Sunday Bloody Sunday
The Wall Street Shuffle

ralph DR RON cynthia

What have they done to the earth?
What have they done to our fair sister?
Ravaged & plundered & ripped her & bit her
Stuck her with knives in the side of the dawn
& tied her with fences &
Dragged her down!

mike dennis jesse ross

I doubt that Gramm was ever out of McCain's good graces, they just temporarily kept him out of sight for a while until the dust settled from that impolitic comment. Everything is politics with these guys, and bad politics, at that. Not at all surprising, their cynicism is unbounded.

All of this brought to you
by the kind folks that brought you the Savings and
Loan Debacles of the 1980's.
Two , four ,six ,eight.
How do we deregulate?

mcain and palin are another 4 years of corrupt republican
cons---enough already!!

The article is right on the mark. How can he say he's a reformer when Gramm is his chief financial advisor. I hope the Ombama campaign is reading this and speaks out.

When Karl Rove and Alan Greenspan BOTH dump on McCain you have to conclude that the Republicans don't want to clean up after their own parade. They would rather have the Democrats do all the heavy lifting.

When catching a view of the "crowd" at the McC or Palin "rally's" ..trying to figure out what are these folks smoking/choking on for surely they MUST be dimwitted if they swallowing the nonsense spewed by the GOP team..Truly bizarre and UNFANTHOMABLE that this nation is willingly being swayed by the blantant , oputrageous LIES these folks are peddling..They are NOT a CHANGE and is deranged thinking only that goes along with 'em !!

When catching a view of the "crowd" at the McC or Palin "rally's" ..trying to figure out what are these folks smoking/choking on for surely they MUST be dimwitted if they swallowing the nonsense spewed by the GOP team..Truly bizarre and UNFANTHOMABLE that this nation is willingly being swayed by the blantant , outrageous LIES these folks are peddling..They are NOT a CHANGE and is deranged thinking only that goes along with 'em !!

Wasn't this the guy calling people concerned about the economy "whiners"?

We must ask ourselves this.

How is this race even close, how people, McCain by his own claims considers himself a foot soldier in the Reagan army remember people.

These are the only promises that Republicans have made to the American public for the past 25 years, it would be insane to expect any different.

So, what have we gotten in a quarter of a century.

1.) Smaller Government (ie deregulation of the free markets.)

2.) Strong aggressive and muscular foreign policy (ie Bush Doctrine)

3.) Constitutional adherence
(ie Roe vs. Wade/ Patriot Act)

McOnomics
McCain - Graham economic polices

McMilitary
McCain - Bomb Bomb Bomb Iran
Palin potential conflict with Russia over Georgia

McConstitution
McCain - will only appoint (x) type of Justices based on his preconcieved constitutional insight ALONE.

The 7 percent people who feel that this is the best approach to government, need absolutely nothing from government, but they claim to speak for the other 93 percent.

What is there to Conserve about this, and ask yourself why would you want to conserve this.

1.) Credit default swaps - if you controlled millions in the financial markets.

2.) Bush Doctrine - If you are a military contractor, oil exec, or a producer within the military industrial complex (ie Carlyle Group)

3.) Patriot Act
If you live every moment of everyday scared to death and think that a government entity can protect you if they know everything about your life.

Those are not the things which makes this country great, and if they somehow are now, I think like minded American should consider forming a new colony

That will be the only way that the ideals that this country was founded on will survive.

Why is Obama holding back. This information has been out there for years. It should be pasted all over the tv.

David, Your argument is right in the bullseye. If only the sound-bite media, in the coming week, would Damm Gramm and lay bare his McLock on the election.

What about the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act which dumped the Glass-Steagall act ? That's Gramm as in "whiner" See the Nomi Prins piece she just posted. I posit this piece of Gramm scam is as responsible. Glass-Steagall was passed after the Great Depression for good reason.

Finally! Proof Positive the Republican gang is not able to even help the people they owe the most to -- big business. I hope everyone is watching. The fact that the Republican party, with the able assistance of Phil Gramm and George Bush has accomplished what Osama Bin Laden couldn't -- bringing the US economy to it's knees.

Paul Krugman was on Olbermann(sp?) tonight and said he blamed Greenspan first and Gramm second for this mess.

time to start building the Ark. Again! Forest Gump

all aboard to Mars

or the moon

on second thought... its been bought by Bush as his new Ranch

Ha Ha

i think this is the best explanation of our current financial mess in a nutshell that i have read. thanks.

obama has to come down on mccain, specifically, but also on the republican party like a ton of bricks. he has to make the american people know that the driving force of the republican party for decades was to bring down the infrastructure of the new deal, especially regulation put in place to prevent another great depression. for as long as i can remember, republicans have had a fever to privatize everything along with no regulation. look at where it has gotten us. rub it in their faces, obama-biden.

While it is true the Gramm's bill has cause some of the problems, the real problems are much deeper.
Since the 1913 passage of the Federal Reserve Act we have had an essentially fraudulent banking system. The fractional reserve banking system is pure fraud. The Fed is a privately owned cartel that was unconstitutionally given the power to create money out of nothing. Its policy of credit expansion has caused all of the inflation we have seen since 1913, it caused the great depression and made it last for 18 years, it has caused businesses to "export" jobs by raising the cost of labor and capital here in the States.
In the present crises, all of the mischief of Freddie, Fannie, Lehman, et al would have been impossible without the "easy money" policies of the Fed.
The Fed, and all central banks worldwide, should be abolished.
Only the free market can establish sound, honest money. Legal tender laws should be repealed. Governments should be prohibited from issuing paper money or interfering in any way with the people's choice of currency.
Then, and ONLY then, will we avoid this sort of crisis.
For more information, see
www.mises.org

A major factor in what caused this mortagage mess is the federal government's obsession of the P.C. goal of home ownership, no matter the individual's credit rating. Conservatives believe that to buy something, you (not the government) need to be able to pay for it.

But, I guess that's too radical for liberals.

LOL, McBush is such an idiot its almost comical. What a joke. Surely no one with any common sense is takign this idiot seriously.

Jiff
www.datools.net.tc

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Friday, November 12, 1999 202-224-0894

GRAMM'S STATEMENT AT SIGNING CEREMONY
FOR GRAMM-LEACH-BLILEY ACT
Sen. Phil Gramm, chairman of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs, made the following statement today in a ceremony at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, where President Clinton signed the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act into law:

"The world changes, and Congress and the laws have to change with it.

"Abraham Lincoln used to like to use the analogy that old and outmoded laws need to be changed because it made about as much sense to continue to impose them on people as it did to ask a man to wear the same clothes he did when he was a child.

"In the 1930s, at the trough of the Depression, when Glass-Steagall became law, it was believed that government was the answer. It was believed that stability and growth came from government overriding the functioning of free markets.

"We are here today to repeal Glass-Steagall because we have learned that government is not the answer. We have learned that freedom and competition are the answers. We have learned that we promote economic growth and we promote stability by having competition and freedom.

"I am proud to be here because this is an important bill; it is a deregulatory bill. I believe that that is the wave of the future, and I am awfully proud to have been a part of making it a reali

All these insanities from the McCain camp, atleast a dozen of them every single day , but still, the race between him and Obama is 50/50...
And I am not saying I believe everything I read, but if only 10% of the things I read is true, you guys should have elected Obama with 80+% majority.

But 50/50???? After the way republicans act, tactics they are using?? etc..

I am sorry, but this info alone makes it very clear to me that America is going down and noone can help,not even a honest and selfless Obama, unfortunately...

I only wish we would have such an easy elections here in Europe :(

20th century history 101:

The Federal Reserve is a private banking cartel, not part of the Federal Government.

The same criminals that gave us the Federal Reserve, gave us the 16th Amendment to the (often disregarded) Constitution, The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), and ultimately the United Nations.

"The main purpose of the Council on Foreign Relations is promoting the disarmament of U.S. sovereignty and national independence and submergence into an all powerful, one world government." - Admiral Chester Ward - Judge Advocate General of the U.S. Navy

"The most powerful clique in these (CFR) groups have one objective in common: they want to bring about the surrender of the sovereignty and the national independence of the U.S. They want to end national boundaries and racial and ethnic loyalties supposedly to increase business and ensure world peace. What they strive for would inevitably lead to dictatorship and loss of freedoms by the people. The CFR was founded for "the purpose of promoting disarmament and submergence of U.S. sovereignty and national independence into an all-powerful one-world government." - Harpers, July l958

McCain and both Obamas are CFR, Biden is CFR

If you do not know they are, then you are sadly uninformed go to www.trueworldhistory.info and watch the first 2 videos…

We are witnessing the greatest consolidation of power in history. So what is the solution? Let's elect the only true candidate before us, Dr. Ron Paul. Unlike the others, he does not bow to conform to the Communist views of the power elite, aka the private Federal Reserve System, The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), and the United Nations (founded by Communists for the proliferation of one world government, aka Globalization or New World Order). Unfortunately, our servant government has become the master, and “We the People” are now “We the Serfs”. Let’s join forces with Dr. Paul and give this country the dose of medicine it really needs. Abolish the Fed, NAFTA, the UN, WTO and let truly free markets and FREEDOM reign supreme! Write in Ron Paul if you value Liberty.

www.trueworldhistory.info
www.campaignforliberty.com

I don’t get it; we must have some way of bringing charges against the people involved some of this stuff is criminal. I’m not naive I know it the government and no matter how many times we get screwed and handed the bill the people at the top have benefited from or will not be hurt and friends have benefited. We have to have some legal course of action we pay them to do a good job and if they worked in the private sector (at the bottom with us) they would be crucified and fired and possibly face jail time not the slap on the wrist and get to keep the ill gotten gains. So time to get the buck stops here attitude going again. How do we do it.

It would be easier to understand that blind, glassy eyed support, when you realize that a good number of his supporters are Moonies!

Why do you think the Republicans stopped using the term "Christian Conservative"?
Because Moonies are NOT Christian, they worship their Messiah Rev. Moon.
The switched to the generic term Evangelical to describe their base.
Evangelical sounds so much nicer than MOONIE!!!

His adviser caused it? What a narrow-minded view of reality. What caused this was corporate greed and not deregulation. What these firms did was bet that:

1. The subprime borrowers could never afford their home and the ones who did would have to sacrifice everything to keep it
2. Those who couldn't afford the higher interest rates would end up being evicted and in the process their home would have increased in value due to the growth in real estate being experienced at the time
3. If all else fails, Uncle Sam will bail them out

As you'll notice, the rich aren't jumping from windows since they almost all have golden parachutes. You don't work at one of these firms unless you're sitting on some personal wealth. In the meantime, the American Taxpayer and poor wishing to be homeowners are all suffering.

These people are greedy vampires sucking the life out of the American people.

The American Ruse &
when Black Friday comes.

Honesty or lies?
Compassion or greed?
Intelligence or narrow-minded?
Guts - or go along to get along?

Ralph Nader
Cynthia McKinney

Ron Paul
Mike Gravel
Dennis Kucinich

Jesse Ventura
H. Ross Perot
President Carter
JFK RFK MLK Malcolm

This article is a pure and simple outright lie. The amendments were written by the Democrats along with Bill Clinton and Alan Greenspan with the guarantee that they, Congress, would pass the bill and Clinton would sign it. Funny how you neglect to mention this all happened under a Democrat administration. It's great how you skew the facts and try to tie it to McCain. Your rag is a piece of crap and can't be trusted.

Banks used to have to keep the mortgage. Allowing them to securitize and trade it off gave them no incentive to see how qualified the home buyers were since it would be someone elses problem. There is plenty of data out there showing the credit ratings dropping while the volume of securitization and trading of mortgage backed securities increased.

Wish More People Had Debated Ron Paul Rather Than Dismissed Him.

Debate Is The Distillation Of Reality.

Suffer The Fools For Their Apathy And Ignorance.

Yes, this is a pretty large prevarication. The bill was signed into law by Bill Clinton, and the amendments were in fact written by democrats. Another important fact, is that McCain attempted to get more oversight onto Fannie and Freddie, the actual root of the current subprime mess. The bill was killed by senate dems lead by Sen Dodd. Why was he so protective? If you want to find the source of the problem, just follow the money:
http://www.opensecrets.org/news/2008/09/update-fannie-mae-and-freddie.html

I cannot understand why Obama does not have adds attacking McCain and the Republicans for the Gramm-Bililey Bill that opened Pandora's box for the money grabbing financiers to defraud the system of trillions of dollars and put our economy and retirement accounts at risk. If you look at who voted for it in the Senate, it was virtually all Republicans. Talk about a threat to national security - the economy is by far the biggest threat. You can blame all the lenders, underwriters and consumers but it would not have been possible without that legal change. And I got a letter from McCain asking for money for "legal and accounting" expenses so he could circumvent the campaign spending guidelines that he criticizes Obama for backing out on. When I studied economics as an undergrad, "transfer payments" were understood to be wealth transfers from the wealthier to the poor. Have we turned the tables now.

If our economy wasn't a serious matter, it would almost be funny that McCain claims he read Greenspans Book! Greenspan has said we can't afford McCain's economic plan. Not surprising from a man you claims he doesn't much about the economy. He doesn't seem know much about anything!

OBAMA / BIDEN '08

I'm going to keep saying this until it sinks in. The American population, on average, as a whole, reads, writes and comprehends at an 8th Grade Level. The Republicans know that they are dealing with a bunch of 14 year old’s, it's easy to lie to them. That is how they were able to destroy this Country in only 8 years. Our educational system, for the majority of us, is a joke. Analytical thought is uncommon, as a result we have the Patriot Act (a law that no congressman had read before voting on it) a national debt of such magnitude that all China has to do is start dumping dollars and we turn into a third-world-nation overnight. As our financial institutions fail and the dollar plummets, don’t think for one minute that the holders of the “Almighty Dollar” won’t cut their losses and start dumping enmass. The Republicans hate Government, they think it is the problem (re: to much regulation) now why would you put people who hate Government and regulations in charge of the Government? What do you think will happen? Do you see the cause and effect? Have IQ’s dropped 20 points in the last eight years?

The present Republican Administration has looted the treasury, gutted our regulatory agencies such as the FDA,SEC,EPA, OMB, the Civil Rights Division and many other agencies, and people act surprised when greed and unfettered, unrestrained, unregulated capitalism takes over. Do you remember the phrase.."let the buyer beware" and purchasing a "pig-in-a-poke" (sans lipstick)?

Does anybody remember the Keating Five and John McCains' roll in the biggest Savings and Loan failure in the history of the United States? Has anyone noticed that John McCains' son "Andrew McCain", sat on the boards of Silver State Bank and of its parent, Silver State Bancorp, and was also a member of the bank's audit committee, and that he resigned from everything, 30 days before the Bank was shut down by federal regulators? Can you say "like father like son"?

DO YOU GET THE PICTURE? EVEN RAY CHARLES COULD SEE THIS, AND STEVIE DOESN'T HAVE TO WONDER ANYMORE!

......OBAMA/BIDEN '08

Really great analysis on this. Thanks for putting this together.

The name of the bill "Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act" is self explanatory. No lies here.

Here are some facts:

George Bush has been in office for 7 1/2 years. The first six the economy were fine.

A little over one year ago:

1) Consumer confidence stood at a 2 1/2 year high;

2) Regular gasoline sold for $2.19 a gallon;

3) the unemployment rate was 4.5%.

4) the DOW JONES hit a record high--14,000 +

5) American's were buying new cars, taking cruises, vacations over seas, living large!

But American's wanted 'CHANGE'! So, in 2006 they voted in a Democratic Congress & yep--we got 'CHANGE' all right.

In the PAST YEAR:

1) Consumer confidence has plummeted;

2) Gasoline is now over $4 a gallon & climbing!;

3) Unemployment is up to 5% (a 10% increase);

4) Americans have seen their home equity drop by $12 TRILLION DOLLARS & prices still dropping;

5) 1% of American homes are in foreclosure.

6) as I write, THE DOW is probing another low
$2.5 TRILLION DOLLARS HAS EVAPORATED FROM THEIR STOCKS, BONDS & MUTUAL FUNDS INVESTMENT PORTFOLIOS!

YEP, IN 2006 AMERICA VOTED FOR CHANGE...AND WE SURE GOT IT!! NOW OBAMA, the DEM'S CANDIDATE FOR PRESIDENT--CLAIMS HE'S GONNA REALLY GIVE US CHANGE!!....JUST HOW MUCH MORE 'CHANGE' DO YA THINK YOU CAN STAND???.....

Speaking of golden parachutes: Jamie Gorelick got one from Fannie Mae.

Dems have a lot of responsibility in this current economic mess.

Of all the cnadidates running, Obama received ~$130K from Fannie & Freddie; Dodd, chair of the senate banking committee, in addition to getting a sweetheart deal from countryside, received ~$100K+ from Fannie & Freddie; Kerry and Biden also are at the Fannie + Freddie trough. Yet Obama comes out loud and bellicose criticising oversight in the industry by the 'Bush' admin. How hypocritical. Are they going to return those monies? Notice that McCain is not in the banking industry's pocket. No need to wonder why

obama tried to reward a powerful contributor (to his campaign) of Freddie/Fannie with a position on his vp search committee, until it was discovered that the contributor himself was benefiting from sweetheart mortgage dealing at countryside. Go figure. Obama tries to fool as many people as he can, but his time is running out. Next post - how the rest of wall street contributed to obama's campaign...

It's said that the top guy in an organization bears ultimate responsibility for what happens in that organization, just as the Captain of a ship bears ultimate responsibility for what happens on his ship.

Who bears the responsibility for Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act?
George Bush?
John McCain?

Here's a picture that tells the real story of responsibility:
http://i188.photobucket.com/albums/z167/liberalamerican/clintonsignsglasssteagallrepeal.gif

Billy Mac is a retard.

It's about time the media start to report the news. The story about Andrew McCain has been around for weeks, yet not reported on by the main stream media. He is also the CFO of Cindy's corporation.

CROOKS RIDING ELEPHANTS!! WE NEED A BETTER CLASS OF "SAVIORS."

By ANN SANNER, Associated Press Writer1 hour, 49 minutes ago
A top Hillary Rodham Clinton fundraiser threw her support behind Republican John McCain on Wednesday, saying he will lead the country in a centrist fashion and accusing the Democrats of becoming too extreme.
"I believe that Barack Obama, with MoveOn.org and Nancy Pelosi and Howard Dean, has taken the Democratic Party — and they will continue to — too far to the left," Lynn Forester de Rothschild said. "I'm not comfortable there."
Rothschild is also a member of the Democratic National Committee's Platform Committee. She said she would be stepping down from her position on the committee but will not switch political parties.
She praised McCain for working with Democrats to pass legislation and for standing up to President Bush on the Iraq war.
"I just ask, who has Barack Obama ever stood up to? And that troubles me a lot," she said.
Rothschild also disputed Obama's argument that a McCain administration would be an extension of Bush's presidency. Democrats cite McCain's own account of having voted in support of Bush's policies 90 percent of the time.
She said the Arizona senator has broken with Bush to support funding for stem-cell research and to curb greenhouse gas emissions.
"It is the classic cheap shot. Just not true," she said.
Rothschild said she was also excited by the prospect of a woman being in the White House, even though she and Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin disagree on issues. The Alaska governor opposes abortion except in the case of a threat to the mother's life. Rothschild said she supports abortion rights.
"I believe that the McCain-Palin government will be a centrist government," Rothschild said. "It's not going to be an ideological government."
Rothschild is a member of the DNC's Democrats Abroad chapter and splits her time living in London and New York. She was one of Clinton's top fundraisers, bringing in more than $100,000 for her presidential campaign. She built a multimillion-dollar telecommunications company before marrying international banker Sir Evelyn de Rothschild.
Rothschild said she has not discussed her support for McCain with Clinton.
"I'm sure she is not pleased with what I'm doing today," she said. "But you know what? I have to do what I believe in."

By ANN SANNER, Associated Press Writer1 hour, 49 minutes ago
A top Hillary Rodham Clinton fundraiser threw her support behind Republican John McCain on Wednesday, saying he will lead the country in a centrist fashion and accusing the Democrats of becoming too extreme.
"I believe that Barack Obama, with MoveOn.org and Nancy Pelosi and Howard Dean, has taken the Democratic Party — and they will continue to — too far to the left," Lynn Forester de Rothschild said. "I'm not comfortable there."
Rothschild is also a member of the Democratic National Committee's Platform Committee. She said she would be stepping down from her position on the committee but will not switch political parties.
She praised McCain for working with Democrats to pass legislation and for standing up to President Bush on the Iraq war.
"I just ask, who has Barack Obama ever stood up to? And that troubles me a lot," she said.
Rothschild also disputed Obama's argument that a McCain administration would be an extension of Bush's presidency. Democrats cite McCain's own account of having voted in support of Bush's policies 90 percent of the time.
She said the Arizona senator has broken with Bush to support funding for stem-cell research and to curb greenhouse gas emissions.
"It is the classic cheap shot. Just not true," she said.
Rothschild said she was also excited by the prospect of a woman being in the White House, even though she and Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin disagree on issues. The Alaska governor opposes abortion except in the case of a threat to the mother's life. Rothschild said she supports abortion rights.
"I believe that the McCain-Palin government will be a centrist government," Rothschild said. "It's not going to be an ideological government."
Rothschild is a member of the DNC's Democrats Abroad chapter and splits her time living in London and New York. She was one of Clinton's top fundraisers, bringing in more than $100,000 for her presidential campaign. She built a multimillion-dollar telecommunications company before marrying international banker Sir Evelyn de Rothschild.
Rothschild said she has not discussed her support for McCain with Clinton.
"I'm sure she is not pleased with what I'm doing today," she said. "But you know what? I have to do what I believe in."

By ANN SANNER, Associated Press Writer1 hour, 49 minutes ago
A top Hillary Rodham Clinton fundraiser threw her support behind Republican John McCain on Wednesday, saying he will lead the country in a centrist fashion and accusing the Democrats of becoming too extreme.
"I believe that Barack Obama, with MoveOn.org and Nancy Pelosi and Howard Dean, has taken the Democratic Party — and they will continue to — too far to the left," Lynn Forester de Rothschild said. "I'm not comfortable there."
Rothschild is also a member of the Democratic National Committee's Platform Committee. She said she would be stepping down from her position on the committee but will not switch political parties.
She praised McCain for working with Democrats to pass legislation and for standing up to President Bush on the Iraq war.
"I just ask, who has Barack Obama ever stood up to? And that troubles me a lot," she said.
Rothschild also disputed Obama's argument that a McCain administration would be an extension of Bush's presidency. Democrats cite McCain's own account of having voted in support of Bush's policies 90 percent of the time.
She said the Arizona senator has broken with Bush to support funding for stem-cell research and to curb greenhouse gas emissions.
"It is the classic cheap shot. Just not true," she said.
Rothschild said she was also excited by the prospect of a woman being in the White House, even though she and Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin disagree on issues. The Alaska governor opposes abortion except in the case of a threat to the mother's life. Rothschild said she supports abortion rights.
"I believe that the McCain-Palin government will be a centrist government," Rothschild said. "It's not going to be an ideological government."
Rothschild is a member of the DNC's Democrats Abroad chapter and splits her time living in London and New York. She was one of Clinton's top fundraisers, bringing in more than $100,000 for her presidential campaign. She built a multimillion-dollar telecommunications company before marrying international banker Sir Evelyn de Rothschild.
Rothschild said she has not discussed her support for McCain with Clinton.
"I'm sure she is not pleased with what I'm doing today," she said. "But you know what? I have to do what I believe in."

It would appear that THE DEMOCRAT isn't much more computer savvy than I am...

its all true but the american people are so stupid neo's tag their crimes as remedies to global probs dems created just look at the past neo's like the bush's cheny's roves & every local bank employee they vote as told by their neo party & are so gullible they believe theyre right now thats american thinking glad im a part commanche czechslovakian german at least
i have a choice & as their grand visionary bs hero said are you better off than you were 4 yrs ago? no? then you better change your vote or you will be happier to know you caused this misery & were too stupid to go the other way go ron paul!

Great piece! Another part of the smoke and mirrors set routine set up by Phil Gramm was to have the raters of the securities serve as compliant stooges of the firms selling the goods.

Some of the comments are just great. It all sums up to a very elaborate programm for leading the US to self-destruction. It would be obvious by now that the Neocons and the Jewish High Finance have conducted the country to the present crisis.
It is hard to figure out what these people will earn at the end by the colapse of the US.
What I dont in any way grasp is why CNN just reports that McCain is over Obama in many of the polls. Has the people not had enough?

And these are the same folks who wanted us to all put our nest-eggs into their tender hands, for our retirement incomes?

I think -- NOT!

Why doesn't Obama go after these hypocrites? McCain was one of the 'Keating Five', responsible for the S&L crash (once again due to lack of oversight of the financial institutions making risky loans) that cost the taxpayers several hundred billion.

They are so vulnerable on this point - why aren't Obama / Biden attacking????

Surely they're not afraid of a pit bull in a skirt? If so, they won't be any match for the Putins of the world any more than Bush / McCain / Palin are.

Here are some facts (from before):

George Bush has been in office for 7 1/2 years. The first six the economy were fine.

A little over one year ago:

1) Consumer confidence stood at a 2 1/2 year high;

2) Regular gasoline sold for $2.19 a gallon;

3) the unemployment rate was 4.5%.

4) the DOW JONES hit a record high--14,000 +

5) American's were buying new cars, taking cruises, vacations over seas, living large!

But American's wanted 'CHANGE'! So, in 2006 they voted in a Democratic Congress & yep--we got 'CHANGE' all right.

In the PAST YEAR:

1) Consumer confidence has plummeted;

2) Gasoline is now over $4 a gallon & climbing!;

3) Unemployment is up to 5% (a 10% increase);

4) Americans have seen their home equity drop by $12 TRILLION DOLLARS & prices still dropping;

5) 1% of American homes are in foreclosure.

6) as I write, THE DOW is probing another low
$2.5 TRILLION DOLLARS HAS EVAPORATED FROM THEIR STOCKS, BONDS & MUTUAL FUNDS INVESTMENT PORTFOLIOS!

YEP, IN 2006 AMERICA VOTED FOR CHANGE...AND WE SURE GOT IT!! NOW OBAMA, the DEM'S CANDIDATE FOR PRESIDENT--CLAIMS HE'S GONNA REALLY GIVE US CHANGE!!....JUST HOW MUCH MORE 'CHANGE' DO YA THINK YOU CAN STAND???.....

Oh, that's real deep. What an idiot.

I don't see Obama OR McCain jumping out of any windows, do you?

Ralph Nader has spoken out against de-regulation for a long time and of its dangers - he has been ridiculed by dems & repubs. In July of this year he sent a letter to congress warning of what has just happened and was again soundly ridiculed. What is it going to take to make both of these corporate parties wake up & admit/realize that predatory Free Market capitalism is a failure? Poverty is growing, 43 million working people have no health care, 1% of the US population controls 2/3 of the wealth. This same 1% raked in 20% of any gains made in the last 10 to 20 years. Corporations, Big Oil, War Profiteers and Robber Barons are the real rulers of the US - and have always been since the founding. The founders wanted to found a new aristocracy where they were at the top and didn't want to pay taxes to the king (sound familiar?), their idea of "democracy" was that only landholders (themselves) could vote (not including women or blacks). The majority of US colonists did not support revolt against England, but the "Founding Fathers" didn't care - real democrats weren't they - so they, the wealth & power holders, staged a revolution anyway (the silliest excuse for a revolution ever given either before or since, and telling, given the fact the US has traditionally not supported other people's revolutions to throw off real and brutal governments). The US was founded on greed and puritanism, which very much is a theology that fits with corporatocracy capitalism because it preached that to be rich was a sign that God loved you and to be poor showed that you were a bad person & God didn't love you. This is still the belief system that underpins US political and social thinking, especially the GOP (greedy old puritans - their name even says it!)

The odds are too great for
us to leave it to the same people that have so far bet and lost the house (housing crisis), bet and lost the car (gas guzzlers to the Japanese green cars), bet and holding even in the war after 8 years (Iraq), bet and lost the good jobs (wall street).

As they fall on the bets, they have to keep borrowing by the minute from China to cover the previous Bets (debts).

Not to mention that McCain was part of the Keaton 5. Look it up before making a decision to vote.

Here is a statement made by Phil Gramm when this bill was passed:

GRAMM'S STATEMENT AT SIGNING CEREMONY
FOR GRAMM-LEACH-BLILEY ACT

Sen. Phil Gramm, chairman of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs, made the following statement today in a ceremony at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, where President Clinton signed the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act into law:

"The world changes, and Congress and the laws have to change with it.

"Abraham Lincoln used to like to use the analogy that old and outmoded laws need to be changed because it made about as much sense to continue to impose them on people as it did to ask a man to wear the same clothes he did when he was a child.

"In the 1930s, at the trough of the Depression, when Glass-Steagall became law, it was believed that government was the answer. It was believed that stability and growth came from government overriding the functioning of free markets.

"We are here today to repeal Glass-Steagall because we have learned that government is not the answer. We have learned that freedom and competition are the answers. We have learned that we promote economic growth and we promote stability by having competition and freedom.

"I am proud to be here because this is an important bill; it is a deregulatory bill. I believe that that is the wave of the future, and I am awfully proud to have been a part of making it a reality."

The sad thing is,,, McCain and Gramm are good friends, and they might just agree on everything. Gramm just got an elbow in the side and was told to hush up for a while.

Um, look at this and tell me that it was Grahm. you liberals have a VERY narrow view, just like your minds

On May 23, 2006, as a jury in Houston deliberated the case against top Enron executives Kenneth Lay and Jeffrey Skilling, a little-known regulatory agency in Washington, the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (OFHEO), released a study with the dryly bureaucratic title “Report of the Special Examination of Fannie Mae.” The document received far less attention than the news from Enron, but its conclusions were stunning. In meticulous detail, it outlined a culture of corruption at the Federal National Mortgage Association — better known as Fannie Mae — that rivals the most serious corporate scandals in recent years. In this case, however, the main players are Washington insiders — some of them prominent veterans of the Clinton administration — and the scandal’s effects could ripple through Congress for years.

Fannie Mae is the biggest single source of money for mortgages in the United States. From 1998 to 2004, the years covered by the OFHEO investigation, it was headed by former Clinton budget director Franklin Raines, whose top management team included former Clinton Justice Department official Jamie Gorelick, sometimes mentioned as a future attorney general in a Democratic administration. During that period, the report says, Raines and his team grossly overstated Fannie Mae’s earnings — to the tune of $10.6 billion — for the purpose of paying themselves big bonuses. “By deliberately and intentionally manipulating accounting to hit earnings targets,” the report says, “senior management maximized the bonuses and other executive compensation they received, at the expense of shareholders.”

In doing so, the report says, Raines and his team steered Fannie Mae far afield from its original mission, transforming it from a stable business into a risky one. Fannie Mae has its roots in the New Deal, when it was established to increase the amount of money available for mortgages. Over the years, its main business has been to issue debt and then use the proceeds to buy mortgages from lenders, allowing those lenders to give out new mortgages. Originally a government agency, Fannie Mae went private in 1968, with the goal of “increasing the availability and affordability of homeownership for low-, moderate-, and middle-income Americans,” according to its mission statement.

But Fannie Mae is not just any private institution. It is congressionally chartered, meaning its existence is established in law, it does not have to pay state and local income taxes, and it is not subject to bankruptcy laws. It can borrow money at a lower rate than anyone else except the federal government itself. Given all that, there is a public perception that Fannie Mae is a rock-solid government institution. “There is an implied guarantee,” says Sen. John Sununu, a member of the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee who has sponsored legislation to reform Fannie Mae. “Investors think they are the next best thing to Treasuries.”...

According to the report, Raines became obsessed with propping up Fannie Mae’s earnings per share, or EPS, even if he had to use creative accounting to make it happen. Raines set a series of increasingly higher EPS goals that, if met, would trigger bonuses for the executive team that far surpassed what they received in salary....

It worked. Fannie Mae met its EPS goals, and Raines rewarded his top executives — and most of all himself — with unheard-of amounts of money.

Even though his salary never topped $1 million, Raines’s total compensation shot from $6.48 million in 1998 to $8.52 million in 1999, to $13.89 million in 2000, to $18.86 million in 2001, to $18.20 million in 2002, to $24.15 million in 2003, all on the strength of EPS bonuses. Investigators found that of the $90.12 million Raines was paid in that six-year period, more than $52 million came from EPS bonuses.

Gorelick’s situation was similar. OFHEO found that she took home $26.46 million in the period from 1998 to 2002 (she left in that year, so she wasn’t there for the entire period under investigation). Of that figure, nearly $15 million came from EPS bonuses.

Of course, it wasn’t legit. “Fannie Mae reported extremely smooth profit growth and hit announced targets for earnings per share precisely each quarter,” the OFHEO report says. “Those achievements were illusions deliberately and systematically created by [Fannie Mae’s] senior management with the aid of inappropriate accounting and improper earnings management.”

In other words, they cooked the books. And to make matters worse, according to OFHEO, when regulators began to catch on to what was happening, Raines and his team then “sought to interfere” with the OFHEO investigation by trying to get Congress to start up a separate probe of OFHEO. Fannie Mae also lobbied Congress to cut OFHEO’s funds unless it got rid of the top official in charge of investigating Fannie Mae.

Instead of the high gas price debate focused on drilling, make it on what Consumer Affairs says the real reason is: less competition. We are approaching 10 years of ExxonMobil. We are seeing the taxpayer bail out AIG because it is too big to fail. Where have big mergers gotten us, the taxpayers and shareholders? We need a leader who will invite all energy experts (oil, solar, wind, etc) to the meeting, the notes of which will not be secret. This happened because crony foxes, like Phil Gramm, were appointed to guard the hen house. Perhaps more important than a smart president is one who will surround himself with smart people.

I found this section interesting..."As Mother Jones reported in June, eight years ago, Gramm, then a Republican senator chairing the Senate banking committee, slipped a 262-page bill into a gargantuan, must-pass spending measure. Gramm's legislation, written with the help of financial industry lobbyists, essentially removed newfangled financial products called swaps from any regulation."

In fact: That piece of legislation, the Commodity Futures Modernization Act, was truly slipped into an 11,000 page appropriation bill to pave the way for the speculation and hoarding by big investment firms. Obama's friend Senator Richard Lugar sponsored the measure.

Obama has been considering Lugar for the Secretary of State position should he be elected.

According to the Center for Responsive Politics, Obama's top ten campaign contributors include the investment firms Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, J.P. Morgan Chase, Morgan Stanley, and UBS Securities. Most of these firms have been propping up the hope and change candidate for some years now, even when he was a relative unknown with no grassroots network or any real resume to run on. Other banks topping the donor heap very early in the campaign: Lehman Brothers, Credit Suisse and Citadel Investment Group.

http://www.opensecrets. org/pres08/contrib.php?cycle=2008&cid=N00009638

I added a space after org...in case html links are prohibited...

I know this is a largely left wing blog...just thought I'd throw something different in the mix...devils advocate equal time and all that...

While I agree (as far as I understand the issues) the overall point of this article, isn't it the case that much of this legislation was aimed at making things like swaps legal for COMMERCIAL banks, not investment banks like Lehman? And that, because it's now legal for commercial banks, along with other investment activities, they can now come to the rescue of investment banks if needed, e.g., Bank of America absorbing Merrill Lynch; JPMorgan Chase absorbing Bear Stearns, etc. I'm not saying that's a good thing in the long run, just that it wouldn't have been possible without the legislation Gramm pushed. Or am I wrong?

This is becoming one the most depressing election years I can ever remember. The mud slinging from both sides... I think we can all agree that both sides have dirty hands. I'm so tired of all the mud-slinging. However, we should all vote are conscience and remember that we are Americans and that this is fundamentally a great country full of great people. I lived in Europe for 20 years, and I would never go back. It is not the same today. Do you know that Great Britain now has a court to uphold Sharia law? Individual rights are being taken away. Cameras on the street... Europe is no longer the same.
While America may not be perfect, no other country in the world tries as hard to correct itself and do the right thing. Ours is truly a beautiful country. And I for one am very proud to be an American.

Former fed chairman Greenspan has said the country cannot afford McCain´s tax cuts for the super-wealthy.
After becoming Mayor of Wasilla Sarah Palin ordered the police chief to charge rape victims 500 up to 1200 dollars for the medical exam. She will make abortion illegal even in the case of rape or incest.
She believes in the "end times" and has said that she´s expecting Jesus to return in her lifetime. Science tells us The Nut Ball could be twice as old, i.e. about 9 billion years, but Without Nuclear War !!!
And McCain wants to destroy Social Security and make more wars. Palin said, "We may need to go to war with Russia". That´s NOT an obtion ! May it be possible to survive McCain/Palin on La Palma/Gomera, in the Andes, maybe New Zealand ???
PS: As Governor Sarah Palin cut funding for special needs children by 60 %.

How about this? do the names look familiar? they should, this is Obamas econimic advisors. Also, all the "experts" Obama is using to form his opinions, where do they come from? The CLINTON YEARS, boy that is change isn't it
On May 23, 2006, as a jury in Houston deliberated the case against top Enron executives Kenneth Lay and Jeffrey Skilling, a little-known regulatory agency in Washington, the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (OFHEO), released a study with the dryly bureaucratic title “Report of the Special Examination of Fannie Mae.” The document received far less attention than the news from Enron, but its conclusions were stunning. In meticulous detail, it outlined a culture of corruption at the Federal National Mortgage Association — better known as Fannie Mae — that rivals the most serious corporate scandals in recent years. In this case, however, the main players are Washington insiders — some of them prominent veterans of the Clinton administration — and the scandal’s effects could ripple through Congress for years.

Fannie Mae is the biggest single source of money for mortgages in the United States. From 1998 to 2004, the years covered by the OFHEO investigation, it was headed by former Clinton budget director Franklin Raines, whose top management team included former Clinton Justice Department official Jamie Gorelick, sometimes mentioned as a future attorney general in a Democratic administration. During that period, the report says, Raines and his team grossly overstated Fannie Mae’s earnings — to the tune of $10.6 billion — for the purpose of paying themselves big bonuses. “By deliberately and intentionally manipulating accounting to hit earnings targets,” the report says, “senior management maximized the bonuses and other executive compensation they received, at the expense of shareholders.”

In doing so, the report says, Raines and his team steered Fannie Mae far afield from its original mission, transforming it from a stable business into a risky one. Fannie Mae has its roots in the New Deal, when it was established to increase the amount of money available for mortgages. Over the years, its main business has been to issue debt and then use the proceeds to buy mortgages from lenders, allowing those lenders to give out new mortgages. Originally a government agency, Fannie Mae went private in 1968, with the goal of “increasing the availability and affordability of homeownership for low-, moderate-, and middle-income Americans,” according to its mission statement.

But Fannie Mae is not just any private institution. It is congressionally chartered, meaning its existence is established in law, it does not have to pay state and local income taxes, and it is not subject to bankruptcy laws. It can borrow money at a lower rate than anyone else except the federal government itself. Given all that, there is a public perception that Fannie Mae is a rock-solid government institution. “There is an implied guarantee,” says Sen. John Sununu, a member of the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee who has sponsored legislation to reform Fannie Mae. “Investors think they are the next best thing to Treasuries.”...

According to the report, Raines became obsessed with propping up Fannie Mae’s earnings per share, or EPS, even if he had to use creative accounting to make it happen. Raines set a series of increasingly higher EPS goals that, if met, would trigger bonuses for the executive team that far surpassed what they received in salary....

It worked. Fannie Mae met its EPS goals, and Raines rewarded his top executives — and most of all himself — with unheard-of amounts of money.

Even though his salary never topped $1 million, Raines’s total compensation shot from $6.48 million in 1998 to $8.52 million in 1999, to $13.89 million in 2000, to $18.86 million in 2001, to $18.20 million in 2002, to $24.15 million in 2003, all on the strength of EPS bonuses. Investigators found that of the $90.12 million Raines was paid in that six-year period, more than $52 million came from EPS bonuses.

Gorelick’s situation was similar. OFHEO found that she took home $26.46 million in the period from 1998 to 2002 (she left in that year, so she wasn’t there for the entire period under investigation). Of that figure, nearly $15 million came from EPS bonuses.

Of course, it wasn’t legit. “Fannie Mae reported extremely smooth profit growth and hit announced targets for earnings per share precisely each quarter,” the OFHEO report says. “Those achievements were illusions deliberately and systematically created by [Fannie Mae’s] senior management with the aid of inappropriate accounting and improper earnings management.”

In other words, they cooked the books. And to make matters worse, according to OFHEO, when regulators began to catch on to what was happening, Raines and his team then “sought to interfere” with the OFHEO investigation by trying to get Congress to start up a separate probe of OFHEO. Fannie Mae also lobbied Congress to cut OFHEO’s funds unless it got rid of the top official in charge of investigating Fannie Mae.

Claus-Erik Hamle, speaking on V.P. candidate Sarah Palin: She will make abortion illegal even in the case of rape or incest.

That's absolutely shocking!!

I had no idea the Vice President had full legislative powers!!

I had no idea that even the PRESIDENT had full legislative powers!!

I'm so glad I came here to get hyperbole-free info from knowledgable people!

By the way, here are the numbers from
http://www.opensecrets.org/pres08/sectorallc.php?cycle=2008

Lawyers and Lobbyists
Barack Obama $24,279,665
John McCain $8,801,162
Ralph Nader $29,405
Bob Barr $5,050
Cynthia McKinney $700

See who has the most from the Loobys? HMMMM, I bet McCain did this on purpose

DOWN WITH THE SOCIALISTS

Oh clause, Clause, get the cotton out of your ears and read something that is not so biased tword the socialists, oh, I mean the democrats, that you might learn the TRUTH. You are a Obama thug and a liar just like him

Also, Did you see the interview last night? Palin said “it is not an option to go to war with Russia” I bet you think that Hannity is "a right wing biggot" so you watched Matheson beat up a conservative and thought "what a great commentator" weren't you

Why don’t you read something that IS NOT SPIN FOR THE DEMOCRATS? Here you imbecile

http://www.factcheck.org/elections-2008/sliming_palin.html

Read and weep

Don't forget that Obama's top two advisers consist of a top Exec from Fanie which obama was the 2nd most paid recipient. Also his TOP adviser is Executive Manager of LEEHMAN BROTHERS, see anything wrong with taking economic advice on getting through something they caused?

I saw two strategies unfold during the Vice-Presidential debate. Senator Biden addressed John McCain through Governor Pallin, while the Governor espoused her rehearsed babble of Republican dribble. For the most part I felt that Governor Pallin over-relied on some sort of coded reference to the American Dream as she spoke about 'Hawky Mawm's' at a either a soccer game, or some other all American gathering. Her references indicate that she's out of touch with Main Street America - a place characterized by more diversity than settings for either her soccer matches, or 'hawky' games.

Mrs. Pallin expressed disapproval of Senator Biden’s reference to failed Bush Administration Economic Policies telling Senator Biden that he is looking at the past, while she and her counterpart political maverick are looking on ways to fix the future.

But here’s the point: If we are to learn lessons from the past, it’s fair to say that America is facing times as precarious as the Great Depression of 1929. And, perhaps this is our generation’s time for a New Deal. Part of Senator Obama’s acceptance speech indicated that he would find money in the over-bloated, lipstick painted, pork filled, Federal Budget. I wish him all the best and hope he finds the funds needed to accomplish all the things he promised allowing American troops to continue searching for Osama Bin Laden in Afghanistan rather that Iraq. I hope he finds and reallocates potentially misspent funds, developing long-term policies to address problems within the American infra-structure.

I didn’t see winners or losers. I watched Joe Biden, a competent politician with Foreign Policy experience on the one hand while watching a rehearsed, but legitimate try for the brass ring on the other. I just don't think Governor Pallin has the reach

It's like 1929 all over again. Margin calls vs. Sub=prime mortgages, job loss, personal devestation, and failing banks because people felt safer putting their money under their mattresses. I can't wait until the election when bronco-bustin (budget bustin' is a better term) Bush makes his way back to the ranch. In this case, I hope he follows the words of Macarther and, 'just fades away'.

Enjoyed reading your post. Is McDonalds on the McCain List, too. Phil Gramm will creat a McCain Doctrine requiring McDonalds to change french fries into free-market fries. Instead of zero trans-fats, the new fries will have zero regulation.

Down the road, if by some chance public money is required for a George Bush Library, I will personally lobby Congress that his papers are simply the Marvel Comics he relied on while president.

To understand this, you need to go to the crux of the problem. People who couldn't afford mortgages were given them. These "subprime" mortgages were underwritten at first by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, Government Sponsored Enterprises. The whole genesis of this occurred during the Clinton Administration in 1999. The Clinton Administration wanted to increase home ownership and urged Fannie Mae to make subprime loans. This was reported by the NY Times in 1999 and economists warned at that time that it could result in a bailout like the S&L crises. For text of the article from the NY Times do this web search, "Fannie Mae Eases Credit To Aid Mortgage Lending".

So, Fannie and Freddie created the demand. Both GSE's were limited to underwriting mortgages of less than 240,000. We know that our market based economy is based on supply and demand. Fannie and Freddie competed only with one another, but the homeowners who saw their home values skyrocketing wanted to move up into bigger homes and get in on the action. That is where the investment companies entered. They weren't limited to $240,000. They could underwrite loans for any amount. So, the people moving up into bigger homes created the supply. They too were getting in over their heads.

The credit default swaps were just seen as a means to reduce risk by investment companies. They had nothing to do with the basic problem, people buying homes that they couldn't afford. The smart thing to do for all involved would have been to reduce the number of risky loans which would have meant that fewer people would have gotten that home that they always dreamed about, but couldn't afford.

Like any boom/bust cycle, the genesis of the problem occured during the boom. In this case the government encouraged the GSE's to make risky loans that they probably would not make during normal economic times or a downturn.