McCain is running away because of this? The DOW is stabilizing. There is no evidence of a sincere crisis. The market has been artifically inflated.

The DOW is adjusting. Something "W"rong with that? Well, maybe for Paulson.



The DOW sustained a loss today of 29 points. A whopping loss of .27 precent. And McCann is worried about what is transpiring in DC? For once, DC is actually making the prudent decision and demanding proof and reassurances.

Across the board; the Americas, Commodities, Asia, Europe and Bonds are all stabilizing. There are minor ups and downs around the entire globe. What in the heck does Paulson think he is trying to pull?

McCain acts like nobody else gives a hoot. Does he actually know what is going on?

NZ Super fund not critically exposed, says Orr (click here)
1:15PM Wednesday Sep 24, 2008
...Guardians of New Zealand Superannuation chief executive Adrian Orr told the annual Institute of Finance Professionals, or INFINZ, conference in Auckland today, that direct exposure to financial sector shares, hit by the collapse of Wall Street institutions, had been less than 10 per cent of the fund.
The specific companies that had attracted much of the media attention, such as Lehman Bros, made up less than 1 per cent of the fund....

The markets don't have money? They have money. Someone found $70 million somewhere !

UPDATE 1-Ligand to buy Pharmacopeia in $70 mln stock deal (click here)
Wed Sep 24, 2008 6:05pm EDT
Sept 24 (Reuters) - Ligand Pharmaceuticals Inc (LGND.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) agreed to acquire Pharmacopeia Inc (PCOP.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) in a stock deal valued up to $70 million, gaining access to Pharmacopeia's royalty partnerships, the companies said.
Pharmacopeia stockholders will also be entitled to a Contingent Value Right (CVR) under certain circumstances to a cash payment of an total of $15 million for all Pharmacopeia stockholders.
Under the deal, Ligand will issue 0.58 share for each outstanding Pharmacopeia share and Ligand stockholders will own about 84 percent of the combined company, with remaining owned by Pharmacopeia stockholders.
This exchange ratio is based on closing prices of Ligand shares between $3.00 and $3.75 for a period prior to the closing date....

And look. Bechtel is doing even better than everyone else.

Bechtel nabs $6B nuclear deal (click here)
Frederick subsidiary will assume management of federal labs
by Rebecca McClay Staff Writer

Bechtel Marine Propulsion Corp. has snared a $6 billion contract from the U.S. Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program to operate Bettis Atomic Power Laboratory near Pittsburgh and Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory in New York.
The company is a subsidiary of Bechtel National Inc. of Frederick. Bechtel spokesman Mike Kidder called the contracts, particularly the Knolls deal, "a big step forward" for the company and "a win for Frederick management."
Bechtel Bettis Inc., another subsidiary of Bechtel, previously managed Bettis labs in Pittsburgh, Idaho Falls, Idaho, and Charleston, S.C. Bechtel Marine Propulsion will take over the Bettis labs, plus Knolls, a joint program of the Department of Energy and the U.S. Naval Sea Systems Command, from Lockheed Martin's KAPL Inc. after a four-month transition period, on Feb. 1.
"We are very pleased to be able to continue our service for [the Energy Department] and the U.S. Navy in support of the Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program," Bechtel National Chairman Scott Ogilvie said in a statement. "We are committed to a smooth and efficient transition of Bettis and Knolls into [Bechtel Marine Propulsion], and look forward to continuing the accomplishments of the men and women at Bettis and Knolls in support of our national defense."...

And the gang is all here, just like old home week.

KBR JV's FEED contract for Gorgon Project extended (click here)

KBR Inc, the engineering and construction company, announced that Kellogg Joint Venture Group (KJVG) has been awarded a Work Authorization by Chevron Australia Pty Ltd for approximately AUD$300 million to finalise front end engineering and design (FEED) for the Chevron-operated Gorgon Project....

DOJ: Ex-KBR chief pleads guilty to bribery charges (click here)
By MARCY GORDON – Sep 4, 2008
WASHINGTON (AP) — A former chief executive of construction firm KBR Inc. has pleaded guilty to federal bribery charges in connection with the company's natural gas operations in Nigeria from 1995 to 2004.
The Justice Department said Albert "Jack" Stanley entered a guilty plea Wednesday in federal court in Houston to conspiring in a decade-long scheme to bribe Nigerian government officials in return for engineering and construction contracts.
As CEO of Houston-based KBR, Stanley headed a subsidiary within Halliburton Co., the oilfield services conglomerate whose chief executive from 1995 to 2000 was Vice President Dick Cheney....

KBR gets $232 mln deal for Louisiana carbon plant (click here)

Wed Sep 10, 2008 4:58pm EDT

SAN FRANCISCO, Sept 10 (Reuters) - Engineering and construction company KBR Inc said on Wednesday one of its units had been awarded a $232 million contract by ADA-ES Inc for construction of a new activated carbon plant.
ADA-ES, which develops technology such as activated carbon to reduce mercury exhaust from burning coal, has chosen BE&K to provide full engineering, procurement and construction services for the plant in Red River Parish, Louisiana, KBR said in a statement.

(Reporting by Braden Reddall; Editing by Tim Dobbyn)

Investigation widens in electrocutions at military sites (click here)

By Brian Bowling

TRIBUNE-REVIEW

Tuesday, September 9, 2008

A Department of Defense investigation into the electrocution of a Shaler soldier serving in Iraq will review eight similar deaths on military facilities, and investigators have subpoenaed more information from the contractor maintaining those facilities.
Democratic Sen. Bob Casey of Scranton announced the expanded investigation Monday after a briefing by the Defense Department's Inspector General's Office. Investigators said they've discovered at least 18 soldiers and civilian workers have been electrocuted in Iraq, two more than previously reported.
Cheryl Harris of Cranberry said she believes the Pentagon finally is taking her son's death seriously....

I haven't even gotten to Halliburton yet. I guess I haven't done a Cheney Observer in awhile.

Plea in KBR bribe case may signal more on the way (click here)

Tue Sep 9, 2008 11:29am EDT

By Anna Driver - Analysis
HOUSTON (Reuters) - The guilty plea in a years-long bribery probe by the U.S. government of Halliburton Co and its former KBR Inc unit means more legal woes may be on the way for the global energy companies.
Albert "Jack" Stanley, a former KBR chief executive officer, pleaded guilty last week to charges involving a scheme to pay $180 million in bribes to Nigerian government officials to win work on the $6 billion Bonny Island liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant....

Now, this does not look like a company ready to go down the drain. Granted $30,000 ain't $700 billion, but,...$30,000? All Halliburton is donating is $30,000. Man, oh, man talk about PR on the cheap.

Halliburton gives to S.D. college (click here)

A Houston-based petroleum company has donated $30,000 to the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology's geology department for scholarships and faculty support.

Halliburton wants to work with the School of Mines not only to become better known by students and faculty, but also to develop new technologies, said Ibrahim Palaz, director of strategic educational and research and development partnerships.

Palaz, a 1989 graduate of the School of Mines, said the company's growth is focused on the Rocky Mountain area, and it recruits School of Mines engineers and scientists.

As of September 12, 2008, Halliburton had an A rating.

Halliburton has sustained a price in the range of $34.00 for the last THREE years, with advancing stock prices since Cheney pushed the USA into Iraq. (click here)

Fitch Rates Halliburton's Sr. Notes 'A-'; Outlook Stable (click here)
Last update: 4:56 p.m. EDT Sept. 12, 2008
CHICAGO, Sep 12, 2008 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Fitch assigns an 'A-' rating to Halliburton's (HAL:
Halliburton Company
Last: 34.97-0.23-0.65%4:01pm 09/24/2008Delayed quote data
Sponsored by:
HAL 34.97, -0.23, -0.6%) $400 million of 5.9% Senior Notes due 2018 and $800 million of 6.7% Senior Notes due 2038 issued today. Fitch also affirms HAL's ratings as follows:...

E N O U G H !

Biden: McCain Is "Dangerously Wrong" - THE DEBATE will go on without McCann

Obama says debate should go ahead (click here)
1 hour ago
CLEARWATER, Fla. (AP) — Democrat Barack Obama says that amid the current financial crisis, it's more important than ever for he and John McCain to sit down and hold a presidential debate.
Republican McCain proposed earlier Wednesday that Friday's debate be postponed while the two candidates work to deal with the nation's financial troubles. Obama said he and McCain are working on a joint statement setting out their ideas on how to solve the financial crisis. But Obama also said he believes it's important to go ahead and have the debate.
Obama said, "It's my belief that this is exactly the time when the American people need to hear from the person who, in approximately 40 days, will be responsible for dealing with this mess."...

From CBS News'

September 24, 2008, 4:36 PM

Ryan Corsaro:

(CINCINNATI) - Joe Biden tackled the broad spectrum of national security today, saying the Democratic ticket would offer more “hard-headed” diplomacy with allies in dealing with countries like Iran and calling John McCain “dangerously wrong” in his views on terrorism, the war in Iraq, and foreign relations.

Appearing in the cavernous dome of Union Station, Biden attempted to drive the Obama campaign’s message that a McCain presidency would carry on the same type of foreign policy under the Bush Administration.

“After 9/11, the President of the United States of America had an incredible opportunity. He had an opportunity to join America and the rest of the world in common cause,” said Biden, speaking in the same spot where Bush made a televised case against Saddam Hussein in 2002.

“But instead, instead by starting a war of choice in Iraq before winning the war of necessity in Afghanistan, the President of the United States by imposing torture, detention, eavesdropping that defy our values and endanger our national security.”

“By showing disdain to our allies and empty bluster to our enemies, President Bush divided America, divided the world instead of, instead of uniting us.”

Biden accused McCain of the same blustering and fixation on Iraq, and insisted the central war on terrorism was not in Iraq, but rather in the mountains between Pakistan and Afghanistan....

Grandstanding in DC is better for McCain than to debate an illegal war he voted for, while Palin does a crash course with Kissinger.

No matter what verbage used, the only reason "Mr. McCain Goes to Washington," is for the basis of political gains. He portrays himself as a sacrificial candidate to the issue of Fiscal Responsiblity.

The question is WHOM'S fiscal responsibility, certainly NOT that of the USA Treasury.

If he actually had the ability to instill priorities to the importance of including the American homeowner and job market which included full disclosure by Paulson that brought such high-handed demands, he might be even start to get the attention of the American people. But having a person pursue a concern of the nation when he isn't qualified to do it, is only adding fuel to the fire.



John McCain's decision to suspend his campaign comes as two new polls show him slipping in the head to head matchup against Barack Obama. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

The businesses at the receiving end of Paulson's Trillion $US Giveaway are all the Republican cronies. McCann is too loyal to his Big Dollar Brothers to stay away now. The idea that he even backs Paulson when there is no evidence to the demands for a Free Giveaway to the financial sector is more and more evidence that McCann is NOT the man the USA needs at the top of the Executive Branch.

I wouldn't put it past the Republicans to 'stage' a 'meeting of the minds' to come up with a 'better plan than Paulson's.' They are losing the House and the Senate and they are desperate for political clout.

By returning to DC to Grand Stand the financial expoitation by Paulson and his failing Goldman-Sachs he is admitting he will micromanage every aspect of his presidency. That isn't a leader that inspires and it isn't a leader that anyone trusts. He is another Bush that exerts overbearing interference with the Legislature in order to achieve his political agenda.

Barak should continue to speak to the people on the campaign trail and complain about McCann 'skipping out' on the first debate of this election season on Friday night.

Palin isn't suspending anything. She is being coached by Henry Kissinger regarding foreign affairs. The question that comes to mind, "Is Kissinger doing this in fear of Palin actually having to take the Presidency?" I would believe McCain was actually suspending his campaign if Palin were on her way back to Alaska without coaches in tow.

McCann's definition of 'suspending' doesn't mean staying in DC until ALL the facts are known and ALL the evidence is compiled; it is to give a 'flash in the pan' presence to an already failing campaign. If John McCain feels his role as Senator is more important than that of Republican nominee, he can concede to Barak right now with only the formality of voting in November left to be registered.

McCain is desperate, his campaign exudes same all along the way. John McCain = Poor choices.

What's "W"rong Hank? Your Bailout didn't come in time for today's margin call? Hank can really 'work-it,' can't he?

18 months ago: WASHINGTON - MARCH 13: (L-r) Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson; Warren Buffett, chairman and CEO, Berkshire Hathaway Inc.; and Jeffrey R. Immelt, Chairman and CEO, General Electric Company; participate in a panel discussion, "Framing the Issues: Markets Perspectives," at Georgetown University March 13, 2007 in Washington, DC. Secretary Paulson hosted the "Treasury Conference on U.S. Capital Markets Competativeness," a day-long program to focus on capital market issues like regulation, competition and other related topics. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

It seems a bit UN-AMERICAN to me to risk the USA solvency on all the 'gambles' in the world. I don't apprecaite the focus by Paulson that the USA Treasury is his oyster. I believe there are many in the USA that simply don't see why he has to lie either. I mean we all know how the markets have been hideously roller-coastering. Where does he think this is all headed? I vote NO on any bailout. I believe Buffet and people like him should be sought in difficult times. This is hideous. Come January Paulson won't even be in his office and why should the USA hand the new Secretary of the Treasury 'HIS MESS' to clean up?

Paulson offers no solid solutions to any bailout of the financial markets. He offers speculative guesswork and not much more. Where are the balance sheets Hank? Simply because your friends need an endless supply of liquidity doesn't mean Americans answer the call. Wars for oil and now this. Amazing.

...Although the U.S. government is now proposing a bailout of the bad debt that is rattling investor confidence and seizing up credit markets, financial stocks were nonetheless trading 2.0% lower across Europe Tuesday morning. There is clearly some skepticism that even a $700 billion debt-purchasing facility will not be enough to purge the financial sector of losses....

When a USA Secretary of the Treasury gives the Congress 'the bumbs rush' to judgement, one has to know there is 'something afoot.' Where are the balance sheets, Hank? There are none, are there? Paulson needs a dozen Super-computers to figure this one out. That's the problem Hank, when you should have been using your slide rule, you simply figured on you office computer providing all the answers! The Financial Sector has developed a very bad habit, they keep coming back for more liquidity everytime the markets find more and more of the slippery slope that Paulson never talks about? If Buffet hadn't been coming forward to invest, he'd be collecting our tax dollars, or better said our "Middle America Debt."

Vote NO on the Paulson Bailout ! The American Middle Class can rebuild their own country, we are already well on our way. Get these Carpetbaggers out of the White House ! They haven't got a 'clue' as to where this is all going or what they are doing. Paulson is grasping at straws. There is plenty of liquidity in the market, ask Donald Trump. Oh, wait, I am sure he is far to busy building another floating gambling casino or some darn thing. Here is a sure bet, Trump won't be building his next casino in Darfur !

Hm. Ahnold doesn't seem to have fiscal issues. Odd. No collapsing of the world's Sixth Largest Economy?

After months of disputes and $510 million worth of vetoes, the governor signs the measure that includes a $1.7-billion reserve fund.


By Jordan Rau, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer September 24, 2008
SACRAMENTO -- After vetoing $510 million in spending passed by the Legislature, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed the state's tardiest budget this morning, allowing more than 80,000 state vendors with outstanding bills to be paid.The governor's cuts include the elimination of $191 million in tax credits for elderly renters and property owners, and the postponement of one of the signature achievements of his first term: a program to help reduce prescription drug prices for low-income Californians....

Bernanke and Paulson have cooked the books. They are not trustworthy.

Simple math here. When the unemployment rate in the USA rises above 5% what occurs is a recession. The country is headed in the direction of higher un- and under-employment. However, the underemployment has been chronic for much longer than anyone wants to admit. When the Republicans held the majority in the House and Senate every bill they passed was a spending bill. THERE IS NO REAL ECONOMY IN THE USA.

The problem with this administration is that they talk out of both sides of their mouths and we know they do. The reality is that as of August, the USA economy stopped producing jobs. The reason is because the USA economy was an artifical economy based in 'the mess' we are now beginning to recover from. I know it doesn't seem like a recovery, but, it is to the point where DC and the States are unable to simply allow this to continue, SO, therefore this is 'the end' of this mess. To continue to believe Bernanke and Paulson while leaving Bush and Cheney in the Executive Branch is simply placing trust where it does not belong.

continued...


Regional and state unemployment rates were mostly higher in August (click here). Overall, 44 states and the District of Columbia recorded over-the-month unemployment rate increases, 5 states registered decreases, and1 state had no change, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S.Department of Labor reported today. Over the year, jobless rates wereup in 47 states and the District of Columbia and down in 3 states. The national unemployment rate rose to 6.1 percent in August, 1.4 percent-age points higher than a year earlier.


The USA Legislature has to proceed without 'feeding the beast' that Paulson advocates. A bailout is clearly the "W"rong direction. The people of this country do not want anymore mistakes with their country. The Democrat Legislature is NOT in this alone with an incompetent Executive Branch, however, they have to listen. People will recover their own economy, but, the Legislature has to listen.


This country has been through a lot since the Bush Bunch came into power. One of the 'survival' strategies everyone has been pursuing is to localize economies and encourage States to take control of the well being of their people. Every Democratic State in the USA has followed this strategy while preserving any and all economic growth they could find.


The way out of this mess is for the Federal Legislature to talk to their Governors. To talk to the Mayors of their major cities and learn where 'at street level' this is disaffecting the people of the USA. The Federal Legislature has to be 'reactive' to the needs of the States and their insight.

The fiscal infrastructure that needs to be upheld is at the State and Local levels. It is here that all the focus has gone as Bush has deeply cut supports to the States and Municipalities. The 'trust' extended by the Federal Legislature needs to take place where the 'impact of the negligence of this administration' found its home and that is THE STATES and MAJOR CITIES.

Do not shoot from the hip about this. Paulson and Bernanke are the worst source of expertise to return fiscal strength to the USA. They want to 'globalize' the entire mess and that won't help the people of this country.

For years since Bush took office the people of the USA have been taking back their country. The State governments and Municipalities have addressed this change in 'fiscal authority.' Let's face it, the United Nations has built relationships to stem Global Warming with every major city on the planet. The paradigm has changed, but, the Bush Bunch never bothered to recognize 'the will' of those that saw their country differently.

Half the population of the USA took their country in their own hands and quietly built a stronger America in the only way they could, by fostering local enterprises and strengthening their jobs infrastructure everywhere they found an opportunity. The States can provide guidance to the level of Federal supports they need. The States and Cities have relationships with all these financial institutions. There is plenty of expertise to go around, but, it ain't in DC, its in every Senator's and every House Representative's backyard. The methodology of the intervention by the Federal Government has to uphold the integrity of the State's fiscal infrastructure, otherwise, there will be more failure and more of the same even AFTER any bailout.

Find out what the States and Cities need and how they need to obtain it. It will provide stability and insight that no one in this mess even ventures to recruit. Don't destroy the infrastruture that has been growing parallel to this failure, it will cause a backlash that no one is even speaking to at this point.

Its the vortices that are expanding the ozone hole. Upper tropospheric air movment is increased and with it pollution.

...The hole, created by air pollution, has reached an extent already this year that exceeds the extent recorded in 2007, according to the World Meteorological Organization, a United Nations agency....


June 26, 2008
DESTRUCTION OF GREENHOUSE GASES OVER TROPICAL ATLANTIC (click here)
Large amounts of ozone – around 50 percent more than predicted by the world's state-of-the-art climate models – are being destroyed in the lower atmosphere over the tropical Atlantic Ocean. Published today (26th June '08) in the scientific journal, Nature, this startling discovery was made by a team of scientists from the UK's National Centre for Atmospheric Science and Universities of York and Leeds. It has particular significance because ozone in the lower atmosphere acts as a greenhouse gas and its destruction also leads to the removal of the third most abundant greenhouse gas; methane.
The findings come after analyzing the first year of measurements from the new Cape Verde Atmospheric Observatory, recently set up by British, German and Cape Verdean scientists on the island of São Vicente in the tropical Atlantic. Alerted by these Observatory data, the scientists flew a research aircraft up into the atmosphere to make ozone measurements at different heights and more widely across the tropical Atlantic. The results mirrored those made at the Observatory, indicating major ozone loss in this remote area....

An Escape Clause

There is an interesting article in The Boston Globe at the title to this entry.

I imagine Dodd is just about as devastated as anyone else is. I can only imagine the thoughts he has about this issue.

The Democrats really need to speak out about all this and although this may not be Barak's first choice, at some point in time we need to hear from the Former President Bill Clinton.

The Democrats need to express their concern for a program that has been premediatedly and "W"rongly conceived. I don't doubt the Legislature has to do something, but, it really is up to the Legislature not the Executive Branch. This act of abandonment of American values by the Bush White, by abandoning the American Homeowner is simply outrageous and ranks up there as an act of treason. The backbone to the American economy is the American Dream. This is an act against the citizens of this country.

Bottom line is that The ENTIRE package the Legislature comes up with also has to have an Escape Clause to insure there is no 'tripwires' to any act by this administration. In other words, the plug can be pulled to cancel every aspect of this measure if fraud or exploitation seems to be coming into play. I fully expect it will, actually.


I still feel strongly the best outcome will result if financial institutions remain solvent with exceptionally low cost loans. It is them that can place the country back on its feet, not the government. We need to get out of their way to re-establish healthy relationships with consumers and return the American economy to function rather than dysfunction.


I am assuming all these institutions will be sending representatives to Washington, DC to testify to the extent their hands were tied to do anything about their circumstances, especially in regard to the phenomena "Mark the Market" and its single most devastating effect on the negative outcome of the current mess. If I were any commercial institution disaffected by this incompetency I would make sure I was heard with a laundry list of all the problems that resulted in this devastation to their financial sector. I think it is a flat out crime that this occurred. I hope they consider it to be the same.

The way I see it, the egotistical Bush and Paulson did their job. They took an issue to the people and the Legislature now has to 'handle it.' Bush and Paulson are now excused.

We the People...until oxygen is out of my lungs forever

Michael Moore's Slacker Tour (click title to download)

Look, Mike, it was an incredible journey you started, to begin the process of empowering the youngest of our voters. Its your legacy, besides so many movements started under your gaze.

But.

Michael.

That speech at the end of the film you gave in Tallahassee.

It caused me pause. It ranks right up there as one of the greatest speeches for civil rights ever given in this country, from a man that has fought hate and discrimination all his adult life. You live your experiences in life, Mike.

Wow.

Thank you for the film. Everyone I know is getting a copy or a viewing. But, remember. This is a movement that will sustain and it will bring about change as the numbers grow. We are taking back our country, and it has everything to do with you, Mike. The 'wave' you started that began with Fahrenheit 911 is only the beginning...

The Worst Persons in the World - Today wasn't so bad. Henry was "W"rong. The sky didn't fall after all.

...Frank tonight withdrew his earlier assertion that Paulson had agreed that the U.S. will get equity in companies that receive government aid.
``I overstated'' the level of agreement on equity, Frank said. Still, he said, ``we've gotten closer to where we think it ought to be.'' (click here).
Democratic leaders said the measure is needed to calm market turmoil and they hope to complete talks and pass the measure soon. Even as an agreement neared, Shelby, the top Republican on the Senate Banking Committee, said the proposal is ``neither workable nor comprehensive, despite its enormous price tag.'' House Republicans have also criticized the administration's response to the crisis as ``bail-out mania.''...

Bush really needs to be impeached along with Cheney. Should have been done a long time ago. I have never seen such a ludicrous mess in my lifetime. Those Bozos keep kicking sand in everyone's faces and they simply look the other way. This is as much a travesty to these circumtances as Paulson's Wet Dream.



The 'play' in the markets since it left 14,000 has been interesting. 14,000 was an artificial elevation. The market continues to make adjustments. I still don't see the pain and I don't 'buy it' that retirees have it so bad. The 'real' issues with people on FIXED INCOMES is that their cost of living is so overinflated due to energy, transportation and food costs that they don't have a lifesytle anymore.

I am quite confident retirees want to leave a country that has a future to their children and grandchildren rather than seeking 'short term creature' comforts. We are all in this together and its the simply things in life that sometimes makes more sense than extravangance and indulgence.

The market will turn around when there is a change of administration in DC and good paying jobs are again part of the American landscape, when energy and transportation is clean and reasonable and food is back to being thirfty and nutrious without corn syrup and additives in every ounce of the American diet. I mean it was the end of the line when I read an article about obesity in children and their need for liver transplants. Is there no decency in this country anymore? I think we need gym class back in all our schools.

The country has been on the wrong path for a long time now, this is just more of the same. The financial institutions have to ride it out. I only hope the Congress comes up with a loan program that will encourage the institutions to continue to strive to better outcomes. I have no empathy for stockholders. We all should be pleased these institutions continue to operate, so should they.

It's called being an American before one is an investor. Is there such a thing? The country didn't achieve this crisis overnight and it won't be straightened out overnight. Stockholders weren't complaining when the 'windfall profits' were hitting the books, then they should not be annoyed because they have hit a bump in the road along with a market adjustment. Gotta take the good with the bad.

...Paulson also faces serious defections in Republican ranks, with several key senators and congressmen resisting a bailout of this scale. Sen. Richard Shelby, the ranking Republican on the Senate Banking Committee, speaking on CBS's Face the Nation, flatly blamed the crisis on greed and deregulation, and questioned the terms of Paulson's plan....

There is no way the USA can absorb that level of debt, especially when its not even real.

This was April of 2008. Enough already. The price of the USA dollar drops and commodities go through the roof. The Paulson debacle will make the USA dollar worthless. Just the statements regarding such a plan has everyone running for cover.

JP Morgan did the right thing and it positions them to assit in the recovery of the USA economy and the markets as a stable fiscal entity. These firms need to be given an opportunity to resolve their debt through low interest loans that will provide latitude for expansion and a return of a solid base. They are best to steer the recovery, not the USA government.


As everyone is aware, the US Dollar has been in a severe decline since 2001 (click here). Over that time it has declined over 41%. The declining dollar helped to pull the economy out of the 2001 recession by lowering the prices of exports to foreign countries. But it also caused a lot of pain to consumers by being the primary cause of the rising cost of fuel. Depressed investor confidence in the Dollar is causing foreign investors to start selling dollar denominated assets, which in turn depresses investor confidence even more.




Crude Oil Has Biggest Gain Ever as Dollar Drops Against Euro (click here)
By Mark Shenk
Sept. 22 (Bloomberg) -- Crude oil climbed more than $25 a barrel, the biggest gain ever, as the dollar weakened the most against the euro since January 2001, boosting the appeal of commodities as a hedge.
The October contract, which expires today, rose almost $12 more than the contract for November delivery, as traders rushed to close positions. Oil, gold, corn and other commodities climbed as the dollar dropped on concern that a U.S. proposal to buy $700 billion of troubled assets from financial firms will deepen the budget deficit....

Georgie, Go Gofling. You've proven your worth to be not much more !

The markets are doing well, investors are not as jittery as one might expect as they have faith in the USA Legislature to be cautious and thorough.

A few hundred point swing is nothing these days. The DOW isn't going to see 14,000 for some time, so get over it. TOO BAD, HANK !

Don't blow it !

Steady as it goes ! Chart the coarse everyone. Let's go. We can do this and we can to it right without the corruption the Bush Executive Branch brings.

Where's Allen?



...Hank Paulson's plan will soon be rammed through Congress (Maybe not.), likely with strings attached for "homeowners" and executive pay. Too bad, because the plan is seriously flawed and taxpayers are likely to get hosed. Especially too bad because a much simpler plan that would save the system without socking it to taxpayers....

Krugman is right. You know there is something really reassuring right now about reading the same Op-Editor for years and years and years. Nice.

I can't help but wonder though, if we aren't all caught up in the 'enormity' of the Paulson Con. I mean that is exactly what it is, even if 'the gentle people of Wall Street' won't say it. Either Paulson is completely inept or he is attempting the Biggest Con in history. He didn't see any of this coming?

Give me a break. Would anyone in their right mind with intact ethics and integrity actually hang their hat on this one? No.

And what if the 'tragedy of the commons' isn't all that?

Cash for Trash (click here)
By PAUL KRUGMAN
Published: September 21, 2008

...But Mr. Paulson is demanding extraordinary power for himself — and for his successor — to deploy taxpayers’ money on behalf of a plan that, as far as I can see, doesn’t make sense....

Nice work Vladimir.

Very nice.

Russia can be counted on.

When it comes to fighting Nazis or containing the nuclear ambitions of Iran or stopping tirading zealots in Georgia or stabilizing global markets.

Russia 'gets it.' You know?

EMERGING MARKETS REPORT
Russian rally sends stocks 30% higher (click here)
Epic swing prompts another temporary suspension of trading
By Polya Lesova, MarketWatch
Last update: 6:13 p.m. EDT Sept. 19, 2008
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Russian stocks rallied nearly 30% Friday, causing the markets' regulator to halt trading once again on the two main stock exchanges, after the government took a series of steps aimed at stemming the country's financial turmoil....

It is difficult to tell on a warming planet with drought disaffecting everything when exactly is the best autumn leaf color....

...the net is fortunate enough to have experts speaking to the issues of 'leaf color perfection.' Click on the title to this entry to find the quinessential forecaster of Autumn Color Foliage.


Click example here

Leaf-watchers logging on for peak fall foliage information (click here)
By CORISSA JANSEN

cjansen@journalsentinel.com
Posted: Sept. 28, 2003
Staying at a New Hampshire bed and breakfast when the fall foliage was at its brilliant peak, Marek Rzonca couldn't figure out why the place was empty except for him and his wife, Sara....

...So using his Internet savvy and his background in meteorology, Rzonca tapped bed-and-breakfast proprietors in his region and set up a Web site for travelers in pursuit of up-to-date information about the fiery reds, glowing oranges and bright yellows of autumn.
Four years later, his Foliage Network Web site covers 19 states, including Wisconsin, and has leaped from 6,000 visitors in 1999 to more than 170,000 last year....

The height of color along The Blue Ridge Parkway of North Carolina, 2007.

Best Fall Foliage and Autumn Color Web Cams for 2008 (click here)
Fall and Autumn Foliage Live Video Cams
By Steve Nix, About.com

I have selected the very best "web" video cameras showing fall leaf color in forests throughout North America for the 2008 viewing season. These selected sites record the color of fall tree foliage using "live" web cameras mounted at strategic locations. By viewing these forest web cams, you will see how fall color is spreading and the autumn leaf wave is moving throughout North America....

South Africa: Address to the Nation by President Thabo Mbeki

Everything Bush touches turns to mush.

South Africa: Mbeki to Resign After Party Clashes (click here)
20 September 2008
Posted to the web 20 September 2008
John AllenCape Town
President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa is being forced out of office early after a bitter struggle with his rival and successor, Jacob Zuma, over the fallout from a U.S.$5 billion arms deal....

South African Government (Pretoria)

21 September 2008

Posted to the web 21 September 2008
Thabo Mbeki
Fellow South Africans (click title to entry, thank you),
I have no doubt that you are aware of the announcement made yesterday by the National Executive Committee of the ANC with regard to the position of the President of the Republic.
Accordingly, I would like to take this opportunity to inform the nation that today I handed a letter to the Speaker of the National Assembly, the Honourable Baleka Mbete, to tender my resignation from the high position of President of the Republic of South Africa, effective from the day that will be determined by the National Assembly.
I have been a loyal member of the African National Congress for 52 years. I remain a member of the ANC and therefore respect its decisions. It is for this reason that I have taken the decision to resign as President of the Republic, following the decision of the National Executive Committee of the ANC.
I would like sincerely to thank the nation and the ANC for having given me the opportunity to serve in public office during the last 14 years as the Deputy President and President of South Africa....

I find the 'bail-out' more than skeptical. There has been a lot of unnatural 'waves' of the market under Bush.

Henry Paulson came into a more than lacklust administration on July 3, 2006 and all of a sudden everything turns around UNTIL January 2008.


You can say what you want, but, there is something more than strange about this market.




Stock indices regardless of the 'times' usually follow reasonably predictable growth.



Sure there are the ups and downs, and its the ups everyone wants to catch and ride the wave, like the "Dot.com Bubble," but, for the most part there is a predictable 'trend' line that dominates most stock market growth.

I believe there needs to be a more in-depth reveiw of the global markets before any bail out is issued. There is something a little 'too fishy' about all this and it all points toward Paulson. Are we dealing with an grossly artifically inflated market, of which needs a major adjustment? Is there something 'W'rong about a global construction slow down? I believe the 'frenzy' that Paulson is 'salesman' to is more his concern for the wealthy and not the people that 'shore-up' any economy, labor.

For the USA to be placed in a position of carrying 'global debt,' what does that do in the long run to 'entitlements' and the prospects of 'retooling' the USA infrastructure into an 'Clean Energy' economy?

I don't like it. I don't like any of it. It's all too manipulated and Paulson's priorities are hidden among the frenzy.

It would be better if 'Cooler Heads' took over and it was NOT the USA Treasury that was administering any debt, but, an autonomous legislative bureau that answered directly to Congressional Oversight Committee.

Paulson is the wrong person to trust, he is the wrong way to go. Hank is a little too worried about watching his '14,000 DOW Baby' crash. There is something very wrong here and it hasn't got to do with anything except gross market manipulations that were engineered by a man determined to undermine everything he deemed undesireable about global finance. This is a 'prelude' to 'The Fiscal World According to Henry.'

The powers Paulson seeks are wrong to give to him, they need to be directed into an autonomous bureaucracy (hate the word of course, but, hey like Henry says, it better than the alternative). What you say we set up another office and ask Greenspan to head the entire recovery? I think that would be far safer than this mess, and Greenspan could answer to Congress rather than be dictated to by the Executive Branch, the very people that 'caused' this mess. Ask Alan who he wants at his side, bar none, including Europe, Australia, China, Brazil, Russia, etc. Let Greenspan have some real clout and get to the bottom of this disaster !

That sounds more reasonable with a far greater element of safety than to trust Bush and Paulson with a trillion $US. If Paulson and Bush didn't have the expertise to head this off BEFORE it was an emergency than they don't have it now. The global markets will keep faith IF the USA is acting prudently. Prudent steps will continue investor confidence and if anyone can make 'the right decisions' Alan can. There is still some room to play. We have seen drops of 500 and with a DOW over 10,000 that isn't nearly the crisis Paulson wants us to believe it is.

4 Days and Counting...

First US greenhouse gas auction set for Sept. 25 (click here)
By Mary Esch
September 21, 2008
ALBANY, N.Y.—A coalition of 10 northeastern states this week will take steps to check global warming when it conducts the nation's first carbon auction, taking the same approach that curbed lake-killing acid rain.
Environmental groups, energy producers, and government leaders will be watching closely as the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative sells carbon credits Sept. 25 in the first of a series of quarterly online auctions. The cap-and-trade greenhouse gas reduction program, which aims to hold carbon dioxide emissions steady through 2014 and then gradually reduce them, is widely viewed as a model for future programs around the globe.
"With the leadership vacuum in Washington, it has fallen to the states to take the lead on combating climate change," said Richard Revesz, dean of the New York University School of Law and an expert on environmental law.
In July 2003, then-New York Gov. George Pataki brought together nine other governors to develop a regional strategy to limit carbon dioxide emissions from power plants. The bipartisan action followed President Bush's rejection of greenhouse gas reduction goals set under a 1997 United Nations protocol reached in Kyoto, Japan.
Governors in Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont joined Pataki in the coalition known as RGGI, or "Reggie." Other regional greenhouse gas coalitions, such as the Western Climate Initiative and the Midwestern Greenhouse Gas Accord, are in earlier stages of development....

PM Announces Government of Canada Will Extend Jurisdiction over Arctic Waters

Canadian Environment and Shipping Jurisdiction to be Enforced an Additional 100 Nautical

Miles Offshore
27 August 2008
Tuktoyaktuk, NT

The Government of Canada will extend its jurisdiction in the Arctic by doubling the range at which Canadian environmental laws and shipping regulations will be enforced, Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced today.“Whether it is the thawing of the Northwest Passage or the suspected resource riches under the Arctic seabed, more and more countries are taking an interest in the waterways of the Canadian Arctic,” said the Prime Minister. “We will be sending a clear message to the world that our environmental standards and sovereignty are not up for debate -- if you are in Canada’s Arctic you will be playing by Canada’s rules.”...

The Weather at Glacier Bay National Park (Crystal Wind Chime) is melting. Is there anything left to melt? Why do I get the feeling that Canada, Russia, Saudi Arabia and Iraq don't need the 'bailout bucks?' Why is that?

Elevation :: 33 ft / 10 m

Local Time :: 2:58 PM AKDT

Lat/Lon :: 58.8° N 137.0° W

Temperature :: 52 °F / 11 °C

Conditions :: Mostly Cloudy

Humidity :: 76%

Dew Point :: 45 °F / 7 °C

Wind :: 4 mph / 6 km/h / 1.5 m/s from the East

Pressure :: 30.02 in / 1016 hPa (Falling)

Visibility :: 10.0 miles / 16.1 kilometers

UV :: 1 out of 16

Clouds:
Mostly Cloudy 2400 ft / 731 m
Mostly Cloudy 3000 ft / 914 m
Mostly Cloudy 6000 ft / 1828 m
(Above Ground Level)

"Oppose the Treasury's Bailout Plan" - It ain't just me.

September 20, 2008, 4:46 pm
No deal (click here)
I hate to say this, but looking at the plan as leaked, I have to say no deal. Not unless Treasury explains, very clearly, why this is supposed to work, other than through having taxpayers pay premium prices for lousy assets.
As I posted earlier today, it seems all too likely that a “fair price” for mortgage-related assets will still leave much of the financial sector in trouble. And there’s nothing at all in the draft that says what happens next; although I do notice that there’s nothing in the plan requiring Treasury to pay a fair market price. So is the plan to pay premium prices to the most troubled institutions? Or is the hope that restoring liquidity will magically make the problem go away?...

Mine is not a political blog. I have political views, but I try to keep them out of my writing here, because they aren’t relevant to my readers. This is a rare point where the two worlds collide, and I have to take a political stand.
Let me state this plainly at the beginning of my piece, so that you know where I am going: I am asking all of my readers, and all of the financial bloggers that read me to call their Congressmen, and ask them to oppose the Bailout Plan as currently structured. I am also asking the financial bloggers to ask their readers to do the same thing.
I don’t do things like this often, so understand that I think that this bailout plan is very ill-conceived. I also think that opposing the bailout should appeal to all, regardless of party affiliation....




September 21, 2008
...Bring back the Resolution Trust Corporation, for real. Don’t do deals with solvent institutions. Let them figure out how to best maximize their financial positions on their own; after all, it was their great decisionmaking skills that got them into this.
But do do deals with insolvent companies. Take in their illiquid assets, reposition them, and auction them off once they are more saleable. To the extent that we bail out whole firms, make it so costly to the firms that it is clearly a last resort, as with Fannie, Freddie, and AIG.
I am willing to testify before Congress on this issue, not that I think that will happen. If anyone from Congress happens to read this and wants me to testify, please contact me here.
Finally, to any readers or financial bloggers that take me up on my request, I offer you a hearty thanks.

This is a 'Dumping Syndrome' Bill. Every 'bad debt' from the past will end up as the USA Taxpayers' Nightmare, whether it was generated by Subprime Lending or Not. The whole lot of them belong in prison. The Republican majority Congress of 2000 to 2006 raised the national debt limit every year after 9/11. The Democrats haven't done any of that up to now. I guess Bush's administration had to 'get their way' somehow !


FACTBOX: Key facts on U.S. Treasury's proposed mortgage fund (click here)
Buy any mortgage-related assets, both residential and commercial, for a two-year period. The types of mortgage assets this could cover and how long the government could hold them is left wide open, as is how they would be valued.
* Up to $700 billion in mortgage assets could be bought at any one time
* Broad authority granted to decide how to purchase, manage and dispose of the assets, including setting up a special fund and naming financial institutions to work for the Treasury Department.
* Assets must have been originated or issued before September 17, 2008, by a bank or financial institution with U.S. headquarters
* The Treasury Secretary would be given these powers to ensure stability or prevent disruption of financial markets and to protect the taxpayer
* No court or government agency could review the secretary's decisions. The secretary would report to Congress within the first three months and then twice yearly
* The U.S. debt limit would be increased by $700 billion to fund the plan, to $11.315 trillion from $10.615 trillion.

That vortex on the 14th finally started to become a tropical storm. It takes awhile to work up enough water vapor these days.

Rainfall rarity: Precipitation totals seen once every 25 years (click here)
09/21/2008, 9:53 am
By Leila Noelliste
lnoelliste@daily-journal.com
815-802-5144
You could call it the perfect storm.
Key factors came together to make last weekend's intense rain and flooding a very powerful and unusual experience. The rain dumped close to 9 inches in some towns, and Illinois State Climatologist Jim Angel classifies it as a 25-year storm, not likely to happen again within the next two and a half decades.
"With a lot of those rainfall totals, we're talking about a 25-year storm. And some of those totals that are over 8.75 inches could be described as 100-year storms, expected to happen once every 100 years, on average," he said.
The rains were powered by Hurricane Ike, which traveled north to Illinois after battering Texas. According to Angel, most hurricanes would have lost most of their power after leaving the heat and moisture of the tropics, but Ike stayed strong, unleashing wind and heavy rain on the Midwest....


September 17, 2008
Peru, Illinois
Photographer states :: Flooded Illinois River In Peru, Illinois.


September 18, 2008
Seabrook, Texas
Photographer states :: damage from ike at houston yacht club in la porte texas and seabrook sailing club in seabrook tx


September 21, 2008
1730z
UNISYS Enhanced Infrared GOES East Satellite

It was a Timothy McVeigh style bombing. Similar to the bombing in 1993 of the WTC.

This is going to go on until the Returning Government of Pakistan can gain cooperation with the tribal areas and bring in terrorist elements in the country.

Recent bomb attacks in Pakistan (click here)

20 Sep 2008, 2145 hrs IST,AGENCIES

Here is a list of major attacks in Pakistan since January 2008.

January 10: Twenty people, mostly policemen, killed in suicide bomb attack outside Lahore High Court.

January 14: Bomb kills 10 people at a market in Karachi.

February 9: Suicide bomber kills 25 people at an opposition election rally in the northwestern town of Charsadda.

February 11 : Nine killed in suicide bombing at an election meeting of an independent candidate in North Waziristan.

February 16 : Suicide car bomber strikes a rally of Pakistan People's Party in the northwestern town of Parachinar, killing 37.

February 22: Roadside bomb hits wedding party in Swat, killing at least 14.

February 25: Suicide bomber kills army surgeon Lieutenant General Mushtaq Baig and seven others in Rawalpindi.

February 29 : Forty-four killed in a suicide blast in Mingora in northwest Swat valley during the funeral of three policemen killed by a roadside bomb earlier in the day.

March 2: Suicide bomber kills 43 at tribal elders convention in the northwestern district of Darra Adam Khel.

March 4: Two suicide bombers attack Pakistan Naval War College in Lahore, killing five people.

March 10 : Suicide truck bombings target Federal Investigation Agency building in Lahore; 26 killed.

March 15: Bomb blast at a restaurant in Islamabad kills a woman and wounds 10 others, including four FBI men.

July 2: Suicide car bomb outside the Danish embassy in Islamabad kills eight.

July 6: Fifteen killed in suicide attack on policemen during a rally to mark the anniversary of Lal Masjid raid.

August 12: Roadside bomb attack targets Pakistan Air Force bus in Peshawar, killing 13.

August 19 : Twenty-three killed in suicide attack on a hospital in northwestern Dera Ismail Khan town.

August 21: At least 78 killed in twin suicide attacks outside Pakistan's main ordnance factory in Wah.

August 28: Nine persons, mostly policemen, killed in roadside bombing in North West Frontier Province.

September 6: Thirty people were killed and 70 injured in suicide bombing near a police check post in Peshawar.