McCain defends rival Obama

BBC NEWS | World | Americas | US Elections 2008 | McCain defends rival Obama

Matt Groening

A masterpiece of joy and heartbreak

No one needs any formal introduction to Peanuts.
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I was excited by the casual cruelty and offhand humiliations at the heart of the strip. Peanuts seemed emotionally real (and unlike anything else). Occasional sadness comes up (such as Charlie Brown's complaints that no one likes him, and Patty's un-sympathetic explanations of why this is so), but this is offset by a friendly drawing style, great jokes and a sense of childhood exuberance that makes the discouragements of life seem a worthy price to pay.

Oh boy, Charlie Brown: Matt Groening and Jonathan Franzen pay tribute to Peanuts | Books | The Guardian

levity

--timball

the next cover for the economist

The TED spread is the difference between the interest rates on inter-bank loans and short-term U.S. government debt ("T-bills").
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The TED spread is an indicator of perceived credit risk in the general economy[1]. This is because T-bills are considered risk-free while LIBOR reflects the credit risk of lending to commercial banks. When the TED spread increases, that is a sign that lenders believe the risk of default on inter-bank loans (also known as counterparty risk) is increasing.
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TED is an acronym formed from T-Bill and ED, the ticker symbol for the Eurodollar futures contract. The size of the spread is usually denominated in basis points (bps). For example, if the T-Bill rate is 5.10% and ED trades at 5.50%, the TED spread is 40 bps. The TED spread fluctuates over time, but historically has often remained within the range of 10 and 50 bps (0.1% and 0.5%), until 2007. A rising TED spread often presages a downturn in the U.S. stock market, as it indicates that liquidity is being withdrawn.

During 2007, the subprime mortgage crisis ballooned the TED spread to a region of 150-200 bps. On September 17, 2008, the record set after the Black Monday crash of 1987 was broken as the TED spread exceeded 300 bps[3]. Some higher readings for the spread were due to inability to obtain accurate LIBOR rates in the absence of a liquid unsecured lending market[4]. On October 9 2008, the TED spread reached another new high of 423 bps.

TED spread - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Decius wrote:
Fukuyama does an excellent job of looking past the present crisis and into next era of American history.

The unedifying response to the Wall Street crisis shows that the biggest change we need to make is in our politics. The Reagan revolution broke the 50-year dominance of liberals and Democrats in American politics and opened up room for different approaches to the problems of the time. But as the years have passed, what were once fresh ideas have hardened into hoary dogmas. The quality of political debate has been coarsened by partisans who question not just the ideas but the motives of their opponents. All this makes it harder to adjust to the new and difficult reality we face. So the ultimate test for the American model will be its capacity to reinvent itself once again.

I think we're good at that.

AND there are lots of important ways that this can be executed on. Consider us taking leadership in ANY of the following with a new found investment and commitment:

public education
health and wellness
sustainability (energy, food production, infrastructure, finance)
science and research

Like any affluent family that falls from grace, sometimes their best work comes after they've hit bottom.

RE: The Fall of America, Inc.

Messenger Photos of Mercury

I believe marriage is meant to be a scared institution be a between 2 unwilling teenagers. But don't think I don't I tolerate gay people because I do. I tolerate them with all my heart.

Priceless.

Saturday Night Live - Palin / Biden Debate

Gomorrah has been hailed as a classic mafia movie, which lays bare the savagery of the Neapolitan Camorra and how it developed into a political and cultural force. It is based on a bestselling book, whose author, Roberto Saviano, now lives in fear of his life under armed guard. Former Italy correspondent Ed Vulliamy returns to Naples to meet Saviano and witness, first hand, the brutal gang's reign of terror

In the grip of Italy's bloodiest mafia clan | Film | The Observer

The leaders of Europe's four largest economic powers vowed Saturday to protect their banks from the continuing reverberations of the increasingly global financial crisis but could not agree on a common Europe-wide strategy.

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The outcome seemed to fall well short of the common policy that French and other officials had spoken of in recent days amid a rapid series of financial failures and a freezing up of the capital markets in Europe, which rival or by some measures exceed the size of the U.S. markets. The disunity in Europe also was apparent in complaints by some other countries that they were not even included in the discussion.

Failure to pursue a broader bailout reflected particularly strong opposition from Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany and Prime Minister Gordon Brown of Britain to any attempt at pooling resources for a Europe-wide fund to protect weak banks. Each government should handle its own banking problems, they said, because each country -- and even each bank -- has specific problems that must be dealt with in different ways.

once again so much for European cohesion
Europe could learn a lesson from the Democrats and Republicans on working together and putting ideology and electoral considerations second to the greater good (the second applies to you Mr Brown for shame)

No Joint European Strategy On Banks - washingtonpost.com

Princeton economists review recent events on Wall Street and assess the implications for the economy and public policy.

If you are short on time, you might consider skipping to Krugman at 50:00...

YouTube - Crisis on Wall Street - Gold Star