Does America really want a change?

[Nigel Tufnel]

HD, you ran a most zealous campaign for the candidate you thought was the most qualified. Trust me, it was ZEALOUS. Having said that, the people have spoken. So lets support Obama and hope for the best. Now, back to capping....NCAAFB, NFL, NHL, NBA and NCAABB starting...we at predictem need your research skills to be directed at the gaming industry...put all your venom and vigor and direct it towards the books....

Lets look to the future with an open mind...and work together to crush the book....

[homedawg]

Sorry, But Obama Scares Me

The Barack Obama presidency makes me very nervous.

Obama's entire campaign has been based on the need for radical, transformational change, which implies there is something very wrong with America.

It's hardly surprising, then, that he has painted the bleakest picture of America instead of acknowledging, as a starting point, that we are still the greatest nation in the world.

For the past eight years, Democrats have slandered America as an imperialistic country that always prefers force to diplomacy; that attacks nations without provocation to enrich itself and to project its power; that intentionally targets civilian lives; that encourages sadistic torture of enemy prisoners, as opposed to tough interrogation techniques to extract information to save the lives of its people; that eavesdrops on private conversations among its citizens rather than monitoring terrorist communications into its borders; and that abuses rather than goes out of its way to accommodate the savages in Guantanamo's prison. None of it is true.

For eight years, Democrats have poor-mouthed the mostly growing economy. They've lied that Bush's tax cuts for all income groups were only for the wealthy and that the cuts reduced revenues. They pretend to be deficit hawks, when Obama's new spending plans alone will make Bush look like Scrooge. They said Bush wanted to destroy Social Security, when he's the only one in the past 20 years who had the courage to try to reform it. All lies.

They've preached bipartisanship while exhibiting the nastiest partisanship in my lifetime, calling Bush "King George III," "Hitler," a "murderer," a "war criminal," a "reckless cowboy," a "moron" and a "Christian throwback." They've caricatured Bush as an unbending partisan who wouldn't reach across the aisle, in the face of his countless and mostly rebuffed bipartisan overtures and legislation. More disinformation.

They've deliberately divided this nation on the basis of race, class, gender and religion while telling us, falsely, that conservatives are racists, greedy, sexists, homophobes and religious bigots.

The propaganda triumvirate -- Democrats, the liberal media and leftist bloggers -- have portrayed President Bush, Vice President Cheney and America as dark and evil forces and have whipped the country into a frenzy of desperation, setting the table for a charismatic leader to deliver us from the despair they've manufactured with relentless precision.

Barack Obama, with his mysterious past and messianic aura, then burst upon the scene with the focused purpose of capitalizing on the public's perceived woes by offering dramatic change and unspecified hope. As if the script had been written just for him, he stepped right into his role, expanding on this theme of despair. He stressed how bleak conditions are, how unfair America is to the less fortunate and middle class, how ugly America is in foreign affairs, how the values of average Americans are warped (bitter clingers), how hardworking producers who oppose confiscatory tax rates but who contribute more to charity than Obama and his running mate even contemplate are selfish, and how America is a global environmental menace.

With all respect, almost everything about Obama's campaign is fraudulent. He masquerades as a uniter while dividing, polarizing and alienating us. He denies he's liberal, when objective sources score him as the most liberal senator. He says he barely knows militants and radicals with whom he has spent his lifetime cavorting and whose worldviews -- horrifyingly -- he shares. He brazenly disguises welfare redistributions as tax cuts. He and his surrogates keep changing his tax plan.

With his ideas about spreading the wealth, entrepreneurial selfishness, the ongoing "original sin" in our Constitution, the inherent evil of corporations, nationalized health care, and the civil rights movement not doing enough to bring about "economic justice" -- a euphemism for "Marxism" used by radicals, such as Bill Ayers, who still hate America -- are you not concerned at just how far Obama might go if he's got a nearly veto-proof Democratic majority at his back?

With his known discomfort with American exceptionalism, his naive mindset about good and evil in the world, his reckless underestimation of threats to America, his stated intention to disarm our nuclear weapons unilaterally, his open-borders extremism, his willingness to relax our intelligence monitoring, and his misguided concern for terrorists' rights, how can America be as secure under his watch?

With his sordid background in "community organizing" and his symbiotic relationship with an organization that is engaged in a systematic effort to steal this election, his thug tactics to investigate and silence his critics, and his Democratic colleagues' willingness to use government to shut down conservative talk radio, are you not worried about our liberties under an Obama administration?

Before our very eyes, America stands poised to elect as president the most radical man ever to run for this office credibly. Don't say we didn't warn you.

[Rothko]

Sorry, But Obama Scares Me

The Barack Obama presidency makes me very nervous.

Obama's entire campaign has been based on the need for radical, transformational change, which implies there is something very wrong with America.

It's hardly surprising, then, that he has painted the bleakest picture of America instead of acknowledging, as a starting point, that we are still the greatest nation in the world.

For the past eight years, Democrats have slandered America as an imperialistic country that always prefers force to diplomacy; that attacks nations without provocation to enrich itself and to project its power; that intentionally targets civilian lives; that encourages sadistic torture of enemy prisoners, as opposed to tough interrogation techniques to extract information to save the lives of its people; that eavesdrops on private conversations among its citizens rather than monitoring terrorist communications into its borders; and that abuses rather than goes out of its way to accommodate the savages in Guantanamo's prison. None of it is true.

For eight years, Democrats have poor-mouthed the mostly growing economy. They've lied that Bush's tax cuts for all income groups were only for the wealthy and that the cuts reduced revenues. They pretend to be deficit hawks, when Obama's new spending plans alone will make Bush look like Scrooge. They said Bush wanted to destroy Social Security, when he's the only one in the past 20 years who had the courage to try to reform it. All lies.

They've preached bipartisanship while exhibiting the nastiest partisanship in my lifetime, calling Bush "King George III," "Hitler," a "murderer," a "war criminal," a "reckless cowboy," a "moron" and a "Christian throwback." They've caricatured Bush as an unbending partisan who wouldn't reach across the aisle, in the face of his countless and mostly rebuffed bipartisan overtures and legislation. More disinformation.

They've deliberately divided this nation on the basis of race, class, gender and religion while telling us, falsely, that conservatives are racists, greedy, sexists, homophobes and religious bigots.

The propaganda triumvirate -- Democrats, the liberal media and leftist bloggers -- have portrayed President Bush, Vice President Cheney and America as dark and evil forces and have whipped the country into a frenzy of desperation, setting the table for a charismatic leader to deliver us from the despair they've manufactured with relentless precision.

Barack Obama, with his mysterious past and messianic aura, then burst upon the scene with the focused purpose of capitalizing on the public's perceived woes by offering dramatic change and unspecified hope. As if the script had been written just for him, he stepped right into his role, expanding on this theme of despair. He stressed how bleak conditions are, how unfair America is to the less fortunate and middle class, how ugly America is in foreign affairs, how the values of average Americans are warped (bitter clingers), how hardworking producers who oppose confiscatory tax rates but who contribute more to charity than Obama and his running mate even contemplate are selfish, and how America is a global environmental menace.

With all respect, almost everything about Obama's campaign is fraudulent. He masquerades as a uniter while dividing, polarizing and alienating us. He denies he's liberal, when objective sources score him as the most liberal senator. He says he barely knows militants and radicals with whom he has spent his lifetime cavorting and whose worldviews -- horrifyingly -- he shares. He brazenly disguises welfare redistributions as tax cuts. He and his surrogates keep changing his tax plan.

With his ideas about spreading the wealth, entrepreneurial selfishness, the ongoing "original sin" in our Constitution, the inherent evil of corporations, nationalized health care, and the civil rights movement not doing enough to bring about "economic justice" -- a euphemism for "Marxism" used by radicals, such as Bill Ayers, who still hate America -- are you not concerned at just how far Obama might go if he's got a nearly veto-proof Democratic majority at his back?

With his known discomfort with American exceptionalism, his naive mindset about good and evil in the world, his reckless underestimation of threats to America, his stated intention to disarm our nuclear weapons unilaterally, his open-borders extremism, his willingness to relax our intelligence monitoring, and his misguided concern for terrorists' rights, how can America be as secure under his watch?

With his sordid background in "community organizing" and his symbiotic relationship with an organization that is engaged in a systematic effort to steal this election, his thug tactics to investigate and silence his critics, and his Democratic colleagues' willingness to use government to shut down conservative talk radio, are you not worried about our liberties under an Obama administration?

Before our very eyes, America stands poised to elect as president the most radical man ever to run for this office credibly. Don't say we didn't warn you.

HD, did you actually write this yourself???

[flmmkrz]

HD, did you actually write this yourself???

It's from a conservative website , David Limbaugh wrote it I believe.

[JohnnyMapleLeaf]

.

[homedawg]

U.S. Stocks Post Biggest Post-Election Drop In History

Nov. 5 (Bloomberg) -- The stock market posted its biggest plunge following a presidential election as reports on jobs and service industries stoked concern the economy will worsen even as President-elect Barack Obama tries to stimulate growth.

Citigroup Inc. tumbled 14 percent and Bank of America Corp. lost 11 percent as the Standard & Poor's 500 Index and Dow Jones Industrial Average sank more than 5 percent. Nucor Corp., the largest U.S.-based steel producer, slid 10 percent after bigger rival ArcelorMittal doubled production cuts amid slowing demand. Boeing Co., the world's second-largest commercial planemaker, lost 6.9 percent after UBS AG forecast a 3 percent drop in global air traffic next year.

``We had an election yesterday; that doesn't mean the problems go away,'' said Kevin Rendino, a Plainsboro, New Jersey- based money manager at BlackRock Inc. who oversees $10 billion. ``We still have an economic slowdown.''

The S&P 500 tumbled 5.3 percent to 952.77, erasing yesterday's 4.1 percent rally. The Dow retreated 5.1 percent to 9,139.27. The Russell 2000 Index of small U.S. companies fell 5.7 percent to 514.64. The MSCI World Index of 23 developed markets decreased 2.5 percent to 982.98.

The slide halted an 18 percent rebound from the S&P 500's five-year low on Oct. 27. The benchmark for U.S. equities has lost more than 35 percent this year, the steepest annual plunge since 1937, and Obama will have to contend with an economy pummeled by the fastest contraction in manufacturing in 26 years and the lowest consumer confidence.

Biggest Rally Erased

The market's decline came a day after the biggest presidential Election Day gain since the New York Stock Exchange first opened for trading on a voting day in 1984.

The report by ADP Employer Services showed companies cut 157,000 jobs in October, the most since November 2002 when the U.S. was emerging from a recession. The Institute for Supply Management said service industries in the U.S., which make up 90 percent of the economy, contracted by the most on record.

About 1.3 billion shares changed hands on the NYSE, 11 percent less than the three-month daily average.

Citigroup lost $2.05 to $12.63 and Bank of America plunged $2.78 to $21.75. The S&P 500 Financials Index sank 8.8 percent after extending declines late in the day following Oppenheimer & Co. analyst Meredith Whitney's prediction on CNBC that the mortgage market will contract and more than $2 trillion in available credit-card lines will be pulled from the system.

Whitney also said potential loan modifications under an Obama administration will hurt banks and diminish their appetite for risk.

$6 Trillion Lost

The S&P 500 has lost about 39 percent since it peaked at 1,565.15 on Oct. 9, 2007, as the U.S. economy contracted 0.3 percent last quarter and credit-related losses and writedowns by global financial firms approached $700 billion. More than $6 trillion was erased from U.S. equities this year by the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression.

Nucor sank $4.16 to $35.50. Luxembourg-based ArcelorMittal reported third-quarter profit that fell short of analyst estimates, said its global output will drop by more than 30 percent, and forecast fourth-quarter earnings will fall as much as 48 percent. The company's New York-registered shares slumped 22 percent to $24.88, their biggest retreat in seven years.

Boeing fell $3.67 to $49.55. Its share price, which rose 28 percent from Oct. 10 through yesterday, ``is at least six to nine months from bottoming and beginning to mover higher again,'' David E. Strauss, a New York-based analyst at UBS, wrote in a report. Aircraft deliveries may tumble 29 percent from 2009 to 2012, the analyst said.

`Continued Softening'

Textron Inc. lost $1.71, or 9.2 percent, to $16.93. The world's biggest business-jet maker through its Cessna unit reduced the number of Citation jets it plans to deliver next year, citing ``continued softening in the global economic environment.''

Stocks extended their retreat even as Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House of Representatives, said Democrats may seek two economic stimulus measures if President George W. Bush limits the size of a plan to be considered during the post-election ``lame- duck'' session. Obama's party captured at least 19 seats in the House and at least five in the Senate, expanding its congressional majority.

General Growth Properties Inc. tumbled almost 50 percent to $2.25 for the biggest drop in the S&P 500. The U.S. mall owner that has lost more than 90 percent of its market value on concern it won't be able to refinance debt coming due this year reported a wider third-quarter loss and suspended its quarterly dividend.

Bond Insurers

MBIA Inc. and Ambac Financial Group Inc. slumped after the bond insurers posted wider losses than analysts estimated. MBI fell 22 percent to $8.16. Ambac, dropped from the S&P 500 in June, fell 41 percent to $2.01. Slumping credit markets forced the companies to increase reserves for claims.

Pioneer Natural Resources lost 15 percent to $24.79. The oil and natural-gas producer in North America and Africa reported third-quarter earnings that missed analyst estimates and said it will cut drilling activity.

Sara Lee Corp. slid 14 percent to $10.20. The maker of frozen cakes and Jimmy Dean sausages said full-year profit will be less than it previously estimated because of falling foreign currencies and waning demand in Europe.

Marsh & McLennan Cos. fell 12 percent to $26.06. The world's second-biggest insurance broker said profit dropped 78 percent in the third quarter amid the slowing U.S. economy and price declines for commercial coverage and reinsurance.

Earnings Season

Most companies in the S&P 500 have managed to increase profits even as the economy slows. Of the 386 companies that reported third-quarter results so far, 232 posted higher earnings than in the year-earlier period. Still, profits are down 7.4 percent on average after accounting for losses at financial companies.

Medco Health Solutions Inc. climbed 9.1 percent to $41.47 for the biggest of only 13 advances in the S&P 500. A surge in use of generic and mail-order prescription drugs fueled a 38 percent increase in third-quarter profit at the largest U.S. drug benefits manager.

Molson Coors Brewing Co. gained 8.3 percent to $41.78. The third-largest U.S. beer maker reported market-share gains in Canada and the U.K. and said it expects to achieve total cost savings from its joint U.S. venture with SABMiller Plc six months early.

Chesapeake Energy Corp. climbed 8.2 percent to $24.83 on speculation it will be acquired by BP Plc.

General Motors Corp. slipped 16 cents, or 2.8 percent, to $5.56. GM, the biggest U.S. automaker, needs government aid because ``time is very short'' to stop its collapse, Roger Altman, an adviser to the automaker and Obama, said in an interview.

Recession Rallies

The S&P 500 Index may be on the cusp of a rally by Inauguration Day, based on the speed of its tumble from last year's peak and the time it took stocks to gain before recessions ended in 1975, 1982 and 1991, data compiled by Bloomberg show. This year's plunge in stocks suggests that equity investors anticipate an economic contraction as severe as the one that began under Richard Nixon that will end in July.

The S&P 500's slump since last year's high is the steepest for a comparable period since the gauge fell 43 percent in the 13 months ended in October 1974, Bloomberg data show.

1970s Recession

The economy then was mired in a recession that lasted 16 months and ended in March 1975, five months after the equity market began its rebound. During the recessions of 1982 and 1991, the S&P 500 began to climb four months and five months before the economy started to recover, respectively.

Based on the market's history of anticipating economic recoveries, the S&P 500 may embark on its next bull market in February, about a month after Obama's inauguration on Jan. 20.

Stocks gained yesterday after the 17th straight decline in a key interest rate, a sign that as much as $3 trillion of emergency funds provided by governments to resuscitate bank lending are working. The London interbank offered rate, or Libor, that banks charge each other for three month loans in dollars fell again today to the lowest level since December 2004.

[homedawg]

Obama received 66% of the votes: ages 18-29 (1/3 of the total votes received, and more than enough to win the election) They voted for "spreading the wealth", at ages 18-29, are they giving or receiving?

[Vic Mackey]

The only age group where McCain prevailed was 65 and over, and that by just a 10-percentage-point margin, 54 percent to 44 percent, the exit polls showed.


High income voters -- those who said they make at least $100,000 a year -- went in Obama's favor, 52 percent to 47 percent.

[homedawg]

NYC mayor: Can't afford $400 property tax rebates
NEW YORK (Reuters) – New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg said on Wednesday he has instructed the finance commissioner not to send out $400 property tax rebates to homeowners because the crisis on Wall Street has cost the city dearly in lost tax revenue.
Bloomberg, who hopes to win a third term by convincing voters he is best suited to guide the city through its fiscal crisis, told a news conference that Wall Street already has taken half a trillion dollars in write-downs.

Financial companies might not pay city or state taxes for three to five years as they struggle with losses, he said. The mayor estimates New York Stock Exchange member firms will have to earn a combined $10 billion a year for several years before the city can resume collecting taxes from them.

Wall Street, which could shed over 30,000 workers, represents about 35 percent of the city's wage base. Adding to the gloom, the mayor is expecting a total of 140,000 job losses city-wide by July 1, 2009.

Even financial planning has its limits.

"If it turns out to be a meltdown, nobody can prepare for that," the mayor said.

Should the economy fail to recover soon, sales or income taxes may have to be raised to plug the $1.3 billion deficit in next year's budget -- despite $1.5 billion of new cuts that begin now, Bloomberg said.



Tax Hikes, Budget Cuts In The Works For NYC
Bloomberg Says Promised Property Tax Rebate Is Off Table
Reporting

NEW YORK (CBS) ― Mayor Michael Bloomberg is going to cut the city work force by 3,000, but that's just the beginning of the pain New Yorkers will feel as part of the fiscal crisis. A slew of new taxes are also on the agenda.

There will be 1,000 fewer cops, but the city will hire 200 more traffic agents to give out $60 million a year in new block-the-box tickets.

"The gravity of the budget situation requires us to propose both deep spending cuts and revenue increases," Bloomberg said.

The spending cuts mean reducing the city work force. The revenue increases mean taxes -- lots of taxes.

In the current fiscal year there's the 7 percent property tax hike that starts in January -- and the plan to renege on a promised $400 property tax rebate.

"I think the people of the city are going to be enraged," City Councilman Simcha Felder, D-Brooklyn, said. "They've been told the check is in the mail on the rebate."

To close budget gaps in the year that starts next July the mayor is thinking about a combination of sales tax increases and income tax hikes.

"Every city agency must push each dollar further," Bloomberg said. "We're going to do that and doing that means making hard choices that will not be popular with everyone or perhaps anyone."

The mayor proposed raising the income tax by either 7.5 percent or 15 percent.

At 7.5 percent a taxpayer making up between $50,000 and $75,000 would pay an additional $116. At 15 percent that same taxpayer would pony up an extra $233.

"When people are suffering to tell them too bad you might suffer even more next year is telling them to eat cake next year," Felder said.

Added Councilman Lewis Fidler, D-Brooklyn: "Nobody likes to raise taxes and it's not something I'm planning on doing unless I'm absolutely sure we've exhausted every other reasonable resource."

But not everyone thinks the tax hikes will help the city's finances.

"Increasing the personal income tax would be a disaster for the city," said Nicole Gelinas of the Manhattan Institute. "It's hard to overestimate that fact. We've already got the highest local personal income tax in the nation."

The mayor said he thought his proposals would generate some lively discussion with the City Council.

Council Finance Chairman David Weprin, D-Queens, said he's going to hold hearings on the tax proposals.

[homedawg]

World stocks plunge as recession fears bite

Nov 6 08:54 AM US/Eastern



Global stock markets tumbled for a second day running on Thursday as investors shrugged off Barack Obama's election as US president to focus on growing recession fears, traders said.
Europe's main markets were up to four percent lower in late morning trade after Asia saw losses of around seven percent. Wall Street shed five percent overnight and on Thursday there were also sharp losses for Nordic and Gulf share prices.

"The honeymoon period for president-elect Obama is already proving extremely short-lived, with the run of grim US economic data (on Wednesday) highlighting the mammoth task ahead in terms of getting the economy back on its feet," said Mitul Kotecha, an analyst at Calyon investment group.

"As attention turns from credit problems to economic concerns, any improvement in risk appetite will be limited, as seen in the sharp pull back" in equity markets, Kotecha added.


Investors in Europe were gearing up for interest-rate decisions from the European Central Bank and Bank of England later on Thursday, with both widely expected to slash key lending rates by half a percentage point.

"The ECB and BoE rate verdicts do have the potential to provide some cheer, especially if the cuts end up at the more aggressive end of the spectrum," said CMC Markets dealer Matt Buckland.

Some economists say the Bank of England may to reduce its key lending rate by as much as one percentage point. The BoE decision is due at 1200 GMT with the ECB call 45 minutes later.

"What is clear beyond what takes place today (Thursday) is that further substantial monetary easing will be required globally," said Derek Halpenny, an analyst at The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi in London.


"Tomorrow's employment report from the US may well remind markets of the potential scale of the slowdown coming."

In late morning European trade, the London stock market was down 3.99 percent, Paris fell 4.14 percent, Frankfurt 4.19 percent and Madrid 3.97 percent.

Tokyo closed down 6.53 percent on Thursday, Hong Kong dived 7.1 percent and Seoul shed 7.6 percent on concerns about the state of the global economy, dealers said.

Mumbai slid 3.81 percent, Shanghai lost 2.44 percent and Sydney gave up 4.3.

"Now that the (US presidential election) event is over, investors are sobering up and looking at the economic gloom," said Mizuho Investors Securities broker Masatoshi Sato.


US stocks plunged on Wednesday as investors worried about the global financial crisis and a US recession, a day after Democrat Obama was elected the first American black president.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average plummeted 5.05 percent on Wednesday and the tech-heavy Nasdaq dropped 5.53 percent, snapping a six-session winning streak.

The Standard & Poor's 500 index slid 5.27 percent.

The losses wiped out gains made in the strongest Election Day rally in US history on Tuesday as markets hoped that a new president would bring relief from the global financial crisis.

[NittanyLions94]

The only age group where McCain prevailed was 65 and over, and that by just a 10-percentage-point margin, 54 percent to 44 percent, the exit polls showed.


High income voters -- those who said they make at least $100,000 a year -- went in Obama's favor, 52 percent to 47 percent.

Get that out of here Vic, that isn't an agenda driven post, it has no place here.

[homedawg]

The only age group where McCain prevailed was 65 and over, and that by just a 10-percentage-point margin, 54 percent to 44 percent, the exit polls showed.


High income voters -- those who said they make at least $100,000 a year -- went in Obama's favor, 52 percent to 47 percent.

Median Household Income by State: 2007/ Voted/Percentage

Maryland – $68,080..... D 61%
New Jersey – $67,035..... D 57%
Connecticut – $65,967..... D 60%
Alaska – $64,333------------------------R
Hawaii – $63,746...... D72%
New Hampshire – $62,369.....D54%
Massachusetts – $62,365.....D62%
California – $59,948.....D61%
Virginia – $59,562.....D52%
Minnesota – $55,082.....D54%
Washington – $55,591.....D58%
Colorado – $55,212 .....D53%
Utah – $55,109-------------------------R
Nevada – $55,062 .....D55%
Delaware – $54,610.....D61%
District of Columbia – $54,317.....D93%
Illinois – $54,124......D62%
Rhode Island – $53,568.....D62%
New York – $53,514.....D62%
Wyoming – $51,731-------------------------R
Wisconsin – $50,578......D56%
United States of America – $50,740......D 53%

That makes sense to me with 17 out of the 20 highest income states, voted Obama. Most are heavy democrat states.

[homedawg]

STOCKS CONTINUE POST-ELECTION PLUNGE


Wall Street extends decline as Cisco comments, retailers' sales add to recession worries


NEW YORK (AP) -- Wall Street plunged for a second day, triggered by computer gear maker Cisco Systems warning of slumping demand and retailers reporting weak sales for October. Concerns about widespread economic weakness sent the major stock indexes down 4.85 percent Thursday, including the Dow Jones industrial average, which tumbled more than 443 points.


Comments from Cisco that it saw a steep drop in orders in October and reports from retailers that consumers are skipping trips to the mall provided fresh evidence of the economy's struggles. While sales at Wal-Mart Stores Inc. benefited from bargain-seekers, some specialty retailers posted huge drops in monthly sales.

Adding to investors' list of worries, the Labor Department said the number of people continuing to draw unemployment benefits jumped to a 25-year high, increasing by 122,000 to 3.84 million in late October. It marked the highest level since late February 1983, when the economy was being buffeted by a protracted recession.

While new claims for unemployment benefits dipped by 4,000 to a seasonally adjusted level of 481,000 last week, the levels remain elevated. The findings added to the market's unease ahead of Friday's October employment report, a widely watched barometer of the economy's health.

"I think everybody kind of simultaneously -- the consumers and businesses -- is tightening belts so that's triggering a reasonably precipitous slowdown that's widespread," said Ed Hyland, global investment specialist at J.P. Morgan's Private Bank. "This is something that we haven't really seen, this level of this rapid and significant pullback both in the market and the economy."

Thursday's rout follows a drop of more than 5 percent in the market Wednesday that saw the Dow plunge nearly 500 points as investors fretted that weak readings on employment and downcast profit forecasts and job cuts from financial companies to steelmakers signaled broad economic troubles.

Still, the market's two-day slide follows an enormous run-up since last week so some pullback was expected, analysts said. Through the six sessions that ended Tuesday, the benchmark Standard & Poor's 500 index, surged 18.3 percent.

Richard Campagna, chief investment officer at Provident Investment Counsel in Pasadena, Calif., contends the market's pullback isn't surprising given the enormity of the recent run-up. He said the weak economic readings shouldn't come as a surprise given a freeze in credit markets that has disrupted lending and other economic activity since September.

Campagna said the light volume and overall fear among investors is exacerbating the market's volatility.

"Some people are pushing this market around more than they should be out of fear," he said. Many everyday investors are sitting on the sidelines, he said. "Everyone has been shellshocked with the moves in the market."

In late afternoon trading, the Dow fell 431.69, or 4.72 percent, to 8,707.58. The blue chips have fallen as much as 454 in the session but remain above 7,882.51, their Oct. 10 trading low from the market's yearlong decline.

Broader stock indicators also posted sharp losses. The Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 45.96, or 4.82 percent, to 906.81, and the Nasdaq composite index fell 63.68, or 3.79 percent, to 1,617.96.

The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies fell 13.71, or 2.66 percent, to 500.93.

Declining issues outnumbered advancers by about 5 to 1 on the New York Stock Exchange, where volume came to 1.05 billion shares. Analysts noted that the volume of the declines is light, raising some questions about the conviction of the moves.

The dollar traded mixed against most other major currencies, while gold prices fell.

Light, sweet crude fell $4.36 to $60.94 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange as fears of a slowing economy led to predictions demand will fall.

The latest round of economic worries largely overshadowed interest rate cuts by central banks in Europe as stocks there tumbled after the moves. The Bank of England slashed its key interest rate by a bold 1.5 percentage points Thursday; the Swiss Central Bank cut its own key rate by a surprising half-point; and the European Central Bank lowered its key rate by a half-point.

Britain's FTSE 100 fell 5.70 percent, Germany's DAX index fell 6.84 percent, and France's CAC-40 fell 6.38 percent. In Asian trading, Japan's Nikkei index closed down 6.53 percent, and Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index fell 7.08 percent.

Cisco's comments added to investors' nervousness and weighed on the technology-heavy Nasdaq. The world's largest maker of computer networking gear said orders declined sharply last month, suggesting to the market that the weak economy and tight credit markets are taking a larger-than-expected toll on many companies around the world. Cisco fell 31 cents, or 1.8 percent, to $17.08.

A range of industries have been bruised by the economy. Japanese automaker Toyota Motor Corp. reduced its annual earnings forecast Thursday to less than a third of what it was in previous fiscal year. Toyota tumbled $13.08, or 16.3 percent, to $67.29. Other automakers fell ahead of quarterly results due Friday. General Motors Corp. fell 70 cents, or 12.6 percent, to $4.86, while Ford Motor Co. fell 13 cents, or 6.2 percent, to $1.96.

53.53 -0.60 -1.11

Among retailers, Wal-Mart fell 60 cents to $53.53, while specialty names Limited Stores Inc. fell 98 cents, or 8.5 percent, to $10.53 and Ann Taylor Stores Corp. fell $3.17, or 26 percent, to $8.85.

The drop in oil weighed on energy stocks. Exxon Mobil Corp. fell $3.52, or 4.8 percent, to $70.17, while Chevron Corp. fell $4.64, or 6.2 percent, to $70.24.

Some names seen as safer bets in a rough economy saw more moderate selling. Procter & Gamble Co., the maker of Tide detergent and Pampers diapers, fell 49 cents to $63.32.

Hyland said the latest economic news are a reminder that while the market might be off its Oct. 10 lows following an array of government moves to revive lending and shore up confidence in the markets the medicine for the markets will take some time to work.

"I think that we're in a bottoming process but the market will tend to have three, four, or five bottoms as it goes through the bear market," he said.

Even the election, which had been one area of uncertainty, now presents a new set of questions, he said, even though the market largely had expected an Obama win.

"How does an Obama administration deal with it and what are the implications?"

Hyland said he doesn't attribute much of the selling to hedge funds as many of them have largely already cashed out of some investments to meet shareholder redemptions. Nov. 15 is the cutoff for shareholders to notify fund managers of their intent to cash out investments before year-end. But he said a sudden influx of "sell" orders could always spook hedge funds into dumping more investments.

Bank-to-bank lending rates fell for the 19th straight day, a sign that banks are becoming more willing to lend. The London Interbank Offered Rate, or Libor, for three-month dollar loans dipped to 2.39 percent from 2.51 percent.

The three-month Treasury bill, considered the ultimate safe asset, saw its yield dip further to 0.32 percent from 0.42 percent late Wednesday. In general, a lower yield means higher demand, but it is also affected by the federal funds rate.

The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note fell to 3.70 percent from 3.73 percent late Wednesday.

U.S. Stocks Tumble in Market's Worst Two-Day Slump Since 1987




Nov. 6 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. stocks slid, sending the market to its biggest two-day slump since 1987, after jobless claims jumped and the shrinking economy crushed earnings at companies from Blackstone Group Inc. to News Corp.

Blackstone, the world's largest private-equity firm, fell 12 percent after posting the biggest quarterly loss in its 18 months as a public company. News Corp. sank 16 percent after the media company controlled by Rupert Murdoch said ad sales decreased. Exxon Mobil Corp. dropped 5.1 percent and Chevron Corp. fell 6.4 percent as oil tumbled to a 19-month low below $61 a barrel.

``We're a long way from the end of the economic challenges,'' said Mike Morcos, who helps manage $1 billion at Old Second Wealth Management in Aurora, Illinois. ``Earnings next year are going to be significantly lower and estimates are going to continue to come down.''

The Standard & Poor's 500 Index fell 5 percent to 904.9, extending its two-day loss to 10 percent. The Dow Jones Industrial Average retreated 443.48 points, or 4.9 percent, to 8,695.79. The Russell 2000 Index of small U.S. companies declined 3.6 percent to 495.92. The MSCI World Index of 23 developed markets lost 6.2 percent to 921.87.

The two-day tumble wiped out more than half of the S&P 500's rebound from a five-year low on Oct. 27. An industry report showing an unexpected decline in sales at U.S. chain stores in October also weighed on stocks as 25 of 27 companies in the S&P 500 Retailing Index slumped.

Europe Slides

BP Plc led a 5.6 percent retreat in Europe's benchmark index even after the Bank of England unexpectedly cut its benchmark interest rate by 1.5 percentage points to 3 percent to contain damage from a recession. Switzerland's central bank and the European Central Bank reduced their main lending rates by 50 basis points.

The S&P 500 is down 38 percent this year, the steepest annual retreat since 1937. The benchmark for U.S. equities has plunged 42 percent since its record in October 2007 as the U.S. economy shrunk in two of the last four quarters.

``It's just been a steady, steady sell,'' said Alan Gayle, the Richmond, Virginia-based senior strategist at Ridgeworth Investments, which oversees about $70 billion. ``The pain and frustration and anxiety of these volatile moves from one day to the next has discouraged a lot of investors to move to the sidelines.''

The VIX, as the Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index is known, climbed 17 percent to 63.88. The measure tracks the cost of using options as insurance against declines in the S&P 500.

About 481,000 workers filed initial jobless claims last week, the Labor Department said today in Washington, exceeding the 477,000 projected by economists surveyed by Bloomberg News. The number of people staying on benefit rolls was the most since February 1983.

A report tomorrow will probably show U.S. employers eliminated jobs in October for a 10th consecutive month, based on economists' estimates.

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The Treatment of Bush Has Been a Disgrace
What must our enemies be thinking?

JEFFREY SCOTT SHAPIRO

Earlier this year, 12,000 people in San Francisco signed a petition in support of a proposition on a local ballot to rename an Oceanside sewage plant after George W. Bush. The proposition is only one example of the classless disrespect many Americans have shown the president.


According to recent Gallup polls, the president's average approval rating is below 30% -- down from his 90% approval in the wake of 9/11. Mr. Bush has endured relentless attacks from the left while facing abandonment from the right.

This is the price Mr. Bush is paying for trying to work with both Democrats and Republicans. During his 2004 victory speech, the president reached out to voters who supported his opponent, John Kerry, and said, "Today, I want to speak to every person who voted for my opponent. To make this nation stronger and better, I will need your support, and I will work to earn it. I will do all I can do to deserve your trust."

Those bipartisan efforts have been met with crushing resistance from both political parties.

The president's original Supreme Court choice of Harriet Miers alarmed Republicans, while his final nomination of Samuel Alito angered Democrats. His solutions to reform the immigration system alienated traditional conservatives, while his refusal to retreat in Iraq has enraged liberals who have unrealistic expectations about the challenges we face there.

It seems that no matter what Mr. Bush does, he is blamed for everything. He remains despised by the left while continuously disappointing the right.

Yet it should seem obvious that many of our country's current problems either existed long before Mr. Bush ever came to office, or are beyond his control. Perhaps if Americans stopped being so divisive, and congressional leaders came together to work with the president on some of these problems, he would actually have had a fighting chance of solving them.

Like the president said in his 2004 victory speech, "We have one country, one Constitution and one future that binds us. And when we come together and work together, there is no limit to the greatness of America."

Just as Americans have gained perspective on how challenging Truman's presidency was in the wake of World War II, our country will recognize the hardship President Bush faced these past eight years -- and how extraordinary it was that he accomplished what he did in the wake of the September 11 attacks.

The treatment President Bush has received from this country is nothing less than a disgrace. The attacks launched against him have been cruel and slanderous, proving to the world what little character and resolve we have. The president is not to blame for all these problems. He never lost faith in America or her people, and has tried his hardest to continue leading our nation during a very difficult time.

Our failure to stand by the one person who continued to stand by us has not gone unnoticed by our enemies. It has shown to the world how disloyal we can be when our president needed loyalty -- a shameful display of arrogance and weakness that will haunt this nation long after Mr. Bush has left the White House.

Mr. Shapiro is an investigative reporter and lawyer who previously interned with John F. Kerry's legal team during the presidential election in 2004.

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YOUR GOVERNMENT AT WORK
U.S. Treasury teaches 'Islamic Finance 101'
Advisers, scholars to promote controversial Shariah funding
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posted: November 05, 2008
10:45 pm Eastern


By Chelsea Schilling
WorldNetDaily



U.S. Department of the Treasury


The Treasury Department has announced it will teach "Islamic finance" to U.S. banking regulatory agencies, Congress and other parts of the executive branch today in Washington, D.C. – but critics say it is opening a door to American funding of Islamic extremism.

'Islamic Finance 101'

According to its announcement, the "Islamic Finance 101" forum is "designed to help inform the policy community about Islamic financial services, which are an increasingly important part of the global financial industry."

The Treasury Department has collaborated with Harvard University's Islamic Finance Project to coordinate the event. The department says it expects about 100 people will attend the seminar.

Some speakers include Assistant Secretary of the Treasury Neel Kashkari, senior adviser to Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, Jr.; Harvard Business School professor Samuel Hayes; Mahmoud El-Gamal, chair of Islamic economics, finance and management at Rice University and Islamic finance adviser to the Treasury Department; Sarah Bell of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York; Yusuf Talal DeLorenzo, Shariah adviser and Islamic scholar; Michael McMillan, chair of the Islamic Legal Forum at the American Bar Association and professor of Islamic finance; and Rushdi Siddiqui, global director for the Dow Jones Islamic Market Indexes and vigorous advocate for Islamic finance.

Islamic finance is a system of banking consistent with the principles of Shariah, or Islamic law. It is becoming increasingly popular, having reached $800 billion by mid-2007 and growing at more than 15 percent each year. Wall Street now features an Islamic mutual fund and an Islamic index. However, critics claim anti-American terrorists are often financially supported through U.S. investments – creating a system by which the nation funds its own enemy.

Aiding the enemy

In his essay, "Financial Jihad: What Americans Need to Know," Vice President Christopher Holton of the Center for Security Policy writes, "America is losing the financial war on terror because Wall Street is embracing a subversive enemy ideology on one hand and providing corporate life support to state sponsors of terrorism on the other hand."

Holton refers to Islamic finance, or "Shariah-Compliant Finance" as a "modern-day Trojan horse" infiltrating the U.S. He said it poses a threat to the U.S. because it seeks to legitimize Shariah – a man-made medieval doctrine that regulates every aspect of life for Muslims – and could ultimately change American life and laws.

Shariah-compliant finance is becoming a major movement, because American banks and investors are seeking wealth from oil profits in the Middle East. Some advocates claim Islamic finance is socially responsible because it bans investors from funding companies that sell or promote products such as alcohol, tobacco, pornography, gambling and even pork.

However, Islamic financial institutions also require all industry participants to adhere to tenets of Shariah law. According to Nasser Suleiman's "Corporate Governance in Islamic Banking, "First and foremost, an Islamic organization must serve God. It must develop a distinctive corporate culture, the main purpose of which is to create a collective morality and spirituality which, when combined with the production of goods and services, sustains growth and the advancement of the Islamic way of life."

Three nations that rule 100 percent by Shariah law – Iran, Saudi Arabia and Sudan – hold some of the most horrific human rights records in the world, Holton said.

"This strongly suggests that Americans should strenuously resist anything associated with Shariah."

Tenets of Shariah

In his essay, "Islamic Finance or Financing Islamism," Alex Alexiev outlined the following tenets of Shariah taken from "The Reliance of the Traveler: The Classic Manual of Sacred Law":

-A woman is eligible for only half of the inheritance of a man
-A virgin may be married against her will by her father or grandfather
-A woman may not leave the house without her husband's permission
-A Muslim man may marry four women, including Christians and Jews; a Muslim woman can only marry a Muslim
-Beating an insubordinate wife is permissible
-Female sexual mutilation is obligatory
-Adultery [or the perception of adultery] is punished by death by stoning
-Offensive, military jihad against non-Muslims is a religious obligation
-Apostasy from Islam is punishable by death without trial
-Lying to infidels in time of jihad is permissible


'Useful idiots'

Alexiev writes that many Islamic financial institutions claim Shariah-Compliant Finance "derives its Islamic character from the strict observance of the ostensible Quranic prohibition of lending at interest, the imperative of almsgiving (zakat), avoidance of excessive uncertainty (gharar) and certain practices and products considered unlawful (haram) to Muslims …" However, he said, "[E]ven a casual examination of the reality of Islamic finance today reveals it to be a bogus concept practiced by deceptive ploys and disingenuous means by practitioners that are or should be aware of that, but remain predictably silent."

Shariah finance institutions that have funded militant Islamism for more than 30 years. Alexiev cites Islamic Development Bank's hundreds of millions of dollars in contributions to Hamas in support of suicide bombing. Bank Al-Taqwa and other banks and charities run by Saudi billionaires have funded al-Qaida activities.

Additionally, Shariah law mandates that Muslims donate 2.5 percent of their annual incomes to charities – including jihadists. When 400 banks regularly contribute to such charities, potential financial sums can be virtually limitless.

If Western banks endorse Shariah, they will "end up becoming what Lenin called useful idiots or worse to the Islamists," Alexiev writes. "And it is a very thin line between that and outright complicity in the Islamist agenda."