If the reports below are true, when will Obama's actions begin to square with his rhetoric? In his book, THE CASE AGAINST BARRACK OBAMA http://www.ebook-search-queen.com/ebook/THE/THE+CASE+AGAINST+BARRACK+OBA... , David Freddoso reports that Obama demonstrated his commitment to old-style politics by his repeated endorsements of Chicago's machine politicians, and refused to support reformers from both parties in the 2006 election who were committed to ending corruption in Chicago's Cook County government.

With all the money the Feds are getting from all us taxpayers, who is going to help us when we need help? The Bush people will print more money, Billions upon Billions,upon Billions of dollars so that these compaines won't go under. Let see the banks get the money from the Feds who all ready took back the homes why because the people couldn't make the loan payments, these people are now homeless, boy what a deal. Why can't the government help these people who are flat broke instead of these compaines. Wall Street is in a mess, compaines going out of business, people losing thier homes, jobs, savings. and Mccain thinks everything is great? people we need someone who can get this once great nation get back on its feet.

Okay, we may have figured out the spamming commenter issue. Thanks for suffering through all those annoying links! (Hope we've seen the last of them.)

-Mark

We've got the spammers on the run. Hope we'll be back to our regular political/cartoon discussions now!

Thanks for your patience,

-Mark

Looks like sohbet is once again on the offensive. :(
Come on, Mr. Fiore! ;) (Although, I realize it's possible you're still weeping on your pillow over your $2,000.00 share of the Wall Street bailout.)

I have an economist friend in the states that has been following this whole issue closely. He's leaving. Packing up and moving to Italy. He raised an interesting point: if you burrow deep enough into the books, the US has accumulated more debt in the past two years than it has in the previous 100.

The Wall Street bailout will possibly keep the markets steady for one week or two, and then the dominos will start to fall again and the market will be in free-fall.

Another learned friend of mine (albeit a bit conspiracy-theory-headed) claims with relative certainty that Bush will declare a state of emergency sometime between Oct. 1 when Congress is dissolved and the November election. Bush will use the opportunity to extend his executive power 'for the good of not only our nation, but all the nations of the world'. Legally, Congress is powerless to stop him after Oct. 1. I've always been markedly sceptical of the sites, sources, theories, etc. my pal follows, but his willingness to commit to such a fantastic, improbable, short-term and specific theory caught my attention.

The fact that the US has now smashed the $11 trillion debt mark and the economy is in virtual free-fall... well.

Here's hoping that the stop-gap measures will buy some time, but there's a reason the SEC put a ban on short trading: you won't find an economist anywhere that believes the Fed bailout will keep the house of cards up for long.

Good luck to all.

Regards,

COTO

There was a cartoon at the WAshington Post today that says it all:

http://www.uclick.com/client/wpc/sc/

great animation, Mark.
not just because it illustrates McCain's lack of preparedness for High Office, but because of the true seriousness of the situation. Does anybody remember when we had a SURPLUS and how storng the dollar was then...??
if you want a reason to throw the current "crew" in gaol, the state of the economy and all of the skimming going on, while they're talking ANOTHER bailout, is the best that I can offer.

Tim

Maybe Mrs. Bubbles will draw on her experience in the PTA to solve the economic crisis. She will hold a nationwide bake sale.

-Snuppy

More fun w/ animated politics...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Uj5uQqQ7Eo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5C50gj5CDrU&feature=user

Unfortunately, I think that it's a little dishonest to attack McCain on this one, as basically, everybody in the U.S. is guilty of the same wishful thinking.
Why am I saying this ?
Who's funding your retirement package ?
How many of you have mutual funds ?
The problem is market capitalism, duh, it's not the Republican Party.
Market capitalism is basically a parasite that feeds on a real economy, like a killer fig plant that manages to choke its host to death.
Attention : when I criticize market capitalism, that doesn't mean I am a socialist...
The stock market is just a REALLY BAD IDEA.
It pushes money into ever more virtual realms, and really, the economy is already virtual enough without adding on the stock market and its cortege.

This would work better if McCain's comments ran in the other direction ... oldest to newest, thus showing how he's not understanding anything while the place falls down around his ears.

I need to be educated on economics....
"I can see Russia from my house" says Tina Fey on SNL while mocking Alaska Governor Palin.

It sounds like Bush just told America this morning that it's patriotic to pay more taxes to bail out the financial mess he and his super-rich cronies created.

So...should we let the same voting demographic who elected Bush strong arm us into electing McPain? Yes, one wonders what's going on in some American's brains when they vote against their own best interests.

Ilove this cartoon. McCain doesn't know nothing about this economy period. Wall Street is a mess, the housing for most people is out of their reach, and McCain thinks everything is great. Hey McCain open your eyes many can't make the house payment,thier losing thier jobs as more and more companies go over seas, more and more people are living off thier credit cards and are having a hard time paying that off. And In your world everything is rosie the nations is strong and people are living the American dream of going broke and homeless. Wakeup McCain what are going to do if you get the white house say ''Oh everything is just great no need to worry'' McCain I hope you lose period

Why is everybody getting in a tizzy about some little banks?

The solution is so obvious, you dummies. I think from now on, whenever any company is about to go bankrupt, the government should give them money. That way, nobody will ever go bankrupt!

And somebody told me once that the government might not have enough money, but 'duh!' people: who do you think makes the money? The US can make as much money as they want with their big money printing machines. They should also print out enough so that there are no more poor people, and everybody can live in a mansion.

So all those Wall Street banks that need maybe a few hundred or a few thousand dollars can just ask for it (politely, of course), and then nobody will ever go bankrupt again and everything will be OK.

If you don't believe me, look at the post down a few. The government gave a company called AIG $85B (which means '85 boxes of dollars') and now AIG is A-OK! Ha. Ha. Get it? ;)
But really, they are A-OK.

So good old fashioned smarts solved the problem again!

And that's why John McCain's and Barack Obama's financial plans make so much sense to me.

- COTO

I love it mark

I loved it mark

Conservatives call anykind of regulation of business "Communism." Yet it seems that everytime you let business men make money anyway they want, these kinds of disasters strike.

Obama was against all the de-regulation that caused all of this.

OBAMA 08'

As an economist, I sincerely loved this one.

From the beginning, McCain's budget fairy tale of paying for the war and tax breaks with earmarks made Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny look plausible by comparison. My only question is whether he truly believes his own hype or if he knows what someone running the show must...

And now, with this massive crisis of uncertainty (no one knows who's holding all the bad debt, nor how much bad debt there is; we are all certain however that we don't want to be holding the bag if everyone starts running for the financial market exit...) and each day of reckoning worse than the last, with the Fed jumping in to bail out AIG to the tune of $85B, with markets close to free fall, we've got John McCain running around the country quoting Herbert Hoover: "The fundamental business of the country … is on a sound and prosperous basis" (10/30/29).

McCain and his crew have no real idea on how to deal with this situation. Let's wait a year _after_ electing you to see what a commission comes up with??

If you go back to their budget, McCain et al's ideas are analogous to trying to solve the world energy crisis by making better use of mud and putting a power outlet in every home. Oh, and about health insurance: here's a tax break and ignorance of adverse selection and moral hazard. Good luck finding an affordable policy.

"Wishful thinking" is an understatement. "Out of touch" doesn't convey the gravity of McCain and Palin's abject failure to understand one of the most serious economic events in the last hundred years. These people make Marie Antoinette look like a piker.

Obama's campaign should run this cartoon as part of a national campaign ad.

Great new animation! With Wall St. in a topsy-turvy mess, it's good to be forewarned in a satiric manner...about the upcoming "know nothing" presidential candidates on all sides of the political plate!

Let's give McCain a new nickname on a national scale:

"Let them eat cake McCain"

Awesome political cartoon. Funniest one I've seen in a while. Home run!

It's years like this that I'm thankful I own my home outright and have no debt or major investments. Even so, I'm nervous as heck.

That was a great pirce on a economy that is really bad. And McCain thinks that everything is roise. Yeah, right people losing thier homes, jobs,the dollar,wall street,and some companies going belly up. Gas prices keep going up, CEO of all the gas compaines manying billions upon billions, and us poor middleclass must suffer while the rich get richer we get poorer.

I would also feel that the economy was sound... if I had a $100M in the bank from my wife's Budweiser empire in Arizona. "Let them eat cake"... I think applies here. Hopefully the same result will occur for McCain - hats, and heads off to McCain.

I just love the psychedelic background around McCain's face, along with the birds' chirping and the baby's cooing! There is no better way to show that he and Palin need some touch with reality.

It's a point that has been made several times already, but you do a very effective job. ^_^ Personally, I would have put the McCain/Palin quotes from oldest to most recent, rather than the other way around as you did. But still, very effective.

Help Wanted.
Qualified applicant will be as follows:
1 part Lincoln (to bring a divided country back together)
1 part FDR (we need a new deal... now!)
1 part Kennedy (can handle WMD development with iran, pakistan, and n korea like the Cuban missile crisis).
1 part Gen Marshall (we need a Marshal plan for iraq... like 7 years ago)

People who use the speech writers of utterly failed administrations (like mc cain is using gw's speech writer) need not apply.
People that advocate change (but really mean for the worse) need not apply.

Applicants should be sent to 1600 Pennsylvania ave, Wash DC
Deadline is in November.

Good Luck!

- StupidPeopleTrick

The new animation is up! Feeling nervous yet?

-MF