>>I should refrain from posting when it’s about something that I have so little background in.>>

Heck, no! Post as best you can! I try to indicate in a post where I think I’m weak, or I ask what others think because I’m unsure. Book’s comments area is a great place to post my best take on a situation even when I’m struggling. Or, especially when I’m struggling. For my attempts to grasp a particular situation, the followup posts often help me out a great deal. Go ahead and post!

http://drsanity.blogspot.com/2008/09/pouring-oil-on-economic-fire.html

It raises the fact that _one_ – just one, mind you – of the reasons that the Repubs don’t like the Paulson plan is that it guarantees 20% of “profits” for ACORN!!!

Marguerite…

>>I should refrain from posting when it’s about something that I have so little background in.>>

Maybe…but on the other hand, you have to start somewhere. If you have no background in something, you may know it, but often we just don’t realize how ignorant we are about a topic. If you make a comment that plainly indicates that you lack information, it seems to me that on _this_ blog, at least, people will direct you to information that will help you correct the situation. In fact…often you’ll get information to several opposing positions!!!
So…spit it out! It makes us all work a bit harder to clarify what we know and what opinions we hold.

(And yes, SEC chair Chris Cox should be one of those to be shown the door. McCain was right, and George Will and Charles Krauthammer and Mark Levin are WRONG.)

Today it appears the FDIC is also severely undercapitalized. Ha – this means of course that they do not have enough money to cover themselves. If there were a run on the banks, of people withdrawing money, there is no telling what might happen. Yet another case where our financials systems are so broken, and no one is telling us.

The FDIC is supposed to have all bank deposits insured and guaranteed for up to $100,000. It is clear that that is nothing more than a hollow statement, with nothing to back it up. Everything is illusory these days!

The total price tag for stability across the market is now estimated to truly be $2.2 trillion, not $700 billion. The Paulson package is likely to fail, just like his every other attempt over the last three months has failed, even as he and Bush keep coming out with statements about how *this time* they’ve got the right solution.

I am becoming skeptical that the $700 billion bailout will work. It will likely only lead to the next crisis another month from now. And with the system in place, they will simply double the $700 billion. And then the next crisis. And again, another $700 billion.

And we hear that this bailout will actually be a taxpayer boon. Heh. Pardon me while a guffaw. The government seizing control of vast portions of any nation’s economy has always been shown, in the past, to fail. My hope has been that the $700 billion bailout might be worth it because it looked likely to work. I don’t think so anymore.

While Obama himself is refraining from knocking McCain, his campaign certainly isn’t:

1. Government should be providing mortgage insurance instead of buying up toxic debt
2. The companies that hold the assets should be paying premiums for that insurance, not taxpayers
3. Cut down on regulations and taxes that are keeping capital on the sidelines during this crisis, allowing for private investment to come into the market instead of just tax dollars
4. Temporary tax relief for companies to allow them to invest and create jobs

I was becoming convinced that McCain was going to support the purely Democrat solution (Paulson, Bush reluctantly, all Senate and House Democrats). A bailout whose unknown risk parameters is laid entirely on the taxpayers, putting Washington politicians in control of managing of a huge part of our American system. And as everyone knows, control of management = POWER.

There is hope that moving forward into the election, we will have a genuine conservative ticket that we can enthusiastically support. Go McCain! Go Palin!

Please pardon me while I let out a rip-roaring YAAAAAY! YAAAAAAAAY! YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!

This is a great way to end my day after yesterday’s sleepless night. (I finally crashed 1pm-7pm.)

Here are some good links about the politicking going on:

http://www.commentarymagazine.com/blogs/index.php/rubin/32701

http://www.commentarymagazine.com/blogs/index.php/rubin/32692#comments

http://www.weeklystandard.com/weblogs/TWSFP/2008/09/does_harry_reid_have_the_tempe_1.asp

http://www.weeklystandard.com/weblogs/TWSFP/2008/09/not_on_their_watch.asp

What’s sad is that, while we political junkies pay attention to these telling details, the average American relies solely on the MSM, which simply replays Reid’s and Pelosi’s and Frank’s talking points as if they’re actual news.

Are you still of the opinion that McCain looked weak in saying he will not appear at Friday’s debate, and suggesting it be delayed until after the bill is passed?

It is clear that as of Wednesday, the House Republicans were in open revolt. McCain was receiving numerous messages, even from slimy Harry Reid, also from Republicans and Paulson, indicating that McCain’s agreement was absolutely necessary for any bill to pass.

Doesn’t it make perfect sense for McCain to say, “OK, if they are all demanding my agreement, I am going back to Washington to consult with my allies and ensure that I’m supporting exactly the bill I like? I need to be there to participate in the negotiations.” Of course he had to be there.

Consider that a debate requires at least two days of intensive preparations to have all the correct arguments in place. You do *not* want a major flub on the stage, especially in an extremely passionate and close election.

McCain would have been involved in closeted debate prep Wednesday-Friday, leaving him incapable of devoting considerable time to the solution to the worst crisis in the American financials industry since the Great Depression. The solution being intensely debated in the Senate. Of course he had to be there!

And yet, conservatives across the board are criticising McCain today. Krauthammer The Elite and George Will The Elite are slamming McCain and deriding him and calling this just another “Hail Mary pass”. I am getting so sickened by these so-called conservatives that I keep wanting to head to the toilet to vomit. Tonight Laura Ingraham chimes in, disagreeing strongly with McCain’s decision to participate. I don’t understand these people! You can disagree and still defend McCain; they’re all refusing to explain or defend him at all.

Today, the Democrats engaged in frantic, panicked negotiations as McCain arrived in Washington. The Democrats desperately wanted to announce a full agreement prior to McCain’s involvement so they could continue to sabotage what he was about to do. And just who is playing politics with the emergency? The Democrats out-and-out lie, saying it is McCain, when it is clearly them.

The Democrats all rushed to the cameras at noon, saying, yes, we have an agreement… in principle. Desperate to show that McCain is a Johnnie-come-lately, and totally intrusive and unnecessary. McCain just smiled and went into the consensus meeting with Obama, Bush, Paulson, and House leaders.
Just who is playing politics with the national emergency? The Democrats. And yet they continued to lie and lie and lie about McCain.

In the consensus meeting, the Democrats selected Obama to lead them. The Democrat contingent degenerated into shouting and confusion. Obama, whose attempts at leadership have *never* resulted in even one success that he can claim as his, failed yet again. It must have been extraordinarily embarrassing. Oh, to be a fly on THAT wall!

So now this evening, McCain is deeply involved with his Senate allies, and he is meeting and directly communicating with the Republican House conservatives, who are in open revolt. I don’t know McCain’s position, but he’s deeply involved, as he should be.

Or should he be instead closeted away, doing his two-day preparations for the debate? Please reconsider.

It’s clear McCain made the strong leadership decision that was absolutely necessary. I wish my Washington Elite, so-called Republican media leaders could see this. I can’t understand why they are submaring this courageous man. I can’t understand it.

Just wanted to share the following info – http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080924/pl_afp/usvote_080924220948

“Obama said McCain had jumped the gun by calling for postponing the debate in Mississippi.

“My attitude is we need to be focused on solving the problem … but I think it is also important that we communicate to the American people where we need to go in getting us out of this situation,” the Democrat said.

“I think it’s possible to do both.”

The Illinois senator said he had spoken to McCain in the afternoon and had been under impression that their staffs were working together on a joint statement adding McCain had told him they should join a bipartisan effort to ease the crisis in Washington.

“Now, when I got back to the hotel, he had gone on television to announce what he intended to do,” he said.

Obama said he had been in constant touch with top congressional leaders on the campaign trail and said it was not yet necessary to go back to Washington.

“I think that it is going to be part of the president’s job to deal with more than one thing at once”

Will participate tonight.. at Work:)

“If I can be helpful, I am prepared to be anywhere, anytime. Uh, I think the message is, if you need us, if I can be helpful, uh, I’m prepared to be anywhere at any point.” That leads into the truly inspirational “we’ve both got big planes painted with our slogans” line.

Not exactly the courageous words of someone taking charge, and I can’t believe the media’s trying to spin it that way. 0bama had a plum time slot for his Foreign Policy debate, Friday night before a weekend news cycle. You think he wants to swap that for an early- or mid-week debate? Not no way, not no how.