The Faux GDP under Bush - Lehman Brothers, another one bits the dust

Bush buoyed his economy to insure his re-election at the expense of the American Dream. The minimaly productive years of his presidency should not have occurred. If the USA economy wasn't 'toyed' with for a faux sense of economy, the 'mess' that exists today would never have happened.

Crashing the USA economy was a way of Republican restructuring, hoping the entire time the government infrastructure would tumble with it, including Social Security (Remember the alarm by Bush after the 2004 elections, does the American electorate want the same surprise by McCain?) and removing much of the need for federal taxes with it.

We have witnessed the gross deterioration of 'long lived fiscal' infrastructure of the USA including institutions such as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac; while 'insiders' to the administration maneuvered 'for the kill.'

Where is the conscience of Americans to disavow the reality that is before them in some kind of 'game of chance' that Republicans are putting forward as a solution to the nation's problems?

US dollar posts worst one-day fall vs euro in 6 months (click here)

By Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss
NEW YORK, Sept 12 (Reuters) - The U.S. dollar fell on Friday, posting its worst one-day decline against the euro in six months, as weak economic data and uncertainty over the future of troubled investment bank Lehman Brothers prompted investors to lock in recent steep gains.
Worries about Washington Mutual Inc , the largest U.S. savings and loan institution, also added to selling pressure on the dollar after the bank projected further write-downs,
Lehman shares tumbled to a near 14-year low on worries it might fail to find a buyer because the U.S. government was reluctant to provide financial support.
The U.S. retail sales and producer price reports also weighed on the greenback as they revived expectations for another interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve this year....

Lehman Brothers teeters on verge of collapse as Barclays pulls out (click here)

By James Quinn, Wall Street Correspondent
Last Updated: 8:31pm BST 14/09/2008
Global investment bank Lehman Brothers is teetering on the verge of collapse after Barclays pulled out of an 11th-hour rescue.

The departure of Barclays left US Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson and Tim Geithner, the head of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, spearheading desperate last-ditch attempts to put in place some form of a workable rescue package.
Traders fear that the collapse of Lehman would send shockwaves around the world and spark a global sell-off of shares.
Lehman which employs 4,000 staff in London and 24,00 around the world, could be placed into liquidation as soon as Monday. The bank would be the single largest casualty of the current credit crisis and its collapse one of the biggest failures in Wall Street history...

When 'The West' minds their manners regarding Russia, diplomacy can work.

NATO-izing the Old Soviet States for the sake of confronting Russia only creates scenarios of war while placing these countries center stage to destruction. There is nothing so threatening in this world that it can't be resolved with diplomacy. The exception to that is the threat of unresolved terrorist networks.

...In a statement, the Kremlin said Russian President Dmitry Medvedev talked with his Ukrainian counterpart, Viktor Yushchenko, and underscored concern over 'a whole range of problems in bilateral relations.'
Resolving them, the statement said, would require 'careful and constructive' work by experts from both countries 'without politicising existing disagreements.
'After these issues have been resolved, concrete timeframes for top-level meetings can be discussed,' the Kremlin statement said....

There was a time when Russia was strategically involved with the USA war against al Qaeda. That all changed when the plans to defeat bin Laden turned into a war for Saddam's oil.

The 'struggle' so much of Europe and Asia are engaged in to maintain sovereignty and with it peace is directly related to the divisive measures by Bush/Cheney. If they had 'stayed in the fight' in Afghanistan without diverting the USA military into Iraq; Europe, the former Soviet States and Russia itself would not be at odds. We would have defeated al Qaeda and the attacks into Madrid, London, Jordan and Algiers would never have happened. To place into perspective 'the permission' given to war without end by McCain's backing of Bush Policy is to realize how much of a failure McCain actually is and how much of a continued failure he will be.

Monday, 17 September, 2001, 16:44 GMT 17:44 UK
Russia finds 'Chechen link' to Bin Laden (click here)
The Russian internal security service says it has found a computer compact disc in Chechnya which contains instructions for piloting Boeing aircraft similar to those hijacked for the attacks in the United States last week.
The chief spokesman of the Federal Security Service Alexander Zdanovich told Russian media that the computer CD also contained technical descriptions of Boeing 737 aeroplanes.
He said it was found during a raid on a group which had contacts with Osama bin Laden - the man named by the United States as the main suspect in the attacks.
Correspondents say Moscow has been trying for some time to convince Washington that Chechen rebels are linked to the Saudi-born dissident.
From the newsroom of the BBC World Service


Bush/Cheney and now McCain don't seek resolve to war through strong alliances that provide support for in roads to peace. They continually confront other country's sovereignty as a means to conquer and exploit natural resources of that country. In the case of Russia, its natural resources are the focus to any tensions that exist between the USA, Europe and Former Soviet States.

If Afghanistan and the defeat of al Qaeda had remained the focus of the War of September 11th, Russia would not have withdrawn from alliance with the USA and sensitive to any appearance of a threat to its sovereignty that resulted in the invasion into Georgia.

To realize where we are going with a McCain victory is to realize the folly in believing he is capable of leadership into peace. John McCain is another Bush, he leads into war, not into peace.

We need Russia. We need peace with Russia. Placing Missile Shields at its borders only escalates the 'positioning' for war for both countries. Its "W"rong and more than just an exercise in futility and preparedness. Russia has not been this aggressive in its global relationships for decades and this time it isn't about spreading Communism, its about protecting Russia sovereignty.

We aren't treating our allies right, no matter whom they are. Placing Europe in harms way to confront a 'guarded Russia' is not the act of an ally, its the act of a threat.

I want my country back. And I want its allies back as well. Those allies include Russia. The only enemy this world has to confront is al Qaeda. There are no other enemies, except, greed and a declining USA economy. Americans have to stop deluding their realities. Life is serious, it's not star studded and McCain is not capable of being the President the USA needs.

Maryland Officials Fight Voter Discrimination

Posted on September 14, 2008
...The incidents and others nationwide prompted federal hearings this week. Sen. Benjamin Cardin, D-Md., led a hearing Tuesday questioning two Department of Justice officials on the agency's level of preparedness for the Nov. 4 general election. In minority-majority districts such as Baltimore and Prince George's County, citizens waited in lines that were "three to five times long" compared to other districts due to "inadequate" resources, Cardin said....

Jackson 08/26/08

Hosemann disturbed by voter fraud in Wilkinson County (click here)
Posted:Aug 26, 2008 04:47 PM EDT
Updated:Sep 3, 2008 10:17 AM EDT
By Jon Kalahar
The state of Mississippi is expecting a record voter turnout this November.
Mississippians will choose a new president, elect senators and congressmen as well as supreme court justices.

But a report on one county's special elections this summer may have you questioning the sanctity of the voting process here in the state....

McCain's Economic Advisor 'crafted' Enron

The Oil Infrastructure of the USA has always been vulnerable to storms, not to mention contributing to the increase of a dangerous troposphere. To contine on this path is the "W"rong direction for the country. John McCain has no viable strategies for the USA !

Texan Economists rape the USA of resources. It is all they know how to do, while outsourcing jobs to allow greater profits by companies. The rant by the Republicans is that the USA economy will expand with greater company profits, therefore, decrease their tax burden even more.

It was never an answer for the American people and it continues to be a 'problematic' form of economic strategy. Texan economists have no clear strategy for an America with a viable Middle Class, only one that rides the shirt-tales of what is still exploitable through government deregulation.

We already had eight years of a failed Texan Economist, when will everyone realize the Republicans have no answers, so much as 'Star Quality' to social conservative pizzazz. The difference between Republicans and Democrats is completely obvious; Democrats live with reality while Republicans dance all around it.

...Mr. Gramm, a Texas Republican, is one of the top recipients of Enron largess in the Senate. And he is a demon for deregulation. In December 2000 Mr. Gramm was one of the ringleaders who engineered the stealthlike approval of a bill that exempted energy commodity trading from government regulation and public disclosure. It was a gift tied with a bright ribbon for Enron....



...McCain urged Congress to institute a "gas-tax holiday" by suspending the 18.4 cent federal gas tax and 24.4 cent diesel tax from Memorial Day to Labor Day. He also renewed his call for the United States to stop adding to the Strategic Petroleum Reserve and thus lessen to some extent the worldwide demand for oil....(click here)




Ike Shutters 20% of U.S. Refining Capacity; Reserves Released (click here)
By Jordan Burke and Aaron Clark
Sept. 14 (Bloomberg) -- Almost 20 percent of the U.S.'s oil refining capacity was shut after Hurricane Ike slammed into the Gulf Coast, limiting fuel deliveries and prompting the Department of Energy to release 309,000 barrels from its strategic reserves....


Letter: Economic adviser has ruinous approach (click here)
John McCain's old chum, Phil Gramm, former U.S. senator from Texas, now a Swiss bank executive, co-chairs McCain's presidential campaign and advises him on matters of economics. Gramm appears to be a shoo-in for secretary of the Treasury if McCain is elected president.In the 1990s, Gramm, then chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, routinely underfunded the Securities and Exchange Commission. As the SEC's workload increased 80 percent, SEC's staff was allowed an increase of just 20 percent. In 1999, Gramm got a bill passed that tore down the regulatory walls between commercial banks, investment banks, insurance companies and security firms, resulting in merger mania.Gramm pulled off his cleverest move for his friends in the financial services industry (who donated millions to him over his 24-year congressional career) in mid-December 2000. Into a $384 billion omnibus spending bill, Gramm slipped a measure called the Commodity Futures Modernization Act. It contained a provision - lobbied by Enron - that exempted energy trading from regulatory oversight. That allowed Enron to trash the California electricity market and cost consumers billions before it collapsed....

McCain is not quailified to be USA President by the choices has makes. He sacrifices USA Security for Party Politics. We already had 8 years of that

No matter which way one looks at it, John McCain has 'sold out' to partisan politics in order to win an election while placing the country 'at risk' for national security issues.

l. His energy and transportation strategy is not what the country needs nor can afford (What good is drilling for oil now do anyone with $5.00 per gallon pump prices and NO drilling offshore of the USA will not bring down gas pump prices.)

2. His approach to foreign affairs is a chronic lead up to war.

3. His Vice Presidential choice places the USA 'at risk' on every venue. She has relied on building an economy in any of her capacities through exploitive government spending and overriding sound environmental and conservation policies.

4. There is no strategy to turn the USA economy around, no protections for American workers and no incentives for investment in the USA infrastructure.

5. His advisors reflect 'inside the Beltway' in larger measure than any other Republican candidate in the former field.

6. He has no right to attempt 'Flash-in-the-Pan' politics to entice the electorate with celebrity tactics and place our country at further risk of war, increased pollution due to continued carbon dioxide emissions, declining economic infrastructure (If the USA continues with its aggressive attitude toward continuous war, it will become more and more isolated into economic failure. The world is not going to put up with more irresponsible Neocon rantings and war chants. It just won't.) due to globlal ridicule of the USA War posture.

7. An America devoid of good healthcare infrastructure with a 'health care strategy' that will demise what is left of employer benefits and superior health policies that ordinary Americans will never be able to afford or have available again.

8. More deregulation of government and more tax cuts with escalating national debt.

THE CAMPAIGN RHETORIC of McCain is something we have all heard before, but, he cannot deliver an American 'healed' and 'prepared.'

9. A continued tragically poor educational system with declining college enrollment.

10. No withdrawal strategy for Iraq.

11. No plan to destroy al Qaeda.

12. No means to capture or kill Osama bin Laden.

13. No methodology for nuclear disarmament.

14. No productive strategy to ascertain the causes for the confrontation by Georgia of Russia.

15. No method of securing global peace without nuclear exchange with Russia and China.


Vladimir Putin, Gates and McCain. Russia is NOT our enemy, although McCain finds it politically convenient to maintain that posture.


The McCain Seven (click here) - The Washington Insiders


McCain's advisers are a troubling group (click title to entry, thank you)
September 2, 2008
Al Gore is an honorable man. He cares about environmental issues. George Bush is not an honorable man. He started a war based on lies. John Kerry is an honorable man. He was upset after a firefight killed civilians and concluded that the Vietnam war was unjustified. Dick Cheyney is not an honorable man. He supported the Iraq War and gave no-bid contracts to buddies.
John McCain was an honorable man. He acted valiantly in five years' imprisonment in North Vietnam and championed campaign finance reform, opposed torture, and helped immigration reform. But in his quest for president, he sold his soul to the devil. He has 100 lobbyists on his staff. Charlie Black was a hired gun for repressive African regimes. Randy Scheunemann pushed the invasion of Iraq. Wayne Berman's client was a predatory mortgage company. Meg Whitman pushed for permanent tax cuts for the rich and and Phil Gramm pushed for deregulating Wall Street scammers.
If you approve of McCain's staffers, he is your man. If you value U.S. economic security and justice for working Americans, vote for Obama or minor party candidates.
John R. Zachmann

Obama camp says it raised $66 million in August

Iowa Poll: Obama opens double-digit lead (click here)
September 13, 2008
Democrat Barack Obama has established a double-digit lead over Republican John McCain in Iowa as the presidential race in this Midwestern battleground enters its critical fall stretch, according to The Des Moines Register's latest Iowa Poll.The poll, taken in the wake of the parties' national conventions, shows Obama favored by 52 percent of Iowa likely voters, compared to 40 percent for McCain.