Barack Obama, Presidente of the United States of America

Barack Obama’s Audacity of Hope prevailed over John McCain’s The Luxury of Negative and Nasty Thoughts. Barack Obama is the President-elect of the United States of America not only because he inspired people with the power of his message for change, not racial or generational change, but change in the manner the economic affairs of the nation are conducted and change in the way we must deal with other nations. More importantly however, he won because he is intellectually superior, better educated and better informed that John McCain. He won because, unlike John McCain, he has the ability to think through domestic and international issues and intelligently analyze the wide range of possible solutions. He won because, unlike McCain, he can clearly distinguish between the significant and the insignificant and that was amply demonstrated in the selection of running mates.

The American people understood that there was a need to elect a president not only with a sense of the general direction in which he wishes to move, but with a sense, also, of the direction in which the times require him to move; these are very different things. John McCain wished to continue to pursue the economic and foreign policies of George W. Bush, policies that have the economy on the brink of a depression (if not in one already) and the country engaged in two very expensive wars in dollars and cents and, more importantly, in human lives.

Barack Obama clearly demonstrated that he has a better sense of the general direction the country needs to take and he persuaded the American people that time is of the essence, that we couldn’t afford another four years of the same. He understands that we need drastic changes. He knows that in just eight years we have gone from the most prosperous country in the world to an America deep in a financial crisis. He understands that the American Dream is going down the drain and that American jobs are flowing overseas. He understands that foreigners are seizing our markets and beating us at our own game.

No one that followed this presidential campaign can’t be greatly disgusted by how vicious was the scrutiny that Senator Obama was subjected to by the McCain/Palin team. For no other reason than the color of his skin, he had to endure the most rigorous negative attacks that any presidential candidate has ever been subjected to in American presidential campaigns. And, probably for the same reason, he knows that from the day that he takes office all that can be said against him and his policies, legitimate or not, is certain to be said.

HZ

SETTING MY COMMENTS STRAIGHT

I have been severely criticized for my views on John McCain and accused of lack of objectivity. That’s is OK, because it is true that I feel that the country doesn’t owe Senator McCain the presidency for his war record and I also admit that I have also said that in my opinion he lacks wisdom and judgment to be president.

This past Sunday General Wesley Clark, the former NATO Supreme Commander told CBS’s Face the Nation: “I don’t think that riding and in a fighter plane and getting shot down is a qualification to be President’. And it was Galen Carpenter, vice president for defense and foreign policies studies at the Cato Institute who said: ‘McCain’s war record simply shows he was a very brave man, But it shows neither wisdom nor judgment to be President’.

But it has been Senator McCain who has set the foundations on which he is judged. For instance:

And on September 15, as the U.S economy was collapsing, Senator McCain stated: "The fundamentals of our economy are strong," despite what he described as "tremendous turmoil in our financial markets and Wall Street." You know," said McCain, "there's been tremendous turmoil in our financial markets and Wall Street and it is -- people are frightened by these events. Our economy, I think, still the fundamentals of our economy are strong. But these are very, very difficult time. And I promise you, we will never put America in this position again. We will clean up Wall Street. We will reform government."

Moreover, since he won the Republican nomination, Mc Cain’s own statements include the following:

That the economy is not one of his strengths; that the country made great economic progress under George W. Bush; that he knows how to capture Osama bin Laden; that the government ought to buy the bad mortgage loans from the banks and, at the same time, reduce spending; that Iraq and Pakistan share borders; that the Iraq war is the first major conflict since 9/11 ; that he thinks Czechoslovakia still exists (mentioned 3 times).

I realize that National Security is an important issue but I do not believe that the fact that Senator McCain was a prisoner of war makes him either a good Commander in Chief or a good President. Likewise, I do not believe that the fact that Senator Obama was president and editor of the prestigious Harvard University Law Review make him a good Commander in Chief or a good President.

There are other important considerations, of course.

HZ

A MATTER OF JUDGMENT

It is very hard to go through all the bullshit that we get from Washington and the presidential candidates, while the current financial crisis is visibly troubling in the U.S and around the world. Is it hard to have confidence in our government, in the financial health of our economy and in the security of our investments when the news we get creates concern not just about our own financial well-being but also about the safety and stability of our financial institutions. This is an all around hard situation that we are living in and thus it is easy to be impulsive with our investment decisions. No longer are we able to make investments decisions with confidence and comfort. Everyone feels the negative effects of this financial crisis. No one is immune to it, not even the rich.

How bad is it? Bad enough. With all the negative news on TV and newspapers there is nothing to be optimistic about. There are no positive signs that things will get better any time soon. We need new and better solutions. And of course, we need a new regulatory system, one with based on laws, of course, but with strong emphasis on moral values and ethic. The existing system has proven too easy for crooked Wall Street executives to manipulate, with the awful consequences we now know. Above all, we need meaningful changes in the political leadership in Washington.

As ordinary citizens there is nothing we can do to correct the wrongs of the smart boys of Wall Street or the inefficiency of our leaders and regulators in Washington. Except, of course, to get rid of them all on November 4th. We’ll have that chance, the chance to bring new hopes to our country by changing the leadership at the top of our government. Selecting the right man is critical.

I am a working senior citizen, I am agnostic and I am politically independent. Iacre for our country and thus I try hard to be objetive. Let me be clear: I am not as much an Obama supporter as I am an opponent of John McCain. And here is why:

John McCain entered the race as a war hero, as an experienced and well-known Senator with 26 years behind him as a member of the Washington establishment. He began running against a young man who was virtually unknown not too long ago, a freshman Senator with barely any legislative achievements to boast of – and a black man with a funny name to boot.

In TV adds, in campaing speeches and in the debates Senator McCain asserts that “he is the known quantity, the safer choice. He portrays himself as an “experienced Senator and as a maverick. In the last debate, in an outrageous show of arrogance he claimed to “know exactly how to get Osama bin Laden and how to destroy Al Qaeda.” I am still wondering, why isn’t he sharing his strategy with the Generals who are fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan?

John McCain describes Senator Obama as a beginner with everything to prove and as a man of questionable character. He asks time and time again “who is the real Barack Obama, subtly implying that underneath Senator Osama’s charisma rest the soul of a Muslim terrorist. What a rotten way to run for the Presidency of the United States. How incredibly sad is to see an old man behave in such a hateful manner, to be convinced that he is more American than the rest of us. It is no wonder that with less than four weeks to go John McCain is behind in the polls and the gap is rapidly widening to double digits. His outrageous rhetoric is not fooling all American people, On the contrary, it has placed him in a most peculiar position.

The personal attacks notwithstanding, what most concerns me is the fact that since becoming the nominee of the Republican party Senator McCain has been jumping wildly from one issue to another and not making real sense on any. He he is making irrational promises to shake things up in Washington, in Wall Street and around the world and not explaining how except to say that he “knows how to get things done”. He is desperately striving for attention with one daring stroke after another in his desire to be President. His boldest move, of course, was to select Sarah Palin as his running-mate.

The selection of Sarah Palin may have been a great initial success and to too many Republicans an election-winner move. Ms. Palin thrilled Republicans with her speech at the Republican convention and pleasantly surprised many people, including me. She got media attention and she still does. Her TV interviews have been awful beyond belief, although she was coached well for her VP debate. Now with news of abuse of power, the Sarah Palin wild ride seems to be at an end – with little positive effect.

Senator McCain’s next audacious move was his attempt to lead efforts in Congress to pass a financial plan of his own. Promising to suspend his campaign, he rushed back to Washington where his intervention was embarrassingly ineffective. Meanwhile Senator Obama rose above it all, winning praise for standing to one side and not interfering with the negotiations between the leadership of both parties. Senator McCain, with the wisdom of 26 years in Washington, made a fool of himself by rolling up his sleeves, acting tough, and getting in everyone’s way.

We have spent the past few weeks watching Senator McCain wearing himself out. His egotistical temperament has redoubled his intellectual shortcomings. People can tolerate only so much unpredictability in a politician, even a maverick Senator. Passion to win the election is fine. Enthusiasm to win the Iraq war is admirable. His choice of a running mate was audacious. But lack of prudence and good ideas doesn’t sit well with the thingking people, people who put the best interest of the country ahead of political and religious creeds, not to mention other petty considerations.

If all of the above makes people nervous about Senator McCain, his latest idea to have the government buy all bad mortgage loans, while promising cuts in government expenditures, is infuriating even to his most fanatic supporters. People are starting to wonder about Senator McCain’s state of mind. His his gimmicks and mistakes, and there have been plenty of both, are showing. People are starting to look for erratic behavior in him and finding it too.

I should mention, parenthetically, that once I read that at age 20 or so Bill Gates went to the people of IBM and told them that he and his partner, Bill Allen, had this idea to make IBM bigger and better. They were told that they were too young and inexperienced, that the R&D unit of IBM was hiring only people experience and a proven track record.

For all the stated reasons I, for one, accept Senator Obama's lack of experience -- and I am prepared to trust his judgment as well..

HZ

THE CRISIS: MISCELLANEOUS THOUGHTS

1. Because those in power are so isolated from the rest of us and so indebted to big business, lobbyists and the wealthy, our way of life as we know it is rapidly fading and so is the American Dream ---- now almost unreachable for most young Americans. I am not smart enough to know all the reasons for what is happening to our economy, especially its financial and credit markets, but I would like to think that I am smart enough to know that one reason is because we don’t care enough to find out; we allow ourselves to be greatly influenced by partisan politics, religious beliefs and ethnic prejudices, all of which further impair good judgment. As a result we elect incompetent people to govern us and we trust an economic model that not only encourages greed but in fact protects it.

2. Before George W. Bush was elected President, all we knew about him was that he was the Governor of Texas and the son of a former President. Not long after we learned that he is an arrogant, incompetent and deceiving man who has screw up time after time and in the process done great harm to our democracy through the war in Iraq, the Patriot Act and his macho kind of diplomacy.

3. How Henry Paulson, Secretary of the Treasury, ever got to be the CEO of Goldman Sachs, an icon of capitalism, is puzzling to me. Yet, this former Wall Street CEO is in charge of fixing the excesses of Wall Street and as such he developed a rescue plan that has nothing to do with Adam Smith’s brand of capitalism. Surrounded by former Goldman Sachs executives at the Treasury Department, this man has clear conflicts of interest and should resign.

4. Considering that the current banking, financial and economic crisis started under the watch of Allan Greenspan, the former FED Chairman has much explaining to do to the American people.

5. In John McCain we have a possible President that is embarrassingly ignorant on all matters related to the economy, the country’s main problem. Except when talking about his days as a hero of the Vietnam War, this man can’t express a single thought without reading a script (probably written by someone else). Most important, he couldn’t have shown poorer judgment than in the selection of his running mate.

6. Sarah Palin is a nice woman and probably a great hockey mom as well, but to suggest that this woman is ready to handle the job of President of the United States is a cruel joke and truly an insult to all thinking Americans. In fact, if Senator McCain showed poor judgment in selecting her, Sarah Palin showed equal poor judgment in accepting.

7. This presidential campaign is not only the dirtiest in history, but much of the dislike for Senator Obama is racially inspired. Senator Obama is certainly pretty young and thus lacks experience. But he is, however, intellectually superior to Senator McCain and has a better vision for the future of our country.

8. The harsh reality is that we are not only in an environment of deep financial crisis, but also a huge crisis of insolvency, confidence and trust. A large numbers of our better known banks, insurance companies, and commercial and industrial concerns are on the brink of collapse. Trillions of dollars in assets are in danger in a sea of all kinds of problems. It is a kind of economic cancer that can’t be saved with a bail out package full of holes. The fair thing in a free market economy is that the losses of businesses should go to the owners (shareholders) and not to the taxpayers. The government shouldn’t have intervened to protect greed, mismanagement and corruption.

9. I doubt that things will improve much unless we have a competent men and women in the White House and in the Congress. We need new rules and regulations that will discourage the kind of behavior that has place the American economy in trauma care.

HZ

THE DEBATE AND THE TRUTH

I am not a republican or democrat; I am simply a grateful immigrant that wishes the best for the United States. And the best, in my opinion, is definitely not four more years of the Republican Party in charge of the White House. I also believe in democracy and such belief demands that in order to make an intelligent choice in the vote booth I must be well informed about the candidates and the issues. I truly believe that.

Like most Americans, I watched the debate last evening. And because the truth really matters I took notes and afterwards I checked into Google, CNN, The Washington Post and the New York Times looking for the facts. Thanks to the Internet doing so is entirely possible nowadays if you don’t want to be fooled by phony accusations and claims.

And here is what I found and concluded:

Sarah Palin is not, not even under the most charitable evaluation standard, ready to be Vice President and much less President of the United States. She is attractive, friendly and eloquent, and in last evening Vice Presidential debate she certainly scored points with her theme: I’m a mom. The week of debate-coaching worked, but, pretty much like Senator McCain, she more often than not stretched out the truth or outright lied on a whole array of issues (rapidly sounding like most Washington politicians). For instance:

In criticizing Barack Obama's Iraq policy, she said that President Bush’s Iraq troop “surge” plan had worked and that U.S. troop levels in Iraq are now back at pre-surge levels.

In fact, there are 152,000 troops in Iraq. There were 137,000 troops there before the surge.

She said that Obama has refused to acknowledge that the surge worked.

In fact, in an interview last month, Obama said, "The surge has succeeded in ways that nobody anticipated . . . I've always said it's succeeded beyond our wildest dream."

Talking about Iraq, she said, "We’re getting closer and closer to victory," and "victory is within sight" because of the surge.

While the level of violence in Iraq is much improved, military commanders - and a report this week from the Pentagon - caution that the gains are fragile and threatened by a number of worrisome developments Most analysts also say that, while adding the extra troops in Iraq last year helped, other changes may have had more impact. These included the decision by radical Shiite leader Muqtada al-Sadr to agree to a cease-fire and a U.S. program that paid Sunni tribesman to fight Islamic extremists in their midst.

On domestic issues, she accused Obama of voting 94 times to either raise or fight against tax cuts.

FactCheck.org, a non-partisan watchdog Web site, called the claim "misleading." According to Fact Check, Obama voted against proposed tax cuts 23 times. He also voted 11 times for increasing taxes on families earning more than $1 million a year to help pay for Head Start school nutrition programs. Moreover, 53 of his votes were on non-binding resolutions on allowing scheduled tax cuts to expire.

Sarah Palin repeated a McCain campaign claim that Obama voted to raise taxes on Americans making as little as $42,000 a year.

That claim, too, is misleading. Obama voted for a non-binding resolution on budget guidelines assuming that the Bush tax cuts would expire on schedule in 2011. The resolution was not a vote to raise taxes.

In a huge blunder Palin overstated Alaska's contribution to America's oil and natural gas needs. She said her state has "billions of barrels of oil and hundreds of trillions of cubic feet of clean, green natural gas."

Natural gas is cleaner than oil or coal, but it still emits hydrocarbons when it's burned. Alaska produces 3.5 percent of all U.S. energy, 13.7 percent of U.S. oil and 2.3 percent of U.S. natural gas, according to the Department of Energy's Energy Information Administration

She also said that Alaska is building a "nearly $40 billion natural gas pipeline which is North America's largest and most expensive infrastructure project ever to flow those sources of energy into hungry markets."

In fact, no building has begun, no federal pipeline approval has been issued and actual construction is years away - if it ever happens. This summer the Alaska Legislature, at Palin's request, passed a law under which the state will issue a "license" to a Canadian energy company, TransCanada Corp., and pay it up to $500 million as an incentive to attempt this enormous project, which Alaska politicians have long sought with little success. The license is not a construction contract.

She put the price tag for the project at nearly $40 billion.

That is an exaggeration. This is roughly $10 billion more than most cost estimates industry players and consultants have made to date.

She also mislead when she said that when she and others in the state legislature found out that Alaska had some millions of dollars investment in Sudan, they called for divestment "to make sure we weren't doing anything that would be seen as condoning the activities there in Darfur."

There's no evidence whatsoever that Palin had any part in the divestiture legislation and one legislator who was involved said there's been no sign of her.

Although Senator Biden also made some phony claims and accusations towards Senator McCain, those were fewer and less outrageous. But if you want to know exactly what they were, I humbly suggest that you go and do your own home work.

HZ

FACING AN UNCERTAIN FUTURE

$ 3.1billion dollars was paid to the top five Chief Executive Officers of Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch, Lehman Brothers and Bear Stearns during the five year period 2003/2007.That’s $ 620 million a year shared by the five CEOs who led their firms either to outright collapse or close to bankruptcy. It should be noted, also, that the excessive compensations were no limited to the CEOs of the five firms. The CEOs of AIG, Citicorp, Wachovia, Washington Mutual, Country Wide and many other failed or semi-failed companies and commercial and investment banks have been equally compensated for similarly miserable performances.

It appears that for the CEOs of all these failed corporations management and investing expertise were not only business school’s skills, but also a manifestation of their superior intelligence. It was this perception of superior ability what led them to think that gambling their shareholders’ resources, without rules or supervision, were not only the best money games in existence but also the best possible way to justify their obscenest paychecks. And why not? While their gambling worked Goldman, Morgan Stanley, Merrill, Lehman and Bear Stearns had combined earnings of $ 93 billion, profits that enriched their CEOs beyond what anyone in his right mind imagined --- this because their compensation was “tied to performance”.

Although I know that Chief Executive Incompetence is more relevant than Executive Compensation, what I am most concerned about in this fast-moving financial crisis is that there is too much talk about the need to approve a bail out package that is so fundamentally flawed that few citizens want and even fewer understand. Not to mention that there is not enough factual information or the availability of a plan B.

At this critical juncture is imperative to get a resolution as to how to fix the problem and postpone for later the urge to deal with the reasons as to how we got here and who must bear the blame. I have the feeling that the American people already know the identity of those responsible. And if the primary concern right now is to prevent the banking system (the credit markets) from collapsing, why is it that the experts dealing with the issues insists on a proposal (a bail out package mixing rotten apples with good apples) that is designed to invest taxpayers money in banks and firms notorious for their mismanagement instead of placing these funds with banks throughout the country that have been prudently managed? There are more than 7,000 commercial banks in the United States and 90% of them (the good apples) are not contaminated by sub prime loans and thus perfectly able to maintain the credit market going.

I admit, I am frightened by the thought that this crisis, one that is primarily a banking crisis now will rapidly become an economic and financial crisis and will wind up being significantly more costly and painful than what is currently predicted, especially in the jobs and financials markets. And of course America’s middle class will have to swallow the costs of a bail out package that is huge in dollars and promises and shockingly poor in assurances that an efficient follow thru is in place.

HZ

THIS IS AN OUTRAGE, THE VOTE THAT'S.

It is 2:15 PM and I am watching CNN, hardly believing the news anchor: “The House rejects the $ 700 billion bailout plan”, the DOW plunges 700 points”. Wow!

This is an outrage. The citizens of the United States, I am afraid, are mad as hell and asking themselves what else can go wrong. Presumably, however, the only gentlemen not paying attention to this tragic news are those former CEOs who already pocketed tens of millions of dollars after screwing our financial system.
Believe me; like most Americans, I feel a deep disgust for the type of unscrupulous CEOs who wrecked the whole financial system and for the politicians in Washington, D.C unable to put partisan politics aside and for once act unselfishly. It has been widely said that politicians and used car salesman are not to be trusted. Now, let’s add the CEOs of commercial and and investment banks.