Tag: Docudharma Times

When Accusing Someone Of Being A Terrorist

And You Say It Enough People Begin

To Believe Them Which Then Leads To

The Incitement Of Violence Through Words And Actions

Rich Nations Pushing for Coordination in Rescue  

 

 By MARK LANDLER

Published: October 10, 2008  

WASHINGTON – The United States and six other nations that are among the world’s richest agreed on Friday to a coordinated plan to rescue the financial industry, but fell short of offering concrete steps to backstop bank lending on a day when fear tightened its grip on investors from Wall Street to Hong Kong.

Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr. said the United States would move aggressively on one part of the plan by infusing American banks directly with cash and taking ownership stakes in return.

Western Journalists in Iraq Stage Pullback of Their Own

 

By Ernesto Londoño and Amit R. Paley

Washington Post Foreign Service

Saturday, October 11, 2008; Page A01  

BAGHDAD — The number of foreign journalists in Baghdad is declining sharply, a media withdrawal that reflects Iraq’s growing stability and the financial strains faced by some news organizations.

In a stark indication of the changing media focus here, the number of journalists traveling with American forces in Iraq has plummeted in the past year. U.S. military officials say they “embedded” journalists 219 times in September 2007. Last month, the number shrank to 39. Of the dozen U.S. newspapers and newspaper chains that maintained full-time bureaus in Baghdad in the early years of the war, only four are still permanently staffed by foreign correspondents. CBS and NBC no longer keep a correspondent in Baghdad year-round.

USA

U.S. to buy shares in banks

Treasury secretary says the move, previously rejected, is now needed to inject cash into the financial system.

 By Jim Puzzanghera, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer  

Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson said today that the Bush administration would buy stakes in banks and other financial institutions to help ease the economic crisis.

Paulson said the Treasury Department was working on a plan to use some of the $700 billion in the financial rescue package to purchase equity in “a broad array of financial institutions.” The equity would be in the form of nonvoting shares, with the goal of the plan being to help those institutions raise new private capital.

As Congress worked on the bailout legislation last month, Paulson had dismissed the idea of equity purchases. Today, he said the administration had decided that such a move was needed now, in concert with the purchase of mortgage-backed securities, to help inject cash into the banking system.

We Only Listen To Terrorist Phone Calls

That’s Why We Listened To The Phone Calls

Of Americans Living Overseas

Markets in Europe and Asia Plunge  

 

By DAVID JOLLY and BETTINA WASSENER

Published: October 10, 2008  

PARIS — Global stocks plummeted Friday, with selling momentum accelerating after a Japanese insurance company was driven out of business by failed investments.

European markets fell sharply at the opening, with the FTSE 100 index in London falling 10 percent, the CAC-40 in Paris fell down more than 9 percent, and the DAX in Frankfurt down 10 percent.

Shares in Asia plunged after the rout Thursday on Wall Street, where the Dow Jones industrial average plummeted 7.3 percent, or 678 points, closing below the 9,000-mark for the first time since 2003.

U.S. tapped intimate calls from Americans overseas, 2 eavesdroppers say

 They say government monitors transcribed and passed around embarrassing information for their own enjoyment.

 By Greg Miller, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

October 10, 2008  

WASHINGTON — U.S. intelligence analysts eavesdropped on personal calls between Americans overseas and their families back home and monitored the communications of workers with the Red Cross and other humanitarian organizations, according to two military linguists involved in U.S. surveillance programs.

The accounts are the most detailed to date to challenge the assertions of President Bush, CIA Director Michael V. Hayden and other administration officials that the government’s controversial overseas wiretapping activities have been carefully monitored to prevent abuse and invasion of U.S. citizens’ privacy.

Describing the allegations as “extremely disturbing,” Sen. John D. Rockefeller IV (D-W.Va.), chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, said the panel had launched an inquiry and requested records from the Bush administration.

USA

Investor Confidence Dashed as Bailout Fails to Quickly Loosen Credit



  By Renae Merle, Michael A. Fletcher and Neil Irwin

Washington Post Staff Writers

Friday, October 10, 2008; Page A01  

Fear and foreboding took hold on Wall Street yesterday, as the stock market again plunged and investors became convinced that the nation is on the verge of a deep and prolonged recession. The rout continued in Japan, where stocks plummeted in early trading.

The government took steps toward an extraordinary public investment in U.S. banks and General Motors stock fell to its lowest price since 1950 on fears it will not be able to weather the downturn. Share prices fell across every industry and for each of the 30 stocks in the Dow Jones industrial average, which was down 679 points, or 7.3 percent, to 8579.19.

They Are Not Terrorist And Never Have Been

So, Why Not Let Them Go?

Because Bush Wants Them To Be Terrorists

Innocence Be Damned.

U.S. May Take Ownership Stake in Banks

 

By EDMUND L. ANDREWS and MARK LANDLER

Published: October 8, 2008  

WASHINGTON – Having tried without success to unlock frozen credit markets, the Treasury Department is considering taking ownership stakes in many United States banks to try to restore confidence in the financial system, according to government officials.

Treasury officials say the just-passed $700 billion bailout bill gives them the authority to inject cash directly into banks that request it. Such a move would quickly strengthen banks’ balance sheets and, officials hope, persuade them to resume lending. In return, the law gives the Treasury the right to take ownership positions in banks, including healthy ones.

China’s small dairy farmers caught in milk scandal

Consumer anxiety and stricter milk collection rules are threatening their livelihoods. Analysts say it’s unlikely small farmers were involved in the melamine scandal.  

By John M. Glionna, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

October 9, 2008  

PANZHUANGZI, CHINA — Before dawn each day, Gao Penghong and his wife join scores of other farmers in this dairy-rich village who must walk their cows to a local milk collection station because of new safety requirements.

A byproduct of China’s deadly tainted-milk scandal, the mile-long walks to the station come as officials push for more critical supervision of dairy farmers. Only weeks ago, farmers were free to milk their cows at home and deliver the product in heavy metal containers.

But now some observers see dairy farmers, who exist at the lowest level of the milk production cycle, as having the most financial incentive to spike milk to boost protein readings. Other food safety experts say it’s unlikely that small-time farmers are behind the scandal, because they generally lack the knowledge to cause such widespread contamination.

USA

U.S. Urgently Reviews Policy On Afghanistan



 By Karen DeYoung

Washington Post Staff Writer

Thursday, October 9, 2008; Page A01  

The White House has launched an urgent review of Afghanistan policy, fast-tracked for completion in the next several weeks, amid growing concern that the administration lacks a comprehensive strategy for the foundering war there and as intelligence officials warn of a rapidly worsening situation on the ground.

Underlying the deliberations is a nearly completed National Intelligence Estimate on Afghanistan and the Pakistan-based extremists fighting there. Analysts have concluded that reconstituted elements of al-Qaeda and the resurgent Taliban are collaborating with an expanding network of militant groups, making the counterinsurgency war infinitely more complicated.

States’ Actions to Block Voters Appear Illegal

By IAN URBINA

Published: October 8, 2008

Tens of thousands of eligible voters in at least six swing states have been removed from the rolls or have been blocked from registering in ways that appear to violate federal law, according to a review of state records and Social Security data by The New York Times.

The actions do not seem to be coordinated by one party or the other, nor do they appear to be the result of election officials intentionally breaking rules, but are apparently the result of mistakes in the handling of the registrations and voter files as the states tried to comply with a 2002 federal law, intended to overhaul the way elections are run.

McCain Supporter Calls Obama A Terrorist

Sarah Palin Said Obama Pal’s Around With A Terrorist

$10 Million Spent On This Subject Achieves Nothing

59% Of American Voters Say “IT’S THE ECONOMY STUPID”

Global Fears of a Recession Grow Stronger

 

 By MARK LANDLER

Published: October 6, 2008  

WASHINGTON – When the White House brought out its $700 billion rescue plan two weeks ago, its sheer size was meant to soothe the global financial system, restoring trust and confidence. Three days after the plan was approved, it looks like a pebble tossed into a churning sea.

The crisis that began as a made-in-America subprime lending problem and radiated across the world is now circling back home, where it pummeled stock and credit markets on Monday.

While the Bush administration’s bailout package offers help to foreign banks, it seems to have done little to reassure investors, particularly in Europe, where banks are failing and countries are racing to stave off panicky withdrawals after first playing down the depth of the crisis.

North Korea spy awaits sentencing

Won Jeong-hwa used sexual favors to seduce South Korean military officers into giving up secrets.  

 By John M. Glionna and Youkyung Lee, Special to The Times

October 7, 2008

SUWON, SOUTH KOREA — She’s called the Mata Hari of North Korea, a temptress-spy who for years used her sensual charms to seduce South Korean military officers into giving up secrets.

The method was potentially lethal: Won Jeong-hwa reportedly plotted to assassinate South Korean agents with poisoned needles provided by handlers from Pyongyang.

The 34-year-old North Korean native was arrested during the summer along with her 63-year-old stepfather and accused of engaging in espionage and deceit for seven years after defecting to South Korea. Under questioning, she detailed for investigators a double life working for one of the world’s most repressive regimes.

USA

Fed Considers Plan to Buy Companies’ Unsecured Debt



By EDMUND L. ANDREWS and MICHAEL M. GRYNBAUM

Published: October 6, 2008  

WASHINGTON – As pressure built in the credit markets and stocks spiraled lower around the world on Monday, the Federal Reserve was considering a radical new plan to jump-start the engine of the financial system. Under a proposal being discussed with the Treasury Department, the Fed could buy vast amounts of the unsecured short-term debt that companies rely on to finance their day-to-day activities, according to officials familiar with the discussions. If this were to happen, the central bank would come closer than ever to lending directly to businesses.

Sarah Palin

Wouldn’t Know The Truth Or A Fact

Even It They Walked Up And Handed Them To Her  

In D.C., few evade blame for financial crisis

Congress had a big hand in oversight failures and deregulation, in part through a philosophy of reducing government’s role. Rep. Waxman begins hearings today.

By Tom Hamburger, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

October 6, 2008  

WASHINGTON — When Congress voted last week to bail out Wall Street banks and investment houses, members were also indirectly voting to repair damage lawmakers themselves had caused during a decades-long era of deregulation.

As the blame game moves into high gear in Washington, there seem to be few winners. Already under scrutiny are lawmakers from both political parties, Presidents George W. Bush, Bill Clinton and their predecessors, and record amounts of money funneled to Congress from Wall Street and the two government-backed mortgage giants, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Asian markets plunge on fears crisis is spreading

 

By ALEX KENNEDY, Associated Press Writer  

SINGAPORE – Asian stock markets plunged Monday as government bank bailouts in the U.S. and Europe failed to alleviate fears of a global financial crisis that would depress world economic growth.

As the financial turmoil deepened in Europe, Germany on Sunday announced a bailout package totaling 50 billion euros ($69 billion) for Hypo Real Estate, the country’s second-biggest commercial property lender, after a rescue plan by private lenders fell apart. The move was part of a scramble by European governments to save failing banks.

USA

Registration Gains Favor Democrats

Voter Rolls Swelling in Key States

By Alec MacGillis and Alice Crites

Washington Post Staff Writers

Monday, October 6, 2008; Page A01  

As the deadline for voter registration arrives today in many states, Sen. Barack Obama’s campaign is poised to benefit from a wave of newcomers to the rolls in key states in numbers that far outweigh any gains made by Republicans.

In the past year, the rolls have expanded by about 4 million voters in a dozen key states — 11 Obama targets that were carried by George W. Bush in 2004 (Ohio, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Virginia, Indiana, Missouri, Colorado, Iowa, Nevada and New Mexico) plus Pennsylvania, the largest state carried by Sen. John F. Kerry that Sen. John McCain is targeting.

Increasingly Desperate: The McCain Campaign

Will Commit Increasingly Stupid Acts

Believing It Will Lead To Victory

Failure Awaits Them  

Economic Unrest Shifts Electoral Battlegrounds

 

By ADAM NAGOURNEY and JEFF ZELENY

Published: October 4, 2008  

The turmoil on Wall Street and the weakening economy are changing the contours of the presidential campaign map, giving new force to Senator Barack Obama’s ambitious strategy to make incursions into Republican territory, while leading Senator John McCain to scale back his efforts to capture Democratic states.

Mr. Obama has what both sides describe as serious efforts under way in at least nine states that voted for President Bush in 2004, including some that neither side thought would be on the table this close to Election Day.

Europe calls for global summit on bank crisis

 

Toby Helm in Paris

The Observer, Sunday October 5 2008

Gordon Brown and other European Union leaders called last night for a global economic summit to ‘rebuild the world’s financial system’ as they held emergency talks on how to prevent a repeat of the current international credit crisis.

At a hastily convened meeting in Paris, French President Nicolas Sarkozy said the heads of the EU’s four biggest economies – Germany, France, the UK and Italy – were united on the need to call all leading economic nations together to create ‘a new financial world just as Bretton Woods did 60 years ago’.

USA

No rescue in sight for what ails economy

 Even if the financial bailout works, the economy faces troubles too pervasive and entrenched to be solved any time soon, analysts say.

By Peter G. Gosselin, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

October 5, 2008

WASHINGTON — While Americans have spent the last month transfixed by the spectacle of one financial giant after another crashing to the ground, the rest of the U.S. economy has been sinking in the muck.

By now, the process is so far advanced that, even after passage of the Bush administration’s $700-billion financial rescue plan Friday, the nation’s economic options span the unappealing gamut from bad to worse.”The wheels seem to be coming off the economy right now,” said Brian P. Sack, vice president of the respected forecasting firm of Macroeconomic Advisers. “It’s hard to see how we avoid a recession, and it could prove a tough one to climb out of.”

Undisclosed Location: Population 2

Check Shotguns And Booze At The Door

For Treasury Dept., Now Comes Hard Part of Bailout

 

 By MARK LANDLER and EDMUND L. ANDREWS

Published: October 3, 2008  

WASHINGTON – It will be one of the world’s largest asset management firms with an impressive $700 billion war chest. Nothing short of the global economy depends on its success. And the Treasury Department has barely a month to get it up and running.

The bailout bill that President Bush quickly signed into law on Friday must do what financial experts have been unable to do for the last year – put a dollar value on mortgage-related assets that no one wants, move them off the books of ailing banks and unlock the frozen credit markets.

Judge: Government not free of toxic trailer suits

Ruling says there’s evidence FEMA delayed response over liability concerns  

Associated Press

NEW ORLEANS – The government is not immune from lawsuits claiming many Gulf Coast hurricane victims were exposed to potentially dangerous fumes while living in trailers the government provided, a federal judge ruled Friday.

The ruling said there is evidence that the Federal Emergency Management Agency delayed its response to concerns about formaldehyde levels in its trailers due to liability concerns. The preservative can cause breathing problems and is classified as a carcinogen.

USA

US shocked by spate of abandoned children

• 14 given up by parents under new Nebraska law

• State to reconsider age limit of 19 after criticism

Ed Pilkington in New York

The Guardian,

Saturday October 4 2008

Authorities in the United States are reeling from a sudden spate of children being abandoned by their parents and guardians under a new law that allows caregivers to leave any child up to the age of 19 at hospitals without fear of prosecution.

In Nebraska in September alone, 14 children were abandoned in hospitals and another was mistakenly taken to a police station, which is not covered under the law. In a further case, an 18-year-old presented himself for safe keeping, but was not placed in foster care because he was too old.

Debates Have Questions And Usually Have Answers

Except One Person On That Stage In

St Louis Some How Failed To Notice

Palin and Biden Are Cordial but Pointed  

 

 By PATRICK HEALY

Published: October 2, 2008  

Gov. Sarah Palin used a steady grin, folksy manner and carefully scripted talking points to punch politely and persist politically at the vice-presidential debate on Thursday night, turning in a performance that her rival, Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr., sought to undermine with cordially delivered but pointed criticism.

If the issues and positions were familiar to many viewers – on taxes and the economy, energy and oil, same-sex marriage, Iraq and Afghanistan – it was Ms. Palin’s debut in a nationally televised debate that made for unusual theater.

March marks 1968 Mexico killings

 The massacre of students in the capital by troops just before the Olympics has yet to be properly investigated.

By Tracy Wilkinson and Deborah Bonello, Los Angeles Times Staff Writers

October 3, 2008  

MEXICO CITY — Thousands of Mexicans marched across their nation’s capital Thursday to demand justice for victims of a 1968 massacre of students by government troops — contemporary Mexico’s most traumatic atrocity and one that remains unresolved.

Survivors of that bloody night 40 years ago and Mexicans who had not been born then joined forces, chanting “Dos de octubre! No se olvide!” (Oct. 2! Don’t forget!) as they converged on the downtown Zocalo plaza.

USA

Support Rallied as House Readies for Its Second Bailout Vote

 

By Lori Montgomery and Dan Eggen

Washington Post Staff Writers

Friday, October 3, 2008; Page A01  

A tide of lobbyists representing corporate executives, small-business owners, farmers and retirees swamped Capitol Hill yesterday in hopes of pushing an emergency economic rescue plan through Congress, but the fate of the measure remained uncertain as the House prepared for a climactic vote at midday today.

Leaders of both parties said they were optimistic that they would be able to marshal more support for the Bush administration’s $700 billion bailout than they mustered on Monday, when the House delivered a shocking defeat to the measure and sent the Dow Jones industrial average plummeting 778 points, or about 7 percent.

More tax Breaks And Less Regulation

How Wonderful For The Republicans And

Wall Street

Senate Passes Bailout Plan; House May Vote by Friday  

 

  By CARL HULSE

Published: October 1, 2008  

WASHINGTON – The Senate strongly endorsed the $700 billion economic bailout plan on Wednesday, leaving backers optimistic that the easy approval, coupled with an array of popular additions, would lead to House acceptance by Friday and end the legislative uncertainty that has rocked the markets.

In stark contrast to the House rejection of the plan on Monday, a bipartisan coalition of senators – including both presidential candidates – showed no hesitation in backing a proposal that had drawn public scorn, though the outpouring eased somewhat after a market plunge followed the House defeat. The Senate margin was 74 to 25 in favor of the White House initiative to buy troubled securities in an effort to avoid an economic catastrophe.

Credit freeze puts businesses on thin ice

Firms small and large face drastic cutbacks as banks decline to lend the money that keeps the wheels of commerce turning.  

By Marla Dickerson, Tiffany Hsu and Jerry Hirsch, Los Angeles Times Staff Writers

October 2, 2008  

anet Hildreth is gearing up for Black Friday at her San Francisco flooring company.

Orders have plunged so precipitously that she is laying off half of her 40-person staff at the end of this week — the first such cuts in the 36-year history of Tree Lovers Floors Inc.

Hildreth had intended to get through the rough patch by using her $250,000 home equity line of credit to help meet payroll. But her bank, Pasadena-based IndyMac, was seized in July by federal regulators. The institution recently froze her credit line, Hildreth says, even though she has excellent credit and more than $400,000 in equity in her home.

Plan B was to tap a $30,000 American Express credit line. But AmEx slashed the maximum she could borrow on the line to $1,000 because she hadn’t used it.

USA

Anxious party tells McCain to fight harder

Republicans say presidential candidate needs to be more aggressive in attacking rival as polls show gap widening  

Ewen MacAskill in Washington

The Guardian,

Thursday October 2 2008

Republicans are urging John McCain to adopt more aggressive tactics against Barack Obama amid fears that the White House is slipping away from them.

With ballots already being cast in battlefield states from Virignia to Ohio, Republicans are panicking that voting is taking place against the backdrop of the catastrophic events on Wall Street and that McCain could be a casualty.

Although McCain has been pumping out negative ads throughout August and September, Republican state leaders and officials want to see him becoming even more personal, exploiting Obama’s links with figures he knew in Chicago.

Down In Flames Or Up In Smoke Goes That Bill

Perhaps The Congress Will Listen To The People

Oh Never Mind Money And Power Is More

Important

Lawmakers Grope for Resolution as They Attempt to Avoid Economic Calamity  

 

   By CARL HULSE and DAVID M. HERSZENHORN

Published: September 29, 2008  

WASHINGTON – Defying President Bush and the leaders of both parties, rank-and-file lawmakers in the House on Monday rejected a $700 billion economic rescue plan in a revolt that rocked the Capitol, sent markets plunging and left top lawmakers groping for a resolution.

The stunning defeat of the proposal on a 228-205 vote after marathon talks by senior Congressional and Bush administration officials lowered a fog of uncertainty over economies around the globe. Its authors had described the measure as essential to preventing widespread economic calamity.

Panic grips world’s markets

 Shock as American rescue plan rejected on a day of nationalisations and bail-outs  

Andrew Clark in New York

The Guardian,

Tuesday September 30 2008

The US government’s $700bn bail-out of the banking industry collapsed yesterday as Congress defied the White House by voting down the plan, sending Wall Street stocks plummeting and spreading shockwaves through the global economy.

In a snub to George Bush’s authority, Republicans in the House of Representatives led a rebellion which defeated the rescue by 228 votes to 205.

As alarm mounted on Wall Street about the stability of the financial system, the Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged by 777 points to 10,365 – its biggest percentage fall for seven years and its worst drop ever in terms of points.

USA

In Nevada, Democrats are on a roll

Obama has built one of the most formidable political operations the state has ever seen, and party registration is up. Even so, the presidential race there remains a dead heat.

By Mark Z. Barabak, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

September 30, 2008    

RENO — By just about any measure, now is a fine time to be a Democrat in Nevada.

Barack Obama has built one of the most formidable political operations the state has ever seen. Party registration is soaring. The Republican governor, Jim Gibbons, may be the most unpopular state executive in the country.

The economy, which thrived for decades, is in frightfully poor shape — for months Nevada has led the nation in home foreclosures, and unemployment stands at a 23-year high — handing Democrats a bludgeon with which to pound the GOP.

For all of that, however, the state’s presidential race is a dead heat, making Nevada one of a dozen or so states that could decide the contest between Sen. John McCain and the senator from Illinois.

I’m Sure Giving Henry Paulson All That Power

Just Warms The Heart As You Look Forward To

Another Heck Of A Job Brownie Moment

Bailout Plan in Hand, House Braces for Tough Vote  

 

  By CARL HULSE and DAVID M. HERSZENHORN

Published: September 28, 2008    

WASHINGTON – The House braced for a difficult vote set for Monday on a $700 billion rescue of the financial industry after a weekend of tense negotiations produced a plan that Congressional leaders portrayed as greatly strengthened by new taxpayer safeguards.

The 110-page bill, intended to ease a growing credit crisis, came after a frenzied week of political twists and turns that culminated in an agreement between the Bush administration and Congress early Sunday morning.

The measure still faced stiff resistance from Republican and Democratic lawmakers who portrayed it as a rush to economic judgment and an undeserved aid package for high-flying financiers who chased big profits through reckless investments.

European governments swoop to save troubled lenders

 

 

By Matthew Saltmarsh and Landon Thomas Jr.

Published: September 29, 2008



PARIS: Just days after the United States government brokered the sale of the largest U.S. savings and loan, Washington Mutual, regulators in Britain and Belgium swooped to engineer emergency rescues of two leading banks with heavy exposure to soured mortgages.

In the latest sign of trouble to hit Europe from the global credit crisis, the Belgian, Dutch and Luxembourg governments announced a partial nationalization of the troubled Belgian-Dutch financial conglomerate Fortis, involving a combined injection of €11.2 billion from the three governments, which take a 49 percent stake.

Prime Minister Yves Leterme of Belgium, who was joined Sunday by the European Central Bank president Jean-Claude Trichet in an unprecedented appearance, unveiled the accord after a weekend of emergency talks in which the governments had tried to broker a whole or partial sale of the bank to private bidders

USA

Paulson will have no peer

The Treasury chief will gain sweeping, even unparalleled power under Congress’ compromise plan.

By Peter G. Gosselin, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer  

WASHINGTON — Despite all the constraints Congress supposedly wrapped around him, Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson is about to become the most powerful mortgage financier of the modern era — most likely of any era.

Buried beneath the 100-plus pages of detail that Paulson’s financial rescue plan has picked up during its 10-day journey from a Bush administration wish list to a bipartisan congressional compromise is the striking fact that the Treasury secretary got almost everything he sought — an eventual $700 billion and the authority to spend it largely as he sees fit.

To be sure, congressional bargainers did make one huge change.

And in the process, they created a potential stumbling block as the Treasury tries to stabilize the deeply damaged financial system by acquiring toxic mortgage-backed securities.

Under terms of the compromise announced Sunday, any firm selling troubled assets to the government would have to give Washington the right to take an ownership stake in the firm — a more sweeping requirement than had been expected.

Fraud Street That’s How The People See It

Anger At The Economic and  Ruling Classes

Means Only One Thing And Cake Isn’t It

Breakthrough Reached in Negotiations on Bailout  

 

 By DAVID M. HERSZENHORN and CARL HULSE

Published: September 27, 2008    

WASHINGTON – Congressional leaders and the Bush administration reached a tentative agreement early Sunday on what may become the largest financial bailout in American history, authorizing the Treasury to purchase $700 billion in troubled debt from ailing firms in an extraordinary intervention to prevent widespread economic collapse.

Officials said that Congressional staff members would work through the night to finalize the language of the agreement and draft a bill, and that the bill would be brought to the House floor for a vote on Monday.

Egyptian sheik’s outburst against Shiites roils Mideast

Sunni cleric Yusuf Qaradawi calls Shiites heretics trying to invade Sunni nations, tapping into anti-Iran anxieties. Shiites express dismay at the remarks amid Iraq war and efforts to forge unity.

 By Jeffrey Fleishman, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

9:56 PM PDT, September 27, 2008

CAIRO — A popular Sunni Muslim cleric with a television show and a website that churns out religious edicts and dieting tips agitated centuries-old animosities in the Islamic world recently by referring to Shiite Muslims as heretics seeking to invade Sunni societies.

The bitter, often bloody, divide between the two main branches of Islam has been an undercurrent since the 7th century, but Sheik Yusuf Qaradawi’s vitriol comes at a fragile time, when Sunni countries such as Saudi Arabia and Egypt are wary that the predominantly Shiite nations of Iraq and Iran could destabilize the region.

USA

Anger at bailout turns on fat salaries for Wall Street execs

 

 By David Lightman | McClatchy Newspapers  

WASHINGTON – Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s office has heard from about 50,000 constituents  since Congress began considering a financial rescue plan about a week ago – and “only one of a thousand supports it – whatever it is,” the California Democrat said.

Lawmakers from both parties reported similar confusion and concern among constituents as they spent their Saturday painstakingly, and sometimes painfully, trying to craft a still-elusive compromise package.Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Republican Leader Mitch McConnell aimed to have a final plan ready by 6 p.m. Sunday, in time for the opening of markets around the world.

When smalltown USA turned on ‘Fraud Street’

Americans have watched with horror as financial chaos has spread across the country, choking the economy and threatening to plunge the country into recession. Last week they turned their anger on the administration as it battled to put together a rescue package. Report by Paul Harris in Pennsylvania, Ruth Sunderland and Heather Stewart

Paul Harris in Pennsylvania, Ruth Sunderland and Heather Stewart

The Observer,

Sunday September 28 2008

It was the week that an angry Main Street finally fought back after a decade when the financial masters of Wall Street were seemingly invincible. As President George Bush looked straight into the television cameras last week and spelt out to the nation the economic peril facing America, the fury and fear were mounting in millions of homes.

‘Without immediate action by Congress, America could slip into a financial panic,’ Bush warned. He sketched out a scenario of failing banks and plunging share prices which would savage retirement plans and put millions out of work. It was a terrifying scenario. Having waged two wars that are not yet over, Bush faced the final legacy of his tumultuous two-term period in office: the possible collapse of the American economy.