September 2008 Archives

When a sitting President cannot rally more than 33% of his own party members to vote in favor of a bill -- after going on national television and saying the sky will fall if said legislation doesn't get passed -- he truly is a sitting duck. Furthermore, failure to get this bill passed after intense lobbying speaks volumes about the President's inability to lead during this financial crisis.

Greetings from Toronto, Canada! I have been here for the last few days and I am totally digging this city. It is different from all the major cities in the US I lived in(Boston, Washington DC, Chicago, etc.), but yet it is quite familiar at the same time. Heck, almost too familiar as everyone thinks I am Canadian. Well at least that is what this guy at the World's Biggest Book Store told me. He tried to pick me up, but it all went south when I told him I lived in London, England not London, Ontario.

In any event, I am here on business; but I have managed to take in a few of the sites in downtown Toronto. In fact, yesterday was spent walking around Kensington Market and Chinatown. Also, went by the CN Tower, but didn't go up as it was simply too foggy.

I was also supposed to go to Niagara Falls today, but in that there was threat of rain, I decided I would rather be propped up in bed watching American football. Goodness, I do so miss seeing men in tights on a weekly basis. I actually do watch a few games back in London on the North American Sports Network -- however, I hardly ever see games for teams I support. That said, I am really looking forward to going to Wembley Stadium at the end of the month to see the New Orleans Saints v San Diego Chargers game. Of course, now that I am no longer dating a certain person, I need to find someone to go with. So I will have to give it further thought when I get back to London.

In the meantime, I plan to just enjoying being in Toronto. It is a beautiful city.

President Bush' prime time speech last night appears to have given politicians enough political cover and so word comes that the bailout plan which basically calls for a socialisation of corporate debts will move forward. Now I know something has to be done, but I seriously don’t understand why this decision is being rushed through so quickly. There are alternatives ways to possible deal with this crisis that haven't yet been properly explored.

Stopping a Financial Crisis, the Swedish Way
New York Times, By CARTER DOUGHERTY
Published: September 22, 2008

A banking system in crisis after the collapse of a housing bubble. An economy hemorrhaging jobs. A market-oriented government struggling to stem the panic. Sound familiar?

It does to Sweden. The country was so far in the hole in 1992 — after years of imprudent regulation, short-sighted economic policy and the end of its property boom — that its banking system was, for all practical purposes, insolvent.

But Sweden took a different course than the one now being proposed by the United States Treasury. And Swedish officials say there are lessons from their own nightmare that Washington may be missing.

Sweden did not just bail out its financial institutions by having the government take over the bad debts. It extracted pounds of flesh from bank shareholders before writing checks. Banks had to write down losses and issue warrants to the government.

That strategy held banks responsible and turned the government into an owner. When distressed assets were sold, the profits flowed to taxpayers, and the government was able to recoup more money later by selling its shares in the companies as well.

History will not be kind to Paulson's bailout plan. No question, the government had to do something, but using taxpayer money to provide corporate welfare to the rich, is just downright wrong. The American people know it. The President knows it. Congress knows it. The academics know it. And oh yeah, even the bankers know it too.

For those of you saying, the government did it before with the Savings and Loan scandal -- well the government was obligated then because those banks actually took deposits that were federally insured. That is clearly not the case with this crisis.

Thus, I find it difficult to believe that Bernanke is suggesting that the government should buy these toxic mortgage assets at more than their current distressed prices. Seriously, what is wrong with this man? Has he lost his marbles? More importantly, whose side is he on? If it were the taxpayers, he definitely wouldn't be asking Congress to pay a higher price for these toxic assets.

Lehman Brothers files for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, yet the barons at the top still manage to safeguard bonuses for some US employees while shafting all European employees who may not even get paid at the end of the month. Just ruthless!

From Times Online, September 21, 2008
Fury at $2.5bn Lehman bonus Nomura and Barclays table bids today for US giant’s London operation as bank’s administrator likens collapse to Enron

John Waples and Danny Fortson

STAFF at Lehman’s New York office who helped to cause the world’s biggest corporate bankruptcy are to share in a $2.5 billion bonanza.

The bonus, which has been described by London staff as a “scandal” has been pledged by Barclays Capital, the British-based bank that last week acquired Lehman’s American operation and took on 10,000 staff.

The $2.5 billion (£1.4 billion) pot, which has been ring-fenced as part of the acquisition, has caused huge resentment among the 5,000 staff in the firm’s European and Middle Eastern operations who are not guaranteed to be paid after this month. There are, however, hopes that half the jobs in Lehman’s Canary Wharf office could be saved today by either Barclays or Nomura. Bids are being submitted for its UK equities and investment-banking business.

A Chapter 11 bankruptcy document filed by Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc says that Barclays has identified eight individuals out of the New York staff of 10,000 who are vital to make the deal succeed and a further 200 who are identified as “key”. It is thought that these eight directors will be locked into two-year contracts worth between $10m and $25m a year.

Well, so much for companies and their executives accepting responsibility for their reckless business decisions. The US government has given in to the pleadings of Wall Street and announced a bailout plan that will cost taxpayers about $700 billion dollars and according to a New York Times article will raise the national debt ceiling to $11.3 trillion. This is just completely outrageous!

And since I'm going to have to contribute to buying these toxic CDOs (yes, I still have to file and PAY taxes even though I live abroad), I can only hope that the government will buy them at a sharp discount. Folks, I'm talking about pennies on the dollar -- not the inflated price the banks want to say they are worth -- because if the government doesn't negotiate hard for this sort of deal, then it will create even more moral hazard in the future.

Why? Well, this bailout plan does not even begin to address any penalties or possible punishments for those who are eventually found guilty for creating this mess. Perhaps that will come later. As if it doesn't, there is the increased probability that the next time, it will be even worse.

This plan in its current form will just encourage more risk without fear of any real consequences. Apparently, all financial institutions (well except for Lehman Brothers) are simply too big, too important to fail.

And now, the real winners in this financial crisis get revealed. It is the litigators.

Surprise! Surprise! Not really.

Of course, most of the magic circle and other top global law firms have either a contractual or simply just an unwritten rule not to sue investment banks as the fees from non-contentious work like M&A and IPO transactions are far more lucrative. However, in these new economic times, I am sure a few will break rank in the months to come.

Particularly as not only will more banks start suing each other, but we’ll also see an increase in investors, politicians and even other businesses suing banks. Thus, it will be hard for many of these global law firms to remain on the sidelines.

Plus with the near disappearance of bulge bracket investment banks who provided most of the profitable non-contentious work, some large global law firms will struggle to survive. And a few may have to swallow their pride, forget about possibly missing out on future instructions and cross over. There is serious money to me made now -- and oh yeah, someone (anyone really) needs to be held accountable for the near meltdown of the global banking system.

Ninja and sub-prime loans helped to topple investment banks like Lehman Brothers, but to lay all of the blame at the feet of poor people for the current financial crisis is just downright stupid and oh so wrong.

Via Oliver Willis.

George Walker Bush is the first US President to graduate with a Master of Business Administration (MBA) -- from Harvard Business School no less. As such, you would think that in the middle of this global banking crisis, he would be front and center helping to restore confidence in the marketplace. However, he is completely missing in action. In fact, on Monday when Wall Street and the rest of the financial markets were on their knees, he only provided a brief comment in the middle of a press conference with President Kufuor of Ghana. Yesterday, he made another brief statement. This is clearly a dereliction of duty.

Now I am not suggesting that the President should have pushed to the side Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke who are not only coordinating the government's interventions but also playing key roles in negotiations between financial institutions. He has rightly delegated the day-to-day management of this crisis to people who are more technically capable when it comes to financial matters.

However, considering that this crisis has gone global and this isn't just about a few bankers, as Commander in Chief/ Leader of the Free World/MBA in Chief, at some point during the week he should have been on TV during prime time addressing the American people and the world at large demonstrating that he understands the problems facing the financial markets and where possible, talking about what government will do to help restore confidence in the marketplace. Now that would have been real leadership. But as we saw in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, leadership in the middle of a crisis is not something that President Bush does well.

So thank goodness his tenure comes to an end January 20th 2009. Now, if only it were sooner.

Banning the short selling of UK financial stocks by the Financial Service Authority is government intervention I can get behind. Had they done this even a week ago, HBOS would most likely still be standing on its own. That said, better late than never.

The Times, September 19 2008
Ban on speculators who could break the banks
Siobhan Kennedy and Philip Webster

Speculators and hedge funds have been banned from betting on British banks going bust in a dramatic move by the City’s regulator.

The Financial Services Authority hopes that the temporary crackdown will prevent the downward spirals of bank share prices, reduce the likelihood of another Northern Rock-style run and encourage banks to start lending again on better terms.

The news came as Gordon Brown pledged to clean up the financial system after the rescue of Britain’s biggest mortgage lender, HBOS, by Lloyds TSB. The Prime Minister called for action through the regulators to require banks and other institutions to declare their off-balance-sheet liabilities, which could run into $1 trillion worldwide. It comes after suggestions that some bank chairmen do not know their full exposure.

Charles Goodhart (emeritus professor of banking and finance at the London School of Economics and a former member of the Bank of England’s monetary policy committee writes in an article for the Financial Times that "worrying about moral hazard in the current circumstances is rather like refusing to sell fire insurance just after the Great Fire of London for fear of adversely affecting future behaviour." I completely disagree.

Things may be catastrophic, but that does not mean that we should not have a proper debate about government's role in maintaining stability within the global banking system -- yes, even in the middle of the crisis. Furthermore, the expectation that government should rush in and immediately rescue all financial institutions that are in trouble sets a really bad precedent for the future.

Finally, this is a crisis of confidence not a lack of liquidity in the market – and so while government should do everything it can to help restore confidence, that does not mean they should simply throw billions of taxpayer dollars at the problem.

Has anyone out there created a vision board? I am in the middle of reading The Answer: Grow Any Business, Achieve Financial Freedom, and Live an Extraordinary Life by John Assaraf & Murray Smith and they advocate creating a vision board as they "are an especially powerful tool for imprinting your aspirations on your nonconscious brain." Considering that I am in a transition period, personally and professionally, thinking that this tool along with the others they advocate just might be the sort of new age thing to help me step up my game so was curious about other people's experience.

For anyone who thinks I might be going soft because I used God's name twice in the last entry, I have not. I still think that while government has a role to play during periods of financial crisis, the greedy bankers who created this mess need to be held accountable for their reckless business decisions.

Government (whether here in the UK or America) should not have to repeatedly bail-out these financial institutions (especially investment banks who do not take deposits) because it encourages continued excessive risk-taking. And by doing so, government is creating a moral hazard -- as the banks believe themselves to be so important that government will not allow them to fail. That my friend, is just not fair – as it is you and I the taxpayer who will eventually pay.

Thus, while it sucks to see so many people lose their jobs, I think the government made the right decision when it came to Lehman Brothers. Perhaps now, in this new economic environment, financial institutions will realise that they will have to accept the consequences of their disastrous risk-taking decisions which should help us get to the bottom and ultimately lead the way towards recovery.

Well I suppose it was only a matter of time before the financial crisis crossed the Atlantic. HBOS, the UK's largest mortgage broker and collector of savings is in emergency talks with Lloyds TSB after the stock price continued to go south due to malicious rumours. And there are reports that Prime Minister Brown has intervened personally to help sure up the situation. God us I tell you! God help us!

Times Online, September 17, 2008
Lloyds TSB in talks to buy HBOS
Christine Seib, Patrick Hosking

Lloyds TSB is in advanced talks to buy HBOS, Britain’s biggest mortgage lender, sending shares in the battered bank up 15 per cent.

Talks between Britain's fourth and fifth biggest banks emerged after the Financial Services Authority (FSA), the City watchdog, was forced to issue a statement on the strength of HBOS’s business to stop a freefall in its share price.

Share in HBOS dropped by more than 50 per cent to just over 80p this morning as panicked investors dumped their stock.

HBOS shares have been savaged by investors since the beginning of the week after Lehman Brothers’ bankruptcy ignited fears about the UK bank’s exposure to the mortgage market and its ability to fund its business.

I have written a few farewell emails in my professional career but all have been pretty conversative compared to the one sent below by a former colleague.

I wish you all inner peace, a satisfying career and a clear conscience.

Parting thought found at Isaiah 33:1.

Favorite Quotes:

"All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing"--Philosopher Edmund Burke

"They came first for the Communists, And I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Communist;
And then they came for the trade unionists, And I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a trade unionist;
And then they came for the Jews, And I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Jew;
And then . . . they came for me . . . And by that time there was no one left to speak up." -- Martin Niemoller

Damn! So much for towing the line and staying positive.

This morning when I went to bed around 2:30am London time the storm circling Wall Street was still out at sea. Now, a mere few hours later, things are in full swing. Not only has Lehman Brothers filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy but Merrill Lynch has been sold to Bank of America. Also, AIG and Washington Mutual are also now under threat. Others I'm sure will unfortunately follow. So maybe, just maybe we are getting close to the bottom of this financial crisis.

Either way, it will be interesting to see what happens after the dust settles. Government I am sure will want to rush in with all sorts of new "better" regulation. However, as someone who worked for a company that profited greatly after Sarbanes-Oxley Act was introduced in the wake of the Enron scandal, I am not so sure that more regulation is the answer. Because when I look back on things, the only people that really benefitted from Sarbanes Oxley were the consultants and lawyers. Plus, unless there is ongoing oversight and understanding of all the various exotic structured banking products like collateralised debt obligations with their limited transparency, things won’t really change.

Of course, the near collapse of the financial markets as we know it is on a whole other level than the collapse of Enron. So maybe, just maybe, with closer oversight by the Federal Reserve Bank and Treasury Department things will be different in the future. I suppose only time will tell.

Lara Fabian's I Will Love Again speaks to my current pain and hope for the future.

I could explain in detail, but for those of you who have been reading my blog for some time, we've been here before and really, I just don't have the strength to publicly rehash it again. It really is déjà vu. And so unfortunately, I have no one to blame but myself. But trust me, I have truly learnt my lesson this second time around. Thus, no longer, will I allow him to be my Achilles’ heel. Enough is enough!

The well has run dry. Or better yet, the American government has finally come to its senses and realises that while it must do all it can to not let major players within the financial systems, that does not automatically mean it must prop up investment banks like Lehman Brothers using taxpayer funds.

Now don't get me wrong, I do not want to see the bank fail and I really do hope that a deal can be hammered out privately to rescue the bank as not all of the 24,000+ employees are rich investment bankers.

That said, I strongly believe that the government should not continue making the sort of financial guarantees that it did in the Bear Stearns case. There isn't a bottomless bit of money. Furthermore, government intervention so far has not helped to contain the financial crisis. In fact, it has only gotten worse. Confidence has not been restored as we have not really reached the bottom. Thus as painful as it is to see house prices go south and unemployment increase with the trickle down effects of bank failures and the tighter rules around lending, the government needs to allow the market to correct itself. Harsh, but this needs to be the new reality.

Bank of America Said to Walk Away From Lehman Talks
By Margaret Popper and Yalman Onaran

Sept. 14 (Bloomberg) -- Bank of America Corp. abandoned talks to buy Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., according to a person with knowledge of the matter, less than three hours after Barclays Plc said it wouldn't buy the faltering investment bank.

Bank of America, the biggest U.S. consumer bank, and Barclays, the U.K.'s third-largest lender, had been among the leading candidates to acquire all or parts of New York-based Lehman. The Wall Street Journal reported that Bank of America had entered into merger talks with Merrill Lynch & Co., citing unidentified people.

The two potential bidders pulled out amid a third day of emergency negotiations led by the U.S. Treasury and Federal Reserve. Leigh Bruce, a spokesman for London-based Barclays, confirmed in a phone interview today that his firm had withdrawn. Spokespeople for Bank of America didn't immediately return calls seeking comment.

The U.S. government is racing to find a solution for Lehman before markets open tomorrow, two people familiar with the situation said. Barclays walked away because it couldn't get guarantees from the government or agree on a private-sector deal to mitigate what it called Lehman's ``open-ended'' trading obligations.

Just like every man I have ever loved, Michigan's rocky start to the football season is on track to break my heart.

Ok! Ok! That was perhaps a bit harsh and I said long ago that I would never get wrapped up in college sports again, but seriously now -- Michigan has already lost two football games this season and the one game we did win wasn't pretty.

Goodness! This is not looking good for Wolverine fans across the globe and new coach Rich Rodriguez. Heck, if this turns out to be a losing season, I think there is going to be a revolt by the fans to send this not ready for prime time coach back to West Virginia. So far, it doesn't appear that he knows how to coach a Big Ten team, never mind one with the most all-time wins and highest all-time winning percentage in NCAA Division I-A history.

For anyone interested in a local's opinion of Governor Palin, check out Mudflats whose author is "tiptoeing through the muck of Alaskan politics."

I've been banging on about the US Presidential election and I've failed to talk about what's happening in my own backyard. Basically, a growing number of British Labour MPs are calling for a leadership contest. Should this happen, this would most likely result in Gordon Brown no longer being the Prime Minister. This wouldn't be a surprise to anyone living in this country as opinion polls have shown a complete erosion of support for the Labour Party as the housing market and economy have gone south. That said, I'm really surprised by the mounting rebellion within the party -- particularly as if a general election were to happen in the near future, the only real winner would be David Cameron and the Conservatives who have been waiting 11+ years to get back in power.

From The Sunday Times, Published: September 14, 2008
By Jonathan Oliver and Marie Woolf
Ex-ministers join Gordon Brown rebellion

CABINET ministers were last night being urged to force Gordon Brown from office after 10 former government members publicly demanded a leadership contest.

Following the dramatic sacking of Siobhain McDonagh as a government whip, a string of senior Labour figures yesterday added their voices to the calls for a formal party ballot.

Barry Gardiner, a special envoy for Brown, said it was time for a leadership contest because “the public has stopped listening to Gordon Brown” and he is “not a popular prime minister”.

A coalition of up to a dozen senior MPs has now demanded that Labour send out leadership nomination papers before the annual party conference starts next weekend in Manchester. The rebel challenge has received private support from serving ministers, including one cabinet minister who said it was the only way of forcing Brown from office.

A YouGov poll for The Sunday Times today shows the Conservatives, on 46%, in a commanding 19-point lead over Labour, languishing on 27%.

A leopard never changes its spots, and as such, should Governor Palin actually become the next Vice President of the United States, I foresee a future filled with scandal and her possible even resigning in disgrace or being impeached. Sure she'll have people from the McCain camp trying to keep her in check, but sooner or later her true self as outlined in the NY Times article below will be revealed. So here's hoping this nightmare doesn't become a reality.

Once Elected, Palin Hired Friends and Lashed Foes
By JO BECKER, PETER S. GOODMAN and MICHAEL POWELL
New York Times, Published: September 13, 2008

WASILLA, Alaska — Gov. Sarah Palin lives by the maxim that all politics is local, not to mention personal.

So when there was a vacancy at the top of the State Division of Agriculture, she appointed a high school classmate, Franci Havemeister, to the $95,000-a-year directorship. A former real estate agent, Ms. Havemeister cited her childhood love of cows as a qualification for running the roughly $2 million agency.

Ms. Havemeister was one of at least five schoolmates Ms. Palin hired, often at salaries far exceeding their private sector wages.

When Ms. Palin had to cut her first state budget, she avoided the legion of frustrated legislators and mayors. Instead, she huddled with her budget director and her husband, Todd, an oil field worker who is not a state employee, and vetoed millions of dollars of legislative projects.

And four months ago, a Wasilla blogger, Sherry Whitstine, who chronicles the governor’s career with an astringent eye, answered her phone to hear an assistant to the governor on the line, she said.

“You should be ashamed!” Ivy Frye, the assistant, told her. “Stop blogging. Stop blogging right now!”

Ms. Palin walks the national stage as a small-town foe of “good old boy” politics and a champion of ethics reform. The charismatic 44-year-old governor draws enthusiastic audiences and high approval ratings. And as the Republican vice-presidential nominee, she points to her management experience while deriding her Democratic rivals, Senators Barack Obama and Joseph R. Biden Jr., as speechmakers who never have run anything.

But an examination of her swift rise and record as mayor of Wasilla and then governor finds that her visceral style and penchant for attacking critics — she sometimes calls local opponents “haters” — contrasts with her carefully crafted public image.

Throughout her political career, she has pursued vendettas, fired officials who crossed her and sometimes blurred the line between government and personal grievance, according to a review of public records and interviews with 60 Republican and Democratic legislators and local officials.

Pass it on...

I completely agree with the sentiments shared in article below. Obama needs to get in the ring and fight gladiator style because its now apparently clear that the McCain campaign will do "almost" anything to win.

Slaughter the Pig
By Terence Samuel, TheRoot.com
Team Obama needs to break out the knives and start rolling in the mud, too.

Sept. 10, 2008--So we wake up this morning to a Web ad from the McCain-Palin campaign accusing Barack Obama of sexism. It is a swift and superb effort and, from what we know about these things and the political climate in which we live, likely to be effective. It is a quick and dirty piece of television remarkable for the jaw-dropping, breath-taking, head-shaking dishonesty on which is it based.

The basic charge is that Obama called Sarah Palin a pig, and that is sexist. Nevermind that it never happened. It is now clear that the Republicans' strategy for victory is not to discredit Obama's views or his policy positions but to destroy the man himself.

Based on the current trajectory, what Obama may have coming will make the swift-boating of John Kerry look like a campfire song. And if Democrats are nervous and a little dispirited today it is because they have seen the effectiveness of this approach before. More importantly, they have seen it in combination with the complete inability of their own candidate to effectively respond. Obama's speech on charter schools and the importance of education in Dayton, Ohio yesterday did nothing to advance his candidacy. Instead, all the energy and resources of his campaign were spent explaining that the phrase "You can put lipstick on a pig, but it's still a pig," is an old English axiom meant to convey that deception has limits. Even McCain has used the phrase on occasion.

I'm all for parents doing everything they can to help their children get ahead, but selling the family home so one of the children can go to dance school for seven years seems a bit much.

Dominic Handford's parents sell house so they can send him to top ballet school
From The Times, Simon de Bruxelles, September 9, 2008

Dominic Harford won a place at Elmhurst School for Dance

An 11-year-old ballet dancer described as a real-life Billy Elliot took up the offer of a place at Britain’s oldest dance school yesterday after his parents sold their home to pay the £22,000 a year fees.

Dominic Handford beat hundreds of other hopefuls to win a place at the prestigious Elmhurst School for Dance in Birmingham but, like the character in the successful film, his parents were unable to afford the fees.

Jonathan and Adele Handford decided to make the ultimate sacrifice and sell their four-bedroomed house in a Welsh mining village and move in with Mrs Handford’s mother.

Mr Handford, a lorry driver, his wife and their three other children, Yasmin, 13, Charles, 6, and Connor, 4, are now sharing two bedrooms.

I had house guests this past weekend and so didn't end up watching McCain's acceptance speech. And with each day that passes, I have less desire to do so. Heck, after watching John Stewart's wrap up, I see it was just business as usual.

What is it with old people who say the most inappropriate things? Case in point, the first thing out of my eldest Aunt's mouth -- who I haven’t seen in over two years and who I must host for an entire weekend – relates to my weight. Now I could have made some sharky comments back, but out of difference to my elders, I said nothing. Now I wish I hadn't shown such restraint. Her comment was just downright rude.

He loves me! He loves me not! He loves me! He loves me not! He loves me! He loves me not! He loves me! He loves me not! He loves me! He loves me not! He loves me! He loves me not! He loves me! He loves me not! He loves me! He loves me not! He loves me! He loves me not! He loves me! He loves me not! He loves me! He loves me not! He loves me! He loves me not! He loves me! He loves me not! He loves me! He loves me not! He loves me! He loves me not! He loves me! He loves me not! He loves me! He loves me not! He loves me! He loves me not! He loves me! He loves me not! He loves me! He loves me not! He...

Further proof that the Repulican (ok, some of them) hacks are having difficulty keeping their story straight.

The general rule of thumb is that a recession occurs when real gross domestic product (GDP) growth is negative for two or more consecutive quarters And based on forecasts by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Britain will be the only major economy that falls into recession this year.

Apparently the near collapse of the housing market is to blame for the demise of the UK economy which is why the Labour government announced a rescue package earlier this week. Most pundits have panned the package and a few even go so far as to say that it will cause further harm to the economy.

Personally, I think the government needs to step back and let the market correct itself. Yeah, it will be painful. But having the government butt in with a half measured response that benefits only a few, is definitely not the way to go.

I have paid close attention to every US presidential election since 1984. In fact, since the Reagan v Mondale contest, I have watched most of the convention speeches given, not just by the Democrats, but also the Republicans. But this year, I just don't have it in me. The reasons for this are varied. One, there is the time difference now that I am in London. Also, after 3 years of living abroad and conversing (really arguing) with colleagues, friends as well as a few drunks at the pub about George Walker Bush, the Iraq War and American foreign policy in general, my tolerance for listening to Republican rhetoric has greatly diminished. So this year, while I stayed up to watch the Democratic convention live, I've mostly been watching the Republican speeches via YouTube!

That said, I just spent 45 minutes of my life (which unfortunately I'll never get back), listening to Governor Palin's speech to the RNC. Taking off my partisan hat, I have to say that while I disagreed with 99.9% of what she had to say, it was a good speech that I'm sure will play well with the Republican base. However, not sure that it did enough to seriously appeal to independents out there. A good chunk of time was spent introducing her family (again!) and talking up her limited experience in government. She also had high praise for Senator McCain and repeatedly mocked Senator Obama -- all of which was very predictable. However, what I find surprising is that there was no real talk about political issues or reform. So lots of hype but no real substance.

Thus, I can't wait for her to get grilled by the media while making the rounds on the Sunday morning talk show circuit. Also, I can't wait to see how she performs in a debate against Senator Biden. I just have a hunch that she won't be living up to her Barracuda nickname. Basically, after a few unscripted rounds, she'll be all bark and no bite!

After listening to Senator Joseph Liberman's speech to the RNC, I can't believe this guy was on the Democratic ticket 8 years ago. Seriously! He is Judas reincarnated. Look, I'm not suggesting that all Democrats need to fall in line behind Senator Obama. However, I don't expect one of such prominence to go into the enemy's camp to slander his own party's candidate in such a public way. All of this leads me to believe that Senator Liberman has been promised some sort of high profile job should McCain win. I have no evidence, just a suspicion.

I thought we were in the middle of a presidential election, but after reading rumors surrounding Governor Palin's fifth child (which I will not repeat here) along with story below, it appears that we are in the middle of a Jerry Springer Show. For fucks sake. What happened to McCain's pledge to put country first?

Now I am not suggesting that having a pregnant teenage daughter should have automatically disqualified Governor Palin from getting the VP nod. However, considering the Republican viewpoint on sex before marriage and a whole host of other family value issues, thinking McCain should have looked elsewhere.

Palin Says Her Daughter, 17, Is Pregnant
By REUTERS
Published: September 1, 2008

ST. PAUL, Sept 1 (Reuters) - The 17-year-old daughter of Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin is pregnant, Palin said on Monday in an announcement intended to knock down rumors by liberal bloggers that Palin faked her own pregnancy to cover up for her child.

Bristol Palin, one of Alaska Gov. Palin's five children with her husband, Todd, is about five months pregnant and is going to keep the child and marry the father, the Palins said in a statement released by the campaign of Republican presidential candidate John McCain.

Bristol Palin made the decision on her own to keep the baby, McCain aides said.

"We have been blessed with five wonderful children who we love with all our heart and mean everything to us," the Palins' statement said.

"Our beautiful daughter Bristol came to us with news that as parents we knew would make her grow up faster than we had ever planned. As Bristol faces the responsibilities of adulthood, she knows she has our unconditional love and support," the Palins said.

The Palins asked the news media to respect the young couple's privacy.

"Bristol and the young man she will marry are going to realize very quickly the difficulties of raising a child, which is why they will have the love and support of our entire family. We ask the media, respect our daughter and Levi's privacy as has always been the tradition of children of candidates," the statement concluded.

MCCAIN KNEW

I've been obsessing about the US presidential elections, that I've failed to note that the senior British Cabinet minister for economic/financial matters has gone on record and basically said that the UK economy is fucked! Hmmm, I wonder how long until he gets sacked? Now he may have spoken the truth, but no one likes a politician who does not instil confidence is all doom and gloom.

Economy at 60-year low, says Darling. And it will get worse.
Chancellor says Labour failing to communicate with voters
Nicholas Watt, chief political correspondent
The Guardian, Saturday August 30 2008

Britain is facing "arguably the worst" economic downturn in 60 years which will be "more profound and long-lasting" than people had expected, Alistair Darling, the chancellor, tells the Guardian today.

In the government's gravest assessment of the economy, which follows a warning from a Bank of England policymaker that 2 million people could be out of work by Christmas, Darling admits he had no idea how serious the credit crunch would become.

His blunt remarks lay bare the unease in the highest ranks of the cabinet that the downturn is making it all but impossible for Gordon Brown to recover momentum after a series of setbacks.

His language is much starker than the tone adopted by the prime minister, who aims to revive his premiership this autumn by explaining how he will help struggling families through the downturn.

The chancellor, who says that Labour faces its toughest challenge in a generation, admits that Brown and the cabinet are partly to blame for Labour's woes because they have "patently" failed to explain the party's central mission to the country, leaving voters "pissed off".

In a candid interview in today's Guardian Weekend magazine, Darling warns that the economic times faced by Britain and the rest of the world "are arguably the worst they've been in 60 years". To deepen the sense of gloom, he adds: "And I think it's going to be more profound and long-lasting than people thought."