Weekly Recap (2009-10-24)

• Weekly Recap (2009-10-17) http://bit.ly/35e4Ui #
• Sharpton Determined to Help Rush http://bit.ly/pSltZ #
• The Younger Reid http://bit.ly/L7t6u #
• MSM Starts to Admit TEA Party Viability http://bit.ly/5t3Lc #
• Green Whores? http://bit.ly/3GAGtr #
• Is Emanuel Testing the Waters for a Scuttle in Afghanistan? http://bit.ly/NqZ3C #
• Barry Milhouse Obama http://bit.ly/RuOMb #
• Dropping Out (and Tuning Out and Turning Off) http://bit.ly/cYRb7 #

Bank Failures up to 105 for 2009

But Obama says things are getting better:

he cascade of bank failures this year surpassed 100 on Friday, the most in nearly two decades. And the trouble in the banking system from bad loans and the recession goes even deeper than the number suggests…

…Bank failures have cost the FDIC’s fund that insures deposits an estimated $25 billion this year and are expected to cost $100 billion through 2013. To replenish the fund, the agency wants banks to pay in advance $45 billion in premiums that would have been due over the next three years.

The FDIC won’t say how deep a hole its deposit insurance fund is in. It can tap a credit line from the Treasury of up to a half-trillion dollars to cover the gap.

The list of banks in trouble is getting longer. At the end of June, the FDIC had flagged 416 as being at risk of failure, up from 305 at the end of March and 252 at the beginning of the year…

It was the end of June when the FDIC rated 416 banks at risk – its now the last part of October: anyone want to bet me the number has gone down? We can be pretty sure it hasn’t because if it had, the number would be out there. We can probably expect – given the number of Fridays left in 2009 – about 30 more banks to be seized…but that will leave hundreds at risk, and the FDIC is holding off on taking them over for lack of funds. Unless things turn around massively in 2010 – and there’s no indication they will – we’ll have several hundred bank failures next year.

But that’s not all – the supposed profits of the larger banks? Entirely bogus – they’d all be indicted for fraud except for the fact that Obama is protecting them. If you thought Enron’s accounting was corrupt, wait till you see what comes out in the by and by about our major financial institutions. They are all functionally insolvent and in 2010 as the smaller banks fall by the scores and hundreds, those big banks will be looking for another bail out. But where is the money for it to come from?

Its going to go from bad to worse – and made much worse by the happy talk out of the Administration and Wall Street which is convincing suckers to buy stocks. As long as we’re not creating new wealth – by increasing the amount we make, mine and grow – we’re just spinning our wheels and piling up more debt…

As an aside: for you liberals out there who will try to ignore this or spin it away, just for a moment be honest with yourselves and realize what you’d be doing if Bush were still President and we had 105 bank failures.

Americans Trust GOP More Than Democrats on Key Issues

New Rasmussen survey:

For the first time in recent years, voters trust Republicans more than Democrats on all 10 key electoral issues regularly tracked by Rasmussen Reports. The GOP holds double-digit advantages on five of them.

Republicans have nearly doubled their lead over Democrats on economic issues to 49% to 35%, after leading by eight points in September.

The GOP also holds a 54% to 31% advantage on national security issues and a 50% to 31% lead on the handling of the war in Iraq.

But voters are less sure which party they trust more to handle government ethics and corruption, an issue that passed the economy in voter importance last month. Thirty-three percent (33%) trust Republicans more while 29% have more confidence in Democrats. Another 38% are undecided. Last month, the parties were virtually tied on the issue.

As the economy worsens – or, at best fails to improve – that last issue will become crucial. The GOP was justifiably hammered in 2006 for corruption – now the Democrats are in charge and more and more people are realizing that while the GOP had corrupt members, Democrats have an endemic problem with corruption coupled with a complete unwillingness to do anything about it (at least we GOPers gave our corrupt members the boot). In the normal course of events, the GOP would have picked up 20-25 House seats next year – a bad economy, a corrupt government and a near-revolutionary ferment in the body politic might make things vastly different.

It will still take GOP leadership to translate all of the elements in to smashing GOP victory – but the ground is being laid, the Democrats are being exposed…and all we have to do is summon the courage and conviction to do what is right.

White House Hopes Reid Knows What He's Doing

And that is a bit scary:

On Thursday night, Reid went over to the White House for a talk with the president. The conversation centered on Reid’s desire to put Schumer’s national opt-out plan into the base bill. White House officials were not necessarily pleased, and they made that known. Everyone agrees that they didn’t embrace Reid’s new strategy. Everyone agrees that the White House wants Snowe on the bill, feels the trigger offers a safer endgame, and isn’t convinced by Reid’s math. But whether officials expressed a clear preference for the trigger, or were just worried about the potential for 60 votes, is less clear. One staffer briefed on the conversation says “the White House basically told us, ‘We hope you guys know what you’re doing.’”

The country sure is in the best of hands, right?

The Little Shop of Horrors, Democrat Style

Remember the movie, Little Shop of Horrors, when Rick Moranis’ nerdy character finally found a way to be popular, with help from a man-eating plant who demanded to be fed? Even though Moranis saw how evil this monster was, his wanting to be popular overrode any pangs of conscience he felt toward feeding it.

And we all know how that turned out:

Well, in that vein, with regard to the DNC and their pet monster ACORN, life is imitating art:

WASHINGTON – During consideration of H.R. 3126, legislation to establish a Consumer Financial Protection Agency (CFPA), Democrats on the House Financial Services Committee voted to pass an amendment offered by Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) that will make ACORN eligible to play a role in setting regulations for financial institutions.

The Waters amendment adds to the CFPA Oversight Board 5 representatives from the fields of “consumer protection, fair lending and civil rights, representatives of depository institutions that primarily serve underserved communities, or representatives of communities that have been significantly impacted by higher-priced mortgages” to join Federal banking regulators in advising the Director on the consistency of proposed regulations, and strategies and policies that the Director should undertake to enforce its rules.

By making representatives of ACORN and other consumer activist organizations eligible to serve on the Oversight Board, the amendment creates a potentially enormous government sanctioned conflict of interest. ACORN-type organizations will have an advisory role on regulating the very financial institutions from which they receive millions of dollars annually in direct corporate contributions and benefit from other financial partnerships and arrangements. These are the same organizations that pressured banks to make subprime mortgage loans and thus bear a major responsibility for the collapse of the housing market.

I guess the dems just can’t help it, can they? After complaint upon criminal complaint launched against ACORN, Maxine Waters still has the chutzpah to offer them a place at the table for regulating the financial industry.

Ain’t corruption grand?

Obama's Priorities

From NRO’s Campaign Spot:

With his attendance at fundraisers for Sen. Chris Dodd of Connecticut and Gov. Deval Patrick of Massachusetts today — boy, there’s a pair of popular incumbents — President Obama has now attended seven fundraisers since General Stanley McChrystal submitted his request for additional troops in Afghanistan.

Boy, it’s a shame Gen. McChrystal isn’t an unpopular incumbent Democrat; if he were, Obama might be more eager to help him out.

Your job, Mr. President, is to lead the nation – not bail out failing Democrats.

VA-GOV: Obama, Democrats Throw Deeds Under the Bus

I guess they’ve entirely written off Virginia:

Sensing that victory in the race for Virginia governor is slipping away, Democrats at the national level are laying the groundwork to blame a loss in a key swing state on a weak candidate who ran a poor campaign that failed to fully embrace President Obama until days before the election.

Senior administration officials have expressed frustration with how Democrat R. Creigh Deeds has handled his campaign for governor, refusing early offers of strategic advice and failing to reach out to several key constituencies that helped Obama win Virginia in 2008, they say.

Rather ugly, isn’t it? The votes haven’t even been cast and the man groomed and selected by the Democrat establishment is already a political un-person in Democratic circles. Well, he did commit the only sin a Democrat acknowledges – the sin of losing. To be sure, he hasn’t actually lost, yet; but he will, and it looks like by a wide margin. Additionally, it looks as though the whole Democrat ticket in VA is going down with him.

So, Democrats, just one year after your sweeping triumph, you’re about to not just get beaten, but crushed, in Virginia. To be sure, you might eke out a win in New Jersey (I don’t think you will, but anything is possible), but a bare win in a heavily Democrat State will not take the sting out of losing a State you thought had fallen your way for good in 2008. Get used to it, Democrats – unless there is a massive turn around in the economy, November of 2010 will go just like November of 2009…except it will be nationwide…

Perhaps Europe is Not Quite Dead, Yet

The headline:

Clamor masivo en Madrid contra el aborto

I’ll translate for any of your liberals out there who can’t figure it out.

Here’s a link to the video. When that many people turn out for life and hope, then we have to say that, just perhaps, Europe can be saved – that there are enough Christians left on the Continent, even at this point, to turn things around.

NY-23: Palin Endorses Hoffman

Showing that she understands the political ferment of 2009:

The people of the 23rd Congressional District of New York are ready to shake things up, and Doug Hoffman is coming on strong as Election Day approaches! He needs our help now.

The votes of every member of Congress affect every American, so it’s important for all of us to pay attention to this important Congressional campaign in upstate New York. I am very pleased to announce my support for Doug Hoffman in his fight to be the next Representative from New York’s 23rd Congressional district. It’s my honor to endorse Doug and to do what I can to help him win, including having my political action committee, SarahPAC, donate to his campaign the maximum contribution allowed by law.

Our nation is at a crossroads, and this is once again a “time for choosing.”

The federal government borrows, spends, and prints too much money, while our national debt hits a record high. Government is growing while the private sector is shrinking, and unemployment is on the rise. Doug Hoffman is committed to ending the reckless spending in Washington, D.C. and the massive increase in the size and scope of the federal government. He is also fully committed to supporting our men and women in uniform as they seek to honorably complete their missions overseas.

And best of all, Doug Hoffman has not been anointed by any political machine.

Doug Hoffman stands for the principles that all Republicans should share: smaller government, lower taxes, strong national defense, and a commitment to individual liberty.

That is it, in a nutshell – a few paragraphs and the entire campaigns of 2010 and 2012 are set in place. This is the lady our opponents ridicule. Have at it, lefties – she’s a lot smarter than you are, and far more savvy about how things are going.

Gonna be a lot of fun over the next couple years.

UPDATE: According to NRO, Hoffman took in $116,000.00 in donations yesterday. That is an astounding event given that, really, is just the right blogosphere and a few conservative outlets which are even seriously covering the issue. People on the right are fired up.

Union Pacific Traffic Down

A stark indicator of just how bad it is out there:

Union Pacific Corp. reported a 26% decline in third-quarter profit Thursday, citing a persistent slump in rail demand, particularly from the auto industry, in the face of the global recession…

…The Omaha, Neb.-based railroad operator posted earnings of $517 million, or $1.02 a share, down from $703 million, or $1.38 a share, in the year-ago period.

Revenue fell 25% to $3.47 billion from $4.63 billion, bogged down by a 30% decline in its auto-freight business and a 39% drop in industrial-products freight.

Analysts polled by FactSet Research were looking for earnings, on average, of $1.01 a share on revenue of $3.73 billion.

“As we enter the final quarter of 2009, business volumes seem to have stabilized, but at very low levels for Union Pacific,” said Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Jim Young, in a statement.

As in the earlier story we had of merchant ships anchored rather than plying the trade routes, it is indicators like this which show the true story of the economy. The froth of the DOW and banks cashing in on bail outs makes the headlines – but it is the fact that goods are not moving which shows our plight. No matter what the government or the banks say, until ship and rail traffic is up, we’re not getting anywhere on the economic front. You can’t even go entirely by industrial production numbers – the best measurement is retail sails, and goods being shipped. If people aren’t buying and retailers are ordering (and thus having goods shipped), then nothing is really happening out there.

For the past year we’ve merely spun our economic wheels – we’re huffing and puffing but not going anywhere. Moving money around from the Fed’s printing press to the Treasury vaults to the banks’ balance sheets doesn’t do a thing for the economy. It can get suckers to buy in to a stock bubble and it can get Obamaniac economists talking happy talk, but it doesn’t create wealth. It doesn’t, that is, create the situation where goods are made, shipped and bought. Until we start doing that – by making, mining and growing more of our own stuff – we’ll continue to waste our time…and slide ever further in to debt, making it ever harder for us to climb out.

HAT TIP: Mish’s