Tribune on it's knees

Wall Street banks committed a bigger crime when they sold overrated mortgage related securities to investors and they got bailed out. So the tribune being required to hold that much cash to stay in business is wrong. You can't tell one company that these are the rules while somebody else plays by their own rules.

clipped from www.nytimes.com Rating agencies say Tribune’s short-term problem is not in making payments on its debt. Instead, the company is struggling to comply with a requirement that its main debt from its acquisition of the company not exceed nine times its earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization.

You don't always know when the sky is gonna fall

Corruption, racketeering, and bribery or all familiar terms to federal prosecutors going after Mafia bosses. Strange when these activities take place on Wall Street no similar charges are filed and personal fortunes are kept intact.

clipped from www.nytimes.com Now let me move to another point: all of the recent misery, including the stock market’s plunge, the disasters at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the loss of retirement savings. These did not happen out of the blue. The catastrophe of giving bonds ratings far higher than they deserved did not happen by chance. And endlessly rosy reports from banks and investment banks about their health did not result from a butterfly flapping its wings in China.

R.I. Leading the US in job losses

Housing bubble deflated as R.I.is reeling. With few growth industries to support it citizens Rhode Island workers are at the bottom of the pack.

clipped from www.nytimes.com “What kind of math do you need to know?” he asked. “Just don’t take a 15- foot truck under a 13-foot bridge.” “You don’t see the light at the end of the tunnel,” Arthur said. “And,” added Dennis, “there’s about a million boulders in that tunnel you got to climb over to get through.”

European and Asian leaders call for unity in facing economic crises

American Leaders are you listening because this is diplomatic language for don't the Fxxk us again or else.

clipped from www.nytimes.com “Europe would like Asia to support our efforts, and we would like to make sure that on Nov. 15 we can face the world together and say that the causes of this unprecedented crisis will never be allowed to happen again,” Mr. Sarkozy, the current European Union president, said, according to Reuters. Meanwhile, leaders issued a joint statement that called for improved supervision and regulation of the global financial system while calling on the International Monetary Fund to assist countries severely affected by the economic slowdown.

My memories of Dave

He had a style that you could pick-out from other pianist. He'd rather play alone than with just a bassist. He was honest in self evaluation as well as telling others about themselves. He loved baseball and he was never to busy to notice you or offer encouragement when he saw something he liked.

clipped from www.nytimes.com Dave McKenna, Pianist Known for Solo Jazz Work, Dies at 78

Dave McKenna is dead

see the blog

clipped from www.nytimes.com Dave McKenna, Pianist Known for Solo Jazz Work, Dies at 78

Environmental Flip-Flop

Using financial turmoil to suspend environmental necessities is necessary

clipped from edition.cnn.com "They're using the financial crisis as an excuse," said Tomas Wyns at Climate Action Network Europe, a Brussels, Belgium-based umbrella organization of more than 100 environmentalist groups.

As ecomony sours presciption drug sales slump

A large study shows elevated low-density lipoprotein " bad cholesterol" of and by itself does not increase your chances of heart attack or stroke.

clipped from www.nytimes.com Overall spending in the United States for prescription drugs is still the highest in the world, an estimated $286.5 billion last year. But that number makes up only about 10 percent of this country’s total health expenditures of $2.26 trillion.

Spreading the wealth around of top 10% is just what I want.

McCain says 40% of Americans pay no income tax. That is because most are to young to work. He will further cut taxes for the wealthiest corporations and individuals because they will create jobs, he said.
That is George "Custer" Bush's philosophy and look where we are today.

clipped from www.boston.com McCain promotes his own plans to double the tax deduction for children to $6,600 per child, to cut the capital gains tax rate, and slash the corporate income tax. "In this country, we believe in spreading opportunity, for those who need jobs and those who create them," he says. "And that is exactly what I intend to do as president of the United States." McCain adds that the "spread the wealth" philosophy "would also explain some big problems with my opponent's claim that he will cut income taxes for 95 percent of Americans. You might ask: How do you cut income taxes for 95 percent of Americans, when more than 40 percent pay no income taxes right now? How do you reduce the number zero?

Talk is cheap

Suspicions between European nations will in the long run hurt a sustained and beneficial effect for the citizens living in the European Union.
The bailout of greedy bankers while ignoring the citizens most in need of direct financial help is pitiful.

clipped from www.latimes.com The European leaders did not put a price tag on the bailout, saying the numbers would be announced in coming days as national governments unveiled details of their efforts. The 27 member states of the European Union -- 12 of which have not adopted the euro -- will consider the proposal at a summit Wednesday in Brussels. Given the differences in European economies and politics, most experts had viewed a large-scale one-size-fits-all approach as impossible and perhaps even undesirable. Because few details of the programs were disclosed, just how similar the plans are was unclear Sunday night.

'Nordic Tiger' Iceland Finds Itself in Meltdown

REYKJAVIK, Iceland, Oct. 9 -- The bad news just keeps coming for Icelanders, who in the last week have seen the international financial empire that they built on this remote North Atlantic island start to crumble, piece by piece. The Nordic Tiger is now singing me-ow. A special place to stash your cash has left investors holding an empty bag as English financiers angered when discovering their deposits are not insured in Iceland, invoked anti-terrorism laws to protect their stashed cash. The English government under the pressure of English financiers used an anti-terrorism guise to freeze everybody's assets in Iceland's largest bank to salvage their plundered wealth.A system put in place in the early 1990's when a wave of deregulation enabled the private sector to leave government regulators in the dust, often being paid to look the other way, I suppose,began enjoying high interest rates in Iceland's banks found nowhere else around the world. With the resulting interest return on billions of pounds invested in Iceland's banks, investors were able to hire entertainers,chauffeurs,waiters and waitresses locally paying minimum wage and therefore easily pressured to cater to every whim at their Galas. I wonder if the same people who provoked the government to use this esoteric guise, anti-terrorism, will use the same tool to prevent the super rich from cashing out their billions as they flee to set-up shop anew in countries which they've previously impoverished. One of the favorite tools used by government, contributing to hold back and impoverish local economies is the manipulation of supply and demand.Supply and demand long held as the most important determinant of pricing is manipulated with artificial price supports,often paying producers the difference between the losses they sustain from undercutting prices and the cost of producing the goods. Those government especially the United States where it's used on a huge scale and shamelessly against Latin American fruit and vegetable growers enables U.S. farm products produced thousands of miles away to sell below the fair market price.As a result of market manipulation the local economy is undercut causing wide-spread poverty.

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Brittish gov. freezes bank assests of Icelandic bank under anti-terrorism guise

Private excesses "greed" sends world wide financial system into confusion.
After years of trusting that financial banking executives were helping everyone we discover a reverse "Robin Hood" effect: the rich stealing from the poor. Wow I could never imagine that taking place!!!
Alan Greenspan former U.S. Fed Reserve chair and who was ex- pres. Bill Clinton's hero is looking more like the male counterpart to Monica Lewinsky than a financial genius as his deregulation and voodoo derivatives scheme unravels.

clipped from www.guardian.co.uk Shortly before 8.00am on Wednesday Gordon Brown and a group of aides swept through a secure passage in Downing Street.

New Corruption Scandal In Polish Football

A coach and two football officials were arrested as part of an anti-corruption campaign in Poland.

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Fed wants to invest taxpayers money in private banking

We all knew it HR1424 the bill that gave 700 billion to those greedy idiots will spend even more of our tax money foolishly if we don't get rid of George Bush and company in a big hurry.The fundamental problems such as small paychecks for average workers and low Social Security payments for most retirees and high interest rates on all types of loans have left us with nothing in our pockets.It's the lack of ingenuity and stiffness withing the financial system the unwillingness to go directly to the root of the problem but instead cling to the belief that investing more money to shore up failing economic dogmas will rescue the system. But what they fail to understand is we are tired of Credit Card slavery and nothing do I see in this plan, the fed investing in private banking, addresses that issue.If like giving a blood transfusion to corpse and pumping billions of easy credit dollars into the failed banking system is the correct way to combat inflation which is the largest dilemma facing retirees even a fool such as I can see it will only make matters worse.It's amazing with all this money Paulson proposes to spend, but not one dollar will go directly to the individuals whose taxes put the money in the treasury in the first place.The majority of us who pay our bills, don't sue are neighbors, and try not to take on debt for luxurious purchases and even pay our mortgages and estimated federal and state taxes get NOTTA. A trillion plus dollars for the "financial experts" and nothing for us who have struggled to do the right thing and are basically honest individuals. My aunt Carol told me don't get depressed over things I have no control over. I'm not depressed aunti I'm angry!

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News Media Feel Limits to Georgia’s Democracy

Georgia’s critics cite a lack of press freedom as an example of the shortfalls in the country’s democratic standards.

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ABC News: Report: SEC Gave Morgan Stanley CEO Protection

Preferential treatment for wealthy and politically well connected John Mack, CEO at Morgan Stanley. The SEC fires one of its own lawyers looking into allegations of insider trading at Morgan Stanley.

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Buy the Loans

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson’s bailout proposal stalled because it had an overbroad definition of the troubled assets. What the treasury plans to buy has to be trimmed down. The treasury does not need to take more risks with taxpayer's money then is necessary. If they buy only the mortgage loans and not the associated derivatives themselves OK. That is if the $700 billion dollar bailout bill comes up for a vote at all which it probably will. Actually I'd like to see the bill killed and let the chips fall where they may because putting $700 billion back into the hands of those who are responsible for this financial fiasco in the first place. Mr.Henry Paulson Jr.,for instance, the current and hopefully not long to be US Treasurer, a former Goldman Sachs CEO, and it is simply absurd to continue trusting him. He's a billionaire with friends up and down Wall Street not Main Street. If putting $700 billion dollars into the hands of those who messed it up in the first place, hoping they can fix it now is realistic, maybe somebody smarter than I can explain it to me.

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McCain gets a slight edge among 14 undecided Pennsylvania vo

The debate was manipulated in favor of McCain. For instance, a one and half hour debate and only 15 minutes allotted to domestic issues where the Republicans are most vulnerable to criticism. Most Americans are much more interested in the Financial Bailout of failed Wall Street bankers than either Iran, Iraq, or Bin-laden. What most of us are thinking and worrying about is job security, rising food and fuel prices, and outrageous interest rates charged on credit cards. But these most important issues were only glanced over. The interview was manipulated to make the more senior "experienced" senator McCain look more knowledgeable then Obama. John McCain is a serious hawk and he's a Washington insider who has long been on very friendly terms with corporate lobbyist, if he wins in November you can expect 4 more years of the Bush administration.

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