Does America really want a change?

[dananderson32]

I could be wrong but I believe NY went red for reagan both times in 80 and 84 but not for Bush sr in 88.

...just splitting hairs but no biggie

ah you are right 72, 80, 84 my bad .........i was just busting your balls before all in good fun sir

[homedawg]

.Last edited by JohnnyMapleLeaf : Yesterday at 03:31 PM. Reason: no comment, sorry

JML, the election is over, post away, bring it on! :beerbang:

[dananderson32]

JML, the election is over, post away, bring it on! :beerbang:

hes afraid of the big bad HD as am i :hide: :hide: :surrender: :surrender:

[homedawg]

CANADA FREE PRESS


Post-Election thoughts for Obama opponents on how to cope with the Obama election tragedy

By Aaron I. Reichel, Esq. Thursday, November 6, 2008


An American hero has fallen like a ripe old acorn in part because of a tainted ACORN and its many trainers (including Obama) and trainees. How can anyone find comfort in the wake of such a tragedy? The truths of their values and agendas have been disclosed but not widely and effectively enough to reach enough of the American electorate. In a universe where cream inevitably rises to the top, and dirt inevitably sinks to the bottom, the time is sure to come when the truth about Obama will seep in to the consciousness of the majority of the American people, and the people who lied to the American people and who misled them will inevitably be thrown out of office.

The fact that the election was so close in terms of the popular vote (3% above 50% for Obama and 4% below for McCain) means there has not really been a significant shift in the views of most Americans. The fact that the map remains more red than blue illustrates that the tragedy can’t compare to the opposite dominance of Reagan in his reelection, when he won virtually every state in the union. The fact that the Democrats failed to put together a filibuster-proof super-majority may also give some solace to those who saw through the lies and misrepresentations of the Democrats

What the election vote REALLY shows is that the American people have not necessarily shifted to the left, considering that the vote reflected
1) the economic crisis,
2) the Iraq War,
3) the fact that McCain was outspent by so much;
4) the fact that McCain did not even mention most of the most powerful arguments in his favor (which are summarized in this author’s article that can be Googled under “What the Republicans SHOULD Be Saying,” and the Canada Free Press, Oct. 5, 2008); and
5) the fact that the vote was based on so many fundamental misrepresentations by Obama.



Media coverups and Palin put-downs
The many cover-ups of Obama’s misrepresentations and unfair put-downs of Palin by the press will inevitably be exposed in full daylight. One doesn’t need the Freedom of Information Act on the federal level, or Freedom of Information Laws on the local level, to ascertain or evaluate the lies that were covered up by the mainstream press. So on what basis can seekers of the truth be optimistic that the press will change after Obama comes to power? Even Obama claims to have advocated change, and a change in the agenda of the press will inevitably bite Obama to the core. The press gave Obama a “free pass” because its agenda was to help him get into office at any cost, and at the expense of the truth and the American people. But now that Obama has been elected, the free press will consider itself free to expose the outright lies and misrepresentations on which his phenomenally effective and unprecedented campaign was based. Historically, the press normally seeks out scandals, and one wonders whether one of the reasons for the press’ former agenda to support Obama was that members of the press knew in their hearts that Obama would provide fodder for exposes of scandal for years to come. Just as the press had originally supported McCain and the Clintons, and then turned on them, history is likely to repeat itself in the case of Obama. McCain had been cleared of guilt in the case of the Keating Five, but the scandals in Obama’s closets have failed to be mined or disclosed in the mainstream press.

The mainstream press managed to con the American people into thinking that the campaign of McCain was guilty of focusing on negativity, whereas if anything the opposite is true, and backed by far more money whose sources are far more questionable.

The biggest question of all is how the press let Obama get away with violating his commitment to accept governmental finite funds in lieu of infinite fund raising, thereby double-crossing McCain into a corner, the same McCain who had fought long and hard for this reform to level the playing field.



Readers of the mainstream press missed the point about Ayers
The terrorist past of William Ayers should have been and will be shown to have been the least of the objections of Obama’s associations with him. What should concern most Americans more is that Obama ridiculed the devastatingly true allegations about his associations with Ayers as an activist adult and lied, at first, in falsely indicating that his only association with Ayers was as a neighbor after being 8 years old when the terrorist acts were committed – and never repudiated. In fact, Obama and Ayers shared leadership positions and radical ideas together as adults, in ways that have been documented elsewhere (Stanley Kurtz, Wall Street Journal, Sept. 23, 2008) but not yet brought to the attention of the mainstream public. The cover-up won’t be allowed to persist.



The real “first black president.”
Imprecise Republicans claimed that Obama’s political campaign was launched in Ayers’ living room, giving the Clintonian Obama an opening through which to point out that the official launching of his political career took place elsewhere, without denying that one of his early “meet and greet” fund raisers was indeed held in the Ayers’ living room. Clinton may have indeed claimed the figurative title of “the first Black president,” but Obama has earned the ironic title of the second Clintonian president. So in terms of governing style, an argument can be made that, in a second irony, nothing has in fact changed!

Readers of the mainstream press missed the point about Wright
The cover-up of the Wright connection is significant not so much for the fact that Obama sat in Wright’s church for so long; many people don’t pay attention to their pastors’ sermons, whether pasteurized or not, and should not be held accountable for what their pastors say, although exceptions might be made for pastors as anti-American and as hateful as Wright.. What most people do not realize is the extent of the closeness between the pastor and the politician. As Nixon discovered upon threat of impeachment, lying about what happened can sometimes be more damaging than simply admitting what happened. Then, in Obama’s case, denying that he knew what his pastor was saying for 20 years calls into question his ability to react promptly to simple intellectual stimuli. How can we trust a person to put his finger on the nuclear trigger if he is so slow as to take 20 years to notice what his pastor stood for, and who could not make up his mind but voted “aye” over 100 times as a legislator.



The comparisons to Palin
The comparisons to Palin will inevitably be exposed, as well. Obama was made out by the press to be the smooth talking intellectual, while Palin was impaled unfairly by Saturday Night Live and other mainstream sources. Actually, although Obama proved he could memorize the same campaign speech over and over again and read from teleprompters very fluently, he routinely hesitated and paused repeatedly and most dysfluently through interviews. Only after Palin’s high-pressured inaugural speech at the Republican convention did people find out that the teleprompter was not synchronized because of the huge applause she received, so she had to improvise on her own. I recall noting at the time that she glanced at her notes rather than at the teleprompter, demonstrating amazing presence during the most intense pressure imaginable. Similarly, although shortly after she entered the national spotlight, she was criticized for her response about the “Bush Doctrine,” post interview pundits argued about at least 4 different definitions for it, and concluded that even Bush himself never used the term. Palin, incidentally, was as smooth and cool as a cucumber during her interviews.

Negative Campaigning
In terms of negative campaigning, the mean-spirited Obama campaign repeatedly focused on McCain’s age and torture-induced disabilities (incurred while he was defending Obama’s right to say whatever he feels like saying), rather than his time-tested values, and McCain proved through and including Election Day that he remains more energetic than many if not most people half his age; Obama blamed the current economic crisis on “eight years of Bush’s failed policies,” whereas the Republicans’ actual failure was their failure to point out that the stock market was going up for most of the first six years of the Bush presidency, but the economy came close to collapse only after the Democrats captured control of Congress for the last two years. The Republicans generally failed to drive home the fact that the underlying cause for the economic collapse was the formation by Democrats of Fannie Mae and Freddy Mac, and the pressure by Democrats and entities like Obama’s ACORN to force banks to make loans to people who could not be expected to be able to pay them back in the event of an inevitable downturn in the economy. The Republicans failed to drive home the fact that Obama had fueled the fire, and that McCain had tried to put it out.

Iraq
On Iraq, Obama and his cohorts blamed McCain for the Bush Administration’s failure to win the peace in Iraq promptly after America won both wars. What the Republicans failed to drive home was that experts in the intelligence community that had been appointed by Democrats as well as leaders throughout the world believed that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, so that at worse Bush erred as did everyone else, but did not consciously lie, any more than did the African-American hero Colin Powell who made the case on behalf of the Bush Administration. Even had there been no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq at the end of the Second Gulf War (which remains a matter o f contention), it is now clear that Saddam’s plan was to rebuild his arsenal of WMD after the weapons inspectors would leave, and if he was capable of invading Kuwait with limited WMD, he was surely capable of invading the dominant powers of the Middle East upon rebuilding his arsenal to a more potent degree than previously. Had Obama’s plea for the immediate withdrawal of America from Iraq been adhered to, America would have lost the war in disgrace, emboldening future tyrants like Hussein; the surge that McCain advocated has enabled the United States to essentially complete the job and win the war so that the Americans can gradually continue to return to their country with honor, and Hussein-like tyrants will have to consider American reactions to acts that endanger the future of the free world, if not while Barack is in power, at least after he will be defeated the next time around.

The Youth Vote
The youth vote will quickly become disillusioned when they discover the first time the impossibility of Obama’s being able to keep many if not most of his campaign promises, especially during the present recession. Even if he will be able to technically keep income taxes down for the middle class, at first, he will inevitably raise all kinds of other taxes; rich Americans will find loopholes, will pass off taxes in higher prices for goods and services, and/or will take their assets and their businesses out of the country if taxed too highly, resulting in a smaller base of rich taxpayers and working middle class American citizens. So the young people who voted for Obama are sure to be disillusioned long before Congress will come up for re-election.

If Obama will really give African-Americans preferential treatment, as many of them have been led to expect, the middle class will presumably come to its senses, and if Obama won’t give African-Americans preferential treatment, then many if not most of the African-Americans who voted for him will accuse him of representing Uncle Tom rather than Uncle Sam.

The bottom line: There is every reason to expect that the lines Obama has given to the American people will be exposed as rapidly as his rise from obscurity, and that the lines at the polls the next time around will reflect the disillusionment that should begin on Inauguration Day. (If, however, Obama will leave his rhetoric behind and actually change himself into a centrist, and not the country into a sickly socialist entity, I will be happy to cast this article into oblivion, but in that case he will probably lose his base and perhaps be sent into oblivion himself!)

[homedawg]

hes afraid of the big bad HD as am i :hide: :hide: :surrender: :surrender:

Stop that! :cheers:

[JohnnyMapleLeaf]

JML, the election is over, post away, bring it on! :beerbang:

You're a crazy person, and I don't like arguing with crazy people. I lost alot of respect for you during this election. So I stopped posting. Many posters made intelligent points for both sides. I enjoyed their thoughts...both sides. Their own opinions. You slung bull****. You copied and pasted. Lame.

It's still a mystery to me who was the better candidate, but you went about it the wrong way.
It comes down to one thing for me....Mccain had one big decision to make. He signed off on that nutbar, Palin. And that says it all.

Let it go...

[homedawg]

FACTBOX-U.S. stocks in presidential election weeks
Wall St. has worst week of a presidential election...
Fri Nov 7, 2008 10:27pm GMT

NEW YORK, Nov 7 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks broke out of their
post-election funk on Friday, but on balance, the market hardly
delivered a ringing endorsement of Barack Obama's defeat of John
McCain to be elected 44th president of the United States.

Whatever the reason, since Election Day, major U.S. indexes are
down more than 7 percent. For the Dow Jones industrial average .DJI
and Standard & Poor's 500 .SPX, that represents the worst ever
conclusion to the week of a presidential election.

On the week as a whole, including Tuesday's biggest-ever Election
Day rally, Wall Street's benchmarks each fell about 4 percent.

For the Dow, it was the weakest presidential election week since
Harry Truman's upset victory over Thomas Dewey in the 1948 election.

For the S&P and Nasdaq Composite index .IXIC, meanwhile, it was
only the poorest presidential election week since 2000, which had
ended without any resolution to the disputed contest between George
W. Bush and Al Gore.

STOCKS IN THE THREE DAYS AFTER A PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION

The following table shows the percentage rise or decline in the
Dow Jones industrial average, Standard & Poor's 500 index and Nasdaq
composite index in the last three days of the week of a U.S
presidential election, as well as who won the Election Day vote.

Year Dow S&P Nasdaq President elect
2008 -7.08 -7.43 -7.46 Barack Obama
2004 +3.51 +3.15 +2.73 George W. Bush
2000 -3.19 -4.60 -11.32 No decision: G.W. Bush v Al Gore*
1996 +2.28 +2.34 +2.31 William Clinton
1992 -0.38 -0.56 +2.02 William Clinton
1988 -2.84 -2.63 -1.34 George H. W. Bush
1984 -2.02 -1.65 -0.42 Ronald Reagan
1980 -0.51 +0.11 +0.19 Ronald Reagan
1976 -2.38 -2.21 -1.02 James Carter
1972 +1.06 -0.22 -0.34 Richard Nixon
1968 +1.35 +0.82 --- Richard Nixon
1964 +0.16 +0.06 --- Lyndon Johnson
1960 +1.84 +1.38 --- John Kennedy
1956 -2.02 -2.65 --- Dwight Eisenhower
1952 +1.20 +0.73 --- Dwight Eisenhower
1948 -6.00 -7.16 --- Harry Truman
1944 +0.11 +0.31 --- Franklin Roosevelt
1940 +1.06 +0.81 --- Franklin Roosevelt
1936 +2.79 +1.40 --- Franklin Roosevelt
1932 +5.34 +8.02 --- Franklin Roosevelt
1928 +2.13 +1.99 --- Herbert Hoover
1924 +0.93 --- --- Calvin Coolidge
1920 -2.34 --- --- Warren Harding
1916 +0.41 --- --- Woodrow Wilson
1912 +1.13 --- --- Woodrow Wilson
1908 +5.28 --- --- William Taft
1904 +2.75 --- --- Theodore Roosevelt
1900 +7.03 --- --- William McKinley
1896 +5.86 --- --- William McKinley

STOCKS IN A PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION WEEK

The following table shows the percentage rise or decline in the
Dow Jones industrial average, Standard & Poor's 500 index and Nasdaq
composite index for the full week of a U.S presidential election and
who won the Election Day vote.

Year Dow S&P Nasdaq President elect
2008 -4.09 -3.92 -4.30 Barack Obama
2004 +3.59 +3.18 +3.24 George W. Bush
2000 -1.99 -4.26 -12.24 No decision: G.W. Bush v Al Gore*
1996 +3.29 +3.84 +2.92 William Clinton
1992 +0.43 -0.26 +1.93 William Clinton
1988 -3.67 -3.04 -1.91 George H. W. Bush
1984 +0.19 +0.11 +0.64 Ronald Reagan
1980 +0.86 +1.34 +0.38 Ronald Reagan
1976 -2.27 -2.02 -0.97 James Carter
1972 +1.13 -0.43 -0.16 Richard Nixon
1968 +1.11 +0.86 --- Richard Nixon
1964 +0.43 +0.44 --- Lyndon Johnson
1960 +2.10 +1.77 --- John Kennedy
1956 -1.04 -1.36 --- Dwight Eisenhower
1952 +1.57 +1.06 --- Dwight Eisenhower
1948 -5.26 -6.49 --- Harry Truman
1944 +0.63 +0.70 --- Franklin Roosevelt
1940 +1.66 +1.35 --- Franklin Roosevelt
1936 +2.51 +1.16 --- Franklin Roosevelt
1932 +10.56 +11.63 --- Franklin Roosevelt
1928 +3.41 +2.73 --- Herbert Hoover
1924 +0.77 --- --- Calvin Coolidge
1920 -1.88 --- --- Warren Harding
1916 +1.29 --- --- Woodrow Wilson
1912 +0.88 --- --- Woodrow Wilson
1908 +5.26 --- --- William Taft
1904 +4.16 --- --- Theodore Roosevelt
1900 +9.97 --- --- William McKinley
1896 +9.97 --- --- William McKinley
* George W. Bush ultimately was determined the winner of the 2000
election.

[homedawg]

If The Supreme Court Decides...?

At this point, Supreme Court Justice David Souter's Clerk informed Philip J. Berg, the lawyer who brought the case against Obama, that his petition for an injunction to stay the November 4th election was denied, but the Clerk also required the defendants to respond to the Writ of Certiorari (which requires the concurrence of four Justices) by December 1. At that time, Mr. Obama must present to the Court an authentic birth certificate, after which Mr. Berg will respond.

If Obama fails to do that, it is sure to inspire the skepticism of the Justices, who are unaccustomed to being defied. They will have to decide what to do about a president-elect who refuses to prove his natural-born citizenship.

"I can see a unanimous Court (en banc) decertifying the election if Obama refuses to produce his birth certificate," says Raymond S. Kraft, an attorney and writer. "They cannot do otherwise without abandoning all credibility as guardians of the Constitution. Even the most liberal justices, however loathe they may to do this, still consider themselves guardians of the Constitution. The Court is very jealous of its power - even over presidents, even over presidents-elect."

Also remember that on December 13, the Electoral College meets to casts its votes. If it has been determined that Mr. Obama is an illegal alien and therefore ineligible to become President of the United States, the Electors will be duty-bound to honor the Constitution.

[homedawg]

America The Beautiful

Posted by: Dr. Richard Swier | 11/07/2008 4:49 AM
Courtesy of journalist Joan Swirsky.

"The sun will come out tomorrow," Little Orphan Annie sang in "Annie," the long-running Broadway classic.

Well, on the morning of November 5, the sun wasn't shining for over 55-million Americans, including me, who voted for a McCain-Palin administration. But the sun was blazing in another way for the historic election of Barack Obama as the first person-of-color to be elected President of the United States.

For those who witnessed, as I did, the violent racial strife of the 1960s, the assassinations of the most ardent advocates of minority civil rights, and also the redemptive messages and effective actions of Martin Luther King, Jr., a Republican, it is stunning to realize that, not 40 years after blacks were being murdered for aspiring to equality, a person-of-color has been elected to the highest office in the world.

And for those of us lucky enough to have also witnessed men walking on the moon, the fall of the Soviet Union, and the invention of the Internet, President-elect Obama's election is yet another affirmation of the exceptionalism of America - its limitless opportunities, God-given freedoms, bountiful generosity, and the essential optimism and decency of its citizens.

For nearly two years, our electorate has watched and listened as the candidates presented their versions of the American Dream, explained or rationalized their past and current associations, and defended their stupefying verbal gaffes.

Like other conservatives, the American Dream I prefer is about small government, low taxes, a free-market economy, domestic-energy independence, a judiciary that strictly interprets the Constitution, and value for the life of the unborn. But the American electorate - besieged by a shaky economy and entranced by a charismatic "change" agent who stood for none of these values - strangely opted for a candidate who touts big government, high-taxes, strict curbs on domestic drilling (and the destruction of the coal industry), leftwing Supreme Court justices in the mold of Ginsburg and Stewart, and a remarkable distain for the value of in-utero infants.

It almost makes you believe that the people who voted for Obama have been living in an alternative universe. After all, under the first six years of President Bush's stewardship, the economy soared to heights previously unknown, consumer confidence was at an all-time high, unemployment levels were unprecedentedly low, and the affordability of both gas and food was never a topic of conversation. But from the minute Democrats gained control of Congress in 2006, the downward spiral began:

· Consumer confidence plummeted.

· The cost of regular gasoline soared.

· Unemployment escalated by 10%.

· Households saw $2.3 trillion in equity value evaporate through stock and mutual fund losses.

· Home equity dropped by trillions of dollars and untold numbers of homes are in foreclosure.

· Food prices skyrocketed over 30% in 1 year.

In spite of this, our electorate selected a man who promises a trillion dollars in new spending and draconian tax hikes on the most productive members of our society. His election inspired plenty of dancing in the street - both here and overseas - but the stock market reacted by taking the greatest plunge in history after a presidential election. It's going to take a whole lot of "hope" to get us out of this Democrat-created mess!

[homedawg]

Bloomberg wants plastic bag tax...

Mayor Bloomberg wants to nickel and dime you at the grocery store - taxing you an extra 5 cents for every plastic bag you take home.

The controversial charge could raise at least $16 million for the cash-strapped city while keeping tons of plastic out of landfills, city officials said Thursday - but some outraged shoppers aren't buying it.

NYC To Toll Every Major Bridge Into Manhattan...

Sources: MTA To Toll All East River Bridges
Cash-Strapped MTA About To Drop Hammer On Everyone
Marcia Kramer NEW YORK (CBS) ― Believe it or not, there is even grimmer budget news.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority is swimming in a sea of red ink and sources tell CBS 2 HD drivers in the city might not like the bailout plan.

Nearly half a million cars go back and forth over the Brooklyn, Manhattan, Williamsburg and 59th Street bridges every day for free. Some people think that's not right.

"We already have tolls at the Battery Tunnel, Midtown Tunnel, the Triborough Bridge let's put pricing on all of the crossings in between," said Sam Schwartz, one of the leading transportation engineers in the country.

Guess what? State and city officials now seem to agree. Sources tell CBS 2 HD that putting tolls on some or all of the East River bridges is part of the bailout plan being considered for the MTA.

[homedawg]

U.S. Stocks Retreat as Earnings Concern Overshadows Stimulus

Nov. 10 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. stocks dropped as a worsening outlook for companies from Goldman Sachs Group Inc. to Google Inc. overshadowed China's $586 billion stimulus plan and pledges by the world's biggest nations to bolster economic growth.

Goldman fell 8.5 percent after Barclays PLC said the stock- market rout may drag the firm to its first quarterly loss since going public. General Motors Corp., which last week said it may run out of cash, lost almost a quarter of its value after Deutsche Bank AG said the automaker's shares may go to zero. Google Inc., the biggest seller of online ads, sank 3.7 percent on concern fourth-quarter revenue growth will stall.

``The market doesn't really have a handle on the depth of the recession's duration,'' said John Wilson, co-director of equity strategy at Memphis, Tennessee-based Morgan Keegan, which manages $120 billion. ``There's still a lot of fear out there.''

The Standard & Poor's 500 Index retreated 1.3 percent to 919.21, extending last week's 3.9 percent slide. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 73.27 points, or 0.8 percent, to 8,870.54. The Nasdaq Composite Index slipped 1.9 percent to 1,616.74. Almost three stocks declined for each that advanced on the New York Stock Exchange.

The decline in U.S. equities halted a global rally that sent the MSCI World Index up as much as 2.6 percent after China announced its stimulus package and the Group of 20 nations said it will act ``urgently'' to bolster growth while calling on governments to cut interest rates.

President-elect Barack Obama may inherit the worst U.S. recession since 1982, according to economists' estimates, putting pressure on the Democrat to assemble a response and name his economic team. The S&P 500 has lost 38 percent this year.

Goldman Slides

Goldman, once Wall Street's most profitable securities firm, slumped $6.57 to $71.21 and reached as low as $68.51. The company may post a fourth-quarter loss of $2.50 a share, Barclays said. Analysts at Merrill Lynch & Co., UBS AG, JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Morgan Stanley also forecast a deficit for the New York-based firm.

Goldman identified six equity analysts fired by the firm today, including William Tanona, who covered companies such as JPMorgan Chase & Co., and Deane Dray, who followed General Electric Co. The company, now a commercial bank, cut 3,200 jobs last week.

Financial shares fell the most among S&P 500 industries with a 4.4 percent loss. HSBC Holdings Plc, Europe's biggest bank, predicted climbing loan defaults and set aside a more- than-estimated $4.3 billion to cover bad loans in the U.S.

American Capital Strategies Ltd. had the steepest drop in the benchmark stock index, plunging 43 percent to $7.87. The asset manager that invests in management buyouts suspended its dividend for 2008, posted a loss for the third quarter and said it would buy European Capital Ltd., a fund it spun off in October 2005.

Financials Lead Drop

Financials, which began the year as the biggest part of the S&P 500, slid behind health-care companies to become the third- largest industry in the benchmark index for U.S. equities.

The 53 percent decline in the S&P 500 group of banks, brokerages, insurers and other financial firms this year shrank the industry's market value to less than 14 percent of the total index. A measure of health-care stocks make up 14.3 percent of the S&P 500 and are the second-best performing group with a 25 percent loss this year. Technology companies have the biggest weighting in the S&P 500 at 15.3 percent.

Google Retreats

Google slumped $12.36 to $318.78. Barclays analysts cut fourth-quarter revenue estimates for the company, saying the search-engine business has deteriorated.

Third-quarter earnings shrank 19 percent for S&P 500 companies that reported results so far, according to Bloomberg data. Profits for 2008 will fall an average 8.5 percent, based on a survey of analysts' estimates.

General Motors Corp. fell $1.05 to $3.31. Deutsche Bank's Rod Lache lowered his recommendation on the automaker, which tumbled 25 percent last week, to ``sell'' from ``hold.''

``Even if GM succeeds in averting a bankruptcy, we believe that the company's future path is likely to be bankruptcy- like,'' the analyst wrote in a research report.

[homedawg]

Obama Asks Bush to Provide Help...




:beer2:

[coreyschucky]

Obama Asks Bush to Provide Help...




:beer2:

Bush's legacy will be helped greatly by the transition to Obama. This will be one of the smoothest transitions we'll ever see. Bush will help engage Obama and his team and get them ready for the next 4 years. :thumbs:

[homedawg]

BUSH ANGER: OBAMA AIDES LEAK CHAT DETAILS
Tue Nov 11 2008 09:28:10 ET

Just hours after President Bush and President-elect Obama met in the Oval Office of the White House, details of their confidential conversation began leaking out to the press, igniting anger from the president, sources claim.

"Senator Obama would be wise to keep close counsel," a top Bush source warned.

"BUSH AND OBAMA AT ODDS OVER AID FOR AUTO INDUSTRY," splashed the NEW YORK TIMES in an exclusive Monday evening, quoting "people familiar with the discussion."

The two met at the White House in private, without staff.

"Bush indicated at the meeting that he might support some aid and a broader economic stimulus package if Obama and congressional Democrats dropped their opposition to a free-trade agreement with Colombia," claimed the TIMES.

The ASSOCIATED PRESS quickly followed with details of the conversation, citing "aides who described the discussion on grounds of anonymity, citing the private nature of the meeting."

Bush advisers view the leaks as an effort to undermine the president's remaining days in office.

"Senator Obama may not be familiar with a long-standing tradition of presidents holding their private conversations, private," a senior adviser explained

[homedawg]

STOCKS IN FREEFALL; DOW SHEDS ANOTHER 400...

-1343 Since the election!


NEW YORK (AP) -- An increasingly despondent Wall Street fell for the third straight session Wednesday as investors absorbed another series of dismal corporate reports and news that the government won't buy banks' soured mortgage assets after all. The Dow Jones industrials dropped more than 410 points, and all the major indexes lost more than 4 percent.
ADVERTISEMENT


The stock market has lost about $1 trillion over the past three days, according to the Dow Jones Wilshire 5000 index, which reflects the value of nearly all U.S. stocks.

The market started the day falling on more signs that companies are being hurt by a severe pullback in consumer spending. Macy's Inc. said it lost $44 million in the third quarter as sales at the department store retailer fell more than 7 percent. And consumer electronics retailer Best Buy Co. slashed its fiscal 2009 guidance on fears that consumer spending will erode even further.

Meanwhile, Morgan Stanley, suffering from the ongoing losses on Wall Street, outlined plans to cut 10 percent of staff in its institutional securities group -- its biggest business that covers everything from investment banking to stock trading.

More bad news came out after the market closed -- Intel Corp. lowered its fourth-quarter revenue and earnings outlook, citing a spending slowdown that is reducing demand for its computer chips. Intel's stock fell in after-hours trading, and its announcement was likely to trigger more selling across the market on Thursday.

The bleak reports, which followed disappointing news from coffee retailer Starbucks Corp. and homebuilder Toll Brothers Inc. earlier in the week, made it increasingly clear to investors that companies across the economy are suffering from the aftermath of the housing and credit crises.

"There just doesn't appear to be an end in sight to the bad news," said Anton Schutz, portfolio manager of the Burnham Financial Industries Fund and the Burnham Financial Services Fund. "The selling is relentless."

There was more pain at mid-morning, when Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said the government's $700 billion financial rescue package won't purchase troubled assets from banks. He said that plan would have taken too much time, and that the Treasury instead will rely on buying stakes in banks and encouraging them to resume more normal lending.

While the market had been pleased by the government's decision weeks ago to buy banks' stock, investors still hoped to see the financial industry relieved of the burden of the mortgage assets whose decline in value helped set off the nation's financial crisis. His comments, which underscored the anxiety that remains about the health of the financial system, sent stocks falling further.

Analysts believe the market is in the process of retesting the intraday low hit on Oct. 10, when the blue chips fell to 7,882.50.

"We're just going through the typical process of testing and retesting," said Matt King, chief investment officer of Bell Investment Advisors. "If we can continue to build higher and higher lows, that's definitely a positive. If the Dow can build a base above 8,100 and bounce off that, we see that as a definite technical positive."

The selling accelerated in the last hour of the day, as it has done in most sessions over the past two months.

"When there is a lot of volatility, especially on a big down day, people just decide they don't want to own stocks overnight," said Ryan Detrick, senior technical strategist at Schaeffer's Investment Research. "News doesn't drive this lower, fear does. Investors will back the next morning after they see where things settled."

Late-day volatility has also been fed by hedge and mutual funds selling as investors withdraw money from the market.

The Dow shed 411.30, or 4.73 percent, to 8,282.66. It was the lowest close for the Dow since its 5 1/2-year low of 8,175.77 reached on Oct. 27.

According to the Dow Jones Wilshire 5000 index, Wednesday's paper losses amounted to about $600 billion. By that measure, the stock market has shed $9.1 trillion since the index's Oct. 9, 2007, peak.

The broader Standard & Poor's 500 index dropped 46.65, or 5.19 percent, to 852.30, and the Nasdaq composite index stumbled 81.69, or 5.17 percent, to 1,499.21.

The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies fell 29.49, or 6.11 percent, to 452.80.

Declining issues overwhelmed advancers on the New York Stock Exchange, where only 240 stocks rose while 2,869 fell. Consolidated volume came to 5.66 billion shares, up from 4.93 billion shares Tuesday.

Though Paulson's announcement marks a major shift in the original bailout plan and rattled investors, Wall Street analysts generally believe the Treasury is now on the right path.

"That's really what they should have done originally," said King. "First and foremost, we have to make sure banks are going to survive and then we can worry about lending. This is the quickest and most efficient way to do that."

"Buying bad assets doesn't do that," he said.

However, there is some concern that the bailout funds are being depleted rather quickly, said Jason O'Donnell, senior research analyst at Boenning & Scattergood.

"Investors are generally in favor of the emphasis on the capital purchase provisions," O'Donnell said. But, "we're down quickly to a small portion of total funds remaining for other purposes."

Paulson also announced a new goal for the program to support financial markets that supply consumer credit in such areas as credit card debt, auto loans and student loans. He said, "with a stronger capital base, our banks will be more confident" to support economic activity.

But investors are worried that a severe pullback in consumer spending -- which drives more than two-thirds of the U.S. economy -- will prolong a global economic downturn.

Macy's shares fell $1.04, or 11 percent, to $8.37. Best Buy shares tumbled $1.91, or 8 percent, to $21.97.

The future of the country's top automakers remained a major concern on the Street as well, as investors waited to see whether the government would put together a bailout plan for General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler.

General Motors was the only gainer among the 30 Dow stocks Wednesday, rising 16 cents, or 5.5 percent, to $3.08. Ford gained 4 cents, or 2.2 percent, to $1.84.

Morgan Stanley, which converted into a bank holding company in September, said it plans to scale back its institutional securities business before the end of the year. The layoffs it plans are in addition to a 10 percent cut made earlier this year to the group.

Morgan Stanley also plans to restructure its money management business by cutting 9 percent of the group's work force. The securities firm employs about 44,000 people worldwide. Morgan Stanley shares fell $2.14, or 15.2 percent, to $11.94.

Intel, which fell 41 cents to $13.52 during regular trading, fell to $12.56 after hours.

Meanwhile, American Express Co. is said to be seeking about $3.5 billion from the government to help boost its balance sheet, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal citing people familiar with the situation. AmEx, the No. 4 U.S. credit card issuer, won approval Monday from the Federal Reserve to become a bank holding company, which gives it the ability to grow a large deposit base and access financing from the Fed.

AmEx shares dropped $2.35, or 10.5 percent, to $20.05.

Government bond prices, which did not trade Tuesday because of Veterans Day, moved higher as investors looked for safer investments. The three-month Treasury bill's yield fell to 0.13 percent from 0.22 percent late Monday, and the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note fell to 3.67 percent from 3.76 percent late Monday.

Lower yields indicate stronger demand.

Crude dropped below $57 a barrel Wednesday on the growing realization that global economic growth next year will slow more than originally feared, cutting demand for crude products such as gasoline. Light, sweet crude fell $3.50, or nearly 6 percent, to settle at $56.16 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

The dollar was mixed against other major currencies, while gold prices dipped.

Overseas, Japan's Nikkei closed down 1.29 percent and Hong Kong Hang Seng fell 0.73 percent. In Europe, London's FTSE 100 fell 1.52 percent, Germany's DAX fell 2.96 percent, and France's CAC-40 dropped 3.07 percent.