W will soon be heading  to the ranch of oblivion and Cheney to his happy hunting wilderness; The trillion dollar shovel will be taken out of the hands of Paulson; The war on terror will be downsized to police action; Bush is handing over a better Iraq than if he had had to hand it over to Kerry four years ago; Wall Street seems to be returning from insanity; Apparently Obama is keeping Gates and listening to Patraeus; Ted Stevens finally put to rest; Hillary w...

    I have no idea what the ideal leverage ratio should be among lenders but it’s reasonable to conjecture that it should not exceed 10:1. For the past twenty years I have been sufficiently fortunate to maintain a zero balance on my credit cards each month. I often wondered why the credit companies are so generous to continue to carry me without charge and tolerate 0% which strikes me as a losing proposition by granting me this grace period—that is, until I began to t...

  At the drop of a hat Citibank gets its second bailout while the Big 3 must sit in the corner of the classroom for not doing their homework. Normally I would attribute this to class warfare except 50,000 white collars are out of luck as the bailout is unrelated to rehiring. Nevertheless, it is still glaring that Paulson favors Wall Street over Main Street as there’s been little movement with the exception of Fanny and Freddie in relation to forestalling home foreclosures, which ar...

Granted the economy is tanking, but that is no reason for Obama to back down on increasing the tax rate on those above 250k income. Nevertheless, to avoid further roiling the market, he should do it in increments of 1% until Bush's increase expires in 2010. It would be ridiculous for a new president to allow himself to be intimidated by Wall Street's thugs and economic pundits. The wealthy need to invest regardless of the rate. And as for capital gains, there's not going to be very muc...

  It’s a good thing that the Democrats did not get saccharine over the auto industry’s tin cup presentation lacking hard core specifics, and instead are requiring that the Big 3 return with realistic restructuring. The foremost embarrassment is the $24 an hour labor discrepancy between the UAW and the union free foreign manufacturers. This is easily solved by the government takeover of the pensions with perhaps some modest adjustments more in line with other company pensions;...

Granted, the Big Three is in dire straits and the temptation is to let them pass on. Still, many horses though weak are worthy to be served—the millions or so grazing in the auto industry fields. What to do with the 10,000 dealerships and their employees, the auto parts stores in every community, the hundreds of thousands on the assembly line? The stock answer too big too fail. Notwithstanding the predilection nationwide to bash unions it is unfair to place all the blame on the UAW for ...

    It's usually wise not to throw good money after bad, but I'm a sucker when it comes to American cars. I was mad at Ford just for dropping the great name Continental in favor of the dull TownCar; I was particularly elated for one year when it returned with the Lincoln Zephyr and then within a year changing it to some crazy "hitech" number. It goes without saying I was livid when the Thunderbird was let go, only to return within a few years a sad replica of the 50s original. I ...

Is Wall Street's post election down trend really attributed to more bad news on unemployment or are they venting a vicious caveat to Obama?

  Let’s face up to fact, despite the current financial crisis, this country is a nation of consumers and to regain its lifestyle must continue to spend. Still, there is such a thing as moderation in pursuit of happiness. Oh, the wealthy must still have their car museums and mansions; the slightly lower scale their spacious homes and semi-private neighborhoods, together with flying first class to vacation lands or more moderate family trips via super SUVs to a resort, ranch or Disne...

  MSNBC which is clearly for Obama is running every ten minutes or so ads on Reverend Wright at his worst sponsored by the Republican party. I suppose in the station’s defense it is honoring free speech, but the bottom line is profit and greed. To McCain’s credit he has steered away from such negatives—much to Palin’s distress—for he is an honorable man, although he has had his own religious issues that could have backfired. Speaking of MSNBC, I wish the ...

•            O pportunity for middle class growth and prosperity, putting an end to the widening gap •            B etter solution for healthcare, particularly in ending the preexistent clause and catastrophically financial personal disasters •            A uthentic leadership in reaching out for solutions in foreign rela...

  The much talked about Redistributor in Chief took place in 1981 when Reagan took the progressive tax structure on the wealthy from 70% down to 28%, the inevitable consequence of which simply brought into reality the adage the rich got richer and the poor got poorer. The additional bonus was the rise in numerous tax shelters to the point that true earnings were distorted. and to rub it in, investors looked to cheap foreign labor to enrich themselves further. Meanwhile in Washington unio...

Particularly during the Reagan and the Bush years though Clinton was not completely inculpable, financiers did not care for these controls and regulations of principals, thus, they exploded leverage in order to inflate the interest takeover where profits are harbored. When domestic investors were no longer satisfied with Government Securities and stodgy corporate holdings—as China, Japan and Saudi Arabia are today—they jumped for the over inflated bubbles blown by an irrational hou...

  How about allowing delinquents to stay in their homes and pay rent, 20% of which goes toward principal? OR extend 30 yr. mortgage to 40 yr. These two options could detoxify the loans and allow the financial world to get on with it. And btw as long as we're in a bailout mode why not have the government buy out bankruptcy level medical bills? Did I mention a buy out of my beta tapes library?  

  On this site for years I was arguably the only one who would on occasion mention the New Deal in EARNEST. It seems with Reaganomics in disarray the ghost of FDR hovers between the headlines. Apparently the time is right to terminate Ponzi's funny money game and begin establishing an economic system that prioritizes real investments in making THINGS that truly matter in lieu of money making money and losing sight of the pragmatic aim of wealth.