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Thursday, October 9. 2008
Globalization Gone Wild!
As if Chicago hasn’t suffered enough, considering the latest choke by the ever lovable but always finished Chicago Cubs, McCain goes and insults the city during one of his campaign stops in Bethlehem, PA. “I don’t need lessons about telling the truth to American people. And were I ever to need any improvement in that regard, I probably wouldn’t seek advice from a Chicago politician.”
Really Senator? What is it about Chicago you think is bad? You just don’t like Cubs fans? Your running mate used a throw off statement from the 1919 Black Sox scandal, “Say it ain’t so, Joe,” in her debate with Senator Joe Biden. Obviously, McCain doesn’t like Chicago. Not the Cubs, White Sox, Black Hawks, Bulls, Bears, the citizens and especially not Barack Obama.McCain has been using that often lately, it’s that Wednesday it finally surfaced on the news network.
Iceland may declare bankruptcy. Not the banks of Iceland, which grew fat during this latest financial boom, but the nation itself, which actually borrowed billions from Russia to keep afloat. The nation itself borrowed money to keep afloat. Prime Minister Geir Haarde sent a bill to Iceland’s legislature to nationalize all Icelandic banks and the bill is expected to pass. They have asked other nations and banks to infuse money into the Icelandic banking system and even with the government take over, banks and nations have declined to invest in Iceland’s banks. As Haarde said, “It’s turning out that it is every man for himself, every country for itself.”
Iceland’s banks took on billions of dollars in loans from around Europe, invested heavily in Europe and Great Britain especially, so much so that Iceland’s retailing investment group Baugur is the largest employer in Great Britain. Not to mention, many Europeans have accounts with the bank Landsbanki. Last week they stopped letting customers withdraw their funds or sell off stock in the bank. In other words, investors have lost their money.If Iceland’s banking system collapses, it will signal the collapse of the entire European banking industry since it was Iceland’s newly deregulated banking industry that led the boom of the 1990’s until recently.
Iceland is the canary in the coal mine and it’s no surprise Americans have no knowledge of Iceland and it’s banking industry. Most Americans might think of cod when they think of Iceland, or it’s moonscape terrain and for a few, they might remember President Reagan meeting with the Soviet Union’s Gorbachev in Reykjavik October 12, 1986.
Does anyone other than Icelanders know how to pronounce that city’s name?
New York may be, or more accurately, may have been, the center of the financial world, but the inversed ripple from the small nation of Iceland could prove to be a tsunami once it gets to Wall Street.Years ago when “globalization” became a buzz word and everyone from President Clinton to Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich were pushing for the U.S. to take a lead in globalization or be left in the dust, no one talked about the downside of having one globalized economy: if one system crumbles, all collapse.
Even before Clinton, President George H.W. Bush extolled having a “New World Order.” Well, the new world order is here and the weight of its tonnage is crushing.
My hat is off to Cook County, Illinois Sheriff Tom Dart who has decreed he will no longer evict people from foreclosed properties. His reason: many of those being evicted are rent-paying tenants who did nothing wrong but are paying the price for landlords who didn’t pay their mortgages. You da man, Sheriff Dart!And, for the last little bit, a humorous note of hypocrisy. The Republican ticket has been denouncing Obama for voting against funding the troops, as they put it. Obama voted against funding Bush’s war in Iraq indefinitely. He wanted the bill to have an exit plan — a timeline. Cindy McCain, wife of the presidential candidate, said Obama’s vote sent a shiver through her body.
One has to wonder, did she get a shiver when her own husband voted against funding the troops last year? McCain said no to funding the troops because the plan had a time line for withdrawal of the troops. McCain is so anti-troops. And quite frankly, does the wife of a presidential candidate want to be an attack dog on the campaign trail? I’d say this makes Cindy McCain fair game. If she wants to inject her invective-filled opinion into the campaign, then her husband’s opponents can start attacking her as well.
If you’re behind in the polls, and the latest Gallup national poll has Obama ahead by 12 points, then it’s time to pull out all the stops. Say anything to attack your opponent. McCain himself was on Fox News talking about the non-existing relationship between Barack Obama and William Ayers. McCain has no shame — and now he has no honor.
Okay, this is the last little bit. Anyone who knows me will tell you I’m one cynical S.O.B., but the McCain campaign puts me to shame! Not only have they started attacking Obama’s character to change the topic from the economy, they even announced they would attack Obama’s character to take the voters’ minds off the economy. Talk about balls! You gotta admire their brash cynicism.Finally, the Dow is about close below 9,000. Ten minutes before the closing bell Thursday and the Dow has dropped over 500 points. Fueling this latest drop: Shares for General Motors are at their lowest since 1950. Where does it go from here?
There is no question this could be bigger than the Great Depression. I wish the best for everyone.
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