Corporate Golden Rule:
"Those that have the Gold, Rule."

Why America Needs an Economic Strategy
By MICHAEL E. PORTER, BusinessWeek
Nov. 1, 2008

With the U.S. election just days away, it has never been more important to consider what the next president must do to keep America competitive. In this time of crisis, Washington has focused on the immediate and the short term. Lost are the more basic questions we really need to worry about: What is the fundamental competitive position of the U.S. in the global economy? And what must we do to remain strong when other nations are making rapid progress?

The stark truth is that the U.S. has no long-term economic strategy -- no coherent set of policies to ensure competitiveness over the long haul. Strategy embodies clear priorities, based on understanding the strengths we need to preserve and the weaknesses that threaten our prosperity the most. Strategy addresses what to do, but also what not to do.

In dealing with a crisis, experience teaches us that steps to address the immediate problem must support a long-term strategy. Yet it is far from clear that we are taking the steps most important to America's long-term economic prosperity.

America's political system, especially as it has evolved in recent times, almost guarantees an absence of strategic thinking at the federal level. Government leaders react to current events piecemeal, rather than developing a strategy that unfolds over years. Congress and the Executive Branch are organized around discrete policy areas, not around the overall goal of improving competitiveness.

Neither candidate has put forward anything close to a strategy; rather, each has presented a set of disconnected policy proposals with political appeal. Both parties contribute to the problem by approaching the economy with long-held ideologies and policy positions, many of which no longer fit with today's reality.

http://money.aol.com/news/articles/_a/bbdp/
why-america-needs-an-economic-strategy/234673

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Stocks struggle ahead of election
Wall Street seesaws after last week's advance
as investors consider weak economic reports
and look to Election Day.

By Alexandra Twin, CNNMoney.com, senior writer
Last Updated: November 3, 2008: 5:43 PM ET

AMERICA'S MONEY CRISIS
Big banks get crushed
The Big Three Depression risk
Auto bailout: Not now, maybe later
Paulson: Crisis of the century
Foreclosure bailout 'still hopeful'

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Stocks seesawed Monday, as investors awaited the presidential election and mulled weaker oil prices, a stronger dollar and more signs that the economy is in a recession.

The Dow Jones industrial average (INDU) lost a few points. The Standard & Poor's 500 (SPX) index lost 0.3% and the Nasdaq composite (COMP) gained 0.3%.

Lending rates continued to improve, amid the efforts of U.S. and world governments to get money flowing again. Treasury prices rose, lowering the corresponding yields. Oil prices slipped and the dollar gained versus other major currencies.

Meanwhile, slumping manufacturing and construction activity, and plunging auto sales, added to bets that a recession is underway. In the afternoon, Dallas Federal Reserve Bank President Richard Fisher forecast that there will be no economic growth through 2009.

http://money.cnn.com/2008/11/03/markets/markets_newyork/index.htm?cnn=yes

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Circuit City to close 155 stores, cut US jobs
By MICHAEL FELBERBAUM, AP Writer
Mon Nov 3, 2008

RICHMOND, Va. – As the lights go out at about 20 percent of Circuit City's stores, the company is hoping that by closing hundreds of stores and cutting thousands of jobs it can survive consumers who are reluctant to spend and vendors less eager to give it credit.

But analysts say the moves announced Monday renewed the specter of bankruptcy hanging over the nation's No. 2 consumer electronics retailer heading into a holiday shopping season that could determine its future.

"Clearly, (Circuit City) is frantically working to keep itself alive," JP Morgan analyst Christopher Horvers wrote in a note to investors.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081103/ap_on_bi_ge/circuit_city_store_closings

November 4, 2008
Barak Obama wins Presidency of the United States.
A landslide victory over republican John McCain.

NEWS
30 US states in recession, 19 at risk: Moody's
Tue Nov 4, 2008

Reuters WASHINGTON (AFP) – Thirty US states were mired in recession in September, and 19 others are at risk of falling into recession in the coming months, a survey by research firm Moody's Economy.com said Tuesday.

Moody's defined recession for the study as a decline in a state's gross domestic product (GDP) on average over a six-month period, compared with the prior six-month period.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20081104/ts_alt_afp/financeeconomyusrecessionstates

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Stocks plunge anew as recession worries resurface
By SARA LEPRO and TIM PARADIS, AP Business Writers
Wed Nov 5, 2008

NEW YORK – A case of postelection nerves sent Wall Street plunging Wednesday as investors, looking past Barack Obama's presidential victory, returned to their fears of a deep and protracted recession. Volatility swept over the market again, with the Dow Jones industrials falling nearly 500 points and all the major indexes tumbling more than 5 percent.

The market was widely expected to give back some gains after a runup that lifted the Standard & Poor's 500 index more than 18 percent and that gave the Dow its best weekly advance in 34 years; moreover, many analysts had warned that Wall Street faced more turbulence after two months of devastating losses.

But investors lost their recent confidence about the economy and began dumping stocks again.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081105/ap_on_bi_st_ma_re/wall_street

***
Stocks suffer for 2nd day
Dow sheds 443 points,
bringing its losses since Election Day
to 929 points, as recession fears accelerate.

By Alexandra Twin, CNNMoney.com senior writer
November 7, 2008

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Stocks slumped for a second straight session Thursday, bringing the Dow's losses to 929 points since Election Day, as fears of a prolonged recession sent investors running for the exits.

The Dow Jones industrial average (INDU) lost around 443 points, or 4.9%. The two-session decline of 929 points, or 9.7%, marked the biggest two-session point loss ever and the biggest two-session percentage decline in 21 years, according to Dow Jones.

http://money.cnn.com/2008/11/06/markets/markets_newyork/index.htm?cnn=yes

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Holiday outlook turns grimmer after dismal October
By ANNE D'INNOCENZIO, AP
November 7, 2008

NEW YORK -Retailers suffered through the weakest October in at least 39 years, despite frenzied price cutting as they desperately try to pull in consumers who are too worried about their finances to shop.

http://money.aol.com/news/articles/_a/bbdp/holiday-outlook-turns-grimmer-after/76832

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Mounting job losses fueling foreclosures
By Les Christie, CNNMoney.com staff writer
November 7, 2008

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- For years, bad loans and their aftershocks have been sending homeowners into foreclosure. Now it's lost jobs that are putting troubled borrowers over the edge

http://money.cnn.com/2008/11/04/real_estate/
job_losses_fuel_foreclosure/index.htm?cnn=yes

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Dem leaders want Bush to help ailing automakers
By DEB RIECHMANN, Associated Press Writer
Sat Nov 8, 2008

WASHINGTON – Democratic leaders in Congress asked the Bush administration on Saturday to provide more aid to the struggling auto industry, which is bleeding cash and jobs as sales have dropped to their lowest level in a quarter-century.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081108/ap_on_bi_ge/bush_automakers

***
Recession fear batters Wall Street
Stocks retreat on worries about corporate health
amid the global economic slowdown.
By Alexandra Twin, CNNMoney.com senior writer
November 10, 2008

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Stocks slumped Monday, as ongoing recession fears overshadowed any relief about China's $586 billion stimulus plan and the government's revamping of its deal with AIG.

http://money.cnn.com/2008/11/10/markets/markets_newyork/index.htm?cnn=yes

***

11-11-08

[ 1-24-09 After my seeing this vision of Red Cloud, Juanita and I have been staying much closer to home. It seems the stress level, mainly caused by the economic crisis, is rising rapidly and pushing many people over the edge. Random acts of violence have increased dramatically around the world... particularly in the US. A good time to lie low.]

Mon Mar 2, 2009... Americans lose sleep due to economic woe
NEW YORK (Reuters Life!) – Nearly 30 percent of Americans lose sleep at least a few nights per week because of the state of the U.S. economy and personal financial fears, and may suffer more as a result, according to a new poll. http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090302/lf_nm_life/us_sleep
http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/03/04/sleep.stress.economy/index.html

[What this means is that a hundred million Americans, more or less, are having problems sleeping. One out of three people that you meet on the street may be exhausted, fatigued and near the edge. Awareness and caution is required not to upset the balance of people that may be severely stressed.]

Dismal end to stocks' week
Volatile markets finish lower, with Dow down 338,
as investors abandon recovery attempt.
By Alexandra Twin, CNNMoney.com senior writer
Friday November 14, 2008

AMERICA'S MONEY CRISIS
Global markets extend rally
Fed approves BofA's Merrill buyout
Shares of national banks fall
JPMorgan profit forecast slashed
Bailouts: $7 trillion and rising

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Stocks slumped Friday, with investors abandoning a recovery attempt, as the worst retail sales on record ignited fears of a long recession.

The Dow Jones industrial average (INDU) fell 338 points, or 3.8%. Earlier, the blue-chip indicator had lost as much as 363 points and gained as much as 88 points.

http://money.cnn.com/2008/11/14/markets/
markets_newyork/index.htm?postversion=2008111415

FDIC lays out broad home loan modification plan
By Karey Wutkowski
Fri Nov 14, 2008

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The federal agency that insures most U.S. bank deposits unveiled a plan to prevent about 1.5 million home mortgage foreclosures by promising to share any losses with mortgage companies that agree to refinance certain home loans.

The agency, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp, said on Friday the plan would cost the government about $24.4 billion, which could be paid from the U.S. Treasury's $700 billion bailout program for the financial industry.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/us_fdic

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Leaders vow to tackle economic crisis
By David Ellis, CNNMoney.com staff writer
November 15, 2008

G-20 agrees to stimulate economies and bolster financial market rules - sets agenda ahead of another meeting after Obama takes office.

WASHINGTON (CNNMoney.com) -- World leaders unveiled a set of sweeping plans on Saturday aimed at tackling the ever-expanding economic crisis, but as expected they sketched out an agenda for more work in coming months and another meeting early next year.

Following a two-day meeting in Washington, D.C., presidents and prime ministers from Group of 20 countries managed to find some common ground on both the causes of the crisis and areas that need to be fixed.

http://money.cnn.com/2008/11/15/news/economy/g20_meeting/
index.htm?postversion=2008111506&eref=rss_topstories

***
Citigroup to shed another 53,000 jobs
By MADLEN READ, AP Business Writer
Mon Nov 17, 2008

NEW YORK – Citigroup Inc. is shedding approximately 53,000 more employees in the coming quarters as the banking giant struggles to steady itself after suffering massive losses from deteriorating debt.

The New York-based bank, which has already reduced its assets by about 20 percent since the first quarter of the year, also plans to trim expenses by 19 percent in 2009 from third-quarter levels, to $50 billion.

The plans, posted on the company's Web site, were discussed by CEO Vikram Pandit at the company's town hall meeting in New York Monday with employees.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081117/ap_on_bi_ge/citigroup_jobs

***
US soldiers re-enlisting because of poor economy
By JOHN MILBURN and STEPHEN MANNING,
Associated Press Writers
Mon Nov 17, 2008

FORT RILEY, Kan. – Sgt. Ryan Nyhus spent 14 months patrolling the deadly streets of Baghdad, where five members of his platoon were shot and one died. As bad as that was, he would rather go back there than take his chances in this brutal job market.

Nyhus re-enlisted last Wednesday, and in so doing joined the growing ranks of those choosing to stay in the U.S. military because of the bleak economy.

"In the Army, you're always guaranteed a steady paycheck and a job," said the 21-year-old Nyhus. "Deploying's something that's going to happen. That's a fact of life in the Army — a fact of life in the infantry."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081202/ap_on_re_us/meltdown_choosing_war