Limbaugh on Obama: "I hope he fails"

Speaking on the policies and tactics that President Barack Obama plans to use as he attempts to set this country on the right track -- on the day of his inauguration -- Rush Limbaugh hopes that Obama fails!

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plez sez: rush must still be popping those pain pills. he blathers on like a complete idiot, completely oblivious to the mess that de-regulation and a lax bush administration has done to the world economy.

limbaugh (and his "right wing wacko" thought process) is a cancer upon this land... he should be cut away and left to rot in a trash heap! if you are still listening to this *ISH* on daily basis, i implore you to turn your radio OFF!

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Peter Schiff Predicted This Recession in 2006

In an August 2006 interview Peter Schiff generated much controversy when he repeated his long-held investment thesis: "The United States economy is like the Titanic and I am here with the lifeboat trying to get people to leave the ship ...I see a real financial crisis coming for the United States."

On May 16, 2006 in debate on Fox News, Schiff accurately forecast that the U.S. housing market was a bubble that would soon burst. On December 13, 2007 in a Bloomberg interview on the show Open Exchange, Schiff further added that he felt that the crisis would extend to the credit card lending industry.

Following this observation, it was soon reported on December 23, 2007 by the Associated Press that "The value of credit card accounts at least 30 days late jumped 26 percent to $17.3 billion in October from a year earlier at 17 large credit card trusts examined by the AP... At the same time, defaults -- when lenders essentially give up hope of ever being repaid and write off the debt -- rose 18 percent to almost $961 million in October, according to filings made by the trusts with the Securities and Exchange Commission."

Peter Schiff in 2006 & 2007:

plez sez: peter schiff was on it:

• he called mortgage crisis and meltdown of the subprime market
  
• he called the massive debt and credit crunch
  
• he called the recession will last several years
  
• he called the fundamentals of the economy are not sound
  
• he called the collapse of merril lynch and goldman sachs and jp morgan

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Read the Forbes.com article about Peter Schiff.

Read the Seeking Alpha article about Peter Schiff.

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John McCain Calls "Time Out" in Middle of Race

After agreeing to issue a joint statement with Sen. Barack Obama on the economic crisis, Sen. John McCain issued a unilateral suspension of his campaign and called for a postponement of Friday's debate. He makes a case for returning to Washington, DC to work with party leaders to come up with an Economic Bailout Plan.

McCain is dealing with sagging numbers at the polls, lack of traction with his lack of a message, loss of Palin's luster, and being a member of party of the most unpopular president in recent memory. It is in McCain's best interest to divert attention away from the presidential race to the economic "crisis."

What follows is the text of McCain's statement suspending his campaign:

MCCAIN SUSPENDS CAMPAIGN TO FOCUS ON ECONOMY; WANTS DEBATE DELAY

America this week faces an historic crisis in our financial system. We must pass legislation to address this crisis. If we do not, credit will dry up, with devastating consequences for our economy. People will no longer be able to buy homes and their life savings will be at stake. Businesses will not have enough money to pay their employees. If we do not act, ever corner of our country will be impacted. We cannot allow this to happen.

Last Friday, I laid out my proposal and I have since discussed my priorities and concerns with the bill the Administration has put forward. Senator Obama has expressed his priorities and concerns.This morning, I met with a group of economic advisers to talk about the proposal on the table and the steps that we should take going forward.I have also spoken with members of Congress to hear their perspective.

It has become clear that no consensus has developed to support the Administration' proposal. I do not believe that the plan on the table will pass as it currently stands, and we are running out of time.

Tomorrow morning, I will suspend my campaign and return to Washington after speaking at the Clinton Global Initiative. I have spoken to Senator Obama and informed him of my decision and have asked him to join me.

I am calling on the President to convene a meeting with the leadership from both houses of Congress, including Senator Obama and myself. It is time for both parties to come together to solve this problem.

We must meet as Americans, not as Democrats or Republicans, and we must meet until this crisis is resolved.I am directing my campaign to work with the Obama campaign and the commission on presidential debates to delay Friday night's debate until we have taken action to address this crisis.

I am confident that before the markets open on Monday we can achieve consensus on legislation that will stabilize our financial markets, protect taxpayers and homeowners, and earn the confidence of the American people. All we must do to achieve this is temporarily set politics aside, and I am committed to doing so.

Following September 11th, our national leaders came together at a time of crisis. We must show that kind of patriotism now. Americans across our country lament the fact that partisan divisions in Washington have prevented us from addressing our national challenges. Now is our chance to come together to prove that Washington is once again capable of leading this country.

John McCain Campaign Suspension Chronology:

• The Fed and Treasury Secretary propose a $700 billion bailout of Wall Street to reduce the chance of an economic meltdown in the US
  
  
• Barack Obama calls John McCain on Wednesday morning to suggest that they work together to release a bipartisan joint statement as a sign of leadership on the economic bailout
  
  
• John McCain agrees on the joint statement, but calls Obama later in day to say that he is considering suspending his campaign (and asks Obama to do the same)
  
  
• Barack Obama suggests that they concentrate on releasing the joint statement and they can discuss the campaign later
  
  
• Without notifying the Obama campaign, John McCain releases a statement that he will suspend his campaign and return to Washington, DC to work on the bailout bill... and oh yeah, he doesn't plan to be in Mississippi on Friday for the planned debate if there is no bailout bill by Friday!
  
  
• Obama still wants a bipartisan statement and offers to help congressional leaders, but doesn't see need to suspend campaign
  
  
• Obama wants to keep the debate on Friday evening ("...as President, you will need to handle more than one crisis at a time.")

Obama Speaks About the Economic Crisis:

Obama Wants To Debate:

Read the CNN.com article about John McCain's suspended campaign here.

Read the CNN.com article about the chronology of how McCain suspended his campaign here.

Read the CNN.com article about Obama & McCain accepting an invitation to visit the White House to meet with President George W. Bush here.

Read the CNN.com article about progress being made on bailout bill here.


plez sez:
a few sports analogies:

• Track - Barack Obama is pulling away from john mccain down the stretch, so mccain collapses onto the track grabbing the back of his thigh complaining of a tweaked hamstring.
  
• Boxing - Obama is landing body blow after body blow, so john mccain takes a knee and pleads for a standing 8 count.
  
• Football - the clock is running out on the game, mccain is down by 2 scores, so he calls a "time out."

mccain agrees to release a joint statement with Obama, and then submarines him by suspending his campaign prior to the release of the joint statement.

john mccain cannot be trusted. this move reeks of desperation politics on the part of john mccain. by his own admission, mccain is not economic powerhouse, he brings NOTHING to the table in setting up the bailout plan, all congress needs is his vote! there is no reason for him to return to washington except to move the campaign to the back burner to slow Obama's surge in the polls... PERIOD! and he knows that his lack of credibility will not stand the scrutiny of a debate in two days, so he calls for a "time out."

• mccain cancelled george bush's appearance at the republican national convention citing hurricane gustav (they did accept a videotaped speech from the president)
  
• mccain has kept sarah palin under wraps for a month in hopes that the press doesn't get a chance to scrutinize her (in one month, she has been had TWO interviews with the press)
  
• now...mccain wants to cancel the debate so that he doesn't have to face any scrutiny (he will hide out in washington for the next couple of days)

we keep getting evidence that john mccain doesn't have the chops to stand up to challenges, nor does he have the good judgement necessary to be president.

Most Say Nation Headed in Wrong Direction

The New York Times reports that 81 percent of Americans who participated in a poll say that this country is headed on the wrong track. With the war on terrorism flagging, more than 4,000 US troops killed in Iraq over the past 5 years, the mortgage mess, the credit crunch, gasoline prices approaching $4 a gallon, three months of job losses, the stock market declines, the $150 billion cash band-aid, and an economy that is on the brink of a recession... there's not too much to cheer about around here!

An excerpt from the article reads:

A majority of nearly every demographic and political group — Democrats and Republicans, men and women, residents of cities and rural areas, college graduates and those who finished only high school — say the United States is headed in the wrong direction. Seventy-eight percent of respondents said the country was worse off than five years ago; just 4 percent said it was better off.

The dissatisfaction is especially striking because public opinion usually hits its low point only in the months and years after an economic downturn, not at the beginning of one. Today, however, Americans report being deeply worried about the country[...].

Only 21 percent of respondents said the overall economy was in good condition, the lowest such number since late 1992, when the recession that began in the summer of 1990 had already been over for more than a year. In the latest poll, two in three people said they believed the economy was in recession today.

Read the entire New York Times article here.


plez sez: when over four-fifths of the respondents say the same thing, you can probably take the results to the bank. but did anyone have to do a poll to know that almost every demographic has been adversely affected by the policies of the bush administration? every demographic has been adversely affected by the war. every demographic has been adversely affected by the mortgage mess. every demographic has to damn near empty their wallets to fill their gas tanks these days.

this poll leads me to wonder what drugs those 19 percent who think the country is on the right track are taking. they must be taking that good stuff if they are oblivious or unaffected by the severe downturn in the US economy... or they're making a lot of money because of it!

WTF - Bush Offers Token Subprime Mortgage Relief

Bush plans to announce a plan the would freeze interest rates for up to five years for a portion of the two million homeowners who bought houses in the last few years with subprime loans. The plan will allow borrowers to keep the low introductory rates and escape an increase of 30 percent or more in their monthly payments when the rates expire.

The New York Times reports the provisions of the plan:

The homeowner must be current on their payments.

The plan excludes any borrower whose introductory rate expires before January 1, 2008.

The plan excludes borrowers whom the mortgage companies conclude are making enough money to afford the higher monthly payments.

It is estimated that roughly 12 percent of all subprime borrowers will get relief with the Bush plan.


Read the entire New York Times article here.


plez sez: WTF?!?

ok... we (the u.s.) have been mired in the after effects of this "mortgage price gouging" scheme for alittle over a year now, and this is the best that george "lining the pockets of his friends" bush can come up with?!? people are being put out of their homes, entire neighborhoods (mainly in minority areas where this scheme was perpetrated) are boarded up eye sores, and the economy is on the brink of a recession; and this is the best they could come up with?

i live in an area that is predominantly Black and the surrounding neighborhoods are in trouble. especially, for homes that cost more than $300,000, it is becoming increasingly difficult to resell homes and new developments are sitting idle because of this mortgage mess. this has been going on for more than a year, but leave it to bush to provide token assistance for those homeowners who were FLEECED by the mortgage companies as they used loan shark tactics to sell their tainted products. i have former neighbors who were taken in by the bait-and-switch, start-'em-low mortgages that balloon into a behemoth payment that the borrower would never be able to afford... and the bad part is that many borrowers didn't know about the increases until the mortgage coupon appeared in their mailbox.

if you take a look at the bush plan, you will see that we can spend BILLIONS of dollars attacking foreign countries, but will barely lift a finger to defend AMERICANS from predatory lenders:

1. The homeowner must be current on their payments.
   this plan will only help those whose payments have not ballooned, the New York Times states: "it is estimated that 22 percent of all subprime borrowers are behind in their payments." this plan is not going to help over a fifth of all of the people who have these mortgages AND it does not even touch the ones whose homes are already in foreclosure or have been sold on the courthouse steps. why not freeze ALL subprime loans or provide a mechanism to pull their rates in line with a traditional mortgage (around 6 percent)?
   
   
2. The plan excludes any borrower whose introductory rate expires before January 1, 2008.
   correct me if i'm wrong, but hasn't this "problem" been around for over a year (by some estimates, it has been over two years)? it is estimated that $57 billion in subprime loans are scheduled to be reset at higher rates before the end of 2007. this provision of the plan just goes to exclude more homeowners and does nothing for those who are on the brink of foreclosure. since the mortgage companies are dealing with federally insured funds, why not require that the mortgage companies refinance all subprime loans to traditional loans, as a punishment for this predatory practice?
   
   
3. The plan excludes borrowers whom the mortgage companies conclude are making enough money to afford the higher monthly payments.
   this mortgage mess has depressed home values all over the country, thus stripping away the investment value of home ownership... ALL subprime loans should be refinanced to a traditional loan.
   

in typical bush fashion, he rides in on his white horse to save the damsel in distress: unfortunately he shows up late and goes to the wrong address!

bush's plan was created in concert with the mortgage lenders and wall street firms in an effort to minimize the affect on their business, but does little to help the people who are struggling under the burden of the mortgage companies' predatory lending habits of the past 3 years.

WTF were they thinking?!?