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Showing posts from February 8, 2009

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day

Did they have a Plan?

During the George W. Bush lame-duck session, the Obama Team was supposed to work on a plan to stimulate the economy. Rep. Pelosi announced that a stimulus bill would be ready on day 1 of the Obama Administration, but those hopes were dashed. Mid-February finally saw the passage of a stimulus bill after being misdirected by Republican Demands for tax cuts and incentives. The idea of the bill was supposed to be massive Government spending to grease the economy. What did the bill eventually look like, 43% tax cuts. Exactly which unemployed person will benefit from a tax cut when they don't have an income to tax. The Obama Financial Team either does not have a plan or they do not know what they are planning for. The Stimulus Bill will fail to stimulate and the Financial Bill proposed by the Treasury rocked the market with its lack of specificity and goals. The investor class threw up their hands in disgust and sold off investments as quickly as they could while fleeing to Treasury Bil

Democratic Leadership

The Democratic Leadership in the Senate and in the House is sadly lacking. Now that the watered down Stimulus has passed and maybe some money will start flowing it is time that the Democratic Leadership start leading and presenting an agenda of bills that will complement and restore the changes that were made to pacify Republicans who did not vote for the bill anyway even after the revisions that they wanted were included. If the Republican Senators want to filibuster the future economic growth of the Nation and throw it into a Depression, then the Democratic Leadership should ensure that it gets all the press that it deserves. It should be televised for the American People in living color. The nonsense that these Republican Senators are intent on perpetrating on the U.S. and its citizens should be heard loud and clear by every citizen.   Let them stand and explain the failed policies that they support and explain how we got here from the eight years of the Republican Bush Administrati

Why are Republicans Making Policy?

After eight years of failed Republican policies that have led our Nation to the brink of economic catastrophe, it is rather strange that the Republican Senators are still able to influence economic policy to the point of changing the stimulus bill into a tax cut for the rich. The purpose of the bill was to put spendable money into a cash-starved economy. The Obama Administration allowed the Stimulus Bill to be twisted by the Republicans into their failed vision that tax cuts for the wealthy somehow benefit the American Family and the economy. Senator McCain had the gall to stand there and say that the Bill is "generational thievery", and that is is a crime that the debt will be passed on to the next couple of generations. This from a Republican Leader who fully supported the policies of George W. (Hoover) Bush who took office with the largest US surplus and left office with a $ 5 Trillion deficit, who does McCain think will pay this back, this generation? The Stimulus Bill is

Less Than Thoughtful

Today, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner announced the Obama Administration stabilization plan and Wall Street responded with a resounding thumbs down. The plan as announced by Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner leaves the Banking Industry in the same situation as before the plan was announced, which is in disarray without any idea of the value of the paper that is on their balance sheets. Not only does the Treasury Plan fail to address the underlying problem of how to evaluate the assets that led us to this point, it fails to address a cohesive formula for going forward and preventing the effects of these assets from continuing to affect the general economy. Judging by an immediate 300-point drop in the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the investor class is not willing to buy this plan as presented by Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner. With all the money that has been doled out by the Treasury, The Federal Reserve and the Federal Government, it seems that there should be some progr

News Corp Reports $6.4 Billion in 2 Q

News Corp the media company controlled by Rupert Murdoch reported a $6.4 Billion loss in just one quarter on February 5, 2009. News Corp owns the infamous Fox News Channel, and the Wall Street Journal, both of which were propaganda machines for the Bush Administration and the Republican Agenda that swore that the Economy was great throughout the eight years of the Bush Administration. Even as the carrion calls were being sounded by the economists throughout the world that the Bush Policies were destroying the economic fabric of America, the Fox News Channel, joined by their sister Networks, The Fox Business Channel and Sky News, refused to criticize the policies of the Bush Administration or the Republicans or even report the facts. In their earnings announcement, Mr. Murdoch was quoted as saying, "a direct reflection of the recession that is deeper than anyone predicted". Totally not true. The Economic catastrophe was predicted by the economists that Murdoch Media Companies

Do Not Cast the Future Aside

Now that fossil fuel prices are at the low end of the spectrum it seems that the urgency of renewable, alternative fuels has been cast aside. This is exactly the wrong time to cast aside the plans to convert our asset-burning economy into a renewable asset economy by changing the economy from a fossil fuel-based economy into a renewable, sustainable, alternative energy economy. The massive amounts of jobs that will be created immediately will benefit the economy immediately, and the constant technological advances that will occur in an Alternative Energy Economy will guarantee that the job base will remain strong. If President Obama had the guts to act on the future that he knows is right $800 Billion would have been doled out just to change the Energy Economy in a ten-year plan. The immediate effect on the Economy would be enormous and the savings to the Nation in the future would be incalculable both in dollar cost terms and in our standings with Nations that now hold us hostage with