Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Road Walker who wrote (452992)	2/1/2009 12:48:44 PM
From: bentway	4 Recommendations Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1571031

Great rant! The wingnuts probably won't read to the bottom, so, I'll help: "The Republicans’ other preoccupation remains Rush Limbaugh, who is by default becoming their de facto leader. While most Americans are fearing fear itself, G.O.P. politicians are tripping over themselves in morbid terror of Rush. These pratfalls commenced after Obama casually told some Republican congressmen (correctly) that they won’t “get things done” if they take their orders from Limbaugh. That’s all the stimulus the big man needed to go on a new bender of self-aggrandizement. He boasted that Obama is “more frightened” of him than he is of the Republican leaders in the House or Senate. He said of the new president, “I hope he fails.” Obama no doubt finds Limbaugh’s grandiosity more amusing than frightening, but G.O.P. politicians are shaking like Jell-O. When asked by Andrea Mitchell of NBC News on Wednesday if he shared Limbaugh’s hope that Obama fails, Eric Cantor spun like a top before running off, as it happened, to appear on Limbaugh’s radio show. Mike Pence of Indiana, No. 3 in the Republican House leadership, similarly squirmed when asked if he agreed with Limbaugh. Though the Republicans’ official, poll-driven line is that they want Obama to succeed, they’d rather abandon that disingenuous nicety than cross Rush. Most pathetic of all was Phil Gingrey, a right-wing Republican congressman from Georgia, who mildly criticized both Limbaugh and Sean Hannity to Politico because they “stand back and throw bricks” while lawmakers labor in the trenches. So many called Gingrey’s office to complain that the poor congressman begged Limbaugh to bring him on air to publicly recant on Wednesday. As Gingrey abjectly apologized to talk radio’s commandant for his “stupid comments” and “foot-in-mouth disease,” he sounded like the inmate in a B-prison-movie cowering before the warden after a failed jailbreak. “It’s up to me to hijack the Obama honeymoon,” Limbaugh soon gloated, “and I’ve done it.” In his dreams. He has hijacked what’s left of the Republican Party; the Obama honeymoon remains intact. The nightmare is that we have so irrelevant, clownish and childish an opposition party at a moment when America is in an all-hands-on-deck emergency that’s as trying as war. To paraphrase a dictum that has been variously attributed to two of our most storied leaders in times of great challenge, Thomas Paine and George Patton, the Republicans should either lead, follow or get out of the grown-ups’ way. "

To: Road Walker who wrote (452992)	2/1/2009 1:43:10 PM
From: tejek	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1571031

The crisis is at least as grave as the one that confronted us — and, for a time, united us — after 9/11. Which is why the antics among Republicans on Capitol Hill seem so surreal. These are the same politicians who only yesterday smeared the patriotism of any dissenters from Bush’s “war on terror.” Where is their own patriotism now that economic terror is inflicting far more harm on their constituents than Saddam Hussein’s nonexistent W.M.D.? Oh that's easy. Republicans are not patriots. Never have been, never will be. Their only loyalty is too their ideology and to their party.

To: Road Walker who wrote (452992)	2/1/2009 1:54:44 PM
From: tejek	1 Recommendation Respond to of 1571031

Commercial Paper Tally Plunges; No Worry 01/29/2009 1:03 PM The total amount of commercial paper outstanding fell by $98.9 billion in the week ended Jan. 28, the most ever, according to data released earlier today by the Federal Reserve. Whereas large decreases in the past were the result of deteriorating conditions in the money market, the past week's decrease is arguably the result of improved conditions in the money market. The past week's decline relates to one factor in particular: Many financial companies have found other sources of funding, partly to lengthen the terms of their borrowing. In particular, banks have issued bonds backed by the FDIC's temporary guarantee loan facility (TGLF); for example, Citigroup (C - commentary - Cramer's Take) last week issued $12 billion of FDIC-backed securities; General Electric (GE - commentary - Cramer's Take) has issued $20.9 billion; JPMorgan Chase (JPM - commentary - Cramer's Take)$17.9 billion; Bank of America (BAC - commentary - Cramer's Take) $19.9 billion, Bloomberg data show. Banks that raise capital through the FDIC's program can cut their short-term borrowing, a desirable goal in the current environment where excessive reliance upon short-term funding is extremely risky, as a few large firms have found out. Note that in the latest week, the amount of commercial paper outstanding for financial companies fell $93.5 billion, representing nearly the entire decline. The commercial paper market should be expected to continue shrinking in the near term, owing to the maturation on Friday of 90-day commercial paper held by the Fed, said to be about $250 billion. Many issuers have been able to either term-out their debts or gain funding from the capital markets, where rates have fallen below the cost of issuing commerical paper to the Fed. Decreases are likely also because of the weak U.S. economy, which reduces the need for working capital, money normally used for the production of goods and services, now in decline.