The best prediction is that we will stay in recession well into 2009 and we could go beyond that.

The solution that Paulson and Behrnanke are pushing is to print more money and feed it to the banks... banks like AIG and Citigroup and other biggies that seem to take the bucks that we print and turn them into big cash subsidies for executives.

Obama talked about his strategic view:

To have been delivered at Plymouth, Massachusetts, 1970

Since the government is bailing out Citgroup with billions, a couple of NY State reps are suggesting that the $400 Million that Citigroup is putting into the new Mets stadium in order to get it named "Citi Field" should get a new review.

Their suggestion is to name the stadium "Citi/Taxpayer Field."

Hey... I buy that. It's time that we taxpayers were recognized for our bailing out of severely mismanaged enterprises of the wealthy.

Under The LobsterScope

His math is laid out in the article and it is quite complex... for a non-math guy like me it seems like magic.

If Nate hits it on the mark, watch Coleman take it to court.

You can read his article here.

Under The LobsterScope

Then I listen to the heads of the Big 3 automobile manufacturers on C-Span as it was re-run last night, begging for 28 Billion Dollars from the lame duck Congress - with no plan, no reasonable means of payback and literally no respect for the folks like us who the expect to buy their gas-eating SUVs. And these guys, as was pointed out by just about every television news program, all flew into Washington DC on their individual private jets at a cost that would probably pay the health-care costs for workers at one of their factories.

In this day and age when corporate users and those developing highly secret government projects are using their Blackberries, the President should have at least the same access to personal communication. There are plenty of means to encrypt everything and Obama is an intelligent user. It was his use of the Blackberry that helped him get through this very tough election... and the Republicans didn't break his security... But I'll bet they tried!

Orszag, currently Congressional Budget Office Director and a former economic adviser to Bill Clinton, will take on this important Cabinet post as Obama faces the $700 Billion mess he inherits from Bush.

Orszag is seen as an impressive, 40-year-old analyst with expertise in health care policy, Social Security, pensions, and global climate change.

He is not expected to have a problem in Senate confirmation.

Under The LobsterScope

General Motors has come to Washington, begging for a $25 billion bailout to keep it and its ailing Detroit counterparts going next year. But nobody seems too thrilled about the prospect. Liberals dwell on the companies' gas-guzzling sport-utility vehicles. Conservatives obsess over all the well-paid union members with gold-plated benefits. And people of all ideological backgrounds remember how they used to buy domestic cars, years ago, but stopped because the cars were so damn lousy. "The downfall of the American auto industry is indeed a tragedy," the Washington Post editorial board sermonized recently, "but the automakers and the United Auto Workers have only themselves to blame for much of it."

Newt Gingrich on Face The Nation yesterday made it pretty clear that Sarah Palin was not the direction Republicans would go toward.  Yet, Palin is getting lots of attention around the country, most recently at the Republican Governor's Conference, and she doesn't seem ready to let go of her anti-Obama and anti-Democratic statements.

"On Monday, President-elect Barack Obama and Senator John McCain will meet in Chicago at transition headquarters. It's well known that they share an important belief that Americans want and deserve a more effective and efficient government, and will discuss ways to work together to make that a reality. They will be joined in the meeting by Senator Lindsey Graham and Congressman Rahm Emanuel."

   1. Paulson is a worse public speaker than Alan Greenspan (something I didn't think possible), leaving a more confused image of the Bailout Program behind him.

   2. Homeowners will now not benefit from any kind of mortgage recovery from the Bailout, as it is now all going to keep banks afloat.

   3. Since thee has, so far, been no oversight by Congress over the program, Paulson can do anything he wants without accountability.

In other words, we are screwed.

Until my working for CSC as a commuter to and from Texas took up the time, I spent five years as a Justice of the Peace in Marlborough, CT. My specialty was marrying other atheists like me.

Today the first same-sex couples received Connecticut marriage licenses as the new law passed in my home state became the reality it is. I would have been thrilled to be performing weddings there now. I can't tell you how proud I am of Connecticut... and how disappointed I am at California.

Under The LobsterScope

We know Obama is pushing the "one President at a time" mantra, but he is starting to have influence in enough spheres that any changes by Bush in the next 70 days will be limited at best. We watch with a certain amount of anticipation as Bush gets ready to convene a G20 world energy summit that the President-elect will not attend.