most of you are going to be too blind by politics to see the truth but here it is. The reason our economy is about to implode:

[flash width=425 height=350]http://www.youtube.com/v/Z5z9lD4C2Io[/flash]

Just watch and pay attention and then start to think for a fucking change.

You ask people not "to be too blind by politics" and then post a purely partisan, political, campaign propaganda piece? What are you, Fox News? If you really want people to not "be too blind by politics" then instead of carrying McCain-Palin's water, why not dig up an objective, unbiased analysis of the situation? You know, something that might be just a wee bit closer to "the truth" (which would, necessarily, demonstrate the culpability of *everyone* involved, regardless of party or campaign affiliation).

did you even WATCH the video ???

How else would I have known that, when it came to political blame (the private sector was treated almost as unwilling participants), the video exclusively targeted Democrats and their supporters (both collectively and individually), and pointed not one finger at any Republican or supporter (either collectively or individually)? Nor did it acknowledge any attempt by any Democrat to intervene, despite promoting attempts by Republicans as though they were the *only* ones to try and save the day. This is propaganda for McCain. Pure and simple.

Seriously, do you *really* think that "the truth" of the matter is that this entire economic crisis is solely the fault of Democrats and their supporters? Going all the way back to Jimmy Carter? That there isn't a single measure of responsibility to be shared by any Republicans? Despite their control over the White House for over 2/3 of the time since Carter left -- despite the Republican control of Congress from 2000-2006, in addition to the WH? That there isn't shared responsibility on both sides of the aisle? And yet you promote this campaign propaganda as "the truth" that the rest of us cannot see because *we* are blinded by politics?

Open up your own eyes and stop trying to pull the wool over ours.

I think bearvomit's actually a Democrat attempting to incite the best in other fellow Democrats by exhibiting the absolute worst and most shameless of Republican talking points.

If that's not the case though (even though it's getting harder to believe ), just ignore his bullshit.

As a current employee of Wachovia (please, let me keep my job), I've had a somewhat vested interest in this whole mess. With news that my employer might be sold to Citi (the offshore kings), I've had somewhat of an edge all weekend long.

Most of the problems stem from the de-regulation of the mortgate and financial industry starting in 1999. Lack of oversight let the foxes loose in the henhouse, and no one stopped to say "WTF!" until we were all 30' into a whole and covered in sh!t.

Both sides are to blame, both sides need to fix it. You want to blame the Republicans, who were in office a majority of the last 10 years; fine, blame them, but then point your fingers at the Democrats who have concentrated on stopping the fscking war in Iraq that they've let the rest of America go to sh!t. In the meantime, you want someone to really blame, and take your frustrations out on? Find a house flipper, take them into a dark alley and beat the snot out of them. These are the people that took out 3-4 loans for 130% of their monthly income, and when they couldn't get the house sold, walked away from the payments. These are the types of people that we're shouldering the bad debt on. In the mean time, who cares what Washington did, as usually, they're a day late and 10 bucks short.

Both sides are not as equally culpable as you make them out to be. The Laissez-faire ideology which has flowed through this country's capitalistic veins since the Industrial Revolution still remains one of the primary tenets of right-wing thinking. Unfortunately, in such an environment where big government is viewed as a crutch to the extraordinarily hard-working and infallible citizenry of America (oh, yee loyal peasants of the future), it's not a smart or efficient move to attempt to reign in any particular group of businesses until it's labeled a major crisis by the mainstream media. Otherwise, no one will give a shit. There have been plenty of politicians who have spoken out about an eroding middle-class and the whole lending debacle on both sides of the aisle, but they're always in the minority and their arguments never gain any momentum outside of a small class of responsible, more relaxed citizens who actually have time to turn on C-SPAN once and while and read up on alternative, progressive news websites.

You're right about the Democrats on Iraq though. Losing a home is much worse than having one mistakenly blown to bits with everyone in it.

Citigroup to buy Wachovia

http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080929/wachovia_citigroup.html?.v=1


will this mean you'll lose your job or will this just be a name change on the door? Contrary to belief here, i'm not such a heartless, cold-hearted republican bastard you make me out to be. Who's ever to blame for this, they don't need let off the hook. I think Bush should have been thrown out a long time ago but you Dems never got your shit together on that one.

edit*
the 700 Billion dollar bill didn't pass today. But remember, the Dems have the majority and don't even need a single Republican vote to pass it. Why didn't they vote like Pelosi told them to??

the Dow is down 603 points right now..

Whoop! Down finished down 777: biggest one day drop (though it doesn't rate on percentage).

I will keep my job, for now. Thankfully i'm involved with the brokerage, so i'm the part they're keeping (and supposedly keeping independent) until such time that they can find a better buy (I'm assuming). Thank you for the concern.

For those interested in the details, Wachovia was basically broken in half. It's four worst performing parts were all sold to Citi, which will promptly take all the assets and lay off a majority of the people. The other half will stay a publicly traded company (selling @ 1.85 a share now, anyone want to buy in?).

If I hadn't already ranted about the fscktards in congress that don't get what's going on, I'd fill the rest of this page, alas I don't have the will (and heroes is almost on).

I'm still betting on one more regional dying: either National City or Fifth Thirds.

Those poor CEOs...

Are you guys even reading about what this bill entails? Why in the fuck should taxpayers foot the bill for this shit?! Do you know how many multiples of your lifetime's worth of income the owners of these companies make and will continue to make if this bill, or anything like it, is passed? Do you all suffer from financial inferiority complexes?

No, but I understand 2 things.

1) While the Taxpayers provided up front $$ to "foot the bill" as you put it, the taxpayers also benefit in 5 years, when these distressed mortgages are back in the black.

2) If banks continue to hoard money, to back up this debt, they stop lending it out. If they don't lend it out, credit stops. As a credit based society, this is bad news, and confidence is lost. When confidence in the economy is lost, our economy starts to collapse. As a global economy (take China, who has invested a large sum in t-bills) if the US Economy fails, we fail. If we fail, the dollar drops in the currency market, and many things, Oil included, lose value.

Do I like this? Hell no. I pay my mortgage on time, I'm not late, but not everyone has been as lucky as me. People have lost jobs, people are undisciplined, but it needs to happen. Look at the foreign exchanges around the world. They're dropping. Whole countries are on the verge of collapse. If something doesn't happen soon, things may not return to normal until your children are ready to retire. (OK, maybe not, but it'll be a while)

Certainly, if no action is taken soon, the economy will falter greatly and have negative wide-spread effects around the world, but the potential for exploiting the fear of these consequences is too great. There's still a great deal of uncertainty at this point.

What's most sour about this whole deal is the haste, and closed-mindedness with which a good amount of Congress members and the mainstream media have presented this issue. The bail-out plan, like many other pieces of legislation that have been passed regarding things like war, security and health care, were written up by those who have a stake in the companies it'd be affecting and presented as the best and only solution. As a result, several hundred economists, including some Nobel Prize winners (see here); and a surprising amount of citizens have come out, strongly opposed to the plan.

there ARE other solutions other than turning our country Socialist overnight. why not temporarily suspend the capital gains tax?

2 points of note:

First, when the bill failed, the House's web servers were killed by email volume of people outraged that it didn't pass. Not saying that the government's bandwidth has ever been large, but that's impressive.

Second, more a question, how would suspending Capital Gains Tax free up credit markets?

capital gains come from the sale of stocks, bonds and property. the point wouldn't really be to free up credit, but more to bring confidence back in the market. people would be buying and selling again, instead of just selling, because there wouldn't be a tax penalty at the end of transaction. I believe foreign money would pour in quickly to take advantage of the tax holiday too.

just a thought, but i've heard it discussed

That would be great for Wall St, but it's like putting a band aid over a stab wound. The underlying problem still exists, and banks still won't lend out money, even for things like payroll.

SNL actually did a skit AGAINST the Dems over this:

[flash width=425 height=350]http://www.youtube.com/v/LYyGD--Skcg[/flash]

Gone already....

Dammit! I'm so fucking tired of internet censorship. Fucking media dictatorship.

here it is in HD

[flash width=512 height=296]http://www.hulu.com/embed/VrvVxi0C_EiVZDgsvvWpJg[/flash]


NBC actually got threatened with a lawsuit over this by the older couple mentioned in this skit. Herbert and Marion Sandler are real people that took Wachovia bank for a ride by selling them sub-prime mortgages. They made 24 billion and left Wachovia holding their dicks. The skit aired with a ticker at the bottom that read "people that should be shot" NBC is trying to pull all versions online before they're sued, hence the quick takedown of the video earlier.

found another youtube version.
[flash width=425 height=350]http://www.youtube.com/v/k3igb71c_XI[/flash]

That was keen, thx for posting it up.

I'm surprised those two haven't been whacked yet, to be honest. A lot of people at Wachovia are pissed at the sh!t they pulled by selling Golden West for 26 billion. Meh, water under the bridge now. I look forward to working for Wells Fargo.

In the mean time, Anne Hathaway is smokin just had to throw that out.

On the last note, I'm certainly glad that those idiots in congress that didn't believe we were on the verge of economic collapse were right. I mean look, we could hit 7000 in the Dow, the world exchanges are have sunk 10-20% in the past 3 days. Hell the Nikkei dropped 9% today and 1 of the Russian exchanges had to be shut down before it collapsed. But no, no economic problems here.

heard a shocking stat this morning on CNN. 1 in 6 homeowners in the US have upside-down mortgages! where their home is worth less than what the mortgage is. 1 in 6 !! if that's true, then we haven't even BEGUN to see people walking away from their mortgages yet. I read elsewhere that HUD is going to try and help these people, but their lenders have to agree to a loan writedown AND the homeowner has to come up with 10% of the refinance. who has that kind of money AFTER they're already in the house??

but no recession here people, nothing to see, move along people, move along. christmas is coming, go shopping

Well I just contributed to the economy for the year and bought a bed room set tonight.

I heard that about the Upside down. Now reconcile that with the 1% of home loans are all that's in trouble.

well, the market plunged 678 points today and wrests at 8579.19

Current predictions are a bottom of 7400, at least from the chatter that I heard today. Depending on what happens the next few days in the global market, this could rise a bit.

Just out of curiosity, how is it that anyone "walks away from thier mortgage"? Because, speaking from experience, that's a handy way to get sued. Even if you're still trying to pay them, getting behind can get you a summons. Are sub-prime loans that unsecured? And if so, why didn't I get me one of those?

Oh, and as far as the market is concerned, all I know is that gas is cheaper. And when you have a 100 mile round trip every day and no retirement any fucking way, does it really matter?

Can't get sued if you can't find the person to serve the summons. There are cases in Indianapolis and So. Cali where people are stripping houses and leaving everything else. Anything that can be sold, is, the rest is left that can't be carried in a car.

As for oil....OPEC's already ticked, they're going to cut production to stem oil's slide (it's @ 84 a barrel as of yesterday). Now the last time it was that low for us, gas was about 2.80. It's still 3.17 around here, but I'd like it to fall further. Wife brought up a good point, though...think about all those folks that bought the Dodge with the 2.99 gas for the next 3 years. For the foreseeable future, that program's become practically useless.

World's Markets may be closed soon

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aP5mpMUORBWM




oct 1, the Dow was at 10831, now it's about to fall below 8,000. 10 days and nearly a 3,000 point drop. Go BUSH !

Bon voyage, Cryostar!

Go go market suspension, let the panic pass.

I heard about the cruise, wish I was going on it. In the mean time, what the article failed to mention is that this cruise is part of their annual compensation (i.e. the top brokers will pay income taxes on it). So it's not quite as bad as AIG. :P

Well now GM is about to get a bailout it seems.



Is this becomming a ploy of the Feds to take over large companies by leveraging them with bailouts? Is this just a giant power grab or are these bailouts really necessary? I saw last week where the Feds are refusing to disclose where 2 Trillion dollars worth of loans are going to.

Is success in business now an american RIGHT?

meanwhile, gas has now dropped below $2 where I'm at. However this is more of an indicator of how shitty the economy is now.

I'm below 2 bucks now as well. Oil keeps falling, OPEC is crapping their pants. GM, who has continued to make cr@p cars for the past 2-3 years in over-abundance is "out of money"....so where do we go? AIG just needed another bailout. How do you blow through money that fast?

And now after posting more than four consecutive quarter losses, AMEX is going to become a bank. Shit is changing each day.

I wonder if GM will become a bank. *snickers*

I'm becoming a bank.

Can I have a loan?

I have better than poor credit.

gas in the dirty south is at $1.79 now. Way better than $4.20 from the summer! Now I read this report from Bloomberg about the Fed's giving 7.4 Trillion, TRILLION to financial firms around the country.

bloomberg.com

[hr]
Nov. 24 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. government is prepared to lend more than $7.4 trillion on behalf of American taxpayers, or half the value of everything produced in the nation last year, to rescue the financial system since the credit markets seized up 15 months ago.

The unprecedented pledge of funds includes $2.8 trillion already tapped by financial institutions in the biggest response to an economic emergency since the New Deal of the 1930s, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The commitment dwarfs the only plan approved by lawmakers, the Treasury Department’s $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program. Federal Reserve lending last week was 1,900 times the weekly average for the three years before the crisis.

[hr]


What do they do if this money doesn't fix the problem?


Also, this is a story from Dick Morris about what just happened at the G20 summit a few weeks ago. America apparently just handed over economic oversight to the European Union.

www.newsmax.com /morris/

[hr]
By: Dick Morris & Eileen McGann

The results of the G-20 economic summit amount to nothing less than the seamless integration of the United States into the European economy.

In one month of legislation and one diplomatic meeting, the United States has unilaterally abdicated all the gains for the concept of free markets won by the Reagan administration and surrendered, in total, to the Western European model of socialism, stagnation, and excessive government regulation.

Sovereignty is out the window. Without a vote, we are suddenly members of the European Union. Given the dismal record of those nations at creating jobs and sustaining growth, merging with the Europeans is like a partnership with death.

At the G-20 meeting, Bush agreed to subject the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and our other regulatory agencies to the supervision of a global entity that would critique its regulatory standards and demand changes if it felt they were necessary. Bush agreed to create a College of Supervisors.

According to The Washington Post, it would "examine the books of major financial institutions that operate across national borders so regulators could begin to have a more complete picture of banks' operations."

Their scrutiny would extend to hedge funds and to various "exotic" financial instruments. The International Monetary Fund (IMF), a European-dominated operation, would conduct "regular vigorous reviews" of American financial institutions and practices.

The European-dominated College of Supervisors would also weigh in on issues like executive compensation and investment practices.

[hr]



More from Forbes: www.forbes.com /opinions/ g20-china-summit-oped-cx_sj_1117johnson.html

[hr]
The main business of the summit, focusing on the regulatory agenda, is also being interpreted positively by some. In his post-summit press conference, Sarkozy proclaimed triumph--he had brought the U.S. to the table and forced them to sign up to an extensive global regulatory agenda. There is a strong sense that, taking advantage of an administration rapidly running out of steam, the Europeans got what they came for.

[hr]

Long live the Queen I guess.





interesting number comparison from Rush Limbaugh:

[hr]
Now, depending on where you look, the total bailout money to date is either $6 trillion or $7.4 trillion. These guys, they just ran it up to $4.6 trillion, and it's more than that now. It's at least two trillion more than that. Now, the current national debt is like $7 trillion. Maybe it's higher than that. But regardless, that's irrelevant here. This current bailout, calculated only up to $4.6 trillion, has cost more than all of the following government expenditures combined. Are you ready? The Marshall Plan. The Louisiana Purchase. The race to the moon. The S&L crisis. The Korean War. The New Deal. The invasion of Iraq. The Vietnam War. And NASA.

All of those combined, in inflation-adjusted dollars, equal $3.92 trillion in today's dollars. This bailout is more than all of those combined. Now, would you like to hear the inflation-adjusted dollar amounts for each of these line items? The Marshall Plan, back when we did it, cost $12.7 billion -- and it rebuilt Europe after World War II, for those of you who voted for Obama. If we did the Marshall Plan today, it would cost $115.3 billion. We rebuilt European for $115.3 billion in today's dollars; and we have just spent, according to these guys, $4.6 trillion on bailouts of the US financial industry. The Louisiana Purchase, in today's dollars, would cost $217 billion. Now, for those of you who voted for Obama, the Louisiana Purchase was Thomas Jefferson. That's how we got New Orleans and much of the territory all the way to the Left Coast, and it gave us the Lewis and Clark expedition, which Jefferson ordered to go find out what the hell we just bought.

The race to the moon, in today's dollars, would have cost $237 billion. That's more than the Marshall Plan and Louisiana Purchase in today's dollars. The S&L crisis. We bailed out the S&Ls and fixed that. In today's dollars, it would cost $256 billion. Back then it was $153 billion. The Korean War, $54 billion back in the fifties. Today's cost would be $454 billion. The New Deal. Today's dollars, estimated to be $500 billion, if we did the New Deal today. That's half a trillion. We have spent $4.6 trillion. The New Deal was half a trillion in today's dollars. We have spent $4.6 trillion, and probably more than that, at least six or seven. The invasion of Iraq, $597 billion in today's dollars. The Vietnam War. Back in the era of the Vietnam War, it cost $111 billion. To do it today would cost $698 billion. And NASA. This is not the race to moon. This is the whole NASA budget. Over the years, $416.7 billion. In today's dollars, it's $851.2 billion. Maybe this is an annual cost here for NASA -- yeah, it's an annual.

So, all of these add up to $3.92 trillion: Marshall Plan, New Deal, Louisiana Purchase, race to the moon, S&L crisis, la la la la, and we have spent $4.6 trillion. The only thing that comes close is World War II, and even that cost less than what we have spent. But at least in World War II, we were producing something, and everybody was working, and there was a tangible result, and that is we were able to stop Hitler. We did a great thing in World War II. Again, I have to emphasize, this is using a figure of $4.6 trillion as the bailout today. It is far, far more than that.

[hr]

These people are all stupid. I have an idea that will fix the global economy and keep rich people rich and get things moving again. When they finally figure it out and do just this, someone will be owing me trillions. I consider myself to be a staunch isolationist and hate the idea of globalization and think the world works better as a sum of it's seperate, independent and self sufficient moving parts instead of this jumbled up inter-connected incestuous financial mess it's become, so revealing this fantastic idea really hurts, but I'm sick of not making money because my customers are all broke.

The FED, the IMF and the World Bank should spike the prices in the scrap market and start stockpiling metal. And then sell it. Plus, once consumers start trashing thier shit for the scrap prices, they will want to, and have money for, buying new shit. The Steel industry won't like it, but they can make some side deal with them to buy thier excess or a percentage of unsold steel at a minor profit blah blah etc and shut them up for a while. The Automakers could make back a lot of the money they are begging for now by trading in the huge unsold inventories they have by selling them for scrap. Hell, they should do that now. Sure, it won't work long term, but I think it's a nice bandaid. Or we could all just be commies on welfare.

Dow has biggest Inauguration day drop ever. Now below 8,000

www.bloomberg.com

[hr]
Jan. 20 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. stocks sank, sending the Dow Jones Industrial Average to its worst Inauguration Day decline, as speculation banks must raise more capital sent financial shares to an almost 14-year low.

State Street Corp., the largest money manager for institutions, tumbled 59 percent after unrealized bond losses almost doubled. Wells Fargo & Co. and Bank of America Corp. slumped more than 23 percent on an analyst’s prediction that they’ll need to take steps to shore up their balance sheets. The Dow’s 4 percent slide was the most on an Inauguration Day in the measure’s 112-year history, according to data compiled by Bloomberg and the Stock Trader’s Almanac.

“All the banks are going to have to recapitalize,” said Greg Woodard, portfolio strategist at Manning & Napier Advisors Inc., which manages $16 billion in Fairport, New York. “That’s not done. That’s in front of them, and we don’t want to try to get in front of that trade.”

The S&P 500 plunged 5.3 percent to 805.22. The S&P 500 Financials Index fell 17 percent to below its lowest closing level since March 1995 as concern European banks need more capital also weighed on the group. The Dow average slid 332.13 points to 7,949.09. Both the Dow and S&P 500 retreated to two- month lows.

The S&P 500 is off to its worst start to a year, shattering the biggest rally since World War II, as analysts cut earnings estimates by a record 83 percentage points and companies signal worse to come.

The S&P 500 is down 11 percent in the first 12 trading days of 2009, exceeding last year’s 9.2 percent drop, according to data compiled by Bloomberg going back to 1928. The decline helped erase more than two-thirds of a 24 percent rally since Nov. 20 as optimism that government spending would revive the economy evaporated.

‘Effectively Insolvent’

U.S. financial losses from the credit crisis may reach $3.6 trillion, according to New York University Professor Nouriel Roubini, who predicted last year’s economic and stock-market meltdowns.

“If that’s true, it means the U.S. banking system is effectively insolvent because it starts with a capital of $1.4 trillion,” Roubini said at a conference in Dubai today. “This is a systemic banking crisis.”

[hr]

Don't worry Magic Negro is going to change shit.

God, how I wish I could be a research analyst, make up some rumor based on how things appear in the world and make tons of cash for getting it published because it will feed the media frenzy.

I say they just give up and start over. The whole thing is just so fucked up now. The fact that we owe more money than there actually is speaks volumes to the ridiculous nature of the financial system we have in place. If you collected every fucking dollar and coin in existence, you wouldn't even come close to paying this off. The treasury department farmed out the money business to the Federal Reserve Banking system, and things have gone to shit ever since. We should be allowed to know who we owe this money to, exactly.

And then tell them to get fucked.

Allthough, the last guy to do that had a really bad day in Dallas back in 63'.

I believe that's China, who, if I'm not mistaken, is the largest single holder of Treasury Bills in the United States.

And let us not forget to also blame the SEC, that ever wise group that's supposed to regulate how the stock market is used, and prevent abuses within the systems. Abuses that have claimed 4 major financial institutions last year, and may claim 2 more before this year is over. Fuck you Christopher Cox.


No, I'm not bitter, why do you ask?

the thing that will turn the world upside down is the Derivatives Market. It's at $516 Trillion which is 6 times the entire world's GDP and it's largely based on credit. Troy is right, there really isn't even that much money in the world which only shows how fucking crazy these people are. What will happen is the Stock market will rebound slightly in the next year due to a false sense of security from the second TARP bill obama will sign. Then quietly, the ones in power will abandon the market like they did in the 30's, taking the profit and leaving everyone else holding a dirty dick full of derivative debt. Hyperdeflation will fill the void and they'll suck it all up for pennies on the dollar. The whole world plus 5%.

Gold and silver is where to be.

This pic is pretty spot on



[hr]

Here's Henry Kissinger saying obama should usher in a "new world order" on CNBC Jan 5, 2009. Start watching around 1:50
[flash width=425 height=350]http://www.youtube.com/v/KD3BqK-9ZiU[/flash]

well the Dow should fall below 7,000 sometime today. Things are really looking great with all this hope and change that's going on. Something I've noticed about how this seems to be working. A company loses, say 100 billion due to shitty bosses, so they borrow 100 billion and pretend everythings A ok and even in their company. Sounds about right.

I don't care who is in office. The next 4 years aren't going to be good for Obama. It wouldn't have mattered if you had Frankin D. in the office it still wouldn't look good. The great depression was not solved in the first 4 years of Roosevelts presidency. He just was a lot more confident and outgoing than his predecessor. That kept him in for a second term and the country started to slowly turn back as World War II was looming. Obama doesn't have anything like that to look forward to. He is mired in the middle of a war that is costing God knows what. His goal is to cut the deficit in half which I like but really it's a pipe dream. I like that he is wanting a tax hike of almost 5% for people who make over $250,000 a year. Doubt it will ever go through but it sounds nice. No I believe there is no chance for reelection for Obama at this point because you can't solve this type of crisis in a small 4 year window. And people will look at him and say that he was no better than Bush with handling this dilemma when I really feel no one could have done anything to solve it in one term.

oh no, no, no. Don't make excuses now. He said "yes we can" and dammit he'd better. He made all these promises throughout the campaign about how he was going to fix and change the world. He came down from Chicago to fix America and now lets see it. oh, you mean all that was just blowhard to get elected? he gets a pass huh because he's the first black prez?

No, I'm sorry but this is people's lives that are getting fucked up royally. If I've got a roof that's got a big fucking hole in it, and some dude no one's every heard of walks up to me and says he can fix that better than new and I hire him expecting the job to get done, but then he says the hole was bigger than he thought and can't help after I paid him the money and hired his ass... that MF'er is getting a punch in the jaw!

And that's not to say McCain would've been any fucking better either.


obama could fix this, but it would probably cost him his life. He could say, dammit I'm King with this 'executive order' power that I have so here's what we're going to do. First, the dollar is now backed by gold and silver. no more printing off money that isn't backed by anything. Second, we are now on a flat tax system. 10% of income no matter if you make 3 bucks a year or 3 trillion. No other tax will be implemented. If you want new roads, then dammit build them yourself or charge a toll. Third, we're closing all foreign bases and bringing the troops back home to patrol our boarders with lethal force. We will have a one month holiday for any person that wants to come to our country that has a college degree, when you set foot on US soil, you're a citizen. After that month, no more entry for 10 years other than tourism.

The Dow would jump 10,000 points in a week if he did that. But he'd have to dig in deeper than an Alabama tick if he wanted to keep his head.

And just to make sure everyone is certain here I was not standing up for Obama. I didn't vote for him. But no president was going to realistically fix this in 4 years. And if we are going to burn presidents for not keeping promises then at least Obama won't be alone.

Bearvomit is on the right track. I still think a bailout of the consumer would have made a lot more sense. What were they thinking when they outsourced the manufacturing base of this country? What did they think we were all going to do for a living? If you don't have a manufacturing job, you had customers who did. Or you had customers who had customers who did. And when the customer base starts to erode or contract it's spending and default on debt en masse, this pyramid scheme we call the Central Banking System collapses. The fact that the megawealthy insist on still being megawealthy when this is all over with isn't helping. It's still all kinds of fucked up. I see no way this is going to end without violence. I'm not encouraging it, mind you, I hope I'm wrong. But all signs point to bad.

I'm ready, my raft to my secret carribean island is complete, and while america is consumed by class war, I'll live in peace. When all is said and done, my church will restore peace. All will worship the one true God. His holy noodleness!

Your name wouldn't be Jim Jones, Jr. would it? From Jonestown?

don't drink the kool-aid