* In general, the pundits were thoroughly unimpressed with the McCain campaign's "suspension" gimmick.

I already saw this at TPM. Except for Klein, Olberman and Kristol, hardly an A-list, and Klein's even an A- since he doesn't appear on TV as much as Olberman and Kristol. The rest of them? Pulease! Yglesias, Walsh and Chiat are known to people who frequently left-leaning blogs and that's it. What would be more meaningful is seeing this discussed on the evening news or on the front page of most newspapers.

To follow (it came there first, but wasn't here AFAIK) on the Palin "witchcraft protection" video, Sullivan's got another one about an anti-semitic minister (not the first time either):

http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2008/09/palin-muthee--1.html

Sullivan writes then quotes:

If you go to 1:20 into this Youtube, you will hear Muthee, who later anointed Palin, say the following words in Palin's presence:

"The second area whereby God wants us, wants to penetrate in our society is in the economic area. The Bible says that the wealth of the wicked is stored up for the righteous. It's high time that we have top Christian businessmen, businesswomen, bankers, you know, who are men and women of integrity running the economics of our nations. That's what we are waiting for. That's part and parcel of transformation. If you look at the -- you know -- if you look at the Israelites, that's how they work. And that's how they are, even today."

Sure they vetted her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

See, the Jewish money changers... Now let's see what Kristol etc. have to say, but they're such political hacks who knows?

Look, when I said we should suspend the campaign, I meant people should stop campaigning against me until I fix the economy. So far, Obama has refused to do that, so why should I?

I'm loathe to believe anything the Enquirer reports, but given their current track record on a particular candidate's extramarital happy fun time, I'm inclined to give this some credence.

Oh, gawd, Brad. Oh, gawd, indeed.

I didn't campaign for 5 1/2 years.....

"Is there a bailout deal? That depends on which faction you're listening to."

Call me cynical, but is John Boehner throwing a wrench in the spokes on McCain's behalf?

What Palin's pastor or visiting pastor says in church doesn't seem like much news to me. It's too hard to decipher any meaning from this other than to paint the mosaic of Palin as a fool but she's already doing this in Primetime on CBS. No need for obscure youtubes with hazy messages.

Also I subscribe to Obama's view that sometimes pastors and members of your community say things you don't agree with. This is a losing issue except for those that aren't church goers and will further entrench McPalin as freedom loving people who's religion is being attacked. Way too much room to pivot and corral low info voters by saying the media and Obama are attacking your christians.

It's fools gold. Stick to hammering her on the issues and her alleged affair. That stuff is way more damaging and won't have any blowback.

Also, the low info voter will see that youtube and think it's fucking Obama. Seriously. I talk to them all the time canvassing. They are so ignorant you would be shocked.

What we are learning through this whole cancelling of the debates is what the VC learned a long time ago, which is that you can't make the man talk, and Palin has that same mettle.

As an aside, this new google ad thing on the homepage is irritating beyond belief.

George Bush is a weapon of mass destruction. He destroyed Iraq, and now destroyed our financial system..everything he touches turns to cr--!.

McPalin promises to be no better., Our last vestige of hope--no, not the man from Hope, but Obama, could possibly resurrect this country (alias Lazarus) if he stops looking in the mirror, worried about Republicans attacks, and lead. The man seems chicken-hearted., but , he is, alas, out great white hope...!

It's too hard to decipher any meaning from this other than to paint the mosaic of Palin as a fool ... -grinning cat

It's not meant to make her look foolish. It's meant to, rightfully so, make her look like an theocrat.

One of the analyst CNBC the money Channel says this not the biggest bail in America it is the biggest bail out on the Planet. I have to laugh but it is likely true.

Whats really funny here we have a modern business channel that is pretending they do not know what is going to go down. As Bush said “terrible stuff is going to happen”. Why doesn’t Bush detail the this stuff that is going down, why does not this money channel CNBC detail whats going down. Lots of stuff are going to get bad, lots of stuff, lots stuff.

Why don’t we wait to see what is going down first. Actually for me and for America let’s put this trillion dollars into an escrow account to cover social security pensions and retirement funds and watch what happens. Let the high rollers take the hit and keep the electorate pension funds covered.

We all know many high rollers fat cats are sitting on stock options that need to liquidate likely to the tune of trillions. Here, if the market goes down several more thousand points which some analyst forecast future value will not be good for the fat cats or those secret baby blind trust funds stashed away in European banks might be worthless.

How did the administration settle on $700 billion for the bailout? A Treasury spokesperson said, "We just wanted to choose a really large number." ..............

This just confirms what I suggested a day or two ago in another post. They pulled a monstrous number out of the air that was so shocking they would then appear to cave and accept a much smaller, although still enormous, amount of money which they would have been happy to settle for in the first place.

This is the Republican/Bush cartel's last try to loot and pillage the national wealth before their reign of shame comes to an end. How nice that the people can see it for what it is this time and not let them get away completely unchallenged for a change.

It still sucks that we can't just send them away with nothing, but at least it's a step in the right direction.

If you're looking for something a little more light-hearted, there's a story about a man charged with battery for farting at a police officer and then waving it toward him.

Yeah, I'm feeling kind of lowbrow today.

Cat, maybe the best point of the Palin videos is to keep McBushlin from using Wright against Obama, in a threat balance. I think you're wrong about it not mattering much since so much else, but pushing Palin pastors too much could goad McBushlin to go all out in bringing Wright and Ayers to the fore. The net result might not be worth it for Obama.

It's fools gold. Stick to hammering her on the issues and her alleged affair. That stuff is way more damaging and won't have any blowback.Posted by: grinning cat

That and the ethics investigation, another thing knocked out of the press by the bail out and McCain's flake out.

Am I the only person that wonders what John McCain thinks he could contribute to the bailout debate? He admittedly knows little about the economy, obviously did not see this coming ala Geo. Bush and he who experienced numerous moments of bipolar behavior over the course of the last week. He would likely be the last person the congressional leaders would rely on for input.

* Job numbers, home sales, and factory orders are all quickly going in the wrong direction.

OT but FWIW: Now's a really good time to call your credit card company and scream bloody murder if you're being gouged by APRs.

I swear 1.5 years ago, I made one late payment and they jacked up my APR to some insanity like 32.9%. I did the right things, paid triple the minimum payment, and on time and got it down to a mere 29.90%.

Like I should feel good about this yes?

6 weeks ago, I called again and listened to this drone explain to me how I had to use my card to help drop the rate. I'm like: whatever. So I use my card, and guess what I get this month?? I kid you not. 49.91 APR! No reason whatsoever.

I went noocular.

So here's what you do. Call and get through the menu. When you get the first "associate" she will tell you she can't do it, and try to explain it away. (Call center drones have a very strict script they must stick to) Get angry. Demand to talk to her supervisor. They will connect you to a *account executive* who will also tell you they can't help you. Demand again to talk to HER supervisor. (These are often called floor managers)

Call them criminals. Reduce them to tears. Have a hissy fit until they give you the fucking supervisor.

And voila! a *reasonable* 15% in less than a minute. They can drop the damned thing but only if you're the squeaky wheel.

I encourage you to all deal with this now, because if I'm hearing it right, there's just no telling where these rates will go.

Get mad and stay mad!

My friends, the Rovians believe that by removing 700 Billion from the tax payers will ruin Obama's attempts (should he win)to bring about health care and tax reform.

If so, Obama will be running without gas in the tank and the Rove/Bush/cheney/McPalin crowd will wildly cheer.

The time to attack these right-wing ideological dead-enders is now and thereby foil their constant and viscous attempts to destroy the country.

Why are folks so afraid to use Wealthcare when talking about the massive bailout?

The name fits the "bill" poifectly.

I'm reminded of Curly.....Is this country in competent hands?
Cointenly we're all incompetent nyuk nyuk nyuk

6 weeks ago, I called again and listened to this drone explain to me how I had to use my card to help drop the rate. I'm like: whatever. So I use my card, and guess what I get this month?? I kid you not. 49.91 APR! No reason whatsoever. Posted by: Helpful Heloise

Where in the world did you get this credit card, some bank in Jersey run by wise guys? I read about this shit and find it hard to believe.

Over the last fifteen years or so I've probably had three different MC or VISAs depending on whose FF miles I'm trying to collect. These have all been cards offered through major banks (Citi, BofA, Chase). Never has the interest rate been more than about 15%-19%.

Jeff all Capital One.

It appears as though Republicans have thrown a last minute kink in the plan and McCain is yet again incoherent about what he wants, according to Chris Dodd just now

(who reports he's been at this for seven days and he's furious with the distraction and the
political theatre of John McCain).

I smell a big dirty rat--they're trying to stall and in so doing denigrate and characterize the Dems as over-eager to give welfare.

They know the public is angry, so the Republicans are trying to stall and play the common man's hero by milking this as long as long as possible--by feigning a show of prudence and advocacy for the little guy.

No progress has been made all day. It's all been a a partisan scramble and circus side show and big waste of time.

"We just wanted to choose a really large number."

Now I really have heard it all. We are now officially living in an episode of Monty Python's Flying Circus.

The Treasury just wanted to pick a really large number.
So they decided to rob each of us of $2300, but it could have been $1000, or $10,000... whatever. Just rush it through Congress.

My friends, the Rovians believe that by removing 700 Billion from the tax payers will ruin Obama's attempts (should he win)to bring about health care and tax reform. Posted by: Salty

Maybe. Speaking as someone in the upper middle-income bracket, I don't need a tax cut. However, we do need to return to the income and asset transaction tax rates we had in 2000.

It's also well past time to make deep cuts in the military budget so that we can dramatically increase health, education, mass transportation, and alternative energy funding.

McCain shouts out with his stilted phony voice: "All hands on deck" (pathetically using yet another war reference to justify his MIA status for the debate/campaign)

Um...did he mean: "All hands on T.V. network interviews" (?).

Or "All hands everywhere and nowhere" (?)

More on credit card racketeers.

Call me cynical, but is John Boehner throwing a wrench in the spokes on McCain's behalf?

Yes.

Simple answers to simple questions.

Notice that none of the other nations of the world are rushing around with their hair on fire about the economic situation? None of them, as far as I can determine, are rushing to pass a bailout or declaring that the world will end if something isn't done this very instant.
This has the stench of the Patriot Act and the run up to the Iraq war all over it.

I mis spoke it seems--it's all very confusing, but it sounds like a good consensus of key basics was indeed made by 1:00 pm --by both Dems and Repubs--and it wasn't until McCain showed up with his horse in the late afternoon that it appears things got really confusing for folks--apparently, he is stirring things up with a few select Republicans following him (?).

And then he made sure to lay it on thick with the outsider/ maverick role and asserted with that all too familiar sickening and demeaning bravado --something to the effect that he had to come to Washington and speak his mind and: "If this ruins me politically, then so be it".

Wow, what a hero, huh?

And now he is saying he's looking forward to the debate...I think (?).

Notice that none of the other nations of the world are rushing around with their hair on fire about the economic situation? None of them, as far as I can determine, are rushing to pass a bailout or declaring that the world will end if something isn't done this very instant. Posted by: Dennis - SGMM

That would be the case because most foreign commercial and investment banks aren't up to their asses in worthless paper, the U.S. housing market is practically as big as the rest of the world's put together and, most important, no other country has spent nearly a trillion dollars on an unnecessary and illegal war. Throw in the recovery from two hurricanes and that's more financial woe than any other country is facing right now.

Maybe it's all karmic payback for the Iraq invasion.

The credit card racketeers referenced above are from Sen. MBNA’s home-state MBNA.

The alleged bailout still has quasi-sellout worries from where I sit. CEO pay caps? Could be more symbolic than real, for example.

Note to Jeff II's top post. That's why I never drank the "brilliance of Olbermann" Kool-Aid.

You know it I know it

Bush should be placed before an open public forum under "oath" What is happening George spell it out.

The president is elected to serve the people not wall street tycoons.

Way past due now. Just like our economy!

Jeff II, those nations are also wedded to the quaint idea that making things that people want and selling them at a profit is somehow a good thing. Presidents from Bush I through Clinton through Occupant have assured us that we're keeping the cool jobs while those dumb foreigners are just toiling away.
We sure showed them, didn't we?

So why is this bailout thing so urgent? How is it going to work? I just walk into the Treasury and say I have some bad loans to sell them? And they give me some money, say $10 mil? And then next month I send them an accounting statement that says, "Oh, gee whiz, they all defaulted, sorry." And they say, "Aw shucks, another beating for the taxpayers."

There's something fishy here. I don't get it. There's going to be massive, massive fraud unless the Treasury hires legions of accountants and lawyers and programmers and administrators to handle it all. And that means it's going to take eons of time to buy and at least audit these assets. So how can it be so urgent? They can't possibly buy up $700 billion in bad loans in any conceivable time frame unless they do it the way we did the contracting in Iraq.

This whole thing just doesn't smell right to me. Something doesn't add up.

The Democrats should not be passing anything before Inauguration Day 2009. There's plenty of time to watch the melt down and ponder the consequences before spending taxpayer money on anything. The last thing they should do is enabling the Bushites.

If they vote for what the Bushies ask for, again...I'll vote straight ticket Democrat one more time, but I doubt I'll ever vote Democrat again in my lifetime.

Oh, I give up--McCain did not say he's looking forward to the debate tomm. night.

It just gets weirder by the minute. I guess Obama is now staying in D.C. and they plan to reconvene around 8:00 pm to keep working on the bail-out plan.
------------------------------------------
Steve--thanks again for such a terrific blog--you are a natural at honing in on the important issues--and organizing the days key talking points cogently and coherently--and that's no easy task.

I look forward to this every day--you and Hilzoy are a breath of well needed clarity and sanity!
(And amazing insight/information as well).

McCain cries "all hands on deck," but doesn't realize that the Admiral stays on the bridge.

I think we can all agree with the 7:43 post above. Good work, Steve & Hilzoy. Being able to access this blog all day almost makes this desk job tolerable.

I'm trying to figure out how the heck this is a positive for McCain. A bipartisan group of senators calls a press conference to announce they've come to an agreement, McCain flies into town, and suddenly the wheels come off and we're back to Square One.

How on earth is that a demonstration of "leadership"?

The Democrats should not be passing anything before Inauguration Day 2009. There's plenty of time to watch the melt down and ponder the consequences before spending taxpayer money on anything. The last thing they should do is enabling the Bushites. Posted by: anon

I agree, except for pushing it clear into next year. If certain major financial institutions are allowed to fail, the cascading effect will push us into a much deeper recession than what we are now heading into. However, a week will not make a significant difference in an economy our size.

Holy crap:

FDIC to Seize WaMu and Sell Deposits to JP Morgan

Not even Chapter 11. Just seizure and selling off of assets.

Having, unfortunately, watched a little of FOX news tonight, I heard Neil Capputo argue that there is no rush to come up with a plan. Since, McCain does not mind changing his mind every day, I can see him coming out with the House Republicans calling for cool heads and a well thought out plan. McCain can then tie Obama to Paulson's $700 billion plan and argue Obama was wrong to be willing to throw government money at the problem and try to be the restrained voice of reason. Just my conspiracy theory of the day.

I am puzzled by McCain's actions in DC today.

From what I can gather, he didn't go there to help broker a deal, but rather to throw a monkey wrench into the works.

I won't reference my suspicions because things seem to happen so fast these days, but it looks like he was a part of a gang that wanted to let private monies in on, what I call, wealthcare.

So, the knight in shining armor rides into town, after suspending his campaign, and manages to actually muck things up.

Ofcourse he shouldn't take full responsibility but it does look like the guy just might not show up to the debate afterall.

Helpful Heloise wrote: "I swear 1.5 years ago, I made one late payment and they jacked up my APR to some insanity like 32.9%. I did the right things, paid triple the minimum payment, and on time and got it down to a mere 29.90%."

So what was your APR to begin with and why were you only paying the minimum payment? Credit Card companies assess your risk of defaulting on the loan of THEIR money to you and if you look like a bad risk then they try to maximize the amount of money they will collect from you before you go bad which means raising your interest rate. A higher interest rate also discourages you from borrowing more of their money by using that card. So, if you are only paying the minimum payment on your card and any other cards you have, that and other things in your financial report card will lead them to believe you are a potential bad risk.

Don't pat yourself for paying more than the minimum and paying on time. Those are the terms you agree to when you borrow money on a credit card. People seem to forget - it's NOT YOUR money, it is THE bank's money. And just because they give you $5,000 in credit doesn't mean you should spend all of it. Take some personal responsibility and don't borrow it if you can't afford to pay it back on time and beyond the minimum payment.

I am puzzled by McCain's actions in DC today.

From what I can gather, he didn't go there to help broker a deal, but rather to throw a monkey wrench into the works.

Its all a gigantic smokescreen to try and scuttle the debates. Nothing more, nothing less.

I thought that the ‘fundamentals’ were the American worker, right McPain?! Why isn't McLame arguing that we invest in the "fundamentals" to make them strong at a time like this vs. the same old, worn-out tinkle-down voodoo economic policies that got us into this mess? McLame = More of the same, again!

Dear Sister,
Thanks for the scold. Perhaps you could copy this letter and send it to your local congresspersons and explain to them how credit works and how it is irresponsible to borrow more than you can afford to pay back. Of Course, when you can turn around and demand as much as you want from the original borrowers to cover your losses from bad loans, it seems a bit childish to expect anyone else to act responsibly. Yes, I am in deep credit card debt, and resent the hell out of Wall Street Bankers who feel that their pain should be passed on to the american taxpayers because they overextended credit to bad risk loans.

I now feel properly chastised and will go to my room and feel guilty for a minute.
Love and Blessings,
st john

Dear Sister,
Thanks for the scold. Perhaps you could copy this letter and send it to your local congresspersons and explain to them how credit works and how it is irresponsible to borrow more than you can afford to pay back. Of Course, when you can turn around and demand as much as you want from the original borrowers to cover your losses from bad loans, it seems a bit childish to expect anyone else to act responsibly. Yes, I am in deep credit card debt, and resent the hell out of Wall Street Bankers who feel that their pain should be passed on to the american taxpayers because they overextended credit to bad risk loans.

I now feel properly chastised and will go to my room and feel guilty for a minute.
Love and Blessings,
st john

OOOPS! Double Post! Back to my room for another minute
st john

Oh goody. Yet another plane crash to survive:

According to the source with knowledge of the White House gathering -- which featured both presidential candidates, congressional leaders and the President -- virtually ever key figure in the room, save McCain and GOP Sen. Richard Shelby, were in agreement over a revised version of Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson's plan.

One of these days, fate is going to catch up with McCain. One of these days...

I am hoping that at some point the story line in this campaign will notice that Democrats on Capitol Hill are taking enormous political risks at this moment to work with a president whom they dispise to come up with an economic rescue plan that goes against their political interests to help Wall Street just because they think it's in the national interest and because it will help average Americans get the loans they need -- even average Americans who at this moment seem to hate this plan, and may exact a political price against these Democrats for supporting it.

At the same time, members of the President's own party are staging a revolt against his plan and thumbing their noses at the president's warnings that the nation faces economic collapse unless a rescue plan is passed quickly. These Republicans would rather see the nation collapse than to part with their cherished idolotry of Ronald Reagan and his mantra that the unregulated free market is always right and government always wicked and wrong. To borrow a slogan from another era, these Republicans, it seems, would rather be dead than Red.

Before the repigs said: "Obama is going to raise my taxes and give it to the lazy poor." But now they want to raise our taxes (and our kids and grandkids), and give it to the greedy rich. No f'ing way! Maybe Gramm needs to tell them to stop their whining, and that the stock market dropping is only a 'psychological' drop.

``I suspect that part of what we're seeing in the freezing up of lending markets is strategic behavior on the part of big financial players who stand to benefit from the bailout,'' said David K. Levine, an economist at Washington University in St. Louis, who studies liquidity constraints and game theory.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aNKGD.bJwmRA&refer=home

Strategic behavior.

Something about Wealthcare has always seemed fishy. I think Mr. Levine is on to a bit of the truth!

John McCain thinks it shows leadership to suspend his campaign for the Presidency when things get a little difficult and outside events interfere.

Using that logic, Abraham Lincoln should have suspended the campaign to be reelected in 1865 in the middle of the Civil War, too. Lincoln was even urged to cancel the Presidential election. But he didn't.

McCain is definitely no Abe Lincoln. McCain is instead a petulant narcissistic childish little brat who thinks that "leadership" means "McCain is in charge - all must kowtow to McCain."

He doesn't get half as much attention as some other people, but is there a bigger tool out there than Wolf "blockbuster move" Blitzer?

If McCain somehow manages to get elected, his approval ratings within days of taking office will make Bush look good.

What kind of feckless asshole trumps up the "urgency" of having a bailout by weeks end or risk the entire economy tanking, stages a primadonna stunt by suspending his "campaign" (not to include ads, fundraising or TV appearances, mind you), and then floats a turd in the punchbowl plan after a deal is almost struck to show that he is in open rebellion against his own party's leader?

What the fuck is he doing?

I mean really...

What the FUCK is he doing?

I'll tell you what he's doing. He's drawn a bad hand and has decided his best move is to overturn the poker table and loudly proclaim "real men only play Fizzbin!"

Or maybe Calvinball.

McCain's actions in DC today were all about throwing a monkey wrench into the works. Its all a smokescreen to try and scuttle the debates.

Maybe 'Mr. Smith' should have gone to Washington instead of John McCain!

McCain might have suspended us all by asking us to suspend disbelief, but it is Obama's campaign that has suffered.

Everything Obama proposes is doomed without monies.

When Wealthcare passes who's gonna want to talk about healthcare? Education? Service?

Everything is called into question.

I can't imagine what the Obama camp is thinking. But I suspect they are getting rather pissed that Joe and Obama are adults running against an a dolt male and an a dolt female.

[...] they decided to rob each of us of $2300, but it could have been $1000, or $10,000... whatever. -- Chris, @18:17

Ah, but $2300 is such an *elegant* number.... It's exactly th maximum each of us can contribute to a Presidential candidate... And guess which one it would be, if you could dispose of your money as you wanted to? Only one at the moment, since the other one is at the federal tit.

Helpful Heloise (and St John),

I don't even know what the interest rate on my (sole, and free) credit card is, and I don't give a d... The credit card is a *tool*, for me to use when I want to buy on-line, or don't want to carry cash, or a place doesn't accept personal checks from my bank (abroad, mostly, but some places in US too). I buy only up to the amount I have in my savings and pay off the *total* (not the minimum), the day before it's due (in my bank, which issued the card; I'm not spending 42cents for postage and I'm not risking that the check will get lost, arrive late, etc).

The credit card division hasn't made a *penny* off of me, in the 35yrs I've had this card. It's almost like a game, and it's me who's winning it.

Even when I had to fly back to Poland on an emergency (ie I didn't have enough saved to pay for the ticket), I paid off the total -- by borrowing from myself (a different -- and almost sacred -- savings account). It's cheaper, since the savings account pays me pennies, but the credit card charges big bucks.

I'm sorry to sound prudish, but, really... You don't let the bastards grind you down if you can help it. And, most of the time, you *can* help it. Always remember: the money you borrow is someone else's; the money you pay back is yours. And: the money you borrow is for a short time; the money you pay back is forever. So, don't borrow, unless you absolutely have to.

So I read part of the Republican counter proposal on CNNMoney. Give Wall Street Bankers tax breaks so they will be 'encouraged' to invest...that's their fucking plan! Tax breaks.

exlibra,

Yay! I applaud your prudent personal financial management. A lot of people in this country could learn a lesson from you. I work for a bank and spent 8 years marketing credit cards. Banks DO make money on you - here's how. When you use your card to make a purchase, the company you are buying from has to pay the associations - VISA, Mastercard - a percentage of the amount of your purchase - anywhere from 4-7% based on a variety of variables - to accept your credit card as payment for that purchase. The associations charge the companies that fee because they use the association networks to communicate the transaction with the bank that issued you that credit card. Then, since the bank is issuing that card with a Visa or MC logo, the bank gets a cut of that fee - usually 1-2% of the purchase amount. So, even if you pay off your credit card every month, you still make the bank money. You aren't the most profitable customer for the bank but if you make enough purchases, you can be a lucrative customer.

Take some personal responsibility and don't borrow it if you can't afford to pay it back on time and beyond the minimum payment.

You do know what the credit card companies call you? You're a a deadbeat.

In general, the pundits were thoroughly unimpressed with the McCain campaign's "suspension" gimmick.

The issue is how many votes do the pundits influence?

Todays poll numbers (Zogby, Gallup) show a solid upswing for McCain's "suspension" gimmick over the last day or two.

Let's see how McCain does in next week's polling.

Yeah Libra, I'm working on it. Been climbing out of a huge disaster since 9/11 when we lost our business - airline tickets. I never worried about it either until the last 2 years. And once in the hole, they make it impossible to dig out. It's like the mafia. However comparing my own circumstances to others, I'm in pretty good shape for now.

Still, it's scary.

Thanks for sharing that.

He doesn't get half as much attention as some other people, but is there a bigger tool out there than Wolf "blockbuster move" Blitzer?

Wolf got pwned by Jeffrey Toobin today. It was sweet.

Re 6:10 PM (folks, always find a handle of some kind so we can at least credit who says what - no one will know who you "really" are and just remember, with multiple universes etc. there are likely billions of yous out there anyway ...):
Yes the Repubs can try to delay the bailout to look like they were against it completely, etc. However, Democrats can push the "concessions/stakeholder" thing, and really put the squeeze on the finance establishment with ownership stake and rules, etc. However, they must really mean it and not cheat on behalf of those interests, or the public (and especially progressives) will never forgive them.

As I think others have pointed out, John McCain "suspended" his campaign, but the website is still active and taking donations. More to the point, he keeps on giving interviews, but wants out of the debate. Obama should run ads showing McCain talking to Katie etc,, after his "suspension."

Todays poll numbers (Zogby, Gallup) show a solid upswing for McCain's "suspension" gimmick over the last day or two.Posted by: pencarrow

Well, since Zogby's been wrong in the last two election cycles, his poll numbers and .35 cents will get you a phone call in most parts of the country.

Throughout most of the country, particularly in the most populous states, Obama is anywhere from 2% to 11% ahead of McCain, whose numbers seem to be in a free fall.

I don't understand why there isn't more talk of the graduated-range of response to "bailout" pressures. The government doesn't have to buy the sour assets at full face or market value, it could be x% on the dollar. So, why don't we hear more about this? Really, if things could be imagined to be tolerable with x = 0 as die-hard opponents say (I am skeptical), they could maybe be realistically imagined tolerable at x = 70. Well?

The more I think about it, the more I'm starting to say to hell with the bailout. In psychological terms, bailing out Wall Street would be akin to Enabling poor behaviour. We should BE the sane adults and not enable our addicted brethren on Wall Street. It is the only way they will recover. Let the full force of unregulated capitalism run its course. Yes it will be painful. But we all will be better off in the long run.

The thought that John McCain and Sarah "The Tiara" Palin could send my kids to war in Georgia or Iran on a mission from God just makes me sick.

And thanks to "the sister" for the spankin'. I get it, I really do. My biggest issue is I have no math brain to fathom it all. I'm an artist so I've learn to fake it - somewhat.

Why does McCain talk about an "agreement" with respect to having the debate anyway? If an honest person really "suspends" a campaign, he would just not debate at all until he lifts the suspension, right? It's BS to get concessions.

But JWK, "unregulated" capitalism is what went wrong here. Maybe let it all crash down, but regulation is what we need to prevent the same later - they *do not* learn from their mistakes, they must be *forced* to behave in a constructive way.

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They passed this one and no one even blinked! Jesus.

House Authorizes $25 Billion in Loans to Auto Industry

25 Billion!!

On the subject of the bailout—and I know this is rather unconventional thinking—I would point out that long ago, the main way for private banks to create money was to actually print paper currency ("banknotes") backed with real or notional reserves of specie, governments found that banks would tend to engage in fraud, undermining the integrity of the economy, and often leading to massive collapses—so government, having tried and failed regulating the behavior of the banks, simply gave up, made printing paper money a government monopoly, and pretty much eliminated the problem of runaway printing of banknotes as a problem (you occasionally still saw governments doing so, largely to attempt to monetize their debt, but even that was largely eliminated by the creation of "independent" central banks that were more insulated from short-term political pressures than other parts of the governments they worked for.)

Now that the main way that money is created to be injected into the economy is through banks lending: and we see the same kind of problems when banks market debt-backed securities as when they marketted specie-backed banknotes. Is this an area where simply regulating will succeed as it did not when it came to banks printing money, or is this an area where we need fundamental restrictions rather than nudges of regulation?

And should we really be rescuing the banks, which after all caused the problem with their irresponsible action, or should government action be aimed at mitigating the effects on innocent victims? Certainly, if the economy needs the government to step in because private lenders are no longer able to provide capital to keep the economy going, the best way to guarantee that the capital put out is devoted to where it does the most public good isn't to give it back to the same people that misinvested and caused the present mess: instead, the government should analyze the situation, determine where credit is needed to mitigate the specific harms of this collapse and to best advance the general economy, and then provide that credit directly until the commercial lending system recovers and demonstrates that it can do so well and stably.

From this 2006 Businees Week article discussing Paulson's appointment...

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/06_24/b3988001.htm

Think of Paulson as Mr. Risk. He's one of the key architects of a more daring Wall Street, where securities firms are taking greater and greater chances in their pursuit of profits. By some key measures, the securities industry is more leveraged now than it was at the height of the 1990s boom. It has also extended its global supremacy since then.

Goldman, under Paulson's leadership, became one of the greatest and most profitable risk-taking machines ever built. Since 1999, when he took over as sole CEO, Goldman has competed with bigger rivals such as Citigroup (C ) and JPMorgan Chase & Co. by being aggressive, making smart gambles, and putting the company's own money into deals. Paulson stresses Goldman's willingness to take risks along with clients in the latest annual report: "Investment banks are expected to commit more of their own capital when executing transactions."

The subject has become an obsession at Goldman: how to find profitable risks, how to control and monitor them, and how to avoid the catastrophic missteps that can bring down whole companies. That means taking on more debt: $100 billion in long-term debt in 2005, compared with about $20 billion in 1999. It means placing big bets on all sorts of exotic derivatives and other securities. And it means holding almost $50 billion in the piggy bank, enough cash and liquid securities to keep the firm going in the event of a financial crisis.

Neil, I believe unregulated capitalism was the cause as well. But it has occured to me that the only way you help addicts is to let them hit bottom. We have Wall Street addicted to greed, like a gambler addicted to the slot machine. Have we hit bottom yet? We bail them out, we're enabling their addiction.

Not to mention, I'm starting to feel very worried that Cheney as set a trap for the Democratic Party (but that's another discussion). Call the Bush/Cheney bluff.

Have we hit bottom yet? We bail them out, we're enabling their addiction.

The problem with your approach is demonstrated by your question: not have they hit bottom, but have we. Sure, ideally we let the banks fail: I agree with you. They, after all, caused this problem by irresponsible lending, and often outright knowing fraud (by turning a blind-eye to unqualified borrowers, because they knew they were unloading the debt onto each other.)

But the whole rest of the country is already suffering the consequences of their downfall, and it will get worse: we need action to mitigate that, and the bailout is offered as the obvious choice.

I think, if we (as in, the Democratic majority in Congress) aren't going to bail the banks out, we can't just step back and ignore the situation. We need to propose an alternative course of action designed to protect the American people and economy from the effects of the collapse, without rescuing the banks.

If the Republicans want to stand in the way, then let them face the American people and try to make the case that it is more important to rescue international banks with taxpayer money than to serve the taxpayers directly with that money.

You think Bush isn't pulling McCain's fucking strings? They're all in cahoots with this rat fucking circus act.

American Democracy flushed down the fucking toilet.

Country First indeed.

Seriously, if you don't think it's time to pack your bags after this final fleecing then you sincerely aren't paying attention. These brain dead Republicans don't realize the world will go on despite their stupid fantasies of nuclear destruction and free market rat fucking. The world is passing America by after this descension into farce. Being a Republican is a disease. This is fascism plain and simple. I wonder how Hitchens can defend his bullshit neocon scheming now. With more celebretard theoretical bullshit not worthy of the Enquirer. Rat fucking lying Republicans.

The next generation will be ashamed to admit their parents were Republicans the last of a dying breed left in the dustbin as consciousness evolves and America retreats into a pure Idiocracy.

Who will their heroes be? Palin and her brain dead action figure healthfire. John grandstanding in his bunker with his insane flip floppery McCain?

It's seriously time to get out.

They're taking a last and final gigantic shit on the entire process before they start flipping switches.

As a testament to how fucked up Alaska politics is...they acknowledge by a significant margin that Joe Biden is more qualified to be president than Sarah Palin, but when polled, still prefer her side of the ticket by a significant margin.

In other words, they don't give a shit about qualifications, they just want their homegirl, corruption, vapidity, vengefulness and all, in the White House.

Seward's Folly indeed.

You think Bush isn't pulling McCain's fucking strings?

Well, yeah; Bush doesn't even pull Bush's fucking strings, much less McCain's.

OTOH, I have no trouble believing the same interests are ultimately driving the actions of both Bush and McCain.

In other words, they don't give a shit about qualifications, they just want their homegirl, corruption, vapidity, vengefulness and all, in the White House.

Or maybe they just want her the hell out of Alaska; after all, what does the Vice President even do all day?

"Well, yeah; Bush doesn't even pull Bush's fucking strings, much less McCain's."

good point.

you could see the expression on Bush's face falling on his sword and letting McCain get his chance to play pretend.

We the people are not entirely helpless or at he mercy of the White Houset, Congress and Wall Street banksters. If anyone is angry with the plan that the mediocre and mendacious finally come up with, I suggest they can protest the bailout/sellout by withdrawing whatever dollars they can from their financial institutions for a brief period of time. Combine this with keeping spending to a minimum. If quite a few people do this it will get the attention of the powers that be. Patricians need productive plebs, much more than plebs need corrupt, self-centered patricians.

On a different subject, does anyone know where I can get a giant helium filled Putin head balloon? Oh - and Sarah Palin's intinery? I think a little road trip might help a whole lot.

Will my dollars be worth anything? Would it be better to convert it to a different currency or buy some things in the black economy (i.e. craigslist)

Bush was practically begging the small investors, under 100k, keep their money in the market last night on tv.

Been climbing out of a huge disaster since 9/11 when we lost our business - airline tickets. I never worried about it either until the last 2 years. And once in the hole, they make it impossible to dig out. -- Helpful Heloise, @22:10

Sorry; that *is* a totally different story. And you're right; most of the time, it's possible to skate *around* the fishing hole safely, given some care. But, once you've fallen in, climbing out is hell (frozen over), unless you have some help. Best wishes.

How did the administration settle on $700 billion for the bailout? A Treasury spokesperson said, "We just wanted to choose a really large number."

By an amazing coincidence of numbers, Goldman Sachs gave Hank Paulson $700 million dollars (one-thousandth as much) in salary and bonuses.

after all, what does the Vice President even do all day?

I'd like to know that about the current Vice President.

And then turn all that information over to a special prosecutor.