So Much for the "Rescue Plan."

One business day after the passage of the "rescue plan" (which is now up to a possible $850 billion after Congress added some tax breaks) by the House that was supposed to restore confidence in the financial industry, The Dow Jones Average is nose diving by the second (down 728 points as I type this).

This is only one week after the 777 point drop after the plan failed the first time.

The Dow Jones Average is all but guaranteed to close under 10,000 points for the first time since 2004, and foreign markets are tumbling as people scramble to pull their money out of banks and investments before it's all gone.

What does this mean to you?

Mike Spector of the Wall Street Journal reported in the Baltimore Sun that only 64 percent of car loan applications were being approved.

According to the article, even people with near-perfect credit and 20 percent down-payments are having trouble getting loans.

I think the government needs to find out what the interest rate is on some sense... but it probably couldn't afford the payments anyway.

Meet the Keating Five

The Keating Five (from left:) Sen. Alan Cranston (D-CA,) Sen. John Glenn (D-OH,) Sen. John McCain (R-AZ,) Sen Donald Riegle (D-MI) and Jermaine.

Well, it looks like John McCain will take the gloves off in tomorrow night's debate. We don't know exactly what that refers to, as the Arizona senator wasn't even wearing any gloves when he said it, but we do know what Barack Obama's response is going to be.

He's going to bring up the Keating Five.

The Keating Five were five senators in the late 80's who were accused of taking gifts and essentially working for Charles Keating, the chairman of Lincoln Savings & Loan, to keep the Savings & Loan industry deregulated. The deregulation of the S&L industry allowed companies like Lincoln to grow, while also allowing them to make increasingly risky moves with their client's money. When this blew up in everyone's face, an investigation was launched, Keating went to jail and the five senators (including McCain) were dragged down, too.

While Senator McCain was ultimately found guilty of nothing more than "showing poor judgement," his reputation still took a hit. He was able to recover, and no one really talks about the Keating Five stuff anymore. Both the media and Obama's campaign has largely ignored it.

But now, the Obama campaign, in the midst of a financial crisis that has some eerie similarities to the S&L crisis, is coming out with a 13 minute "documentary" highlighting McCain's role in the scandal. And here it is.

Wait, OJ was on trial? And he was found guilty?

WE WON!

Congress Be Helpin

They Happy!


The House Of Representatives bowed to mounting pressure from the President and the Senate to pass the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 (aka the Bailout, aka the "rescue plan," aka Operation Hookup).

The New York Stock Exchange is already reacting positively to the news, going up about 100 points since the announcement.

The final vote was 263-171...its amazing what a small change in words can do.

The FDIC Assbets with Your Money

There is nothing in there people.


Assbet: When a person engaged in a 'hood dice game places bets with money he or she doesn't have...if discovered, this usually results in a beating.

As you already know, the Senate passed a modified version of the "rescue plan" (the new terminology that's been introduced after the public got outraged about the bailout) that included a raise in the deposit amount the FDIC would insure from $100,000 to $250,000.

Sounds great right? If you're balling like that, you can consolidate a few accounts and have more of your money protected against a bank failure, banks have a little more money on hand, everybody's happy.

But Eric Dash of the New York Times reported something you may not know about the FDIC.

Dash wrote that the FDIC only has $45.2 billion in its fund...to insure $4.5 TRILLION in deposits. Now i'm not that good at math, but even I know that doesn't remotely add up.

Why is this fund so small? According to Dash, the FDIC decided to waive the insurance premiums for banks between 1996 and 2006 when the economy was booming.

Apparently the people who are paid to be paranoid said "Eh, nothing's going to happen, money is raining from the sky like manna, you don't have to pay for insurance."

Now the FDIC plans to try to collect these premiums to generate the money it would need to cover the $150,000 increase if it is passed....from banks that are praying from the "rescue plan" to survive.

Somebody is in line for a beating.

The Scramble to Ride Shotgun

Who's good enough to be Second Best?


The campaign train rolls into the campus of Washington University in St. Louis tomorrow with the long-awaited VP debate between Sarah Palin and Joe Biden.

Gwen Ifill of PBS will ask the candidates questions pertaining to foreign and domestic issues over the 90-minute debate to see who is worthy of being the person we won't care about in a few months.

Questions are aplenty leading up to this square-off:

~Will Biden have to be gagged in order to stop him from contradicting Obama's campaign?

~Will the Republicans trot Sarah Palin out in a teacher outfit complete with a ruler and textbooks to distract the audience?

~Can Palin answer any question with a straight answer?

~Can Biden restrain himself from answering any question with a straight answer?

~Will either candidate know who shot JR?

You can count me tuned in.

Bailout bill to rise from the ashes in the Senate today

Pictured: The Bailout Bill (top, above Colossus)

Monday the House defeated the initial bailout bill, but it has since been slightly revised and will be voted on in the Senate later today. Also, Barack Obama, John McCain and Joe Biden have all SUSPENDED THEIR CAMPAIGNS to go to Washington to vote on it today. Or they didn't, because that would be a pointless stunt. Biden still plans on showing up to debate Sarah Palin tomorrow night, because he's not putting Country First.

So how is this bill different from Monday's failed legislation? Let ABC News tell it.

The new Senate version of the bailout was sweetened Tuesday night by additions that would allow the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. to raise the amount of bank deposits it insures from $100,000 to $250,000, a move expected to help small businesses.

The Senate bill also includes tax breaks for businesses and the middle class, something the Senate has been trying to pass for the past several years and which the House has rejected because the Senate does not include corresponding cuts to make up the difference in the budget.

So we got the FDIC cap raised (something both candidates said they favored yesterday) and some additional tax breaks. This is supposedly to get more Republican support for the bill, even if it loses some Democratic support. It's expected to pass, but that's what they said on Monday. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me, . . . can't get fooled again.