Post - Election 2008

[Securb]

Finally someone is doing something about this economy and creating some jobs.


President-elect Barack Obama added sweep and meat to his economic agenda on Saturday, pledging the largest new investment in roads and bridges since President Dwight D. Eisenhower built the Interstate system in the late 1950s, and tying his key initiatives – education, energy, health care –back to jobs in a package that has the makings of a smaller and modern version of FDR's New Deal marriage of job creation with infrastructure upgrades.

The president-elect also said for the first time that he will “launch the most sweeping effort to modernize and upgrade school buildings that this country has ever seen.”

“We will repair broken schools, make them energy-efficient, and put new computers in our classrooms,” he said in the address.

[TooFunny]

[SIZE="4"]Coughing up Canadian-made BlackBerry a bitter pill for Obama
[/SIZE]



WASHINGTON - He's been seen cradling it and gazing upon it almost as frequently as he's cooed at babies and promised to bring change to Washington.

Barack Obama has a deep and abiding affection for his made-in-Canada BlackBerry, and yet the gods are conspiring against him - despite his best efforts, Obama will almost certainly be forced to dump his beloved Berry after his inauguration on Tuesday.

It's a breakup the president-elect has long been dreading.

"I'm still clinging to my BlackBerry," he said in a recent interview with CNBC. "They're going to pry it out of my hands."

Canada's Research in Motion (TSX:RIM), the inventor and manufacturer of the BlackBerry, is adamant that its devices and security network protect all data passing through them. Officials for the company won't comment on Obama's fondness for their device - or his impending heartache.

But most technology experts say that no security systems - either at RIM or any other company - can ever be entirely safe from hackers, spies, snoops and trouble-makers, and point out that allowing Obama to keep his BlackBerry could pose a serious security risk.

White House security agencies and lawyers have not only insisted Obama abandon the BlackBerry, but email in general as well.

In addition to the security risk, they say, all presidential communications can be made public due to the Freedom of Information Act and the Presidential Records Act of 1978 - something that makes political strategists queasy.

Nonetheless, the notion of having to forego email and hand-held devices might seem inhumane and unimaginable to anyone under the age of 50, for whom emailing and texting has evolved into a primary mode of communication over the past 15 years.

Former Obama campaign manager David Plouffe, who delivered a luncheon speech Tuesday in Toronto as part of an international speaking tour, agreed that losing the BlackBerry would be more than just an inconvenience for his one-time boss.

"It's an important way for him to operate with his colleagues, but also it's very important for him to stay in touch with ... his friends and his family," Plouffe said.

"It's something he's really struggling with."

Obama's not the first president to have to give up the conveniences of modern communication.

While Bill Clinton sent only two email messages as president and has reportedly never warmed to the habit, George W. Bush expressed sadness when he was forced to stop emailing in January 2001.

He even said recently he's looking forward to emailing "my buddies" when he returns to Texas from Washington.

But for Obama, losing his Berry is a particularly bitter irony considering his historic campaign for the presidency was largely launched on technological battle fronts - on Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, Twitter and via emails and text messages.

He emailed friends and family and even actress Scarlett Johansson with the device. He kept his eye on it while attending his daughters' soccer games in Chicago. He was ridiculed for carrying it in a holster on his belt - something of a fashion faux pas among technology snobs.

There might be a solution on the horizon for Obama, however.

Some hand-held devices have been approved as secure enough to handle even classified documents, email and Web browsing, raising the possibility that perhaps Obama might be allowed some sort of Berry-ish gadget.

The General Dynamics' Sectera Edge is a combination phone-PDA that retails for a pricey US$3,350. It's been certified by the National Security Agency as being acceptable for top secret voice communications, e-mail and Web sites, and it's sturdy - able to withstand numerous four-foot drops onto concrete.

There was no immediate word from Obama's transition team about whether the phone might be an option for the president-elect.

[Securb]

Thank you and farewell from The Bushs

[Securb]

Isn't this just fuckin' ducky, Then again I wouldn't mind have the US Goverment as my mortgage holder. You could get away with murder.

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Bank of America Corp and Citigroup Inc shares plummeted for a sixth straight day on Friday, hammered by fears that the U.S. government could nationalize the banks, wiping out shareholders.

Bank of America shares were down 19 percent to $3.20 in early trading, their lowest level since 1984, while Citigroup shares fell 20 percent to $2, their lowest price since the early 1990s.

Both stocks have lost more than 90 percent of their value in the last year.
"It's a clear sign that the markets are expecting a high probability of them being nationalized," said Mike Holland, founder of Holland & Co. "The clear expectation is that shareholders would effectively be wiped out."

[Hooch]

So if the government runs the banks, are they allowed to execute the CEOs still giving themselves million dollar bonuses?

[Securb]

So if the government runs the banks, are they allowed to execute the CEOs still giving themselves million dollar bonuses?

Not sure but what I do know is the only bank the goverment runs is the Fedral Reserve and that is empty

[3dR3]

should i trade my paper money for gold?

[Securb]

Tender, Juicy Obama Fingers Hit the Shelves

By Charles Hawley

A German frozen food company hopes to raise sales with a new product: Obama fingers. The tender, fried chicken bits come with a tasty curry sauce. The company says it was unaware of the possible racist overtones of the product.


http://www.spiegel.de/international/zeit...84,00.html

[Securb]

Are we on our way out of the darkness. Is this really turning around? Like him or not I think we all hope this shit is over.

[Securb]

WASHINGTON (CNNMoney.com) -- Ramping up his campaign to crack down on credit cards, President Obama will meet Thursday with executives of 14 leading companies to press his case for new consumer protections.

The White House meeting comes a day after credit card legislation opposed by the financial services industry moved forward on Capitol Hill. The House Financial Services Committee voted 48-19 to approve a bill to clamp down on rates and fees; nine Republicans joined the panel's Democrats in voting for it.

The House bill would, among other things, ban "arbitrary" interest rate increases, prohibit excessive fees and order more disclosure. It could go to the full House for a vote as soon as next week.