The Texas 18th District Blog

Harry Reid

Changes We Can Believe In – American Voters Hit List #3 – Harry Reid D-Nevada

Voters will be voting many members out of Congress that have failed us this year. I sincerely hope that these are among top priorities for American voters across the nation this election year.

Harry Reid
Senate Majority Leader

The Majority leader customarily serves as the chief representative and “face” of his or her party in Senate, and sometimes even in all of Congress if the House of Representatives and thus the office of Speaker of the House is controlled by the opposition party.

As much energy as Las Vegas uses, you wouldn’t think Nevada voters would elect a brainwashed eco-nut to such an influential position as a top legislator in the Senate.

Maybe he doesn’t know that certain “fossil fuels” like natural gas burn very clean in combustion engines. Maybe he is like Nancy Pelosi and doesn’t know that natural gas is a fossil fuel. Maybe he hasn’t heard of clean coal technology. Maybe he doesn’t realize that it takes a while to turn a big ship and we are going to be dependent on various fossil fuels for at least another decade in a transitional period as we advance cleaner and renewable energy sources.

One of his worst blunders was to prematurely wave a white flag of defeat in IRAQ:

Americans just can’t tolerate this kind of irresponsible Legislative leadership grinding down realistic economically viable energy plan progress and waving the white flag of surrender, interfering in International affairs.

Why do Americans keep electing energy ignorant representatives in legislative leadership roles during the middle of an energy crisis? You would think that his limited views of what it will take in the energy conversion interim would also be indicative of his lack of financial knowledge and budgetary foresight.

I am sure I can speak for the majority of Texans and many across the Nation when I ask Nevada Voters to fire Harry Reid and elect someone who will represent the rest of the Nation responsibly.

Harry Reid has a demonstrated deficit of knowledge and prowess in dealing with American energy solutions, the economy and International Affairs. Why would anyone reelect him to office?

He oozes “grey caulk” every time he speaks… The best think he could do for America is never speak in public again!

Harry Reid took $77,000 from Freddie Mac & Fannie Mae. 

Engineer2

American Voters know which politicians failed us in the Mortgage Meltdown!

Changes We Can Believe In – American Voters Hit List #1 – Barney Frank D-Massachusetts

Voters will be voting many members out of Congress that have failed us this year. I sincerely hope that these are among top priorities for American voters across the nation this election year

Barney Frank
Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee

Barney Frank has clearly let America down in a position which should have been instrumental in providing financial governance for our free market system. His inattention to primary fudiciary responsibilities in his position has caused All Americans a great deal of grief, yet he is not and will continue to not recognize his own failure:

O’Reilly Blasts Barney Frank On Fannie Mae Mess!!

From the Earl Henry Sholley for Congress Website:

Chairman Barney Frank blames the Republicans and the lack of regulation for the financial meltdown. He refuses to accept any culpability for the current crisis, and keeps making excuses for his role. He loudly denies any involvement in the mess, and even says that he tried to reform Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Here is Barney Frank’s tax and spend mentality/solution:

“There are a lot of very Rich People to Tax down the road and recover some of this money.”:

Shame on Massachusetts voters if they don’t come out in droves and fire this pompous illiterate financial zombie who was supposed to be a primary gatekeeper for our financial systems!!!

Voters in Massachusetts should be ashamed to reelect Barney Frank to office.

Most of the rest of the Nation hopes that Massachusetts will support our best interests by firing Barney Frank and electing Sholley to Congress.

“I believe in less government, fewer taxes, term limits, and public service, not personal enrichment. I will only serve two terms. We have many serious problems that must be solved quickly such as high energy prices, illegal immigration, loss of jobs, the banking crisis, inflation, judicial activism, and protecting our citizens from those who would do us harm. Congress is not doing the Peoples’ will. This is not a time for humor, smart quips, or petty partisan politics. I believe in getting the job done. We need common sense and deliberate action. Where there is a will, there is a way. I want to get America moving again.”

Earl Henry Sholley

Barney Frank took $42,350 from Freddie Mac & Fannie Mae. 

Engineer2

American Voters know which politicians failed us in the Mortgage Meltdown!

Another view on why the stock markets are so bad  Wall St Journal article you should see.

 Obama and the Politics of Crowds

“On the face of it, there is nothing overwhelmingly stirring about Sen. Obama. There is a cerebral quality to him, and an air of detachment. He has eloquence, but within bounds. After nearly two years on the trail, the audience can pretty much anticipate and recite his lines. The political genius of the man is that he is a blank slate. The devotees can project onto him what they wish. The coalition that has propelled his quest — African-Americans and affluent white liberals — has no economic coherence. But for the moment, there is the illusion of a common undertaking — Canetti’s feeling of equality within the crowd…”

Obama and “The Left” 

A candidate who spends two decades promoting polarization and then runs as a healer and uniter, rather than a divider, forfeits all trust by that fact alone.”

AP Poll: Obama leads or tied in 8 crucial states. Yahoo! article here

Article here:  ACORN Owes Millions in Taxes

Obama just said on TV that we may think he is a communist for sharing his toys in kindergarten.  Actually we may think he is a communist for taking the other childrens’ toys.  Don’t Kindergartens actually own the toys, its been so long since I or my kids went to Kindergarten I can’t remember.

One of the hypothetical questions being asked in an ad on TV is who would you want to wake up and find out is President on November 5th. 

If Charlie Rangel gets his way and a military draft call-up is implemented, which President would you want to serve under?

I just heard that the Fed interest rate cut today is the lowest its been since the Eisenhower Administration in the 1950s.  I was about 10 years old then.  My parents and my sisters and I lived better than ever before and ever since.  My mother was a high school graduate but my father wasn’t.  He did however go to night school to get an equivalent education.  My point though is they were not college graduates but inflation was low, interest rates were low and we lived more comfortably than we could have imagined.  Because of low interest rates we were able to have a car and a television.  No one else on our street had either in the early 1950s.  When a neighbor needed a ride to a hospital or doctor my parents took them.  We lived in a suburb of Philadelphia.  The key to the wonderful economics then was very low inflation.  Also as the evil villain Donald Rumsfeld once said in a speech, the USA was the only country that could export goods.  Our factories still functioned.  Most of Europe and Asia had been destroyed by Europeans and Asians.  We joined the war in the last few years and helped out.  We also helped rebuild them both after the war.

The market reaction to the 1% interest rate has been mixed because no one knows what the effects will be.  In the previous paragraph I was trying to show that it could be good. My oldest sister and her husband bought a house with a 2% mortgage in the late 1950s.  She still lives in it today.  She paid $12,000 in 1950’s dollars.

I heard late yesterday that the stock market dropped just before closing again because someone issued a false report about a large company.

Obama To Spread the Wealth Around to Needy Rivals (Scrappleface does satire)

by Scott Ott for ScrappleFace · 32 Comments

(2008-10-25) — Coming off a month in which his campaign raised a record-breaking $150 million, Sen. Barack Obama announced today that he would voluntarily redistribute his cash to his presidential rivals including Libertarian Bob Barr, Independent Ralph Nader, Green Party pick Cynthia McKinney and even Republican John McCain, who has struggled to make ends meet while running on public assistance.

Breaking News Item: I wonder if George Soro’s accountant is upset about a $150 million unidentified out of balance condition in the records. (just being sarcastic)

Dick Morris on O’Reilly last night: If the healthcare system is expanded to include 47 million Americans who currently don’t have health insurance who is going to treat them.  He also mentioned that the 47 million figure politicians use includes illegal aliens. (Whether or not we provide for them is a moral issue not germaine to this election at this time)  Also among the 47 million are young people in the 20 to 40 age range who don’t want health insurance because 12 monthly premiums greatly exceeds the fee for service they can pay for a flu shot or rare doctor visit.  I’m not going to go in depth on services currently available to the poor because we covered that in at least two previous posts.

However the limited medical service provider issue is relevant and something I hadn’t thought about.  When you provide taxpayer funded healthcare to 47 million more people, people who didn’t go to the doctor for routine illnesses and cuts and bruises now start going.  As I mentioned when I was a kid  my family never went to a doctor for anything.  When my dad’s employer began offering health insurance as an employee benefit we started going every time we had something  more than the common cold.

Other families did as well.  That is when doctors’ fees and hospital costs started rising.  Demand drove prices up.  An individual might not have wanted to pay, but if an insurance company was paying, why not use it.  As an adult I watched co-workers take their kids to a doctor for things I never would have.  So if the supply of medical service providers remains the same we have to go to rationing.  If the government sets an artificial or bureaucratic price on fees then it becomes unprofitable for doctors.

It costs a doctor a couple hundred thousand to go to medical school.  He also has to pay for malpractice insurance and all of the diagnostic equipment in his office as well as staff.  I went to a doctor this week for a foot problem.  He had at least 6 staff in his office,  medical and clerical.  He has to bill for insurance coverage payments, schedule appointments, provide for accounting and bank deposits for his office.  He had a medical professional prepare my foot for minor surgery which I hadn’t anticipated when I went  into his office.

If the government tells him he cannot charge a fee adequate to cover all of his professional expenses and include enough for his personal residence, auto and family expenses why go to medical school and incur the costs.

We then go to a rationing basis as in Europe and Canada.  Now, Canadians come here.  Europeans go to Africa on vacation for medical treatment.  Where will we go!

One last comment.  I didn’t watch the 30 minute Obama infomercial last night but I saw clips in the news.  Obama said he will put a 90 day moratorium on mortgage payments.  Will that increase the ability of the homeowner to resume his  payments monthly when the moratorium expires.  What affect will it have on the mortgage companies not receiving cash during that period and not collecting the interest which is the life blood of their business.  It is the interest that enables them to pay their bills.

 Dr Walter Williams Talking About People Who Refuse To Let Facts Get In The Way

Speaking of CEOs, there’s the “unconscionable,” “obscene” salaries they receive, in some cases over $10 million a year. Wackonomics has an easy answer for these high salaries: it’s greed. However, CEOs don’t have the corner on greed. There are other greedy people we don’t scorn but hold in high esteem. According to Forbes’ Celebrity 100 list, Oprah Winfrey receives $275 million, Steven Spielberg gets $130 million, Tiger Woods $115 million, Jay Leno $32 million and Dr. Phil $40 million. I need to talk to these people and learn their strategy. I’ve been making every effort to get that kind of money. I go to bed greedy, dream greedy dreams, awaken greedy and proceed through the day greedy. Despite my heroic efforts, it’s all been for naught; I earn a pittance by comparison.

“the most anti-gun presidential candidate in American history”

“The NRA is right to go after this gun grabber. And while political pundits continue to highlight Obama’s dangerous associations with vile humans like Jeremiah Wright and William Ayers, the NRA will be one of the few outlets reminding you that Obama has some equally dangerous anti-gun associations as well. They’ll trumpet the fact that “the Brady Campaign (formerly Handgun Control, Incorporated), [has] endorsed Obama for president.” Which means he can now boast of being endorsed by the same gun control organization that also endorsed “Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.), Jack Reed (D-R.I.), Carolyn McCarthy (D-N.Y.), John Conyers (D-N.Y.), Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas), and, of course, John Kerry (D-Mass.), to name [but] a few.”

Those of us who love freedom need to vote McCain/Palin on November 4, and we need go to the NRA website and add our voices to that organization’s cause by joining today. ”

Well, I guess the drug dealers and muggers won’t be voting for Obama either!

“The power to tax is the power to destroy.”

Those who are receptive to Senator Barack Obama’s plan to increase taxes on “the rich” seem not to understand that the issue is the nation’s loss of wealth.

Obama on Monday in his first closing arguments (he gave his second closing arguments yesterday and will give his third today) said: No one in Washington is looking out for you or watching Wall Street.  Where is his office?  What is his job as Senator?  Why isn’t he looking out for you?

How did he become an overnight millionaire if the middle class don’t have a chance?

I heard a commenter make the statement that “80% of success is desire” recently.  When I think back over my career  I met or worked with so many unsuccessful people who proved the truth of that statement.  So many people employed by others would not take ownership or responsibility for minor things that would make them more valuable to their employers.  So many executives in large businesses and owners and partners in small businesses wouldn’t put forth the effort to make their businesses competitive.

In my college days when I worked for a small local CPA firm I would compare the successful businesses to those that went out of business.  The successful small businesses put the customer first.  They supervised the employees, if any.  If a customer needed a rush job, they themselves worked overtime until the job was done.  Those that didn’t survive had owners that came in at 10:00 or 11:00am, left at 2:00pm and took long lunches.  Customers couldn’t even meet with them.  They also didn’t mind telling a customer “can you call next week” even though they could easily have taken the order or negotiated a deal immediately.  Those unsuccessful businesses also failed to supervise. “When the the cats away the mice will play”.

Remember what I said in an earlier post quoting Peter Drucker  (another interesting site)

Unsuccessful people simply don’t care about the customer, themselves, their government and a lot of other things that affect their lives.

If they don’t care about their success, they don’t make an effort to take care of themselves and provide for their future, why should we care about them?  My east Texas friend (a democrat by the way) told me the philosophy in his hometown was “give a man a fish, you feed him for a day; teach him how to fish and you feed him for a lifetime”. 

Do you remember the FEMA debit cards distributed after hurricane Katrina?  In addition to legitimate use by most people they were also found in bars, strip joints and casinos.  Should you working people pay more taxes to support them. (I’m retired and not in the working category).

Just how bad is our economy.  I’m not going to say its good but it could be a lot worse and maybe there is light at the end of the tunnel.  Bush and other world leaders are working hard to cure the congressional disease.

http://www.bloomberg.com/markets/ecalendar/index.html

Unemployment as of September 2008

I have heard a lot of democrat commenters and analysts on TV recently refer to our high unemployment.  October numbers won’t be out for a week or so but I truly don’t expect the recent layoffs on Wall Street by failed banks and brokerage houses or elsewhere to be large enough to significantly affect the percentage.  We have roughly 130 million working people in this country.  Layoffs of 5 or 10 thousand can be easily absorbed back into the economy.  So click on the Unemployment link above and see the Bureau of Labor Statistics comparison chart.  (I couldn’t get the softwar to let me copy part of the chart to show you).

Yesterday the Dow Jones Stock Index was up 889 points for the day.  I paid $2.19 per gallon at a Shell station on FM1960.  My wife paid $2.17 at WalMart.  Are things really so bad and getting worse?

Dr Phil and talk radio have been trying to soothe people who are getting stressed out over the election. So the Hanover Pennsylvania Evening Sun posted an article with a little levity.

Charisse: Real writing or, like, whatever  (Sheila Jackson Lee is mentioned about halfway down)

And now back to the somber election issues.

I was just listening to the economic news on Fox News.  They think the Federal Reserve may lower interest rates again.  I also heard that CEOs and other executives in large corporations receiving bailout money are going to get huge bonuses.  They are asking Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson to prevent using bailout money for executive bonuses.

My sense is that the next couple of years are going to require a lot of tough decisions and even tougher actions.  Can we expect a junior politician notorious for voting “present” to make tough decisions and pursue tough action.

News Only - No Inference

California has begun early voting already as well as mail-in balloting. The number of people who have gone in to vote in person has been extensive. The results so far prove what we had always suspected. The polls are being proven as totally unreliable. Although the results of early balloting have not been disclosed,of course, how many Republicans and how many Democrats have voted has been revealed.

Fearing default, Argentina moves to nationalize private pension funds

article here  Maybe this is where our congress got the idea from to confiscate our 401Ks..

If unemployment is up in the Houston area it because it is affected in a major way by Ike.  My guess is that it is up because a lot of businesses were damaged and projects in process on damaged buildings and homes are stopped or delayed. I also suspect the Houston area unemployment is reflected in the national numbers for the last several weeks.

National numbers from Bloomberg this morning:

According to an American Medical Association ad on TV the cause of more illness and more early death in the US is lack of health insurance.  What happened to the Hippocratic oath.  I think I have some oaths for the AMA if they don’t treat the poor.

Apparently the guns hunters and religious people in rural areas have is a problem for Obama’s campaign.  He wants them taken away.  How about guns in the high crime areas of cities?  Does he want to take them away from people who use them in perpetration of crimes or just people who have them to protect themselves from criminals?  Studies have shown resolutely that crime goes down when criminals suspect a potential victim may have a concealed weapon.  Chicago Study

Ed Rendell (Governor of Pennsylvania) smirks while he says a $5000 tax credit is a government give away.  How is not taking $5000 from you a government give away.  He thought he had us.  As opposed to a deduction on your tax return where you only keep a portion (the tax rate multiplied by the amount of your dedcution) a tax credit means you subtract  $5000 from the amount of calculated tax on page two and reduce what you have withheld or write your check for.  The government doesn’t get its hands on the money let alone write you a check.  Its like walking through a store, not buying something and saying the store gave you money on your way out because you have the same amount of money you walked  in with.  The government doesn’t own your money.  To the contrary you own the government.

And Today:

“On the other side of the Capitol (the first speaker was a Bush administration person), Greenspan, who stepped down in February 2006 after serving as Fed chairman for 18 1/2 years, was asked to explain his role in the crisis.

Greenspan told the House Oversight Committee that his belief that banks would be more prudent in their lending practices because of the need to protect their stockholders had been proven wrong by the current crisis. He called this a “mistake” in his views and said he had been shocked by that.

Greenspan said he had made a “mistake” in believing that banks in operating in their self-interest would be sufficient to protect their shareholders and the equity in their institutions.

Greenspan called this “a flaw in the model that I perceived is the critical functioning structure that defines how the world works.””  Greenspan  Greenspan admitted fault, former SEC Chairman Arthur Levitt admitted fault, current SEC Chairman Christopher Cox admitted fault.  Will Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi and Barney Frank admit fault.  Don’t hold your breath.  The current hearings in Washington are not to find out what went wrong or who is to blame but how to deflect blame to somebody other than the democrat congress.

Bankers acted in their own self interest.  By getting the higher interest rates from mortgages (remember, the interest rates are higher because of higher risk) they produced  (temporarily) higher profits and received high bonuses.  99% of the time humans act in their own self interest.

Weak earnings rouse worries about global recession

3 cheers for investors, they finally realized why they have been selling stocks for the last months.  Did they expect corporate earnings to increase?  Under the “perfect markets” theory of investing weak earnings expectations were already built in.  Did investment analysts expect earnings to increase when customers cannot get more credit and retailers cannot borrow to stock their shelves with the latest fashions and newest technology.

A different topic

I heard Obama respond on TV this morning regarding McCain’s criticism of Obama taking more money from working people and giving it to people who don’t work.  The context is that Obama wants to give a “tax refund” to people who don’t pay taxes.  McCain says that is welfare and not a tax refund and McCain simply wants Obama to call it what it is.  Obama says “what John McCain doesn’t understand is that even though those people don’t pay income tax, they have other taxes to pay”. 

What Obama doesn’t understand is the people who pay income tax have to pay those very same taxes and probably in larger dollar amounts.  People who work and pay income taxes probably pay more gasoline taxes because they use more gasoline for commuting to work.  They probably pay more telephone and internet taxes because they call for work related tasks from home or check their work emails from home at night or on weekends.  They buy clothes to wear to work so they pay more sales tax.  If they eat lunch in McDonalds during the week they pay sales tax for lunch.

I understand that everyone pays taxes aside from sales tax but those who pay income tax are included in everyone.  If an elderly person, a disabled person or a single mother with several kids cannot work, fine let government help them.  But don’t punish people who work.  Reduce some other category of federal spending and divert the money to those who cannot take care of themselves.

What is Sheila Jackson Lee’s position on the issue?  I’ll bet she mirrors Obama.

Raising FDIC limits to $250,000

Bank mergers and closures (This article refers to the early 1980’s)

Bank mergers happen for many reasons in normal business. For instance, to create a single larger bank in which operations of both banks can be streamlined or to acquire another banks brands. As well as due to regulators closing the institution due to unsafe and unsound business practices or inadequate capitalization and liquidity.

Banks are not allowed to go bankrupt in the United States. Accounts are generally insured up to $100,000 per individual per bank by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. Banks that are in danger of failing are either taken over by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, administered temporarily and eventually sold off or merged with other banks.

When Garn-St Germaine was passed by congress it increased the FDIC insurance inured deposit limit from $20,000 per account to $100,000.  This was done because the banking system was suffering losses from land and housing swaps.  Banks were going down the drain and depositors with account balances greater than $20,000 were losing the excess over $20,000.  The opposition to the law said when you increase the guarantee to $100,000 you give the bank management the opportunity to gamble once again with depositors money freely because the depositor is protected to $100,000.  Look what happened over the last two decades since Garn-St Germaine. Banks gambled on large speculative mortgages and over valued properties and once again the government stepped in to insure depositors.  The management is excuse by depositors since their accounts are insured by taxpayers.  The government didn’t learn any lessons from the 1980’s.

Then, in their infinite wisdom (or pressure from the banks) Congress enacted the Garn-St. Germaine Act in 1982

Back in the good ol’ days when we could buy property subject to the existing financing and there was nothing the bank could do about it, anybody could buy real estate. Qualifying wasn’t an issue.

If a seller was “in trouble” it was easy to get them out of trouble by simply selling the property “subject to” or with an AITD (an all inclusive trust deed or “wrap-around mortgage).

Subprime Congress

I watched Newt Gringich on O’Reilly last night talking about congress.  He mentioned that only 15% of Americans know who Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Speaker of the House of Representatives and only 2% know who Harry Reid (D-NV), Senate Majority Leader, is.

I was baffled.  Congress has a 14% approval rating, an overwhelming democrat majority and 85% do not know who the House leader and 98% do not know who the Senate leader are.  And, we are in an election right now.

Generic Congressional Vote  (percentages and statistics from RealClearPolitics.com)

RCP Average

Democrats

47.5

Republicans

38.8

Democrats +8.7

President Bush Job Approval

RCP Average

Approve

26.0

Disapprove

68.8

Spread -42.8

Congressional Job Approval

RCP Average

Approve

14.0

Disapprove

75.7

Spread -61.7

A Country Gets The Government It Deserves 

It is an old cliché that “in a democratic system the country gets the government it deserves.” The general point is that with the opportunity to vote comes responsibility for the outcomethough people voting “correctly” might find themselves in the losing minority.

A man walks into a pub…

I watched Huckabee last night.  He found his niche.  He has a great personality, is smart, entertaining and respectful of his audience and guests.  Someone on the show asked him why George Bush (and the Republican Party) is getting blamed for the mortgage crisis and all of its repercussions when the democrats starting with Jimmy Carter (the Community Reinvestment Act), Bill Clinton (Repeal of Glass-Steagall Act), Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Christopher Dodd (D-CT), Barney Frank (D-MA) and Christopher Cox were all of the impetus behind the failure.  Christopher Cox is the head of the Securities Exchange Commission charged with regulating Wall St.  Both Cox and his predecessor, Arthur Levitt have admitted a failure to act on their part.

Huckabee explained that most people are unfamiliar with any names in politics other than George Bush.  Therefore George Bush becomes the symbol for government.  Whenever something goes wrong it becomes “his fault”.  Since Bush is a republican it is by inference the Republican’s fault.  I find this easy to accept because I am a fan of Jay Leno’s “Jay Walking” where he approaches random individuals and asks them who various people in the news are.  The answers are hilarious, e.g. who is Nancy Pelosi - the answers he gets are like “I think she was my third grade teacher”.  Don’t “misunderestimate” me, I consider the Republicans partially at fault too since they didn’t do enough to bring the issue to national attention.  Incidentally “misunderestimate” was invented by the media, not Bush.

Thomas Sowell has another insightful article on the phenomenon Rhetoric vs Record

Let’s work together to put John Faulk in office. We need to elect members of Congress with strong financial backgrounds.

A campaign ad by Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama has drawn fire from Corning Incorporated over its reference to the 2004 closure of a Corning glass plant.

“Corning shuts down its plant in Pennsylvania, hundreds lose their jobs, then the workers are rehired to disassemble the plant and ship the equipment to China. Washington sold them out with the help of people like John McCain,” the ad states.

Article here

The plant made cathode ray tubes which have been replaced in TV and computer monitors by FLAT SCREEN technology.

If we have shipped so many jobs overseas why is our unemployment rate still so low (6.1%)? Don’t forget 4% is considered full employment. That 4% is comprised of people in between jobs such as looking for a career change, or where a spouse has been transferred by an employer and the other person is seeking employment at the new location.

Bureau of Labor Statistics (I couldn’t get their table to copy well so I linked to it here)

THE EMPLOYMENT SITUATION: SEPTEMBER 2008

If sending jobs overseas was causing a major problem it would be refected in the unemployment numbers. Even with the layoffs of people from the New York banks and brokerage houses unemployment is still low. These numbers include September 2008. Some people probably were laid off in October but they probably wouldn’t move the average much.

For World Unemployment rates go here You can get a lot if information by clicking on various items on the page as well.

Let’s replace Congress this year. We need to elect members of Congress with strong financial backgrounds.