowing in order to promote homeownership; what he once termed “predatory borrowers” who took out mortgages they could not afford; banks that took on too much risk; and large financial institutions that did not set aside enough capital to cover their bad bets.
So in Gramm’s world, we (the nation of whiners) caused it. Hedge funds and brokerage houses (with no regulation) were ruined by the poor, stupid homeowners and the Democrats (who were powerless the last 8 years).
Gramm makes me grateful for Obama each and every day.
The First Emperor of China’s burial site is one of the most fascinating archeological finds. The Emperor’s tomb which legend has it is surrounded by rivers of mercury in the mausoleum has not yet been unearthed. But, the area surrounding the tomb is guarded by large pits filled with life-size terracotta Chinese warriors, horses, birds, acrobats, musicians and everyone else who pleased the Emperor. Over 7000 artifacts have been discovered so far. It is one of the most intriguing places on earth and now is a UNESCO protected site.
The exhibition starts Sunday November 16th. For more information, visit High Museum. For more cool pictures from China, visit Travel China.
Here is a background video on the First Emperor of China and his legend.
Hope everyone has a chance to visit the High Museum’s exhibit before April 2009.
Sounds good to me. I thought Obama should have picked her for Veep. Since that didn’t happen I hoped she would replace Harry Reid as Senate Majority leader, but hey, this is even better. We still need to replace Reid, perhaps John Kerry would be a good choice.
Hillary is well liked around most parts of the world. She is smart, energetic and strong, she would make a great Secretary of State.
Remember two months ago, when the sky was falling and the country had to bailout the banks? Paulson demanded $700 billion dollars for his friends on Wallstreet. We were to handover to Paulson the money with no strings attached. Even though Paulson came from Goldman Sachs, Congress was suppose to blindly trust him with absolute power and money.
The banks received the bailout and what happened? AIG top executives went to a luxury spa resort for 5 days spending $440,000. A few AIG exec’s went on a hunting trip at an old English manor using up $86,000 for that little junket.
52% of the banks which received help used the money to pay shareholder dividends. Some banks used the money to go shopping and acquire other banks. Absolutely outrageous. We still hear talk on CNBC about how much of a bonus will Wall Street be getting this year because of the bailout. Hello? What is wrong with these greedy guys? What happened to laissez-faire? Capitalism is for the poor, not for Wall Street.
The latest kick in the face to American taxpayers came today from Washington Post, Paulson slipped in a repeal of Tax #382 which allows banks a windfall of another $140 billion dollars. From WaPo:
The change to Section 382 of the tax code — a provision that limited a kind of tax shelter arising in corporate mergers — came after a two-decade effort by conservative economists and Republican administration officials to eliminate or overhaul the law, which is so little-known that even influential tax experts sometimes draw a blank at its mention. Until the financial meltdown, its opponents thought it would be nearly impossible to revamp the section because this would look like a corporate giveaway, according to lobbyists.
More “Shock Doctrine” abuse from the Bushies. 70 days can’t come soon enough.
WASHINGTON—African-American man Barack Obama, 47, was given the least-desirable job in the entire country Tuesday when he was elected president of the United States of America. In his new high-stress, low-reward position, Obama will be charged with such tasks as completely overhauling the nation’s broken-down economy, repairing the crumbling infrastructure, and generally having to please more than 300 million Americans and cater to their every whim on a daily basis. As part of his duties, the black man will have to spend four to eight years cleaning up the messes other people left behind. The job comes with such intense scrutiny and so certain a guarantee of failure that only one other person even bothered applying for it. Said scholar and activist Mark L. Denton, “It just goes to show you that, in this country, a black man still can’t catch a break.”
Here we go. Back to work, time to campaign for Jim Martin in his run off against Saxby Chambliss.
When you hear the name Saxby, don’t you wonder which plantation he owns? The name would fit well for an elitist, slave owning, fat Republican. One day, I will write a novel about Georgia during the Civil War; and, the rich plantation owner will be Saxby Chambliss. The hero and kind gentleman will be named Jim Martin. There will a full cast of minorities and liberals, who will fight the master, and burn the plantation down to the ground. I will write my novel some time after Martin wins, when I have free time. Until then… enjoy the first ad.
Congratulations to my dad, for predicting the electoral map of 364 for Obama, 174 McCain. Good work.
Update on remaining races:
Three Southern States went Democratic: Virginia, North Carolina and Florida. We still have work to do in Tennessee, eventually it will happen.
Georgia’s Senate race won’t be decided until the run-off on December 2. In Oregon, Jeff Merkley defeated incumbent Gordon Smith, so the Dems gain another Senate seat.
Ouch. McCain’s aides are telling all about the bimbo veep nominee. Who did the vetting of Sarah? I heard on talk radio it was Bill Kristol of PNAC and the Weekly Standard. If it was Kristol, he needs to answer to how he arrived at her for the pick.
Votes are still being counted down in Georgia. Both Chambliss and Martin expect a run off because the final tally appears to be short of 50% for either candidate. This means another month of campaigning and a special election December 2. Whew. I am tired but will be energized in a day or two to help out Jim Martin. Expect “That One” to help Jim Martin energize Georgia Democrats. From the Atlanta Journal Constitution:
“We’re in a runoff,” Martin said. “The runoff race begins right now.”
Martin said his campaign has already reached out to the campaign of President-elect Barack Obama.
