Money Beat

McCain's course correction reflects a growing case of nerves within his high command as the electoral map has shifted significantly in Obama's favor in the past two weeks.

"It's a dangerous road, but we have no choice," a top McCain strategist told the Daily News. "If we keep talking about the economic crisis, we're going to lose."

Country First McCain????

You know what? Let it correct. Let the lenders who made all these bad loans fail. Let the market drop. Then maybe just maybe the lesson will be learned. Because guess what? Joe Blow is not going to get any help regardless, layoffs will still happen so lets let some wall street go down with the rest of us.

The economy needs to contract. Debt needs to be liquidated. Nothing Paulson or Bernanke does can avoid these facts. I just find it ironic that just a few months ago Bernanke and Paulson said the economy was fundamentally good and sound. Ron Paul said Fannie and Freddie were going to crash in 2002. Peter Schiff, Paul's economis advisor, has been saying that the housing market would crash for better than 5 years now. I guess we see who was right. Why trust Bernanke and Paulson with our money when they seem blind to the situation at hand?

OBAMA IS A PURE JOKE....
OBAMA CANNOT FIX THE ECONOMY....OR
ANYBODY ELSE AT THIS MOMENT.....
OBAMA WILL DESTROY THE ECONOMY
BY RAISING TAXES TO ALL AMERICANS....
ALSO OBAMA IS WEAK ON DEFENSE AND FOREIGN POLICY ISSUES.....
OBAMA'S CONNECTIONS WITH ANTI-AMERICANS
MAKES HIM UN-FIT FOR COMMANDER IN CHIEF..

BEST CHOICE THIS TIME IN HISTORY IS:

McCAIN/PALIN '08

This was a very informative piece. It let's me know that this wall street turmoil has happened before and they have set in place guidelines that would prevent wall street from going down uncharted water(a crash).

Vince-food for thought - Makes you feel warm and cozy, eh?

Nicholas - McCain is a joke too! I started laughing after his 100 years in Iraq comment, and his song about bombing Iran.

This is to Nicholas- your right, obama doesn't have much foreign policy experience. That's why he chose as his vp a man with 30 yrs of it. You obviosly don't know who Joe biden is. To say the least, Biden has respect from many nations, and even republicans know that. Obama has admitted that that is his weakness-just as mccain's weakness is the economy-but he chose Sarah Palin as his vp and that doesn't help his weakness at all. JUST FOOD FOR THOUGHT....i WOULD LOVE FOR U TO RESPOND.

THIS IS TO HUH-YEAH YOUR RIGHT IT DOES KIND OF REMIND ME OF YOUR MOM- WARM AND COZY...LOL- GOTTA COME HARDER THAN THAT

this is to HUH (WHATEVER THE HELL THAT STANDS FOR)- YEAH YOUR RIGHT, IT DOES KINDA REMIND ME OF YOUR MOTHER, WARM AND COZY....LOL....GOTTA COME HARDER THAN THAT...

VINCE-FOOD FOR THOUGHT - Ok here it comes. I would expect better from you being an Obama supporter. Oh well you guys are clueless just like the McCain warmongers. My whole point is: What if the market drops 9% a day for the next 3 days, 4 days, 5 days? The controls that you admire will do little to stop the bleeding.

Don't worry,be happy.....soon the messiah (aka econonmic Kevorkian) will make everything better

HUH- All i was impliying was that I was happy and somewhat releived with the information provided in the piece. Secondly, you must admit it was a great joke, but i hope you didn't take any offense to it. So I take it your an independant?

VINCE-FOOD FOR THOUGHT - I know it was a joke. I didn't get worked up about the joke. The economy does have me bummed out at the moment. I know there are a lot of people struggling much worse than I. I am an independent who registered as a rep to push Ron Paul's platform through the GOP. I attended the convention to run for state delegate out here in NM. I listened to Steve Pearce, Darrne White, Heather Wilson, Pete Dominici and others talk about how we need to police the world and kill Persians. I guess they had to put those ideas on the backburner because of our impending bankruptcy which of course they had no idea was coming. I choose Obama over McCain for diversity and foreign policy.

Look at what was passed in Congress since 1987to now. And you will see WE gave the ROBBERS the GUN and BAG to do it. Just so you know it was a writen document of LAW...CFMA.

The longer you postpone the correction and keep prices up while inflating and devauling the currency you will create a tsunami of economic disaster. Simply the price structure wil not be able to be supported with the devalued dollar. Either let the failures occur so there can be a cleansing of the trough. Or keeping papering over and clogging it up until it implodes. By passing this bailout of the bankers and throwing in all of the pork to buy off the congress, our financial death warrant has been signed, and we are headed for a HARD fall into depression. Special thanks to Barney Frank and the Democrats the pushed the "community reinvestment act" onto the American people and Barack Obama for continuing to stand in the way of reform of this act so low income loans could continue to be issued, while the economy began to contract. Remember the people who are running for President (McCain AND Obama) REFUSED to stop this. And now we all get to pay their bills with money we DON'T HAVE!!! But the good news is that China can now send troops on OUR soil to protect THEIR assets. Like the Presidio in San Francisco. GOD BLESS AMERICHINA!!! God bless President Bush/Zemin!!!

Yeah, the economy is heading for a recession. Many of us will be out of works. It's time to vote for McSame so he can keep us busy with a few more wars like Iraq.

Man we are screwed ...

to HUH- IM GLAD YOU MADE THAT DESCISION. I TO, HAVE THE SAME WORRIES ABOUT OUR TROUBLED TIMES-ANXIETY. BUT IN THE END I BELEIVE EVERYTHING WILL WORK ITSELF OUT.

Too late. The fat cats already have the money. That's what the bailout was for. To stabilize the markets just long enough for them to be able to sell or liquidate a significant portion of their assets and move them offshore to "safe havens". I predicted this would happen right here on this blog two weeks ago. From an accounting standpoint the only reason you order more life preservers thrown on board a sinking ship is to allow more people to escape. The ships going down no matter what you do. I'm not the only economist that said that this bailout would do nothing for main street. It was only a move designed to allow the uber rich to preserve the value of, liquidate, then secure and move their assets offshore with their values intact. Has anyone bothered to look at the price of gold lately. The devils in the details folks. You said no to the bailout and they passed it anyway. Democratic markets in the United States are dead. Here's another prediction. If the stock market continues it's current dive into the coming week expect to see FEMA activated. Why FEMA? Go look it up.

Get to the banks while you still can and pull your money out. Though it'll be worthless soon, at the very least you can have something to look at to falsely reassure yourself that at least you tried to do something to help your family. This is it ya'll! Stock Markets drops 800 in one day and still falling. This is whats called abandoning ship. And just like on the Titanic, only the rich will be allowed lifeboats first. Us working class folks get to go down with the ship. And the moral of the story is that government, when it comes to money, will screw you every time.

This just shows that the private side of the financial market has to have transparency like the public side. And while the trough is being cleansed, what about a citizen revolt to remove every single rep and senator? They're the ones who de-regulated and failed to exercise any over-sight. Dems and Repo-licans!

HELP - WE NEED SOMEBODY NOT JUST ANYBODY

This why I'm voting for Obama.Us Dems always have to end up cleaning the messes left by greedy Republicans & Obama represents the kind of FDR New Deal Democrat this country needs.Thank God he has always placed Great Men to save this country when we weve needed it.-JP

I can't begin to tell you how excited I am that 95% of all Americans are getting a tax cut, and ALL Americans will have free high quality universal healthcare and free Ivy league college education. When Obama's in office, it's going to feel like we all won the lottery!! How does he do it?? . . . Who cares!!

I feel as though I am watching a nuclear explosion from 5 miles away. I don't think this can be fixed by anyone . praise george.

Law makers are too busy to figure it out.
Whoever T. J. Birkenmeier is, I sincerely salute him.
I’m against the $85,000,000,000.00 bailout of AIG.

Instead, I’m in favor of giving $85,000,000,000 to America in
a We Deserve It Dividend.
To make the math simple, let’s assume there are 200,000,000
legal U.S. Citizens 18+.
Our population is about 301,000,000 +/- counting every man, woman
and child. So 200,000,000 might be a fair stab at adults 18 and up..

So divide 200 million adults 18+ into $85 billon that equals $425,000.00.

My plan is to give $425,000 to every person 18+ as a
We Deserve It Dividend.
Of course, it would NOT be tax free.
So let’s assume a tax rate of 30%.
Every individual 18+ has to pay $127,500.00 in taxes.
That sends $25,500,000,000 right back to Uncle Sam.
But it means that every adult 18+ has $297,500.00 in their pocket.
A husband and wife have $595,000.00.

What would you do with $297,500.00 to $595,000.00 in your family?
Pay off your mortgage – housing crisis solved.
Repay college loans – what a great boost to new grads
Put away money for college – it’ll be there
Save in a bank – create money to loan to entrepreneurs.
Buy a new car – create jobs
Invest in the market – capital drives growth
Pay for your parent’s medical insurance – health care improves
Enable Deadbeat Dads to come clean – or else

Remember this is for every adult U S Citizen 18+ including the folks
who lost their jobs at Lehman Brothers and every other company
that is cutting back and of course, for those serving in our Armed Forces.

If we’re going to re-distribute wealth let’s really do it...instead of trickling out
a puny $1000.00 ( “vote buy” ) economic incentive that is being proposed by one of our candidates for President.

If we’re going to do an $85 billion bailout, let’s bail out every adult U S Citizen 18+!

As for AIG – liquidate it.
Sell off its parts.
Let American General go back to being American General.
Sell off the real estate.
Let the private sector bargain hunters cut it up and clean it up.

Here’s my rationale. We deserve it and AIG doesn’t.

Sure it’s a crazy idea.
But can you imagine the Coast-To-Coast Block Party!

How do you spell Economic Boom?

I trust my fellow adult Americans to know how to use the $85 Billion
We Deserve It Dividend more than I do the geniuses at AIG or in Washington DC .

And remember, The Birk plan only really costs $59.5 Billion because $25.5 Billion is returned instantly in taxes to Uncle Sam.

Ahhh...I feel so much better getting that off my chest.

Birk
T. J. Birkenmeier, A Creative Guy & Citizen of the Republic
PS: Feel free to pass this along to your pals as it’s either good for a laugh
or a tear or a very sobering thought on how to best use $85 Billion!!

“I’m pretty good with #’s and ok with engines just not great with words. I know that to make more horse power in an engine the fuel and exhaust have to be able to flow better. I believe that the above plan could work and maybe make our country grow again with new incentives and new business, new ideas, new investors, new land owners. Will it fix everything, hell no! But I think it could be a good start! You people in Washington have been making a lot of money off us maybe its time to pay up and give a real portion of it back so you can keep on making more of it. By the way I'm against all bailouts, no one here is bailing me out, or my neighbor, or my friends, and if we crash we can become one nation under GOD again and rebuild this great nation”.
Thanks for listening

Concerned American Citizen

Politicians got us in this mess, does any one ,honest to God , think they know the way back ? I feel sorry for whoever inherits this. Their approval rating will be lower than george.

interesting concept about dividing 85 billion among all the adults in america. I have a question for economic experts. Which would be better for the economy ? To pay one man 500 million or 500 men one million.

do the math on the 85 billion v 200 million. It's actually $425.00

WILL you make the same mistake?For those too young to know or remember. Change for the sake of change is seldom for the better. 1975-76 the U.S. was in turmoil, and people were demanding change. An obscure young man with good credentials(exceptional credentials compared to the aspirants today). 1977, President Carter inherited an economy that was slowly emerging from a recession. After four years of the Carter presidency, both inflation and unemployment were worse than at the time of his inauguration. The annual inflation rate rose from 4.8% in 1976 to 6.8% in 1977, 9% in 1978, 11% in 1979, and hovered around 12% at the time of the 1980 election. Carter had pledged to eliminate federal deficits, the deficit 1979 $27.7 billion, 1980 was nearly $59 billion. Inflation(11-12 percent), and skyrocketing interest rates(21.5 percent). July 1980, Carter received a favorable rating of only 21% in the Gallup Poll. That was the lowest rating any president, including Richard Nixon at the time of his resignation, had received since polling began in 1936.This not to mention the devastated military preparedness and income tax rates. Do we need to re-live this in 2008-2012?

The current bounce of the Dow is short covering. Now is not the time for pretty words and rhetoric nor an amateur. Inexperience at the helm may sink the ship.

What's happening in the stock market this week should be no surprise to anybody. Real experts, not the amatures in DC, warned the bailout having little or no effect on Wall Street. Last week, every Democrat or Republican wanted to be in front of the camera to either place blame or push the bailout. When it was approved, there they were again patting each other on the back. Yesterday and today, with the market losing almost 1000 points, they are all hiding. Even President Bush, who made an appearance today, looked as if the world was falling in on him. The reason, as with everything this administration has done, they never have clue. We have been in this downward spiral for some time but the government again didn't see it coming.

Government intervention may delay the boom to bust cycle but it can not stop it.The longer it is artificially delayed the more severe it will come.
I originally posted this before the Scam Bailout( about three weeks ago ), since then things have accelerated, but that only lengthens the recovery time. In about a year and a half, when the real estate market is at 50 percent, and DOW has stabilized at between 7800-8000, NASDAQ 900-950, S&P 700-750, it will be the bottom. Then it will be safe to go back. Until then it is a Day trader's market. Gambler's paradise. The bailout is just a waste of resources. In fact it will compound the problem. Much like the physicians of old who would bleed the patient, to give the appearance of action. The Scam Bailout is an action to give the appearance of care and concern, but will in truth deplete needed resources for healing and extend the time required for recovery. We are looking at a very rough 3 to 6 years, according to who is president and how much more Socialistic debt is added.

Fannie and Freddie became a self-fulfilling prophecy of the right-wing bigots that spewed bias against minority home ownership. Paulson's and his former employer, Goldman Sachs, was the leader of the pack. That's the real reason Paulson let Lehman fail, too.

The U.K. is blaming Paulson and Cox. Eventually, us Americans will hold these republican criminals accountable instead of looking for scapegoats based on color.

Your investments and retirement accounts only knew the color green! Paulson and Cox made them red by their actions and inactions based on partisanship and chronism.

http://www.reuters.com/article/innovationNews/idUSTRE49735Z20081008

All of you blaming Bush and the nasty Republicans are forgetting one thing: Pelosi and the nasty Democrats have had control of Congress, where the "true" power lies, for the past four years. Frank and Dodd, Dems both, chair the committees which could have and should have reigned in Fannie and Freddie. So don't go singing the praises of the Dems without telling the whole story. Nobody's hands are clean here.

Those who cannot afford home ownership should not own homes. Nothing was twisted for me (nor would I have accepted it if it had been) so I could slide into a house I couldn't afford. It's not a right - it's a privilege, regardless of who you are. This whole thing could have been averted if people hadn't tried to put everyone in houses, regardless of ability to repay, at great reward to the lender for the risk they took. Then, THEY get the bailouts while those doing it right have to slug through the mud as best they can, paying for the bailouts of the results of greed from which they did not benefit. My hip boots are too short.

Nicholas: Obama will destroy the economy? For your information it has already been destroyed by Bush, McCain and Company. McCain says he is not too good with economy and three weeks ago he said it was structurely sound...and you want HIM to win?
Wake up!

Obama/Biden 2008

I am a small investor who at this very present time is making 6-1/2% on my investments and its safe. Mine is small why can't the government get that at least till after things settle down. I am a democrat for over 50 years but this year i am voting republican simply because they have done right with me.
Could it be that the stock market is going down because it knows that Obama has a good chance of being President and they believe his methods won't work? Look back for the short period of time that McCain was ahead the stock market went up. Need I say more

i have never seen worse comments on any website in 10 years
the level of "BS"
the worst supporter is the one currenly talking
lies and misdirectoin by both side
what lame excuses for people
this is why we are truly scre..ewed

this will go down in history as the "ignorant generation"

I must confess to not being completely savy on how the market works BUT for everyone that sells isn't there someone that buys ? ? ?

Ignorant