Tim,

You are overflowing with insightfulness. It is absolute truth that "faith can move mountains". Sometimes it is difficult for me to gather my amorphous thoughts and spit them out in an intelligble and edifying manner, but you do so with eloquence and savoir faire.

I'll never forget what your father once told me, "T_____, if you want to make a difference in the world, you must first make a change." That seemingly sweet and simple statement has been a profound driving force in my life ever since our converstation. There is so much hate, bitterness and back-biting in our country today and you inspire many of us to try to make a change for the better. It will take some positive words from our leaders to bring us out of the macabre dialogue and direction.

Your article is an inspiration. Keep up the important work, in the footsteps of your beloved father, and Father.

Oh yes, a daily prayer - something like this.

Dear God, bring us material riches this day in the form of selling short in hopes that the little investors loose money on these stocks in their retirement portfolios, and dear Jesus, smite the evil socialists who would have national health care and lift up George Bush, the great savior of Wall Street (in addition to you of course, dear Jesus) who nationalized AIG and socialized our losses on our behalf. And dear God, protect Sarah Palin, whose evangelical Christian beliefs are at the core of our white neocon political agendas. We ask for more money God, no matter how we make it, in Jesus name. Amen

So... After conservative religious agendas in politics cause 'moral' people to refuse to pay attention to what their chosen leaders have done to the economy, paid by the 'moral individuals' on Wall Street who got them elected on these 'values...' and screwed up the country both in terms of social liberties, civility, social services, education, foreign policy, *and* of course, the whole darn economy...

We want to give conservative religion more 'credit' to run the economic engines directly?

Why does that sound familiar just lately?

After today's market breakdown, I think the only winners are Nancy Pelosi, Chris Dodd, Barney Frank, Charles Schumer, Henry Paulson, Ben Bernanke, George W Bush. These leaders have successfully cast themselves as saviours.

The biggest loosers John McCain, Sara Palin and their entourage.

Religion should play a role in helping people cope up with disasters rather than commenting on economic and politics. Why is it so difficult for people to understand this simple principle.

I'm still trying to put my finger on what's so familiar, here, now that the people who felt at liberty to ignore the wishes of most the company are supposed to be 'praying away' this time... Let's see.

Not me being queer, I've been cut out of credit and insurance for years... Hrm... Was it investing responsibly in infrastructure for the future, instead of profiting off public works that are being neglected in the name of tax cuts for the wealthy? Hrm, no, that's already been sanctified...

Was it insufficient faith in the 'invisible hand of the market' to lift all boats unless the public needs to be held to ransom for a bailout to preserve inflated housing and health care prices they can't afford? Hrm, no, can't be, 'God's Candidates' already had us doing *that...*

Nope, just can't figure out where this lack of right-wing prayer on Wall Street actually is responsible for this completely unforseeable mess that *no queer people whatsoever* were telling you you might wanna look at in between 'righteous' assaults on our equal rights some time.

Has to be there, though, right? Failure to pray *must* be involved, right? 'God' couldn't be wrong, could he? Apart from telling Bush invading Iraq qouls be a slam-dunk, no planning necessary, of course. But everyone gets a few.

Hrm... Still something familiar about this, though. Can't quite put my finger on it. Maybe it's some 'sin' or something.

Christianity in general and Conservative Christianity in particular have spent the last twenty years telling us that what we needed to fix America is more religion in government. (Of course they meant their specific religion, but it sounds much nicer to be abstract.)

Now the conservative leaders that Christian leaders like Dobson and Robertson put into office have done exactly what they promised to do all along - reduce regulation and remove as much government 'meddling' in the markets as possible - and America is clearly worse off for it.

Christianity, despite its new found political power, is suffering brand damaged because 'religion' now means nothing more than 'gays and abortion are evil.' But still you tell me that the solution to our problems are more religion.

What we need is less religious posturing and more old-fashioned American Pragmatism. If you think that the markets would be fixed by praying that Wall Street traders and bankers act more Christ-like, I've got a bridge to sell you in Brooklyn.

Christianity and religion in general needs to get out of politics.

""In God we trust." There's a reason that's on the dollar bill."

In God We Trust did not become the official U.S. national motto until after the passage of an Act of Congress in 1956.

"Congress passed the Coinage Act (1864) on April 22, 1864. This legislation changed the composition of the one-cent coin and authorized the minting of the two-cent coin. The Mint Director was directed to develop the designs for these coins for final approval of the Secretary. In God We Trust first appeared on the 1864 two-cent coin."

You can get all that from the internet. Your assertion that it appears on the dollar bill for a reason other than christian dominance is pointless. Certainly our founders did not consider it.

The modern "conservative" party known as "the republicans" sold its soul to big business a long time ago, it didn't really seem to be hurting us though, not the way the republicans have been damaged and are damaging our country since they also sold that single soul to the big government social conservatives and the neocons.

What has religion got to do with this? That's a good question, I'd like to know why religion is getting involved and how well the religious conscience of the believers will be able to recognize what "going too far" means.

In the churches I know of, economic justice is emphasized just as much as sexual morality. Aaanndd, fairness is addressed just as much as homosexuality (not one in favor of the other). What church is the author going to? Some sermon topics may get more political attention than others, but pastors have to come up with at least 52 sermons each year. They're not all about sex, at least not in normal churches. The Bible addresses class, justice, relationships, poverty, wealth, etc. Pastors don't skip around this. The issue is just how much people decide to personalize what is taught in Scriptures. How many times have we all heard of preachers and choir directors and Sunday school teachers having extramarital affairs? Just because it's taught doesn't mean it's followed.

One of the remedies to this imbalance is for people who see it to do battle with the forces that don't, openly and relentlessly (but, I daresay, politely). There's no reason why the panel of talking heads at CNBC's daytime business broadcast should be able to sit around the table ridiculing government or unions or shareholders and extolling rapacious ceo pay or tax givebacks to the wealthy without opposition. There's no excuse for letting the Lou Dobbses' of the world spew their misguided, unChristian diatribes against impoverished illegal immigrants or to let your local Republican congressional candidate go around talking about taxes as though they were evil without having a mature alternative which provides for public need. Members of the Judaeo-Christian traditions, including Muslims, should be vociferously defending public and collective responsibility and the mechanisms for acheiving it against the voices of greed that get too large a say. Expressing an opinion is a form of education--it teaches everyone around you which way the wind is blowing. Speak up and be heard if you want to change things...

Exactly which "spirituality" do we need, Mr. Shriver? Yours?

How about Osama's? His little act of faith has had us on our knees for seven years. Do you want more of that?

You act like spirituality and faith are some sort of constant through which only good flows. Unfortunately, there's nothing behind spirituality except spirits, and spirits appear differently to each of us.

Your comments only make sense if you are urging that YOUR spirituality be embraced by everyone and used, in this case, to make us more profitable. No thanks. We've had about enough of your brand of voodoo.

I agree we need more converts on Wall Street. We need to convert American managers into Japanese and European managers, who aren't as greedy and don't loot the corporations they were hired to lead.

This is all very nice religious-speak. However, the problem, Tim, is that both you and your 81 year sociologist don't understand what created this particular crisis. It’s very easy to parrot the "People Magazine" level of analysis and say "greed" did it – but that is just wrong.

Why are we having this problem? The US government passed laws (the Community Reinvestment Act) and created institutions (Fannie Mae and Freddy Mac) to loan money to people who nobody wanted to loan to (the sub-prime market).

Freddy and Fannie bought and backed these loans with the full faith and credit of the US gov't (thus helping replenish the funds available for more mortgages). Then they packaged them into financial instruments (by combining many similarly structured mortgages) and sold them to the investment banks who then marketed them to EVERYONE. The key of course being the AAA credit rating that these instruments had. With AAA ratings you can sell these to all sorts of institutions which need to invest in only secure, low-risk investments – governments, pension plans, and the like. Everyone was really being safe and prudent EXCEPT for the federal government of the USA which put all of its taxpayers’ butts on the line for all that money.

I mean, think about it. Do greedy people lend money to people who can't pay it back? The answer is NO! Only a socialistic government would/could get a program like that started and implemented.

Ironically, we ARE enjoying the fruits of Mr. Bellah’s values. I hope that makes it easier for you.

""In God we trust." There's a reason that's on the dollar bill."

Tim, as always I love reading your articles. I have yet to see a man with such insight and wisdom regarding life's matters as you.

Your skill to write and speak to the heart of others is astounding. You have been blessed with a gift that reaches others with compassion, endearmnet, and it speaks hope in to the life of others.

I am no economist, but it seems to me that Wall Street has lost it's own spirit, rather than a religious spirit, which never was there in the first place.

Here's how it goes, according to my own amateurish understanding of economics:

A Ford "T" cost 150 dollars. A Ford Explorer costs 30 000 dollars. This is not inflation, this is adding value to a product over a period of time, i.e. this is innovation. 150 dollars is exactly how much I would pay for a Ford "T" right now, if someone made such a crap car and offered to sell it to me.

Raw material prices rise too, but this is demand driven; more raw material is needed as innovative industries expand their production by virtue of being innovative i.e. successful in adding value.
Also, companies and industries that add more value to a particular raw material can offer higher prices than those who do not, to the same raw material.
Salaries rise for the same reason, as labor is one of the resources that go into production.

Enter investment bankers. Letting money sit in a bank will obviously make it less and less able to buy stuff as prices go up in time, as a function of technical progress. So it must become part of the value adding process, i.e. it must be converted into things which value will go up.

Unfortunately, investment bankers are investment bankers because they can't add value or know what this means, otherwise they would be high-tech entrepreneurs.
An investment banker can't know if the transplasmatron will fuggle the hystermonics, as one company claims, or if the extragles will revolutionize everyone's lives, as another company claims.
It's all nonsense, to an investment banker.

Fortunately for the investment banker there's also the stock exchange. Numbers, indexes, the invisible hand of the free market exchange of stock that tells you what is worth and what is not.

So there are options.
1) Invest in everything:
Buy raw materials or invest in people salaries. Someone else will invest in the companies that add value to those resources and their value and prices will go up.
2) Invest in company stock that is currently valuable:
Someone else invested in it, so it must be a good deal.

Overall, that's a good strategy. The stock market will be dominated by people with lots of money and they will know what they are doing, because they made all that money from scratch, by making the right choices.
High priced company stock will be valuable. The economy will be going up, as wise investors with lots of money invest in companies that add value to products and raise the prices of labor and raw materials.
If people following the wise investors over-invested in the same things, then wise investors will sell and restore the stock's actual value.

Unfortunately, the few who dominate the market die and pass their wealth to others, who are not that wise. Lots of people gather their money and put them in things called banks, investment bankers get to invest them.
The market is still dominated by those with lots of capital, but they are all fools following other fools; stock prices no longer reflect actual value.
The economy stagnates and there is no growth, as companies that add value are not invested into. Worse still, prices become meaningless.

I don't know much about banking, so I don't know if a bail-out as the one under consideration is a good thing or not in the short or long run.

The golden bullet in the long run, it would seem to me, is to invest in (or force a) massive industrial and infrastructure innovation, such as to switch to alternative energy sources.
It's like going to WWII, without going to WWII.
Car companies will have to innovate, i.e. start making electric cars. The energy sector will have to innovate, i.e. lower the cost of alt-energy power stations and alt-energy electricity.
Physically building lots of new power stations will also, nicely, employ lots of people. The middle east and Russia will loose any and all strategic importance, as well as all the money that goes to them because they have oil.

It's not like this is not going to happen, as oil will run out anyway (in the sense that it will become too expensive as it diminishes), but it's better to have this happen while the oil-economy is still running, rather then when it has completely ceased.
Even a simple measure such as limiting car weights to 500kg will result in massive resource savings and innovation (no one wants to drive SUVs, but if everyone is driving SUVs you don't want to not drive an SUV, just to be on the safe "conservation of impulse" side).

http://www.slate.com/id/2201428/

I am going to say some things we don't want to hear:

Spirituality and religion are not the solution. They are the problem. Public religion just endorses all this greedy activity. Just listen at the religion jargon you just emitted.

Real spirituality - the kind from Jesus, St. Francis, Gandhi, Mother Teresa, MLK Jr, et al - will never fly in America. It requires discipline and sacrifice for others as well as oneself. Here it is all me first, everyman for himself, pay for it tomorrow - Cover it with a religious propaganda slogan.

Instead, the reason why "in god we trust" is on the dollar is that the dollar IS the god in which we trust. It is a piece of unconstitutional religious tripe which replaced the real original motto of the US: "e pluribus unum" - from many one, The change is strikingly symbolic - we are now many, not one.

We made a poor bargain. Now we are stuck with it. Even Faust made a better one. Now it is time to pay the devil, so to speak.

Time for a hard look in the mirror. As Nathan said to David when he asked who did these dastardly things: "You are the man"
Retranslated by Pogo: "We have met the enemy and he is us."

Romans 8- 34, 37: (28) And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him,j who have been called according to his purpose. (29) For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. (30) And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.

(31)What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? (32) He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? (33) Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. (34) Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died, more than that, who was raised to life is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.....(37)No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.

Romans 1:26-28
(24) Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonor their own bodies between themselves:
(25) Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.
(26)For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature:
(27) And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet.
(28) And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient;
(29) Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers,
(30) Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents,

(31) Without understanding, covenantbreakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful:
(32) Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.

None of these wingnuts are attracted to Palin because they value social welfare and they believe Palin's faith means she believes in social welfare, too.

Just because you "believe in Jesus" and these Palin supporters "believe in Jesus" doesn't mean that you and they share the same values.

In part, you correct. Palin's supporters are attracted to her stance on social issues and economic. She doesn't believe in economic justice and neither do they. Her little "born-again codes" prove to them that she's just as heartless as the next "born-again."

We DO NOT need Spirituality in politics...
We don't need no prejudice or morality or even any institutions like religion, sectarian institutions, political parties etc.

We need to listen to our elders and the FEW statesmen that have NOT SOLD OUT. Statesmen like Ron Paul and his democratic complement Dennis Kucinich (It WAS an UNIDENTIFIED flying object...).

Let's face it EVEN THOUGH the establishment will never LET US elect pragmatic no nonsense people like this, they are still going to be available for us to reflect on.

As far as moving mountains, there is an old Hindu saying "An advanced master mind yogi can move mountains, but then again, he also understands why they ARE THERE and generally does not muck with mother nature or human devolution....."

My mother told me, "Never pick a fight BUT also NEVER LET anyone that thinks that they are stronger pick on or humiliate others, no matter how big and bad they think they are son, as there is something bigger and badder within you son, but you have to use it WISELY."

As far as Sarah and her husband (Todd?)and family goes, they should PRAY that Barrack and Joe win and return to Alaska with their dignity intact and take care of their children and family and LIVE UP to the "FAMILY VALUES" agenda and take care about for their (and our) family.
I think that they are truly good people and should reflect and evaluate if they truly want to represent the same cartel and agenda that Cheney and his represents... (Take inventory as a family before you answer.)
I hope that Sarah and Todd and company wake up and realizes what they have.
more importantly is how much more that she (they) can affect the direction of America, family values and the causes that affect families like hers (and ALL of our families) in the future.
Her cause may very well be heaven sent and now she (and her family and CLOSEST FRIENDS) hold the cards and hold the keys to the direction of the GREATEST COUNTRY and GREATEST CONSTITUTION ever written and followed, as an EXAMPLE, to the world.
Run, Sarah RUN... and always remember WHY you are RUNNING....
You have helped (and can CONTINUE) to help them raise gobs of cash.
If THEY win, they will dump you or marginalize you and yours. Unless you wish to go all in on some "cold blooded cause" that none of you support or adhere to then hang in there, tell the truth as you see it and do what you all know is in our best interest.
You can lend your soul for what YOU believe in, just NEVER sell your (OUR) soul at any cost...
God Bless America and all that SHE represents as the beacon of hope, prosperity and LIBERTY in the world.

"Why are we having this problem? The US government passed laws (the Community Reinvestment Act) and created institutions (Fannie Mae and Freddy Mac) to loan money to people who nobody wanted to loan to (the sub-prime market)."

Oh please. This is just wrong.

"Janet Yellen, president of the San Francisco Federal Reserve, offers the killer statistic: Independent mortgage companies, which are not covered by CRA, made high-priced loans at more than twice the rate of the banks and thrifts. With this in mind, Yellen specifically rejects the "tendency to conflate the current problems in the sub-prime market with CRA-motivated lending.? CRA, Yellen says, "has increased the volume of responsible lending to low- and moderate-income households."

See:
http://bigpicture.typepad.com/comments/2008/10/misunderstandin.html

Derivitives allowed greedy unregulated independent mortgage companies to make bad loans as fast as they could write them. By immediately selling these loans, they they had no skin in the game. And no risk.

Due to the SEC leverage rule changes in 2004 the big investment companies could buy these things up with only 3 cents to the doller backing them up. Due to the way these bombs were tranched, there was an illusion risk was spread out, they could make a killing, and that what has happened oiver the last year could never happen, even if there were high default rates.

They were wrong.

"As far as Sarah and her husband (Todd?)and family goes, they should PRAY that Barrack and Joe win and return to Alaska with their dignity intact and take care of their children and family and LIVE UP to the "FAMILY VALUES" agenda and take care about for their (and our) family.
I think that they are truly good people and should reflect and evaluate if they truly want to represent the same cartel and agenda that Cheney and his represents... (Take inventory as a family before you answer.)
I hope that Sarah and Todd and company wake up and realizes what they have.
more importantly is how much more that she (they) can affect the direction of America, family values and the causes that affect families like hers (and ALL of our families) in the future.
Her cause may very well be heaven sent and now she (and her family and CLOSEST FRIENDS) hold the cards and hold the keys to the direction of the GREATEST COUNTRY and GREATEST CONSTITUTION ever written and followed, as an EXAMPLE, to the world.
Run, Sarah RUN... and always remember WHY you are RUNNING....
You have helped (and can CONTINUE) to help them raise gobs of cash.
If THEY win, they will dump you or marginalize you and yours. Unless you wish to go all in on some "cold blooded cause" that none of you support or adhere to then hang in there, tell the truth as you see it and do what you all know is in our best interest.
You can lend your soul for what YOU believe in, just NEVER sell your (OUR) soul at any cost...
God Bless America and all that SHE represents as the beacon of hope, prosperity and LIBERTY in the world."

Will do, and get back to the subject,"(Take inventory as a family before you answer.)" Frustration gets the better of us at times and so it was with the Palins. Sarah will not participate in any cold blooded cause, no witness to speak of how will they proceed? The pray to save the faithful never ceases, the good in them will prevail.

"I hope that Sarah and Todd and company wake up and realizes what they have." As the Psalmist says "my tears have been my meat day and night" and continually say "true love have I found and thus my heart shall never again be free to love another."

"hang in there," 10-4, clear

You know, the older I get the more I realize how lucky I was to have my faith nurtured in the small town Methodist church of my youth that didn't mobilize anyone to protest abortion clinics or have sermons each week about gays or anything, but simply preached every week about how we could look out for each other and be better Christians. It was a church which collected donations for the town food pantry, a church that sponsored summer mission trips every summer, a church that sponsored a community-wide ice cream social during the town festival every summer, a church which sponsors a youth hangout for jr. high kids after all the home Friday night football games and a church which participates in a multidemoninational town Bible School every summer. The sort of positive church that helps build a community for Christ rather than exploit or perpetuate divisions among Christians and secular people or within Christian sects themselves.

The way the media and even many Christians talk about religion today you'd think that churches like the one I attended as a kid 10-20 years ago no longer exist. I hope they aren't as close to extinction as I fear they are.

I do have to point out to the author though the reason "In God We Trust" is on the money was really just anti-communist stuff in the 50s. It's not like the Founders put it there. I really don't see the market opening with a prayer rather than a bell as helping anything other than just encouraging some of the misguided greed-based ministries that have already done so much damage.

And personally, as someone who takes the commandment from Jesus to render unto caesar what is caesar's and unto God what is God's (what I consider a Biblical call for separation of church and state), I find it a bit blasphemous of us to put His name on our money in the first place.

I want people to realize one thing. To sterotype all republicans as greedy right-wing haters of all things non-white and gay is the same as to stero-type all democrats as hippy tree-hugging leftwing communists in disguise. Yes there are those elements in those parties, but to discount the all ideas of a party, just becuase it came from that party is a great injustice to America.

I am not a religous person and I do not attend a church, but I am a highly spritual person. I belive in a very simple principle that was touched on in this article. If you take the time everyday to think about how your actions effect other people, you will see the very things that are needed to make this world a better place. Now I am not intimating that you give all your money to charity or even any of your money to charity or that you volunteer community service or anything like that. I am suggesting you think about how much would you really be negatively affected by a different action versus how positve your action will affect others. For example: If everyone thought about driving in a manner to keep traffic flowing efficiently rather than how can I get to work 5 minutes earlier, traffic might flow so well that everyone gets to work 10 minutes earlier. Such an action not only would give everyone 10 mintues of their day back, but also lower energy consumption and reduce air pollution. A simple action that could postively affect the entire world!

stephanemot : "Back then, Palin already used canned answers to dodge the key issues : "I don't think there should be a prohibition against debate if it comes up in class. It doesn't have to be part of the curriculum"

If you look at the core of the proposition, it means : stop making this teaching illegal, leave it up to the teacher.

Palin is not a closet evolutionist : she is a hardcore theocon, but a careful one. After the publication of the Discovery Institute's Wedge document, no politician can promote ID without risking his/her career.

Palin perfectly illustrate the new creationist agenda : we have taken into account the failure of our Intelligent Design imposture, and we understand that we cannot be too pushy these days, but our priority is to make sure some door is somewhat opened for the next waves.

The only evolution Palin will ever accept is from democracy to theocracy." October 4, 2008 8:23 PM

Brakes tapered with, statetrooper report completed, keep building my case, thanks

BAN SHORTSELLING !!

The stock market is shooting downward. Naturally, everybody should be saddened. But NO, not everyone. Who are these people? Who are they who profit from this downturn. It's the SHORTSELLERS. The government should realize that shortselling DEFIES NATURAL SCIENCE. It is an ABNORMALITY. Nobody should be allowed to sell things that are not theirs.

THIS IS THE CANCER THAT IS PLAGUING the stock market. It defies science and anything that defies science is HARMFUL. We are now reaping the bad fruits which SHORTSELLING sowed.

When a house is burning, everybody should grieve. If you see somebody who's overjoyed, Im sure HE/SHE IS THE ARSONIST. Shortsellers are the only people who are overjoyed now.

For as long as the "arsonists" are at large, people's money are NOT safe. LOCK THEM (shortsellers) UP BEFORE MORE HOUSES WOULD BURN. For as long as they are around, our money will not be safe in the bank. LOCK THEM UP SOON OR THE FIRE WON'T STOP.

These bailouts cannot continue forever. These water hoses would soon dry up. Stop the fire from its source -- the SHORTSELLERS

"When a house is burning, everybody should grieve."

Or... Umm. Put out the fire and see about them safety codes?

The extreme individualism cum narcissism, materialist celebrity culture, etc., is part and parcel of the same phenomenon that has gotten us where we are, aided and abetted by an uncritical, highly interested, unregulated media, transnationally owned by the producers of products it advertises, the advertising agencies, etc.

I'm not a Christian and have abhorred this carnival, but it always did seem to me that the Christians who supported it, ministers who made their livings promising wealth were being inconsistent with a demand that they leave the things of this world and follow Christ.

As a Jew, this "in God we trust" stuff has always made me queasy. The We you speak of is not me. I never bought into this cult of money and never will.

The irony of it all is the your Born Again Secretary of the Treasury who is demanding the little I have to pay for the mess, your Born Again Poulson made his living creating the "toxic paper" of which you write.

Btw., Mr. Shriver:

Let me clarify the point I made about your Born Again Christian Secretary of the Treasury, Poulson. He is a billionaire, a billionaire, Mr. Shriver, who made his fortune off the Toxic Paper my taxes are going to pay for.

A Wasted Vote
by Rep. Chuck Baldwin
October 10, 2008

When asked why they will not vote for a third party candidate, many people will respond by saying something like, "He cannot win." Or, "I don't want to waste my vote." It is true: America has not elected a third party candidate since 1860. Does that automatically mean, however, that every vote cast for one of the two major party candidates is not a wasted vote? I don't think so.

In the first place, a wasted vote is a vote for someone you know does not represent your own beliefs and principles. A wasted vote is a vote for someone you know will not lead the country in the way it should go. A wasted vote is a vote for the "lesser of two evils." Or, in the case of John McCain and Barack Obama, what we have is a choice between the "evil of two lessers."

Albert Einstein is credited with saying that insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, and expecting a different result. For years now, Republicans and Democrats have been leading the country in the same basic direction: toward bigger and bigger government; more and more socialism, globalism, corporatism, and foreign interventionism; and the dismantling of constitutional liberties. Yet, voters continue to think that they are voting for "change" when they vote for a Republican or Democrat. This is truly insane!

Take a look at the recent $850+ billion Wall Street bailout: both John McCain and Barack Obama endorsed and lobbied for it. Both McCain and Obama will continue to bail out these international banksters on the backs of the American taxpayers. Both McCain and Obama support giving illegal aliens amnesty and a path to citizenship. In the debate this past Tuesday night, both McCain and Obama expressed support for sending U.S. forces around the world for "peacekeeping" purposes. They also expressed support for sending combat forces against foreign countries even if those countries do not pose a threat to the United States. Neither Obama nor McCain will do anything to stem the tide of a burgeoning police state or a mushrooming New World Order. Both Obama and McCain support NAFTA and similar "free trade" deals. Neither candidate will do anything to rid America of the Federal Reserve, or work to eliminate the personal income tax, or disband the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Both Obama and McCain support the United Nations. So, pray tell, how is a vote for either McCain or Obama not a wasted vote?

But, back to the "he cannot win" argument: to vote for John McCain is to vote for a man who cannot win. Yes, I am saying it here and now: John McCain cannot win this election. The handwriting is on the wall. The Fat Lady is singing. It is all over. Finished. John McCain cannot win.

With only three weeks before the election, Barack Obama is pulling away. McCain has already pulled his campaign out of Michigan. In other key battleground states, McCain is slipping fast. He was ahead in Missouri; now it is a toss-up or leaning to Obama. A couple of weeks ago, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Florida were all leaning towards McCain, or at least toss-up states. Now, they are all leaning to Obama. Even the longtime GOP bellwether state of Indiana is moving toward Obama. In addition, new voter registrations are at an all-time high, and few of them are registering as Republicans. In fact, the Republican Party now claims only around 25% of the electorate, and Independents are increasingly leaning toward Obama.

Ladies and gentlemen, Barack Obama is headed for an electoral landslide victory over John McCain. John McCain can no more beat Barack Obama than Bob Dole could beat Bill Clinton.

I ask, therefore, Are not conservatives and Christians who vote for John McCain guilty of the same thing that they accuse people who vote for third party candidates of doing? Are they not voting for someone who cannot win? Indeed, they are. In fact, conservatives and Christians who vote for John McCain are not only voting for a man who cannot win, they are voting for a man who does not share their own beliefs and principles. If this is not insanity, nothing is!

So, why not (for once in your life, perhaps) cast a vote purely for principle! Vote for someone who is truly pro-life. Someone who would quickly secure our nation's borders, and end the invasion of our country by illegal aliens. Someone who would, on his first day in office, release Border Patrol agents Ramos and Compean and fire U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton. Someone who would immediately, upon assuming office, begin leading the charge to dismantle the Federal Reserve, overturn the 16th Amendment, expunge the IRS, and return America to sound money principles. Someone who would get the US out of the UN. Someone who would stop spending billions and trillions of dollars for foreign aid. Someone who would prosecute the Wall Street bankers who defrauded the American people out of billions of dollars. Someone who would work to repeal NAFTA, CAFTA, GATT, the WTO, and stop the NAFTA superhighway. Someone who would say a resounding "No" to the New World Order. Someone who would stop using our brave men and women in uniform as global cops for the United Nations. Someone who would stop America's global adventurism and interventionism. Someone who would steadfastly support and defend the right of the people to keep and bear arms.

"Who is this person?" you ask. Go here to find out:

http://www.baldwin08.com/

As John Quincy Adams said, "Always vote for principle, though you may vote alone, and you may cherish the sweetest reflection that your vote is never lost."

More on the topic:
http://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto101020081127575487

Keynes will do fine, in terms of what governments should be doing - spending of infrastructure, innovation etc.

This alone won't sort the problems with the banking system, which, at present, can be summed up as "They hold our money and the economy hostage! They've shot the hostages! Give them more hostages!"
That's a ridiculous situation. If they are so important to the economy that governments "can and should" intervene, then they can most certainly fire the CEOs and top management and take their money too.
Anyway, this will not solve anything in the long run.

The bonuses system needs fixing; this is no big secret and lots of people have been saying this for a long time. Bonuses should go to people only if and after their deals and investments do actually pay out in the long term (this should be based on actual revenue from stock, not stock prices rise or fall).
On top of this, the actual stock exchange is too dependent on momentary prices which affects the momentary prices: it sets the possibility for runaway feedbacks for those prices in either direction (boom/bust), as well as speculation. It's much better to have a silent auction system for the stock exchange (somehow).

Some earmarks in the bailout. Economists predict that the Worldwide "Recession" will last for ten years. Good to know where are tax dollars are going, while people have breakdowns, lose their homes, commit suicide.

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Top 10 Tax Sweeteners in the Bailout Bill
Category: Federal Budget, Headlines By TCS
Tag: budget, bailout
Pub Date: Oct 09, 2008

Update:
The House has just passed the final version of the 2008 Emergency Economic Stabilization Act, without making any changes to the version received from the Senate. The final vote was 263-171. To see how your Representative voted, click here.

Note:

In the analysis below we identified where possible specific champions of each provision. One thing that we did not explain very well is that many of the provisions are “extenders,” meaning the legislation in many cases simply extends existing law set to expire at the end of this year, and in some cases reinstates existing legislation that expired earlier in the year. Therefore, we couldn’t necessarily go back in history to identify who originally promoted some of the provisions. Many of these provisions had already been voted on and passed earlier this year, but had not been voted on in the House, so the Senate simply stuck them on to the underlying legislation. This is also true for other things tacked onto the bill, such as the Alternative Minimum Tax patch.

The following are some of the top tax sweeteners in the Senate passed Bailout Bill. Not all the provisions are per se outrageous, but collectively are intended to help Congressional leadership get final passage of the 2008 Emergency Economic Stabilization Act.

1. Sec. 503. Exemption from excise tax for certain wooden arrows designed for use by children

Current law places an excise tax of 39 cents on the first sale by the manufacturer, producer, or importer of any shaft of a type used to produce certain types of arrows. This proposal would exempt from the excise tax any shaft consisting of all natural wood with no laminations or artificial means to enhance the spine of the shaft used in the manufacture of an arrow that measures 5/16 of an inch or less and is unsuited for use with a bow with a peak draw weight of 30 pounds or more. The proposal is effective for shafts first sold after the date of enactment. The estimated cost of the proposal is $2 million over ten years, according to the Joint Committee on Taxation.

The Oregon senators were the initial sponsors of the provisions. According to Bloomberg News, the provision would be worth $200,000 to Rose City Archery in Myrtle Point, Oregon.

2. Sec. 317. Seven-year cost recovery period for motorsports racing track facility

Track owners want to be able write-off the cost of their facilities on their taxes over seven years - a depreciation timetable many of them have used for decades. But the IRS has wanted to stretch it to at least 15 years and has raised questions whether the increasingly popular tracks really belong in the same tax category as amusement parks.

Auto track owners are simply trying to get out of paying more taxes - which they'd have to do if they deducted less every year. These owners have gotten plenty of tax breaks over the years from states and localities eager to get speedways. The provision would be extended 2 years till the end of 2009 and would cost $100 million. The provision encompasses all facilities including grandstands, parking lots and concession stands.

3. Sec. 308. Increase in limit on cover over of rum excise tax to Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands

Extends until December 31, 2009 a rebate against excise taxes charged on rum imported from Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. A $13.50 per proof gallon excise tax is applied to distilled spirits imported to the U.S. Under this provision a $13.25 rebate is returned to PR and the VI, and is retroactive back to January 1, 2008. Permanent law sets the rebate at $10.50 per proof gallon, but the PR and VI provisions have generally been in place since the first Clinton Administration. The most recent extension of the $13.50 rebate expired January 1, 2008. Cost is $192 million.

4. Sec. 301. Extension and modification of research credit

The legislation reestablishes and extends the lucrative tax credit for companies doing research and experimentation in the United States. Companies that have benefited from this provision include Microsoft Corp., Boeing Co., United Technologies Corp., Electronic Data Systems Corp. and Harley-Davidson. The two-year extension is estimated to cost $19 billion.

5. Sec. 504. Income averaging for amounts received in connection with the Exxon Valdez litigation

The bailout bill would give a tax break to Exxon Valdez plaintiffs, allowing them to average out their punitive damages awards over three years rather than suffer a one-time tax hit from the Internal Revenue Service, as well as other provisions. Rep. Don Young (R-AK) is a big supporter of this provision. Cost is estimated at $49 million.

6. Sec. 601. Secure rural schools and community self-determination program.

Secure Rural Schools lead sponsors Reps. DeFazio (D-OR), Bill Sali (R-ID); Sens. Wyden (D-OR), Larry Craig (R-ID), are major boosters of this program that expired in 2006. In 1908 the federal government agreed to share logging revenue from Forest Service land with neighboring communities that could not tax the land because it was federal. As logging declined in the 1990s, the "county payments" program was initiated in 2000 to directly provide federal funding, more than half going to Oregon, to deal with the loss of revenue. The original version of this provision was introduced as a bill in early 2007 and was estimated to cost $2.2 billion when the OR and ID delegations came to agreement. To give the package more heft, Payment In Lieu of Taxes (PILT) was added to the package, bringing the total cost to $3.3 billion. PILT provides more general funding to counties for federal lands located within their borders. Sen. Reid (D-NV) talked about the PILT program being one of the important elements of the package when the Senate passed the bailout bill.

7. Sec. 201. Deduction for state and local sales taxes

Allows residents of states that don’t pay income tax to deduct, from their federal taxes, sales tax paid over the course of the year. States that benefit include Texas, Nevada, Florida, Washington and Wyoming. The bailout bill extends this provision for 2 years at a cost of $3.3 billion.

8. Sec 502. Provisions related to film and television productions

In an effort to keep film and television productions in the U.S, they would be eligible for a tax incentive program. Under this program, the cost of production of qualifying films would be permitted to be immediately expensed -- that is, fully deducted from income for tax purposes -- in the year the expenditures occur. This provision also makes permanent other favorable tax treatments for production. Historically Rep. Diane Watson (D-CA) has been a supporter (dating from its creation in the 2004 corporate tax bill). The cost is estimated at $478 million over 10 years.

9. Sec. 325. Extension and modification of duty suspension on wool products; wool research fund; wool duty refunds

The tariff relief (duty savings) is intended to benefit U.S. worsted wool fabric producers that use imported fibers and yarns as inputs, as well as U.S. tailored clothing manufacturers that use imported fabrics as inputs. This provision was originally introduced as a bill in December 2007 by Reps. Louise Slaughter (D-NY) and Melissa Bean (D-IL). It extends current law provisions until 12/31/14, and in some cases to12/31/15. The 2010 to 2015 cost is estimated to be $148 million.

10. Sec. 309. Extension of economic development credit for American Samoa

This extends by two years a previously approved tax credit, the American Samoa economic development credit. In general, this credit allows certain corporations operating in American Samoa a tax credit. The possessions tax credit allows these corporations to offset a portion of their U.S. tax liability on income earned in American Samoa from active business operations, sales of assets used in a business, or certain investments in American Samoa. The cost is $33 million, according to the Joint Committee on Taxation.

Other Examples:

Here are some other interesting provisions

Sec. 201. Inclusion of cellulosic biofuel in bonus depreciation for biomass ethanol plant property

Current law allows taxpayers to write-off 50% of the cost of any facility placed in service before January 1, 2013 that produces cellulosic ethanol. This provision expands the types of facilities that may be written-off to include production of other cellulosic biofuels in addition to cellulosic ethanol.

Sec. 211. Transportation fringe benefit to bicycle commuters

Allows employers to provide a benefit to employees for costs associated with bicycle commuting, including purchase and repair of a bicycle, bicycle improvements, and bicycle storage. This provision was proposed in 2007 in the Senate by Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) and in the House by Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR). This provision is estimated to cost $10 million.

Sec. 323. Enhanced charitable deductions for contributions of food inventory

Extends by two years, until December 31, 2009, a provision allowing for deductions related to the charitable donation of “apparently wholesome food”—defined as food intended for human consumption that meets all quality and labeling standards imposed by law and regulations even though the food may not be readily marketable. This provision also changes the application of the law as it relates to donations by farmers and ranchers. The cost is $149 million, according to Joint Committee on Taxation.

Sec. 324. Extension of enhanced charitable deduction for contributions of bookinventory

Extends by two years, until December 31, 2009, a tax benefit for the contribution of books to public schools. The provision is worth $49 million.

Sec. 602. Transfer to abandoned mine reclamation fund

Transfers interest earned on money in the abandoned mine reclamation fund to the United Mine Workers of America Combined Benefit Fund, which helps pay health benefits for retired miners and their dependents who worked under collective bargaining agreements that promised lifetime health-care benefits. States with the most miners receiving benefits have historically been Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Kentucky, Virginia, and Ohio. This provision extends existing law to include a $9 million transfer for 2010.

Here is the link for Taxpayers for Common Sense, from which the article I posted was taken.

http://www.taxpayer.net/projects.php?action=view&category=&type=Project&proj_id=1436#