I’m a Democrat and I’m proud to be one…if for the only fact they try to include everyone! The Democrats do things that I (myself) might consider to be in the best interest of this country…..or are slow to act on issues that are near and dear to my heart….but I feel that they try to treat people equally and reflect what the majority of Americans feel.

I feel in this next election that the republicans should have their walking papers given to them by a resounding defeat! It’s time that everyone ….and I mean everyone VOTE so this way the republicans can’t cheat (and even if they do) they get beaten so badly that it won’t matter!!!! Please everyone vote this year…..I know it’s a hassle sometimes waiting in line but if you don’t vote things won’t change much less the cheating that goes on in the presidential election!

I Hope the republican party stays around. Heres my thinking if the republican party stays around (I don’t want them in office; just around) They will keep on reminding us (the American people) what we can become if we don’t keep a strong heart and an abiding faith.

Andy

Posted by D. Cupples | These days, Democrats usually need 60 votes in the Senate (instead of 50% 1) to pass a bill, because Republicans habitually filibuster Dems’ bills — thereby creating the need for 60 votes just to send a bill to a vote. Salon…

Every time economists and Wall Street executives think they have acknowledged the full extent of the losses from the meltdown in real estate mortgages, more bad news turns up.

Merrill Lynch said yesterday that it would take a charge for mortgage-related securities on its books that is $3 billion more than the $5 billion it expected just two weeks ago. And a report from the National Association of Realtors showed that sales of existing homes in September fell twice as much as economists had expected, to their lowest level in nearly 10 years.

Stocks fell sharply early yesterday on the news, with the Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index falling 1.8 percent before recovering in the afternoon. Investors also bid up Treasuries as they sought the safety of government-backed debt.

At this juncture, economists say the troubles in the mortgage market could, all told, cost financial firms and investors up to $400 billion.

Shit, that’s almost what it costs for two years of failure in Iraq.

And lastly, to think that economic melt down has even actually begun, is sheer lunacy. For every dollar of bad mortgage loan created by predatory lenders like Countrywide, Wall Street criminals built more than 20 dollars in “leverage” on top of it. The bad loans at the sub prime level were built in to pyramids of scam. All the while, scumbags on wall street, etc, made their commissions on the transactions regardless of the value of the transaction.. so say 100 billion in bad loans at the consumer mortgage level, the loss to wall st. is 20 x’s that, probably more, and that risk, or plain old criminal behavior, was spread around globally, so all financial institutions have losses.

Watch commodities, like oil, gold etc. the regular spin is that its inventories, etc, which is of course part of it, but the root cause is never mentioned: inflation. As more and more dollars get printed at debt, they buy less, so of course commodities are going to require more and more increasingly worthless dollars to buy the commodity.

Housing bubble, the same. houses weren’t worth more, the currency used to buy them was worthless, so it takes more of those units of value to buy one. At this point, the dollar is beginning its soon to come free fall over the abyss, as it has been worthless for a long time, but propped up by more and more debt. Eventually the house of cards implodes.

The libertarian side of me hates government interference..but in cases like I name above..I fear we have no choice but to regulate the hell out of these markets.

Thanks for the shout-out Dez I love your roundup..so many good articles.

God Bless Henry Waxman. I love that pitbull. Hopefully he isn’t politically motivated.

The hedge funds and commodities markets are finding new ways to manipulate the prices and that IS cheating the American consumer. If you are interested, one of the links explains how the hedge funds were competing with each other to see who could cheat the public and make the most money..essentially fucking each other over..and the public..along the way. That is how Amanarth was taken down..by ANOTHER hedge fund.

These commodities are not really regulated, its virtually impossible according to some specialists because of the way they are traded. To regulate them, the government would have to change the entire way these markets are traded..like the Mercantile Exchange as an example.

The same goes for the food(beef and pork commodities) market, and the crop markets..they are traded the same way, which means..

We are getting fucked in those areas too with price fixing. Just so a few individuals can make a helluva lot of money in one season.