Archive for the 'Economy' Category
October 9th, 2008 by Bob Schwartz
Fresh off being taken to the woodshed during a Congressional hearing for throwing a huge shindig, AIG, recipients of $85 billion of your money, plans their next get together on our dime.
American International Group Inc., castigated by the White House, Congress and Barack Obama for hosting a $440,000 conference days after an $85 billion federal bailout, plans to hold another gathering for brokers next week.
The event, at the Ritz-Carlton in California’s Half Moon Bay, aims to “motivate and educate” about 150 independent agents who sell AIG coverage to high-end clients, said spokesman Nicholas Ashooh.
White House spokeswoman Dana Perino today called “despicable” expenses from the first gathering, a weeklong conference last month at the St. Regis Resort in Monarch Beach. Those costs included $23,000 for spa services, according to Representative Henry Waxman, chairman of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee.
October 7th, 2008 by Bob Schwartz
While McCain ramps up his campaign of smears towards Obama, yesterday in New Mexico, our markets tumble. There is no better example of that than the picture below which shows the market ticker while McCain continues his hitting on the tenuous Ayers/Obama association.
Why would one example of this be a big deal? Well if you listen to the McCain campaign, they had decided to abandon talking about the economy altogether because they feel they can’t compete on the issue with Obama. Apparently they have realized that all they have left is to try and smear their way into the White House.
October 6th, 2008 by Bob Schwartz
As of 1:50 PM CST the Dow is down over 700, my 401K is down 26.7% for the year and now word is spreading that the affected banks might not even want government help because of the restrictions.
Fears are mounting that many Wall Street banks and financial firms will refuse to participate in the US government’s $700bn bail-out package, leaving global markets and world economies in a perilous state for months to come.
‘There is a growing feeling that banks … might instead decide to tough it out,’ said Thomas Caldwell, chairman and CEO of Caldwell Financial, a $1bn-plus fund manager. [...]
But Wall Street analysts, believe the addition of so many terms to the bill might deter potential participants.
And what’s the hold up?
One of the least attractive elements is a section designed to curb executive pay at banks that participate in the bail-out package. These include limiting stock-related pay and banning ‘golden parachutes’ for executives.
We wanted to help these companies why again?
October 6th, 2008 by Bob Schwartz
After approving $700 billion to bailout big banks for their poor business practices (did you see 60 Minutes last night?), has our government effectively taken away the excuse that we cannot afford something? We don’t seem too worried about going so far into debt that our children will still be paying it off so why not go all the way and make sure they have heath care while they are standing in line at the soup kitchens?
What else can we now get that we have always wanted but couldn’t afford? Paying for it shouldn’t be a problem, we can just print more. Just wondering….
October 5th, 2008 by Bob Schwartz
While the major theme of Senate challenger Joel Dykstra’s campaign has been focused on Tim Johnson avoiding debates with him, I must admit that another issue that Dykstra touched on in his latest ad has kind of made me think.
Much has been made by some, including recently Dykstra, of Tim Johnson being on the Senate Banking committee and voting against a bill in 2005 that would have placed tighter restrictions on the banking industry. While that may or may not have had much to do with our current crisis, his absence on local TV to discuss the issue is more concerning to me. Throughout the mortgage meltdown and the subsequent bailout votes by the House and Senate, our other Congressional leaders Stephanie Herseth Sandlin and John Thune have been quite visible discussing the issue as well as explaining why they voted the way they did.
Tim Johnson on the other hand has been physically invisible on the issue (at least in the stories I have seen, please correct me if I missed something) instead choosing to continue with his press release campaign that while trying to explain his position, just seems sterile and impersonal.
Am I asking too much by thinking Johnson should be speaking to me directly (via news interviews) on important issues? Maybe so but when I am getting ready to be bent over and take on another $1 trillion in debt, I would like a little verbal foreplay first no matter which way you are voting.
Update: Tim has been found. Thanks to commenter Mary for the links to the Johnson interviews
October 3rd, 2008 by Bob Schwartz
What has the world come to when South Dakota’s 2 national Democrats vote like fiscal conservatives while our lone Republican votes for a pork laden Wall Street bailout bill? Stephanie Herseth Sandlin today joined fellow Democrat Tim Johnson, who vote nay a few days ago, when she was one of 171 that voted against the bailout. John Thune, our lone Republican voted for passage….
September 30th, 2008 by Bob Schwartz
While we were all fixed on the the banking bailout shenanigans, the Senate passed another bailout when they approved $25 billion in taxpayer funded loans for US Automakers yesterday. Oh and the Democrats completed their total capitulation on offshore drilling at the same time…
Automakers gained $25 billion in taxpayer-subsidized loans and oil companies won elimination of a long-standing ban on drilling off the Atlantic and Pacific coasts as the Senate passed a sprawling spending bill Saturday.
The 78-12 vote sent the $634 billion measure to President Bush, who was expected to sign it even though it spends more money and contains more pet projects than he would have liked.
September 29th, 2008 by Bob Schwartz
To start off, I am glad the bailout bill failed in the House. Handing out an arbitrary amount without any real idea how much is needed, $700 billion in this case, just because they needed a big number, is ridiculous.
With that said I found it absolutely hilarious that House Minority Leader John Boehner is blaming Speaker Pelosi’s supposedly partisan speech for the bill’s failure. He is claiming that because Pelosi was mean to the GOP that at least 12 Republican’s voted against the bill that he had counted on voting for it.
I wonder if he understands that he is saying A bill that he claims needed to be passed for the good of the country failed because Nancy Pelosi yelled at you? And I thought the Democrats lacked a spine…
September 23rd, 2008 by Bob Schwartz
Despite 2 years of spineless Democratic rule in Congress, it appears the Republican’s are the ones with the image problem. By a margin of almost 2-1, Americans believe that our current economic woes are the fault of the GOP.
In a CNN/Opinion Research Corp. survey out Monday afternoon, 47 percent of registered voters questioned said Republicans are more responsible for the problems currently facing financial institutions and the stock market; only 24 percent said Democrats are more responsible.
Twenty percent blame both parties equally and 8 percent say neither party is to blame.
The poll also indicates more Americans think Obama, the Democratic presidential nominee, would do a better job handling an economic crisis than McCain, the Republican presidential nominee.
What do you think the Obama campaign will be hitting on this week?
September 22nd, 2008 by Bob Schwartz
I don’t think I have ever seen a poll where 0 was one of the results but one of the latest American Research Group poll questions has just that.
Their September 22nd poll of 1100 adults shows that exactly 0% believe that the economy is getting better while 56% think it is the same and 42% think it is getting worse. Also putting Phil Gramm’s mental recession comments aside, 68% think that we are in a recession. As for our current leadership,the ARG poll has Bush’s approval rating falling from 30% to 19% while his handling of the economy fell to 17%.