| Author | Message | ||
     Summer |
Whew? Hello? Palin against Obama? Biden against McCain? What is happening to American politics? The vice and presidential race is talked even down in the OC. Hello?  -interactive No 'gotcha' for Charles Gibson - Daily News 'Summer' | ||
| why markets fail |
Why markets fail. Abusive shorting via computer algorithms creates its own self-fulfilling prophecy of downward spiral, which may ultimately go out of control through progressive 'naked shorting' and margin calls. This makes these naive computer algorithms potentially disastrous for market efficiency, which leads to abusive market piracy, a form of indirect stealing. Using the market to steal from others who make intelligent value judgments, to drive either prices to absurd bubble levels, as happened in .dot com days, or oil prices recently, or down into bankruptcy levels, as is happening with the banks today: price manipulation. These banks did not have to fail, despite the housing market slowdown, but they were forced down by naive market algorithms dislocations which resulted in abusive market shorting conditions, which generated margin calls, which crashed prices further. If there had been a proper oversight by regulatory agencies over these market abuses, this tragic result of multiple bank failures could have been averted. But they did not understand it at this time, same as they failed to understand it during the Great Depression, when those regulations were first put into place because of economic disaster. Let us hope we are not about to repeat the same history again, since we seem to have failed to learn from past mistakes, that you cannot abuse markets and expect them to continue to perform. In time, they can fail from abuse. Failure of the market system is a high price to pay for ignorance of how they work. | ||
| Carol |
When will this political crap be over?  It's the economy stupid... and all the other stuff like world jihad, Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran's nukes, oil, market meltdown, Treasury bank bailouts... and so on. When will it be over? | ||
| anon |
Never Cry Wolf - the 1983 film. Anyone who remembers this memorable film about the lives of wolves, and who appreciates the valuable work this top predator does in nature, will not accept what Palin had done to the wilderness in Alaska.  (interactive) Brutal treatment of wolves in Alaska
Is this who you want as VP in the White House? anon | ||
| voter/Obama McCain debate |
New ideas and vision, or steady hand on the tiller, which will win?  Obama, McCain hammer each other on foreign policy I'm not sure who will win this presidential race, but this debate touched a lot of new points, especially given the economic problems faced today. The debate touches on important issues, but it is still only talk. Military force or negotiations, buying up toxic mortgages or help the banks, national health plan or private health insurance? In four more weeks we will know how America voted. "The town hall meeting was 'taken over by the mayor'", according to ABC news.  I think Obama took it, but... that's democracy politics. The Biden-Palin debate was spirited and fun. This second debate between the presidential candidates was, well, presidential. a voter | ||
| anony |
Is America ready to elect a president who is anti-American? Ashamed of our flag and history? Watch your back on the First Amendment too, especially talk radio and internet freedom of speech. Good luck America! | ||
| Ivan/Obama's Amerika |
Looks like this BBC article supports your POV, anony: Viewpoint: The case against Obama
Troubling, but even a super left-liberal president he may bring us a future full of surprises. That's democracy...  (interactive) Barack in limelight Ivan | ||
| Ivan/youth wins |
America voted, and they chose Obama.  (interactive- Wiki) Barack Hussein Obama, the 44th President of the United States The polls taken earlier proved right, that America wanted 'change' from the past 8 years in the presidential office. Early 'honours' are already awarded, BBC News. "Voters queue in record numbers," and "Democratic Senator Barack Obama is projected to have won a key battleground state, as the US presidential election nears a climax." That sealed it. Some bloggers talked of it thus: 2008 Presidential Election Blog As one woman said upon exit, one of the first to vote, while I still in line at my local precinct just opened for voting, "it feels so good," with a smile on her face. Given the very large turn out, this was an important election. After I voted, I too wore my "I voted" sticker, saw young faces in the line I knew, and also thought "it felt good." The future of the principles on which this great nation was built is theirs, the young. May they cherish and preserve their freedoms. Voting is a privilege we Americans must never take in vain. Now we will see, and history will judge, what the next 4 years bring. God Bless America! Ivan | ||
| Ivan/hope |
Hope for the new President of the United States, Barack Obama. Hope, opportunity, change, and sometimes fear, are words being heard one day after Obama's spectacular victory for the American presidency. A historic moment just happened where the race barrier for the nation's top office was resolutely broken, so eight years or twenty years from now, race will not be an issue anymore than the candidate's religion, or sex, because once barriers of this nature are broken, there is no turning back. We today have black mayors, black governors, Asian congressmen, and it is not an issue. All people are just people, no matter their height or weight, color of their eyes or hair, so why not the same extension to skin? There is no distinction of race, once we see each other as human beings, all of whom are uniquely different from one another. Obama won because he is a strong and energetic individual, intelligent, well spoken and well educated, and he is able to present clearly a sense of hope and vision. That is what made him President, not race or how tall, but because he was able to present a convincing image of himself and the nation's future. What some fear, and there is always room to fear the future, instinctively, is that perhaps he cannot deliver his vision; especially that he cannot deliver on the economy. But that is for history to decide, and in four or eight years, we will know if our hopes were realized, or fears justified, by the opportunities this great nation founded on principles of freedom will give all its citizens equally. The first time I saw Barack speak some years ago, when he was first presented on media to the public, I thought to myself without question, this is a man to reckon with. He projected intelligence in an important way that made him instantly likable. Should there be reasons to doubt this initial gut reaction? Of course there is, same as one can assume that any human being can disappoint in the end. But without prejudicial fears, this is where we as a nation give him a chance to prove himself, and then assess his successes or failures, same as we did the last president. George W. Bush had to fight a war, one thrown his way by the attacks on September 11th, and how he handled this will be recognized years and decades from now, whether it was with success or failure. How will Obama handle future attacks on our freedoms? This is still a great unknown. It is also what great new eras are made of. One important milestone the United States reached with Obama's presidency is that the nation now feels a sense of unity not merely on ideological grounds, but also on multicultural and multiracial grounds. For the first time, all Americans including people of color now have a feeling that they belong as one nation. This is not an insignificant achievement for a modern society as large and diverse as the United States. And it has world ramifications, that all people of the whole world experience a sense of unity, because it is not a matter of skin color anymore. Either way, racism from white to brown, or brown to white, or any other race, has just been disqualified as valid. We cannot see each other as anything other than human beings, and no matter our skin or hair or eyes, or height or weight, we are all essentially equal in the eyes of true freedom. Respect each other as human beings, not to empower anyone over another, but with the reciprocal respect true freedom deserves, and we as a world can move forward in the same way the American experience just proved. That is the great hope, of reciprocal respect for each human being, and the success of the American experience can become a catalyst for change in all societies of the globe. Do that, and those who would send us back towards bigotry and supremacism become undone. Our victory is in the hope and opportunity this election represents, for change of a true equality of all humanity of the planet, given a chance. Now the real work begins. Ivan | ||
| Palin turkey |
Is she totally clueless? No Palin in 2012!  The Thanksgiving video sheesh... |