Snow glistens in the last light of dusk.
Distant clouds glow with the fading light from the sun, long since set.
A chill fills the calm night air.
Stars twinkle in the deepening winter sky.
The crunch, crunch, crunch of gravel on the path.
Lights come on in the distance. Warm and inviting.
Home. Family. Friends. Dinner and the opening of gifts.
Christmas!
News outlets today are reporting that a serious security flaw in Internet Explorer (versions IE5 through IE8) makes it possible for hackers to steal the online passwords that you use on the internet. Virtually all security experts are urging users of Internet Explorer are urged to use a different web browser. Firefox, Chrome, Opera, and Safari are recommended as alternatives. Please read the whole story here.
The recent capture of an oil tanker three football fields long and holding $100 million in oil has drawn attention to a long standing problem – piracy on the high seas. Who would have thought? I think of piracy as something perpetrated centuries ago by characters like Blackbeard. Ships, crews, and cargo are held for ransom. It is a lucrative business and takes place more often than you would think.
You can view a Live Piracy Map provided by ICC Commercial Crime Services. You can zoom in on any area of the map and view the details of each hijacking incident.
Several financial experts have been interviewed on CNBC about the bailout of the Big 3 automakers.
It will take about $30 billion to bailout the Big 3. It will stave off devastating shockwaves to the economy.
An AP article, posted a little over an hour ago, reports on the Senate’s failure to bail out the U.S. auto industry. Even if your job is not directly related to the U.S. auto industry, what happens can have a big impact on your economic future and your retirement account. For more information about that, read the post just below this one.
The Democratic leaders in the Senate are reluctant to back any plans to bail out the auto industry, despite House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s support for helping the ailing auto industry.
A few Senators are getting this right. . . . .
Continue reading
. . . the collapse of the Big 3 Automakers, at least according to Jim Cramer, the host of CNBC’s popular show MAD Money.
This is important – the retirement account you save could be your own. If the government doesn’t take action soon, retirement accounts could drop another 20-30% in value from where they are right now.
Read on . . .
For serving our country in the past, the present, or the future – we give you thanks.
Remember Me (large screen version) by Lizzie Palmer.
Remember Me (small screen version) by Lizzie Palmer.
Lizzie Palmer was 15 years old when her video was broadcast on FOX News, June 10, 2007.
Both! “McCain and Obama accuse each other of falsehoods, and both have good reason.” (source)
Everything you need to know is at the highly respected web site, Fact Check.org.
The Senate missed their chance three years ago to head off the sub-prime mortgage crisis at Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. Had the Senate done their job, we would be in better shape now. Shame on the U.S. Senators who did nothing.
A year ago today, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 14,164.53, a new all time high. Today the DOW closed at 8,579.19, a drop of nearly 40% in one year and the lowest close in five years. The S&P 500 and the NASDAQ are down by similar amounts. If you had $10,000 in the market a year ago and haven’t done anything since then, you lost $4,000. If you had $100,000 in the market a year ago and left it there, you lost $40,000 over the last year (at least on paper). That’s tough to take if you are heavily invested in stocks.
The House passed the “rescue” bill today (rescue sounds better then bailout) that the Senate passed Wednesday night. That’s a good thing mostly.
Too bad the House didn’t pass the first version. THIS version has $100 billion in pork barrel add-ons to the bill. How odd that after whining about the cost of the $700 billion for the rescue plan, they (Senate and House) add another $100 billion in pork barrel politics. That’s what happens when the original 3 page bill grows to over 100 pages (last version) to over 400 pages.
Steve Forbes, editor-in-chief of the highly respected business magazine FORBES, was interviewed on CNBC this evening. He was very clear that the bailout plan (which was voted down by the House of Representatives today) is the best course of action for the economy.
Forbes said “Not since 1933 have we been as close to the abyss as we are now.”
He likened our economy to a patient in cardiac arest. It is time to save the patient. Forbes said if congress doesn’t act soon, “millions of jobs will be lost”.
UPDATE – MARCH 4: The deal with Citigroup may be off and the FDIC may be out of the deal. That’s better for taxpayers and probably better for Wachovia stock holders. Wachovia stock is up. Jim Cramer on his CNBC show, Mad Money, accused the FDIC of over-reaching in the Citigroup-Wachovia deal.
Jim Cramer, author and host of CNBC’s popular television show MAD MONEY, is clearly unhappy about the failure of the U.S. House of Representatives to pass the bailout plan proposed by Secretary of the Treasury Heny Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke.
If your U.S. Representative voted no today on the $700 billion bailout plan, call then and tell them to reconsider. WHY? Read my next post. If your U.S. Representative voted yes, call them up and thank them.
When the U.S. House of Representatives failed to approve the $700B bailout today, it failed the American people. It means some U.S. Representatives voted out of fear to keep their jobs at the upcoming elections rather than do what is best for the country. Some of the best and brightest minds in the country encouraged the passage of the bailout plan, but the House didn’t do that.
Scroll down in the frame to read the article.
MOTLEY FOOL sent out this email today:
Dear Fools:
Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson has put together a plan that is actively under debate and allows the Treasury to invest in assets that are crushing bank balance sheets. We view this plan as being an important step in allowing the global financial system to recapitalize itself. We agree with financial intellectual titans Warren Buffett and Bill Gross, as well as both presidential candidates, that the Paulson Plan needs to be passed and will benefit Main Street.
We believe that if the Paulson Plan is done correctly, American taxpayers will profit not only from the return of lending capacity to our banks, but also from these troubled investments. However, the plan should embrace the tenets of free-market capitalism. The government should demand equity stakes in the banks.
