Don’t forget the economy!
As the elections get close and the race craze wears off, we will all wake up to some nasty hang-over according to Paul Krugman of The New York Times:
The long-feared capitulation of American consumers has arrived. According to Thursday’s G.D.P. report, real consumer spending fell at an annual rate of 3.1 percent in the third quarter; real spending on durable goods (stuff like cars and TVs) fell at an annual rate of 14 percent.
To appreciate the significance of these numbers, you need to know that American consumers almost never cut spending. [...] Also, these numbers are from the third quarter — the months of July, August, and September. [...] before confidence collapsed after the fall of Lehman Brothers in mid-September, not to mention before the Dow plunged below 10,000.
The ship is sinking, Senator.
In order for you guys and gals to be informed about Senator McCain, you’d have to dig deep to discover the dirt and the truth. Thankfully, the Rolling Stone is a time-saver. Tim Dickinson (genius that he is)Â wrote a mini-biography of John McCain that could be consumed over a long lunch, all 27 printer-friendly pages of it.
I’m sure that many of you don’t have that kind of time on your hands. Luckily, I do. Read on for a few insights into the senator’s hush-hush break-up with first wife Carol Shepp, his recklessness in the armed forces, and the temper that earned him a nickname “mean little f*cker.”Â
Warning: the article is explicit.
Keating Economics (Video)
The Obama campaign posted a (long overdue) video documentary about the Keating Five scandal that John McCain was a part of. McCain was investigated by congress and ultimately reprimanded for his involvement. I highly recommend you check out the 13 minute documentary after the break. And, as a special bonus, I’ll tell you about how I was actually involved in the production of the video. No kidding!
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Responses to the Bailout Bill
The US Congress passed Version 2 of the $700 billion Wall Street bailout bill last Friday. Whether or not it was the right decision to make will be evident in the coming weeks, months and years. And while the market still seems to be uncertain of the bill’s ability to fix our economy, President Bush is doing his best to convince his friends that it was a “clearly necessary” action. I, however, am doubtful such a reckless and rash band-aid of an attempt to fix the economy will be anything but unsuccessful, and will surely increase an already enormous national debt.
We’ve hand picked some of the best responses to the bill. Cenk Uygur tells us exactly why we should not pass (shouldn’t have passed) the bailout bill, and government officials give their scintillating comments to the media. Read further!
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Review on ITunes
