economic crisis

Way to go Mr. President:

Faced with an unprecedented level of obstruction in the Senate, the President announced his intention to recess appoint fifteen nominees to fill critical administration posts. While the President respects the critical role the Senate plays in the appointment process, he was no longer willing to let another month go by with key economic positions unfilled, especially at a time when our country is recovering from the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.

Many of these fifteen individuals have enjoyed broad bipartisan support, but have found their confirmation votes delayed for reasons that have nothing to do with their qualifications. It has more to do with an obstruction-at-all-costs mentality that we’ve been faced with since the President came into office. Because of political posturing, these fifteen appointees have waited an average of 214 days for Senate confirmation.

And I guarantee there will be wingnuts this week calling this unconstitutional, despite Bush doing the exact same thing and the Constitution allowing it.

Slate has a very cool interactive map showing where the job losses are occurring. I wonder if the Republicans still think the entire economic crisis is overblown?

(h/t Sullivan)

I get so tired of hearing right wingers say that people in foreclosure should loose their homes because they “got in over their heads”. It’s a typical right wing ploy of “blaming the victim”. A couple week ago I posted about our soldiers facing foreclosure, simply because they had the audacity to go and fight in a war. How dare they!. Now here is another look at what could cause a person to lose their home:

When Patricia Waelti walks through the back yard of her old two-story home on Mitchell Road in Wilmington, she sees the face of her late husband Terry.

"This is our home,” Waelti said. “This is where we were going to grow old together.”

Foreclosure is tearing apart more lives than ever before, as the economic crisis becomes more widespread and far reaching than many imagined.

Waelti’s Clinton County home is one of 1,600 foreclosed properties across the Tri-State.

She said when the money from her husband’s life insurance policy started to run out, she started falling behind on her mortgage payments.

Waelti said she asked the bank to renegotiate but they refused and eventually foreclosed.

In February, her home was auctioned off at a Sheriff sale at the Clinton County Courthouse.

These people didn’t get in over their heads. They didn’t try to play “keep up with the Jones’”. No – they just went out and bought a house that they could afford. Then tragedy hit, and instead of the bank trying to work with the widow, they ignored her. But it gets better (worse):

The same bank that ended up foreclosing on Waelti’s home also ended up buying it back for $60,000 less than the appraised value.

This is something we really need. It seems like, for all too long, we have had leaders worrying about their own ambitions instead of bettering the nation. Now we have a leader who thinks outside of the box.

Obama has built an enormous wealth of information from the information he collected during his historic campaign. His mailing list alone will be pivotal in reaching out to citizens in order to get their help in this new project.

Below the fold – the entire press release.

Just now breaking - John McCain is "suspending his campaign" and wants the debate postponed due to the economic crisis.

It should be interesting to see how this plays out. McCain says he wants both campaigns suspended until this "crisis is resolved". Of course we don't know when that will be. Could this be a lead up to trying to suspend the election?

It really seems rather "convenient" for McCain to do this on a day that a national poll finds him down by 9 points and more news comes out about his embattled campaign manager. It really sounds like a political game McCain is trying to play. To me it sounds like McCain is saying the Senate and Congress are too incompetent to handle this without him or Obama there. Listening to Rham Emanuel, it seems like there is a consensus on that view also.

UPDATE:

David Kurtz points out that the networks aired McCain addressing this and that it was pre-recorded. It sounds like he was playing a timing game on this, which makes it sound far more political.

Think Progress also points out that just yesterday, when McCain was asked about the bailout plan, he said he hadn't had time to read it. The plan is only 3 pages and McCain couldn't read it? Yeah - McCain don't care about the economy, he only cares about winning. I really hope the Obama campaign calls his bluff on this. Perhaps something along this line: