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Collapsing confidence and buckling financial markets sparked talk Monday that Congress may need to resume work soon on emergency measures to shore up the economy. On the first weekday of recess, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average plunging more than 700 points in intra-day trading, economists and market experts questioned the benefit of the $700 billion rescue package enacted just last Friday. Some economic experts read the House’s failure to pass the bill on its first attempt as evidence that Washington lacked the leadership to restore confidence. Congress is due to return for a brief lame-duck session on Nov. 17,...

Rep. Brad Sherman says Congress threatened with Martial Law if bill is not passed. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HaG9d_4zij8

I am not a big fan of Bill O'Reilly, but why is he doing the job of the Main Street Media by himself? Why are the Republicans so mute? TUNE IN NOW! BOR is going to talk about the romantic involvement with a Fannie Mae executive. We know the drill folks, but tune in while SOMEONE in the media is bothering to cover the facts.

Despite the “populist uprising” to block the economic bailout, President Bush signed a $700 billion rescue plan Oct. 3. The bailout spurred much debate, including a second dispute between financial analysts Peter Schiff and Stephen Leeb on CNN. CNN’s “Your $$$$$” hosted the heated discussion on Oct. 4. In it, Schiff and Leeb argued about the need for a bailout – which Schiff termed a choice “between freedom and socialism.” In contrast, Leeb referred to it as a choice between inflation and starvation. Delaying a bailout would cause “mass starvation, not just in this country, all over the globe,” according...

If given the choice, a new poll reveals, 59 percent of Americans would sweep Capitol Hill clean of the current batch of senators and representatives to elect an entirely new Congress. Only 17 percent of voters polled said they would be willing to keep the current legislature. Rasmussen Reports conducted the national telephone survey on the heels of Congress passing a widely unpopular financial bailout bill, revealing a significant amount of voter dissatisfaction with the nation's current lawmakers. The polling firm records a mere 30 percent of voters approved of the bailout, while 45 percent were opposed, and yet Congress...

After the votes were taken, The Washington Post expressed shock that some 83 percent of retiring Republicans voted for the bailout while no GOP freshmen did so. To the Post this was evidence not that elected representatives sometimes actually listen to their constituents, but that the Republican freshmen are too ideologically oriented to deal with reality. It never even occurred to the Post writer that perhaps the retiring members have as a group been in Washington so long that even had they been facing reelection the voters mattered less to them than the demands of the Washington establishment. Establishment praise...

After months of partisan wrangling that included some key disagreements between Congress and the White House, the Senate is scheduled to vote tomorrow on the housing relief bill. The House approved the measure (H.E. 3221) on Wednesday, mostly along party lines. Most House Republicans opposed it, complaining about the cost and the provisions to give the Treasury Department to buy shares of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The bill sets up a fund, financed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mae, to provide government loans to help some of the victims of the subprime mortgage crisis refinance their mortgages. It also...

June 3, 2008HP-1005Statement of Neel T. Kashkari Nominee for Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for International Affairs U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban AffairsWashington - Chairman Dodd, Ranking Member Shelby, and members of the Committee, I am honored to appear before you today as President Bush's nominee to serve as Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for International Affairs. Please allow me to express my gratitude to the President and to Secretary Paulson for the confidence and trust that they have shown in me, and I would also like to thank you for your consideration of my nomination. I wish...

Wall Street posted a dramatic comeback Monday afternoon to avoid record losses but global credit fears still pushed the Dow below the pivotal 10,000 level for the first time since October 2004. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slid 328.30 points, or 3.18%, to 9990.47. The broader S&P 500 Index lost 38.24 points, or 3.50%, to 1060.76 while the Nasdaq Composite fell 84.43 points, or 4.34%. to 1862.96. The consumer-friendly FOX 50 dropped 25.65 points, or 3.12%, to 797.02. “There was a palpable sense of fear about how bad things could get,” said Michael James, senior equity trader at Wedbush Morgan...

An international lobby group for bankers is calling on the world's policymakers to put their taxpayers' funds to work to save the global financial system. In a policy letter sent Thursday from the Institute of International Finance Inc. to the finance ministers and central bank governors that are meeting in Washington D.C. next week at the International Monetary and Financial Committee, the group called for the passage of proposed U.S. bill to bailout troubled mortgage-backed securities. “Systemic, internationally co-ordinated responses by the authorities are essential at this stage to stabilize financial markets, requiring large if temporary use of government funds,”...

Jim Johnson, the man recently chosen by Sen. Barack Obama to search for a VP candidate, is under fire for receiving millions of dollars in below-market loans from Countrywide Financial Corp. chief executive Angelo Mozilo. Private entities like Countrywide are free to give generous loan agreements to whomever they want, so there is nothing technically illegal about what Johnson did. Just like there is nothing technically illegal about the $21 million that the government-sponsored entity Fannie Mae paid Johnson for his work as CEO of Fannie in 1998. However, the Wall Street Journal also reports that Johnson personally worked closely...

It seems anxiety from the financial crisis is reaching new highs, but the tipping point for one individual came at the Lehman Brothers gym in the midst of the company’s collapse. While former Lehman CEO Richard Fuld was testifying before the House Oversight Committee Oct. 6, CNBC reported he had been punched in the face at the Lehman Brothers gym after it the firm announced it was going bankrupt. CNBC and Vanity Fair contributor Vicki Ward said Fuld was attacked at the gym on a Sunday following the bankruptcy. “Frankly, I sat there and listened and I’m with the guy...

Obama Urges Bernanke, Paulson to Fight Foreclosures, Hold Homeownership Summit Thursday, March 22, 2007 Printable FormatFOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Ben LaBolt WASHINGTON, DC -- U.S. Senator Barack Obama today sent a letter to Federal Reserve Chairman Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Paulson urging them to immediately convene a homeownership preservation summit with key stakeholders to fight foreclosures driven by growth in the subprime mortgage market.

Texas Straight Talk - A weekly column The Do-Something Congress It has not been a good week for the Republic. It took quite a bit of trampling of the Constitution, but the bailout bill passed, as I suspected it would. The bailout failed the first time it was brought to the House. Undaunted, the Senate pressed on by attaching the bailout as an amendment to another House passed bill that was pending in the Senate. The new bailout version had new taxes, so according to the Constitution it should not have originated in the Senate. The rallying cry heard all...

Explosive Audio Unearthed: After the Sub Prime Crisis already started in 2007 Obama says Sub Prime Mortgages that gave houses to people WHO COULDN'T AFFORD THEM was a GOOD IDEA!! Even as it was destroying our economy Obama thinks giving people mortgages who couldn't afford them was a good idea. Then he says spreading the bad debt throughout the financial system was good "in theory"

Paulson was raised by his parents (and remains) a Christian Scientist. Per Wiki, this splinter group "teaches that the reality of God denies the reality of sin, sickness, death and the material world. Accounts of miraculous healing are common within the church, and adherents often refuse traditional medical treatments." This church is a major landowner in the Boston area and was founded in 1866 by Mary Baker Eddy, who allegedly was near death but fortunately was able to cure herself by reading the Bible's Book of Matthew. Also per Wiki, although the religion claims to be Christian since they follow...

Americans may be unhappy with the Wall Street bailout, but it has given encouragement to a beleaguered Al Qaida."The enemies of Islam are facing a crushing defeat, which is beginning to manifest itself in the expanding crisis their economy is experiencing," said a stinking, 7th century misogynist Al Qaida spokesturd...One of Bin Laden's stated goals was to bring financial ruin to the United States. The wackadoos who think 9/11 was an inside job should drop that nonsense and focus on the financial headlines instead. Osama himself couldn't have planned it any better. This failure was an inside job, but the...

The recent bailout package being approved in the US Congress needs to be viewed in the context of the spurt in the accumulation of forex reserves of China by about $500 billion in the last six months to about $2 trillion in aggregate. This gargantuan build-up of forex reserves by China has strangely received very little attention of economists, policy analysts, currency traders and, of course, geo-strategists around the world. Why is China engaged in this exercise? What could be its implications on the on going global financial crisis? Could China trip the bailout package announced by the US last...

(Updates to show Dow breaking below 9,700 level) NEW YORK, Oct 6 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks slid on Monday, with the Dow diving below the 9,700 level for the first time since November 2003, as the fast-spreading financial crisis fueled fears the economy would not avert recession. The Dow Jones industrial average .DJI was down 625.63 points, or 6.06 percent, at 9,699.75. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index .SPX was down 72.77 points, or 6.62 percent, at 1,026.46. The Nasdaq Composite Index .IXIC was down 141.73 points, or 7.28 percent, at 1,805.66.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Federal Reserve will provide as much as $900 billion in cash loans to squeezed banks in an urgent effort Monday to break through a dangerous credit clog that threatens the economy and has unhinged financial markets around the globe. The Fed's action is aimed at spurring spooked financial institutions, which are hoarding cash, to lend not only to each other but also to individuals and businesses.

We asked John McCain to take off the gloves — and he listened. In remarks McCain will deliver today, he blasts Democrats, including Barack Obama, for their market manipulations and defense of Fannie Mae against regulator warnings. He accuses all of them of encouraging corruption (emphases mine): Our current economic crisis is a good case in point. What was his actual record in the years before the great economic crisis of our lifetimes? This crisis started in our housing market in the form of subprime loans that were pushed on people who could not afford them. Bad mortgages were being...

The Treasury Department plans to tap Neel Kashkari, an assistant secretary of international affairs and a former Goldman Sachs banker, to oversee the government's $700 billion financial rescue program, sources familiar with the situation said yesterday. Kashkari has been a close adviser to Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr. on the credit crisis and helped draft the legislation for the massive rescue plan. He is expected to run the program on an interim basis until the Treasury finds a permanent head, according to sources who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment. Kashkari's replacement would...

It has not been a good week for the Republic. It took quite a bit of trampling of the Constitution, but the bailout bill passed, as I suspected it would. The bailout failed the first time it was brought to the House. Undaunted, the Senate pressed on by attaching the bailout as an amendment to another House passed bill that was pending in the Senate. The new bailout version had new taxes, so according to the Constitution it should not have originated in the Senate. The rallying cry heard all over the Hill the past two weeks was that Congress...

Oct. 6 (Bloomberg) -- The euro had its biggest one-day drop against the yen since its debut in 1999 as the deepening credit crisis prompted European governments to pledge bailouts for troubled banks while stopping short of coordinated action. The 15-nation currency declined to a 14-month low against the dollar and the weakest in 2 1/2 years versus the yen after leaders meeting at the weekend avoided announcing any plan that would mirror the U.S.'s $700 billion bailout. Germany joined with banks and insurers to prevent the collapse of property lender Hypo Real Estate Holding AG and Belgium announced a...

Make sure you send this one page document to your CONgresscritter's HOME offices as well as the Washington offices. NAIL THEM often ! Document to sent to your CONgresscritter>

SAN ANTONIO, Texas - As global markets plunged, President Bush on Monday said "it's going to take awhile" for the government's $700 billion financial rescue plan to bolster the troubled U.S. economy. Bush said the purpose of the package was to unlock the nation's credit freeze "to get money moving again." But, he added: "We don't want to rush into the situation and have the program not be effective." The president, after a weekend at his ranch in Waco, met with small business owners at an old-fashioned soda shop in San Antonio, and sought patience from a jittery country.

Bailout plan expected to take the edge of the recession, NABE survey shows WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- The U.S. economy will recover from the current recession in the second quarter of next year, assuming the credit squeeze in global financial markets improves gradually, according to a survey of 48 economists released Monday. The survey by the National Association for Business Economics shows respondents expect virtually no growth in the current quarter, followed by a 1% increase in the first quarter of the year. The economy could return to a healthier rate of growth, pegged at around 2.7%, by the second quarter....

If I thought I was angry about the housing and mortgage crisis before, an article in Sunday’s Providence Journal about many actual cases of mortgage fraud in Rhode Island has escalated my anger to a level where I would not trust myself to be in the same room as Chris Dodd and Barney Frank, and I will not sleep until liberal Democrats like Obama are defeated. The article gives specific instances of how low-income people were prodded by realtors and lenders into accepting huge subprime mortgages to buy houses they could not possibly afford. They are all in default and...

Exclusive Statement by Marion Thorpe, Congressional Candidate for FL-23 to MythDebunker Late last week, members of both parties saw fit to set aside $700 billion to bailout banks and other financial institutions that had acted recklessly. To be sure, some of their actions were caused by improper interference on the part of the government to begin with, prompting them to issue reckless loans that in the end did nothing to help people save money nor accumulate wealth. Categorically, the banks that are now in trouble far exceeded their mandate and, as such, their problems are in large part of their...

Looking at hugh panic in global mkts right now. This is vey series. Australian dollar off almost 8.6% on the day against the USD. One bank said they are seeing literally NO BIDS in the Australian dollar, which is huge considering that you can usually trade several million with the click of a mouse.

2004 Video: Democrats Defend Fannie/Freddie from Regulation: "We've been through nearly a dozen hearings where frankly we were trying to fix something that wasn't broke. Mr. Chairman we do not have a crisis at Freddie Mac and in particular at Fannie Mae under the outstanding leadership of Mr. Frank Raines."-Rep. Maxine Waters, 2004http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YL36nwCSYUMHistory of Fannie Mae scandal Associated Press, December 7, 2006 "Fannie Mae announces its long-awaited restatement, erasing $6.3 billion in profit from 2001 through June 30, 2004."http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2006/12/07/history_of_fannie_mae_scandal/?page=1_________________________________________________________ Bailout Politics: The Congressional Dems who enabled this crisis are now being trusted to fix it?Thomas Sowell, September 30, 2008http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=OWE3OWU3OTExYzNlNTUzMzY2YmJmOWZjMzcwN2M1NjU=_________________________________________________________ Guilty...

DJIA just prior to House defeat of bailout: 10843 DJIA close the day after House defeat of bailout: 10850 DJIA just prior to Senate approval of bailout: 10831 DJIA close the day after Senate approval of bailout: 10482 DJIA just prior to House approval of bailout: 10679 DJIA close the day after House approval of bailout:??? 9999 and dropping

Has the so-called Prosperity gospel turned its followers into some of the most willing participants — and hence, victims — of the current financial crisis? That’s what a scholar of the fast-growing brand of Pentecostal Christianity believes. While researching a book on black televangelism, says Jonathan Walton, a religion professor at the University of California at Riverside, he realized that Prosperity’s central promise — that God will “make a way” for poor people to enjoy the better things in life — had developed an additional, dangerous expression during the subprime-lending boom. Walton says that this encouraged congregants who got dicey...

Is Main Street longer or busier in some locales and nonexistent in others? And if so why? And is it time the American people learn the difference between wants and needs?

Now that we officially have $700 billion of bad debt thanks to sundry advantages of deregulation, the state governments are looking for their due recognition among mismanaged giants. The Golden State, currently under the enlightened leadership of the Governator, is asking the federal government for $7 billion. The Los Angeles Times has obtained a letter to Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson from Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger warning that the state may need emergency funds in that amount within the next few weeks. Locked out of the bond market, the state doesn’t have the money necessary to fund schools. The $3 billion due...

There is an old saying that if you like sausage, you may not want to see how it is made or what’s in it. That’s true of the national financial crisis “bailout” bill passed by Congress last week. It is legislative sausage at its best. The bill contained some important tax extensions such as relief from the unfair Alternative Minimum Tax, but it also contained billions of dollars in opportunistic pet pork projects – “earmarks”. What it did not contain was transparency so taxpayers could easily understand what was in it. In fact, the last time we had a transparent...

On 30 September 2000, Charles Enderlin, the Jerusalem-based head of the Middle East Bureau of the French television station France 2, presented sixty seconds of footage of what he described as the killing of a twelve-year-old Palestinian boy named Muhammad al-Dura targeted by Israeli soldiers. Enderlin claimed that he had additional film material of the boy's "death throes" that was too shocking to be shown. The selectively presented photo material, accompanied by the accusation of deliberate murder of a defenseless Palestinian boy, led to mass demonstrations against Israel and the Jews in the Western world. It also contributed to riots...

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) and Democrats in general have blamed the housing, banking and insurance crises on President Bush. The root of these crises, however, started more than 90 years ago with the progressive movement, then-President Woodrow Wilson and other Democrats. Wilson was responsible for signing into law the federal income tax, permitted by the 16th Amendment to the Constitution and the Federal Reserve Act. The Federal Reserve Act created a fiat currency, which allows money to be created out of thin air by selling bonds. Throughout most of the 1800s, there was little or...

The media alone are not alone in keeping the facts from the public. Republicans, for reasons unknown, don't seem to know what it is to counter-attack. They deserve to lose. But the country does not deserve to be put in the hands of a glib and cocky know-it-all, who has accomplished absolutely nothing beyond the advancement of his own career with rhetoric, and who has for years allied himself with a succession of people who have openly expressed their hatred of America.

The only people who pay taxes in this country are consumers who make purchases or pay rent from their own income. Those taxes are paid at the point of purchase and at the time of purchase. Since the middle class comprises the largest group of consumers, they pay the greatest share of taxes regardless of the illusion created by a progressive tax scheme. The wealthy pay more taxes only to the extent that they may consume more. The truth of these statements will become self-evident with a few simple illustrations. That box of corn flakes on your kitchen tables contains...

HONG KONG: Asian stocks fell 2-3 per cent on Monday, led by shares of exporters, after a hectic weekend in Europe as the financial crisis gathered steam there, knocking the euro to the lowest in a year. Concerns about whether the $700 billion rescue plan, which was approved by the US Congress last week, would be quickly implemented and whether it would be enough to shore up the economy left investors seeking safety in US and Japanese government bonds and buying yen and Swiss francs. Oil prices fell around $2 to just below $92 a barrel dragging down prices of...

The oil crisis and the credit crunch mark the end of one epoch and the painful but promising beginnings of another that won't come from Wall Street or Washington.

While some blame the greed of Wall Street investment bankers and the dangers of a totally unregulated system for the current financial crisis, what can’t be denied is that lives, and lifestyles, have been suddenly changed across the social spectrum and careers built up over a lifetime have vanished in an instant. Apart from the revised $700 billion bailout plan, can the U.S. government do enough to restore confidence and assuage the trauma? The real question is: Who is going to compensate the common investors across the world who have lost their wealth in the resultant market meltdown? The...

WASHINGTON -- When Congress voted last week to bail out Wall Street banks and investment houses, members were also indirectly voting to repair damage lawmakers themselves had caused during a decades-long era of deregulation. As the blame game moves into high gear in Washington, there seem to be few winners. Already under scrutiny are lawmakers from both political parties, Presidents George W. Bush, Bill Clinton and their predecessors, and record amounts of money funneled to Congress from Wall Street and the two government-backed mortgage giants, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. In hindsight, members of Congress and administration officials such as...

I was a Fredhead way back when.. before Fred was on the trail. Before anyone else was pushing him. Today, I still like Fred. But I am disappointed beyond words in his refusal to lead. This PAC is too "politics as usual". Yeah, Fred's on my side, but this is "normal behavior". We are in an extraordinary time. Leadership is proactive. It is relentless. It stakes out a path and dares others to follow it. And right now, America is drowning in foolishness and irresponsibility by our elected officials. There's lots of voices not being heard. But nobody is exerting...

California’s economy, which would be the eighth biggest in the world if the state was a separate country, is teetering on the brink of a financial crisis intensified by the credit crunch. California is weeks away from running out of money. In a letter to Hank Paulson, the US Treasury secretary, Arnold Schwarzenegger, California’s governor, last week admitted an immediate $7bn (€5bn, £4bn) was needed to pay for essential public services, such as police and fire-fighters. California would normally generate interim funding by issuing “revenue anticipation notes” in the short term credit markets to tide it over until tax revenues...

As the 2008 presidential campaign hurtles into its final days, John McCain confronts a choice: He can either start telling the public about the real Barack Obama, or he can lose. For much of his career, McCain has been a media darling. He could count on the press to carry his water as long as he was a “maverick” Republican, driving more conservative members of his party crazy. But as he surely knows by now, when it comes to Barack Obama and the press, all bets are off. In covering Obama, the press has adopted a “don’t ask/don’t tell” policy...

I have been in communication with a lot of people through the YouTube videos on this issue, as well as the blogs for John McCain site, and developing a dialog with Dems and Independents who are seeking out better information. They feel betrayed. Their concerns center on two things:1. What is the truth about Sarah Palin2. Why did the bailout go from $700 Billion to $850 Billion, how much is pork and who is responsible?I'm looking for links to useful articles that are NOT TOO PARTISAN to explain these things. (Remember, these poor people are going through a crisis. They...

The Federal Reserve and US Treasury were on Sunday night under increasing pressure to follow passage of the $700bn financial rescue plan with further measures to shock the ailing credit markets back to life. Among the options available to policymakers are additional liquidity operations and an emergency rate cut – possibly in co-ordination with other central banks. A combination of the two is also possible. The Fed is likely to further expand both the size and scope of its liquidity operations. Experts believe it could address a shortage of US Treasuries that has emerged as investors have looked increasingly to...

Memo TO: John McCain SUBJECT: Be yourself In case you haven’t noticed, Senator, you are losing the argument to be the next president of the United States. And you are doing it all on your own. Recent trends and polls show that Americans are shedding their discomfort with Barack Obama, and women and independents are breaking in his direction. For your part, you are doing nothing to persuade people to do otherwise. Time to shed the over-handling and carefulness and go at it. A movement is brewing in this country: Americans are looking for a leader. Bush is devoid of...