McCain can't quit Bush. Can't and won't. He needs the base and the money.

Came across this picture, which appears in Paul Begala's book, Third Term: Why George W. Bush (Hearts) John McCain. These two are inextricably linked.


I don't think McCain wants to quit Bush. McCain married into a lot of money, you know, after he dumped his first wife for Cindy. Actually, he was still married to his first wife when he started dating the young beer heiress. Money clearly matters to McCain. He sticks with Bush for the money, too. Read the rest of this post...

HP to chop 24,600 jobs

The Republican economy takes its toll, again. After the third quarter GDP numbers come out, we will be seeing much more of these reports.

P.S. One of McCain's top advisers, Carly Fiorina, used to run HP. She got herself a "$21 million severance package" when she was shown the door. Read the rest of this post...

Obama hit McCain hard today

This is good. It's what a lot of people have been wanting to see. This is very good.

Read the rest of this post...

Palin installed a $400 tanning bed at the governor's mansion

I understand these sell well on eBay. Ben Smith and Al Giordano have more. Oh, and remember, the media had no problem making fun of John Edwards' $400 haircut... Read the rest of this post...

The Palin-McCain Bridge to Somewhere

McCain's free ride on the lies may be at an end. Great stuff from Tom Toles. Read the rest of this post...

AIG asks for it's own Bridge to Nowhere

Why would taxpayers want to extend a $40 billion bridge loan to AIG? This company has been mismanaged and gambled, so good luck figuring out how to make ends meet like everyone else. Maybe AIG should have spent more time worrying about being a sound company instead of making sure their CEO was showered with riches. Read the rest of this post...

Biden jumps on McCain's "fundamental strong economy" story

Let's just say Joe isn't giving McCain the same free pass that Obama handed out. Read the rest of this post...

Rumors that the Fed will cut interest rates

Absolutely not. Wall Street has already been propped up when they should have been left to die and if this rumor is true, the average American will again get shafted. Wall Street asks and asks and asks but remember, when the tables are turned we all know how much they give a damn about everyone else. There is no reason that we ought to push inflation up again because that is what a rate cut will do. We are now all stuck with Wall Street's problems in terms of debt, higher taxes (yes, they are coming) and a stagnant economy once we hit the bottom. The last thing consumers need is higher inflation now that oil prices are finally "lowering" to just under $100. A rate cut will do nothing to stop the dropping real estate prices nor will it help Americans live any easier. It will only help Wall Street, who only helps themselves.

Let Wall Street find their own way out of their self-create problem. Well, self-create with the help of friendly Republicans such as Phil Gramm and John McCain, that is. Let them pay for their own damned bailout and pay for their own damned wars. If the rich want it so badly, create a fund and leave the rest of us out. Enough is enough. Read the rest of this post...

Polls suggest Palin's star is fading; but don't forget, she did wonders for our base too

Markos analyzes some polls showing Palin not doing as well as she was a week ago, by a long shot. And one point the media hasn't realized yet - Palin energized our side too. Above is a chart of our monthly traffic, visitors (yellow) and page views (yellow plus orange) over the past four months. Note that halfway into this month, it's September 15, we're already where we were at the end of each of the past four months. That's due to the Republican convention and Palin. Why do I say that? Check out the daily traffic, below.



The week of August 25 was the Democratic Convention. As you'll see in the chart above, traffic bumped up a little - to around 73,000 readers a day and 80,000 page views a day - but not a bump to write home about. Then on Friday August 29, the day after the Democratic Convention finished, and a day that is traditional our worst week day of traffic, our traffic spikes. That morning, John McCain announced Sarah Palin as his pick. Our traffic spiked on that day to 92,000 visitors and 100,000 page views. (Note that I copied the chart at around 5pm Eastern on Sept 15, so that day's results aren't reported in full.)

The next week was the GOP convention. Our traffic that week, with all the Plain controversies flying in the news, our traffic jumped to around 150,000 readers a day and 160,000 page views a day - compared to the 73,000 and 80,000 we saw during the Democratic convention. Palin doubled our traffic, and last week our traffic is still 65% higher than it was during the Democratic convention.

So, yes, Palin has done wonders for the base of the Republican party. She's done wonders for the base of our party too. Read the rest of this post...

Obama hits McCain

As my grandmother would say, Xristos kai panayia mou (that would be the Greek version of FINALLY). This is good stuff from Obama today:

Obama argued here today that McCain's earlier statement that the fundamentals of the economy are strong shows that the GOP presidential nominee is out of touch with voters' economic concerns.

Obama, in fact, said that voters must ask themselves whether they can afford to vote for McCain. “He doesn’t get what’s happening between the mountain in Sedona where he lives and the corridors of power where he works,” he said. “Think about this: We just woke up to news of financial disaster and this morning he said that the fundamentals of the economy are still strong. Sen. McCain, what economy are you talking about?”

Saying change was not just a slogan, Obama bashed McCain for hiring lobbyists to run his campaign while at the same time promising to change Washington. He quipped that if you believed those lobbyists were working for the Arizona senator only to put themselves out of business “I’ve got a bridge to sell you up in Alaska.”

Now, one thing that McCain and the Republicans do well is hitting on the same theme over and over again. These jabs are welcome, and they show the public that your candidate can fight too. But I would like to see us keep repeating some of these jabs, at least the ones that work. The bridge line is cute, keep it up. The houses line was cute too, we didn't keep that one up after about two weeks. McCain finds a theme and doesn't let it go - he's been talking "celebrity" for a good two months now - McCain's campaign even keeps to message when it's wrong (Palin's "thanks but no thanks). If the houses line works, or any other zinger, works, don't drop it. Read the rest of this post...

When in doubt, make out

Check out the two guys in the background.

Read the rest of this post...

Dow drops over 500 points today, but no worries, John McCain thinks the economy is strong.

Today, this is what John McCain thinks: "The fundamentals of our economy are strong." Now, to be fair (and we always have to go overboard to be fair to McCain) when John McCain was talking about "our economy," he might have been referring to the McCain family's economy, which, thanks to Cindy, is quite strong. The McCain family economy is so strong that John McCain doesn't know how many houses he owns.

And, lest we forget, McCain has been through bank failures before. He played a key role in the failure of Lincoln Savings and Loan back in the late 80s. McCain helped out his "constituent" Charles Keating:

[McCain] had adopted the blanket defense that Keating was a constituent and that he had every right to ask his senators for help. In attending the meetings, McCain said, he simply wanted to make sure that Keating was treated like any other constituent.

Keating was no ordinary constituent to McCain.

On Oct. 8, 1989, The Arizona Republic revealed that McCain's wife and her father had invested $359,100 in a Keating shopping center in April 1986, a year before McCain met with the regulators.

The paper also reported that the McCains, sometimes accompanied by their daughter and baby-sitter, had made at least nine trips at Keating's expense, sometimes aboard the American Continental jet. Three of the trips were made during vacations to Keating's opulent Bahamas retreat at Cat Cay.

McCain also did not pay Keating for some of the trips until years after they were taken, after he learned that Keating was in trouble over Lincoln. Total cost: $13,433.

When the story broke, McCain did nothing to help himself.

"You're a liar," McCain said when a Republic reporter asked him about the business relationship between his wife and Keating.

"That's the spouse's involvement, you idiot," McCain said later in the same conversation. "You do understand English, don't you?"

He also belittled reporters when they asked about his wife's ties to Keating.

"It's up to you to find that out, kids."

The paper ran the story.

The McCain family doesn't live like the rest of us.

Also, same article reports "Lincoln was the most expensive failure in the national S&L; scandal. Taxpayers lost more than $2 billion on the bailout." Read the rest of this post...

Phil Gramm's UBS prepares for new write-down of $5 billion

Who ever would have guessed? This ought to help boost confidence in the markets. Anyone who says they know how much bad business is still out there to be written down is a liar. Elite Swiss bank UBS is of course Phil Gramm's employer. Gramm helped pave the way for this risky business behavior while while in the Senate and then accepted a plum $1 million/year job with the previously high flying bank. Gramm is also McCain's economic brain and likely choice to run the Treasury Department where Henry Paulson now works. Can you imagine?

"The bad news is that the banking crisis is not over and that there are still lots of bad credits around," Claude Zehnder, head of research for technical trading at Zuercher Kantonalbank, said.

"Also, the possibility has arisen this weekend of further writedowns," he added.

UBS announced last month writedowns had climbed a further $5 billion in the second quarter to top $42 billion, and said it was splitting the investment bank that had dragged it into the red from its core wealth management business.

Read the rest of this post...

McCain flip-flops on regulation for Wall Street, wobbles on solution

Months into the credit crisis, McCain openly admitted that "economics is not something I've understood" which is remarkable, though he suggested the economy would be a key issue in this election. Months later, McCain went on to suggest that his answer to the Wall Street meltdown was "less regulation and lower taxes" as if that strategy had actually worked. Now that Wall Street is crumbling as a result of McCain's poor judgment in economy policies, McCain sees which way the wind is blowing and decides to suddenly endorse more regulation. So which McCain will show up tomorrow?

Even I'm confused after listening to his flailing and now pandering on the campaign trail. McCain is parsing his words hoping that some will think he actually wants regulation, when in fact he doesn't. He wants to change the model but he doesn't want to change the actual regulation. To McCain and his close friend and UBS employee Phil Gramm, the government needs to stay away from business. Let business be business, if you will. That said, the second business goes south, Gramm is at the front of the line asking for more corporate welfare so that regular Americans can foot the bill for radical gambling by Wall Street CEOs. Read the rest of this post...

Nobody likes John McCain

Huff Post has more.

Read the rest of this post...

Merrill Lynch Chief Investment Strategist: No bottom in sight to problems

Wall Street cheerleaders have been telling everyone that a rebound is right around the corner ever since the credit crisis hit last summer. The only people still believing that are George Bush and John McCain- that's why McCain again this morning told us that the economy is GREAT! Main Street is no longer buying the BS. Bush departs with his second recession in motion and one that the world will remember for a while. McCain still is confused, not quite sure if he knows anything about economics and still believing the lie that the "fundamentals of the economy are very strong."

Richard Bernstein, chief investment strategist at Merrill Lynch, said in a note that didn't mention his own firm that it's too early to call a bottom.

"Whereas many may argue that this weekend's events are the events signaling a bottom to the global financial crisis, we continue to believe that the global financial sector will go through massive consolidation for quite some time. Simply put, there is too much capacity in the financial sector, and that capacity must shrink," he said.

Read the rest of this post...

John McCain, who admits he knows nothing about economics, thinks the economy is going great!

Then again, if I had twelve houses, and my top economic adviser was the guy who created this entire crisis in the first place, I'd think so too.

Read the rest of this post...

'Failed Philosophy'

A reader writes:

Hi John,

Long time reader, but this is the first time I’ve been compelled to write directly. I’ve just read the Obama statement on the economy and I just wanted to start beating my head into the nearest drywall. The tag line the Obama camp seems to be going with is ‘Failed Philosophy’. How does this come close to communicating what happened this morning? We’re not in this mess because of a high-level theoretical argument of regulation vs. deregulation. We’re here because the people in charge of overseeing and guiding the economy are grossly incompetent at their jobs. I’m sorry, but ‘Failed Philosophy’ strikes me as the weakest, most watered down angle on which to attack this.

-peter

Read the rest of this post...

CountTheLies.org

New Website from the Democratic party, presenting a live tally of McCain's lies. This is good. More from the Washington Post. (The link is fixed.) Read the rest of this post...

The Sunday night Wall Street tsunami, Part II: Where do we go from here?

This is part II of my analysis. You can read Part I here.

The list of troubled companies is too long to even list and it's spread across almost every vertical market. Wall Street is begging for money, retailers are having their worst patch in decades, restaurants are looking for diners, the airline industry is running out of cash again, Detroit is lining up their own $50 billion taxpayer loan and consumers have stopped spending with wild abandon. If the Fed and Treasury jump in to save another high roller who lost, where would it all end and where would the money come from? As a country and as individuals, we do not have the spare cash because we sold our debt to China, who has their own economic problems coming and who are probably fed up with our lousy debt anyway. This brings us back to this previous post that kicks around the idea of the US going beyond a recession and into a depression. The numbers involved with bailouts and failures are beyond anything we have experienced in a long time so while the odds are still remote, it's not unthinkable.

The question now is where do we go from here? For starters, the 900 pound gorilla in the room (the bad economy) is now going to be impossible for the campaigns to avoid. Obama needs to jump out immediately and make this the critical issue of 2008. It's been sitting there for months on end and he has repeatedly failed to develop a clear and forceful message. This is a serious issue that impacts all Americans and we know that without lying, McCain is unable to deliver a strong message on the economy. Besides not knowing anything about it, his economic advisers are befuddled and were hoping it would somehow go away. Then again, maybe McCain did know it was coming via his economic brain Phil Gramm (who works with UBS), and that's why they chose silly side show topics like lipstick, to divert attention from the economy. Heaven forbid a presidential candidate talks about a serious issue.

Whether we like it or not, Americans are stuck with the burden of the housing bubble, especially since last week's nationalization of Freddie/Fannie. The costs of the war and now the cost of the credit crisis will severely limit spending options for the next President. There is only so much debt the US can accept before the issue of tax increases are forced on the country. Foreign buyers are watching this implosion and are not interested in buying more. Without tax increases and budget cutbacks, Americans are in for a painful reduction in the standard of living made possible by easy credit.

Obama needs to hammer away at this shaky economy and tell us his plan for the future. If we're all going to be in this together - and with our money propping up banks and others, we are - how can our next economic run benefit us as a country? This last economic cycle left a few very wealthy. They walked away unscathed - some even accumulated 12 houses - compared to Americans who have lost their houses, their jobs and their retirement all while watching their income stagnate for decades. (Sure the execs could have made more, but being pushed out with $60 million ain't so bad.) Obama has a short window to make his case to the public before McCain steals away another talking point, like "change". The economy will not suddenly get better and in all likelihood the GDP growth for this quarter (ending this month) will be negative. Obama has doddled long on enough but we can be sure that everyone in America will be listening to this issue today. Whether Obama chooses to lead Americans or stay on the sidelines remains to be seen. Read the rest of this post...

The Sunday night Wall Street tsunami, Part I: What happened?

(NOTE FROM JOHN: I apologize in advance for Chris' tone criticizing Senator McCain over the economic crisis. Obviously he didn't get the Obama campaign memo explaining that this crisis is NOT John McCain's fault - that's what Obama said this morning, not John McCain's fault. No mention of "whiners," no mention of McCain admitting he knows nothing of the economy (gee, McCain as "inexperienced," no we wouldn't want to make his head explode with that charge), no mention of McCain's other adviser writing an op ed this weekend scolding Americans for thinking the economy has problems, no mention of McCain's other banking crisis he very much caused, the Keating Five, no mention of McCain now supporting Bush's tax cuts. So please, Chris, get with the program.)

If ever there was a moment in history that proved just how out of touch McCain is about the economy, it was last night. Yesterday he even had an economic adviser propping up the economy, scolding Americans for buying into the "media-created problems" related to the credit crisis, as if Wall Street gambling and heavy payouts had nothing to do with it. For those wondering why McCain has been focusing on silly non-issues like lipstick, here you go. He admits that he knows nothing about the economy and has no answers.

For starters, what the heck happened last night? Lehman Brothers, founded in 1850 and made it through the Great Depression, fell victim to the credit crisis. The housing bubble extended Lehman too much with bad loans and potential buyers from the US or Europe were uninterested in snatching up the business without significant US government financial assistance, as witnessed with the Bear Stearns bailout. Some were interested in the good pieces (those without debt) but the weight of bad debt was too high, with too much risk. Overall the industry generated roughly $1 trillion in bad money during the credit crisis so the numbers could drag even the largest companies under. The fact that everyone in banking and finance has billions in bad loans also contributed to the caution.

It was very significant to see Henry Paulson and the Fed *not* step in with direct assistance. Yes, the Federal Reserve is extending the free (half the rate of inflation) loans to Wall Street, an extraordinary process that started earlier this year. This is a cost to American taxpayers though not as expensive as a bailout. The Fed has also brokered a $70 billion fund for troubled banks to use and this is exclusively a private initiative by global banks, based on the information provided so far. If this fund keeps this group of bums out of our pockets, fine, but I suspect in one shape or form they will all pass along the cost to normal people. Time will tell.

Of course, Lehman wasn't the only story last night. Since Stanley O'Neal walked away with $161.5 million despite driving the company into the ground, Merrill Lynch has been the center of financial trouble rumors. On Sunday night, Merrill "merged" with Bank of America in a pure stock sale, no cash. This "merger" was yet another act of desperation on Wall Street due to the housing crash, which they all feasted on with jumbo profits and paychecks. To reach out to them with financial assistance is a violation of the what a true free enterprise economy is all about. Jobs will be lost, but let's not forget that these are the people who stoked the housing bubble fires and who were paid well beyond the imagination of most Americans.

Also in the news late Sunday night was long-troubled insurer AIG, another failure who overextended themselves in the housing bubble. And yes, another company who showered their CEO in riches, who still has that money as the company crumbles based on his bad decisions. (Great work, when you can get it.) AIG is asking the US taxpayers to kindly pass along a bridge loan of $40 billion to help them get through tough times. Is there really a polite way to say "sod off" or do we even need to be polite with these spongers? Call in Nancy Reagan and "just say no" to them all.

Let them fail or else they will drag us all under water with bad debt. Investor Wilbur Ross is saying that we could possibly see 1,000 banks in US fail as they did after the John McCain Keating Five/S&L; crisis in the 1980s. The flashy banks and financial services companies all wanted the rugged free enterprise system for those with the least but CEO socialism for those at the top. Let them go under and let them live with the consequences, just as the rest of Americans who have been on the receiving end of the credit crisis.

Now read Part II, Where do we go from here. Read the rest of this post...

Obama's new ad hits McCain hard for the lies and deception

The torrent of criticism against McCain for his blatant lying has been turned into an ad by the Obama campaign. In the ad, you'll see McCain say he won't take the "low road." Ha. McCain's campaign spokesman admitted the campaign is lying and doesn't care what people think about that. This ad may change that equation.

Read the rest of this post...

Obama: "This country can't afford another four years of this failed philosophy"

The US has avoided a serious debate on the failed economic policies of the Bush-McCain years and today, Obama kicked it off forcefully. It's high time we engaged in a serious discussion and let's hear what the Republicans have to say for their failed policies. Here's the full statement.

“This morning we woke up to some very serious and troubling news from Wall Street.

“The situation with Lehman Brothers and other financial institutions is the latest in a wave of crises that are generating enormous uncertainty about the future of our financial markets. This turmoil is a major threat to our economy and its ability to create good-paying jobs and help working Americans pay their bills, save for their future, and make their mortgage payments.

“The challenges facing our financial system today are more evidence that too many folks in Washington and on Wall Street weren’t minding the store. Eight years of policies that have shredded consumer protections, loosened oversight and regulation, and encouraged outsized bonuses to CEOs while ignoring middle-class Americans have brought us to the most serious financial crisis since the Great Depression.

“I certainly don’t fault Senator McCain for these problems, but I do fault the economic philosophy he subscribes to. It’s a philosophy we’ve had for the last eight years – one that says we should give more and more to those with the most and hope that prosperity trickles down to everyone else. It’s a philosophy that says even common-sense regulations are unnecessary and unwise, and one that says we should just stick our heads in the sand and ignore economic problems until they spiral into crises.

“Well now, instead of prosperity trickling down, the pain has trickled up – from the struggles of hardworking Americans on Main Street to the largest firms of Wall Street.

“This country can’t afford another four years of this failed philosophy. For years, I have consistently called for modernizing the rules of the road to suit a 21st century market – rules that would protect American investors and consumers. And I’ve called for policies that grow our economy and our middle-class together. That is the change I am calling for in this campaign, and that is the change I will bring as President,” said Senator Barack Obama.

Read the rest of this post...

Monday Morning Open Thread

Good morning.

What the hell did George Bush do to the U.S. economy? It's beyond stunning. The collapse of Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch isn't like the failure of some risky start up company. Both of those firms have been around for decades. They've been pillars of Wall Street. They're gone. That didn't happen overnight. It took years.

This election is about the economy. No wonder McCain and Palin are doing everything possible to change the subject.

Let's get it started... Read the rest of this post...

World market respond to Sunday night Wall Street tsunami

Update: CAC40 (France) now down 5.58%, DAX (Germany) down 3.97% and FTSE (UK) down 4.67%. Dow futures (pre-market) are now down 377 points.

And it ain't a pretty sight to see. We already know what McCain thinks because his economic adviser thinks we're all exaggerating, that these are the best of times. McCain admits he doesn't know anything about economics, so he relies on clever folks such as Phil "whiner" Gramm and Donald Luskin.

Limited trading in Asia but Taiwan is down 4% and Singapore over 3% down. At midday in Europe it's a bloodbath with the DAX, FTSE and CAC40 all down over 3%. Wall Street futures have been reportedly down 300 points and rumors of "chaos" and "panic" are everywhere.

The Bush/McCain Republicans set this up and friends became very rich. Now we're all stuck with the bill and the Republicans who created this financial crisis are nowhere to be seen. Phil Gramm, McCain's close friend and economic brain, is puzzled about what went wrong but that's still not going to make up for the hundreds of billions of dollars in debt that we now own as a nation. More later on the Wall Street tsunami. Read the rest of this post...

US leads the world in economic loss from violent crime

So naturally the NRA and their Republican friends believe that the answer to violent crime is more guns. That's the policy they have been pitching in recent years after hideous attacks such as the Virginia Tech shootings. The bloodlust in the GOP, both foreign and domestic, has always been morally wrong but now it is clear that it's also costing the country a lot of money.

The United States leads the world in economic loss from deaths caused by armed crime, according to a global survey released Friday.

The U.S. registered an estimated loss of up to $45.1 billion in terms of economic productivity because of violent crimes, said the report by the U.N. Development Program and the Geneva-based Small Arms Survey.

At least 490,000 people are killed in armed crimes each year worldwide, placing a huge economic cost and social burden on nations, the report said.

Read the rest of this post...

With financial institutions in ruins, McCain economic adviser lectures Americans that everything is fine

Oops. Bad timing for one of McCain's top economic advisers to be penning an op ed in the Washington Post lecturing Americans to suck it up and stop exaggerating (rhymes with whining) about how bad the economy is. This guy looks like an idiot. And he makes McCain look like an idiot. I sure hope tomorrow is economy day in Obama land.

Just as importantly, consider the fact that McCain's top economic advisers are clearly divorced from the reality of what's really happening to our economy. Does that sound familiar to anyone? John McCain trying to call black white. Trying to peddle lies as truth. Whether he's attacking Obama, praising Palin, or trying to convince Americans that the economy is just swell and they're nuts to think otherwise, John McCain has decided that lying to you is the best way to win the election. Either that, or McCain has lost his mind. And let's not forget, McCain already admitted that he knows nothing about the economy. An inexperienced economic novice who only cares about fighting (and starting) wars. What a great man to pick as our president with the economy on the brink.

(Chris wrote more about McCain's idiotic economics adviser earlier today, as did Joe about the exploding financial crisis.) Read the rest of this post...