Jay Bookman

By Class of '98

January 26, 2009 3:57 PM | Link to this

No need to worry, Jay. King Obama is gonna spread the wealth around.

By RealityKing

January 26, 2009 4:02 PM | Link to this

If last year was the Bush recession. Then this year will surely be the Obama depression..

By getalife

January 26, 2009 4:10 PM | Link to this

And the gop will try to block any fix to the mess they created unless it is more lemon socialism.

By RW-(the original)

January 26, 2009 4:10 PM | Link to this

The Phizer/Wyeth layoffs are projected over a number of years and the Caterpillar layoffs include about 8,000 contractors around the world as well as about 6,500 that have already been announced previously.

Does anybody besides Jay B think all 61,000 of these jobs are even filled in the present workforce much less filled with people that have spouses, children, and mortgages?

By Midori

January 26, 2009 4:13 PM | Link to this

our newest senator: “Don’t they show their stripes”

By NRB

January 26, 2009 4:21 PM | Link to this

Don’t worry Jay. Obama is going to pay them 100 bucks per hour to rake leaves in the forest. The messiah will swoop down, snap his fingers, and all will be well. You just have to have HOPE, son. Hope.

By TW

January 26, 2009 4:35 PM | Link to this

Call it a time-out for the ignorant redneck childish trash that gave us the last eight.

Can’t wait for gas to go back up to $4. It’s such a hoot watching the look on that ‘publican face when the dial rolls over into the three digits while filling the pick-up.

Maybe God don’t like us making quick war? Maybe God don’t like the rich using His name to screw people over?

How ironic that those so vehemently opposed to abortion would so readily turn the country into one.

Happy job search!

By Mike

January 26, 2009 4:43 PM | Link to this

“By TW January 26, 2009 4:35 PM | Link to this Call it a time-out for the ignorant redneck childish trash that gave us the last eight.”

Yes, we need more mature people like you ;)

By CommunistAJC

January 26, 2009 4:43 PM | Link to this

Bookman, What bad news are you speaking of? You and every other lib told us stupid conservatives that Obama would FIX everything!

CHAINS WE CAN BELIEVE IN!

By Joey

January 26, 2009 4:44 PM | Link to this

This post is part of Jay’s continuing campaign in support of more TARP money. Not because he beleives it will help the situation. But because he supports President Obama’s initiatives without question. Like too many news media types, he has forfeited any Journalist credentials that he may have possessed.

There is no way for Republicans to block any thing that the Democrats want.

By AJC/DNC Management

January 26, 2009 4:50 PM | Link to this

Oh, are the rich Repugs laying off their Oblahma voting yard boys and house slaves?

hopeandchange.duh

By Taxpayer

January 26, 2009 4:50 PM | Link to this

Don’t worry, Jay. The Bush administration and the Republican party did a good job of almost destroying this country but they are out of power now. There will be more pain before we get things turned around but at least we have someone in charge now that understands that the Republican way is the wrong way. Obama may have to put a few cocky Republicans in their place before long but I suspect that he’s more than up for the task. In fact, I look forward to seeing a few of the more uppity Republicans being told to put a sock in it along with their instructions to fetch some coffee for those elected ones that are actually working to fix the messes. Then again, I do recall something about a comment about winning the election.

By the way, we are most likely already in a depression based on the criteria traditionally used to define it. Of course, some people don’t even think that we’re in a recession yet. It takes all types to make a society though and we need those kind to remind us how pathetic we could be if we did not strive to be better than the rest of the animal kingdom.

By Mike

January 26, 2009 4:51 PM | Link to this

it is pathetic to see conservative and liberal partisans take this opportunity (like every other one) to blame “those guys”.

Don’t you people see that you are making equally absurd statements and how much your mindless hatred resemble each others?

“It’s the Democrats fault, nyah!!!!”

“it’s the Republicans fault, nyahhh!!!

You are equally pathetic.

By Hillbilly Deluxe

January 26, 2009 5:11 PM | Link to this

This problem has been years in the making and both parties are to blame. Hopefully everybody will be able to weather the storm but it could just as easily be you. We’re all basically one layoff, serious illness, or serious accident from having our worlds turned upside down. There but for the Grace of God go I and no one is immune no matter how well you think you have it planned out.

By TW

January 26, 2009 5:11 PM | Link to this

Mature Mike@4:51 - your hypocricy is priceless.

Where was your American spirit when ‘w’ had your beloved country bent over?

By CommunistAJC

January 26, 2009 5:12 PM | Link to this

“It’s all Mikes fault, nyah!!!”

By RealityKing

January 26, 2009 5:16 PM | Link to this

No worries.., it’s just going to take more shovels to implement Obama’s new deal. They’re going to be BIG!!

By Eric

January 26, 2009 5:21 PM | Link to this

There was no blog on Kevin Green’s (executive director of The Clean Air Campaign) editorial concerning transportation funding. What is blatantly missing is the other side of the equation—we will be unable to ease traffic without corresponding curbs on land development/over-building of apartments, condos, etc. Everywhere in town, new housing complexes suddenly arise (consider Monroe Drive at I-85 in the past year) with no additional lanes. Without limits to growth, we are chasing our tail!!**

By Bud Wiser

January 26, 2009 5:40 PM | Link to this

The Republicans led us all to the edge of the abyss.

The Democrats will now push us over.

By Chad Harris

January 26, 2009 5:42 PM | Link to this

Grandpa Andy is the poster child for Alzheimer’s just did some crowing about Charlie Rangle’s civil tax glitch. I now understand that this “Andy” is here for laughs.

LOL to the 64th:

A special prosecutor ha also been appointed to look into whether DOJ officials committed crimes in connection with the US Attorney firings of 2006. And there have been some signs that the probe is circling Gonzo.

Even the unemployable former attorney general Gonzo von Gonzo has been speculating in public about whether he will be indicted for allowing torture.

Rangel and Jefferson vs. 250 Rethug Bush Administration or Congressmembers already convicted (most of the pansies plea bargained or turned snitch on some other Rethug) and legally challenged Andie is crowing about Charlie Rangel and a tax glitch that is totally civil in nature. Too damn funny.

But here’s the bottom line: When you know you are going to be defeated from now until kingdom come, you end up clinging at laughable straws.

The list of Rethug administration or congressional federal office holders either in federal prison or on their way to prison is over 200 people and growing. There are still going to be some Rethug body thuds from the Abramoff investigation.

And this ocurred under a badly compromised Bush DOJ. LOL again.

Latest Rethug on way to Federal Prison is New York House Majority leader indicted last Friday.

Tom Delay is on his way to Texas prison where he’s gonna love being someone’s fat white biotch.

That’s a lot of thugs for Andy to visit.

By AJC/DNC Management

January 26, 2009 5:44 PM | Link to this

I know!

Let’s do a Pelosi and waste all the little babies in the USA so that these horrible and nasty toddlers of other peoples stop being such a burden on our beloved government and there will be more jobs for all the rest of us!

Yay!

sarc/off

ew

By catlady

January 26, 2009 5:46 PM | Link to this

On the plus side, with less working the traffic should be lighter.

I don’t know about Atlanta but where I live in the mtns. the roads are a mess! The logging trucks and the chicken trucks have torn them up and the county says there is no money to fix them so we have to dodge potholes. It would be nice if those industries had to pay for the damage they cause, especially to tires and alignment, not to mention accidents. We only have our roads and cars—no buses or any other form of alternative transportation.

Batten down the hatches, Dorothy, this storm will be a big one!

By NRB

January 26, 2009 5:49 PM | Link to this

I can’t wait for the AJC to be added to the unemployment numbers. Worst liberal garbage printed. Ever.

By Chad Harris

January 26, 2009 5:55 PM | Link to this

Let’s use an IQ of one and fund health care for all the little babies of the USA once they get past the labia. Because at that point the Rethugs don’t give a damn about them.

Let’s back up a big gas guzzling truck to ole Andy’s pad and dump those 450 plus thousand frozen embryos that are being discarded because all these Right to Lifers won’t allow them to be implanted into their uteri to make more “little babies.”

I’d say that this little baby crap has posted by the biggest and most disingenuous baby I’ve seen yet.

And here’s one more thing for the thugs to savor. The dreams of the Federalist Society and Grover Norquist to reconfigure the Supreme Court with more little federalist martinets got blown to bits with the election of Obama, because the S. Ct. is going to be reconfigured in numbers that will immunize Row from the chipping away that was attempted and is now impossible.

By Mike

January 26, 2009 5:55 PM | Link to this

“By TW January 26, 2009 5:11 PM | Link to this Mature Mike@4:51 - your hypocricy is priceless.

Where was your American spirit when ‘w’ had your beloved country bent over?”

You miss the point. It is only “obvious” to mindless partisans that it is all “their” fault. Liberal or conservative, mindless partisans have far more in common than they differ.

By AJC/DNC Management

January 26, 2009 6:04 PM | Link to this

How’s that Andy Derangement Syndrome working out for you, Chadly?

If I didn’t see the name, I wouldn’t even read your sonorous manifestos from the insane asylum.

Run along, junior.

By Chad Harris

January 26, 2009 6:08 PM | Link to this

That’s immunize Roe—so all the squaking about babies when the thugs and Bush administration did everything possible to decimate funding for child health care is amusing.

I’m still waiting for which Thug here wants us to grab the 460,000 frozen embryos that are being discarded per year in this country alone, load them into a truck and back the truck up to their home. Where are you going to find the 460,000 Rethug women’s uteri to implant them before they deteriorate to unusable since all you big babies are so in love with “little babies.”

Try giving a little thought to the high percentage of babies aborted by teenage moms under the age of 16 with no income, who haven’t completed school, to whom your previous Republican dominated Senate and House denied medical care for those babies.

In other words you want them born, but not cared for with no thought to what kind of medical and socio-economic environment these babies would be in.

By CommunistAJC

January 26, 2009 6:10 PM | Link to this

Chad Harris, Delay going to jail is news me. Last time I checked he was not charged with anything.

PS: Will you be visiting William Jefferson and Eliot Spitzer? You’ll also have Blago to visit soon enough.

By Chad Harris

January 26, 2009 6:23 PM | Link to this

It doesn’t matter what you “read” Andy. Roe is safe. You don’t offer a way to provide health care for the babies that are born, and abortion will continue with the reproductive information now being provided that the Bush adminstration denied in this country and abroad.

And only one of us is in a position to make things happen along these lines clinically Andy and it sure as hell ain’t you.

By Midori

January 26, 2009 6:25 PM | Link to this

Jefferson and Spitzer deserve to serve time just for stupidity.

Delay needs to serve time for being a douche.

By Taxpayer

January 26, 2009 6:35 PM | Link to this

Chad,

Give the Republicans a little break. That tired old worn out lie about Republicans caring about reducing or eliminating abortions is one of the few things that they think they can still safely cling to because the bible tells them so. For some reason, they have it stuck in their heads that the rest of us do not know that they had full control of the government and had every opportunity to pass all the laws that they thought they could get away with regarding making abortion illegal. They didn’t do it then and they never planned to either. They’re such pathetic panderers. That worn out talk is right up there with their other election-year trash talk such as Drill, baby drill or I believe in family values or I’m a compassionate conservative. What a load of crap. All they ever do is try to dream up catchy one-liners with no real value. They don’t even know what they mean when they use them. The next thing you know, they’ll start dredging up their worn out lines about believing in small government or equal rights or reducing the debt. HaHaHaHa.

By AJC/DNC Management

January 26, 2009 6:39 PM | Link to this

{{{{al-Gore is scheduled before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Wednesday morning to once again testify on the ‘urgent need’ to combat global warming.

A ‘Winter Storm Watch’ has been posted for the nation’s capitol and there is a potential for significant snow… sleet… or ice accumulations.

Global warming advocates have suggested this year’s wild winter spells are proof of climate change.}}}}

{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{geez}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}

By Taxpayer

January 26, 2009 7:08 PM | Link to this

Yum Yum. There’s nothing like a big heaping helping of arsenic, lead, mercury, etc., in your ground water and working its way into your little kids bodies courtesy of the power companies and the help they received from the good old boys in the Republican party that just never met a regulation that they didn’t need to get rid of…analysis shows that a total of 13 states were found to have at least three coal-fired power plant “surface impoundment” dumping sites on the six 50-worst toxic chemical lists: Indiana, 11 dumps; Ohio, eight dumps; Kentucky, seven dumps; Alabama, seven dumps; Georgia, six dumps; North Carolina, six dumps; West Virginia, four dumps; Tennessee, four dumps; Illinois, three dumps; Michigan, three dumps; Pennsylvania, three dumps; Florida, three dumps; and Wyoming, three dumps. Who needs guns and bullets to kill off we the people when we have so many willing and able Republicans. Anything for a buck — even their own kids. The bad part is that they’re taking out other people’s kids too.

By Midori

January 26, 2009 7:11 PM | Link to this

On Monday, House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers (D-MI) issued a subpoena to Karl Rove, requiring him to testify regarding his role in the Bush Administration’s politicization of the Department of Justice, including the US Attorney firings and the prosecution of former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman. The subpoena calls for Rove to appear at deposition on Monday, February 2, 2009.

wonder if the worthless sack of guts will show up?

By lwwmm7

January 26, 2009 7:14 PM | Link to this

When are we going to realize that a rich Dem and a rich Repub are one and the same? Right now they are sitting around in a nice exclusive club slapping each other on the back and lsughing about the show they put on today. Kinda like rasslin’, put on a show for the hicks and pretend to hate each other, then go out and have dinner together and yuk it up. But then again, I shouldn’t be making fun of rasslers. At least they work for their money.

By NtC06

January 26, 2009 7:14 PM | Link to this

teenage pregnancies more often than not occur in young women from low-income families. they are usually girls doing poorly in school. they are usually girls without parental guidance. they are usually the product of a teenage pregnancy. they usually have no father in the home. they are entitled to welfare benefits ranging from monthly checks to food stamps to prenatal care. studies have shown that girls who are able to complete their education can better provide for their children.

if the young would-be teenage mothers had embraced the education being offered them they would not have become pregnant in the first place? no babies? no cycle of perpetual dependence on govt?

a govt education may not amount to much but it is better than taking the road to nothingness and it is free.

why should the girl’s problem become my problem? i had nothing to do with her wrong-headed decisions.

By Constructive Feedback

January 26, 2009 7:14 PM | Link to this

Mr. Bookman - as I recall it, over the last 8 years you and other opinion smiths were making the case that

1) The “Bush Recovery” was the weakest on record

2) That the economy needs to create at least 150,000 per month just to handle the influx of new people or we can’t consider any results below this as real growth

3) That Bush had promised X number of jobs and the numbers posted were short.

I hope that you will remain consistent for us. The unbiased, fighter for the “working man” that you are.

By Midori

January 26, 2009 7:16 PM | Link to this

Geithner was just confirmed on floor of the Senate, 60 to 34……

By Taxpayer

January 26, 2009 7:28 PM | Link to this

Then again, we could always entrust our children’s sex education to our Republican officials. They’ll know exactly what to do to instill those family values. Now there’s something for Republican party members to talk about after church services.

By RB from Gwinnett

January 26, 2009 7:32 PM | Link to this

By Chad Harris 5:55 PM

“Let’s use an IQ of one and fund health care for all the little babies of the USA once they get past the labia. Because at that point the Rethugs don’t give a damn about them.”

Chad, it sure gets old hearing you and your bretheren make the claim Republicans don’t care about children after they’re born when I’d be willing to bet good money you’ve never put a dime of your own money toward healthcare for any of the kids you claim to care about.

I challenged Jay a few weeks ago to tell us all where he’s put his money where his mouth is and he never posted anything. How about you, Chad. Can you share with us all how you’ve put your money up for the poor kids? Or are you just another loser liberal who’s only benevolent with other peoples money?

By Cherokee

January 26, 2009 7:38 PM | Link to this

Hey Chad Harris @ 5:55 - I’m all for that. But it makes me nervous that all the old justices are the libs…. and we’ll have the likes of Thomas and Alito and Roberts around for years. How will Obama be able to remake the Court?

By tcb'ness

January 26, 2009 7:39 PM | Link to this

Harvard vs. The Hood

Will the Obama presidency drain the swamp of hip-hop hate?

The early signs aren’t promising. On YouTube, Jay-Z and another rapper, Young Jeezy, appeared at a Monday night “Hip Hop Inaugural Ball” in Washington. They certainly weren’t in the spirit of optimism and nonpartisanship. Jeezy proclaimed: “I wanna thank two people. I wanna thank the mother [profanity] overseas that threw two shoes at George Bush. Listen, listen! I wanna thank the mother [profanity] who helped them move their [profanity] up out of the White House … My president is mother [profanity] black!”

Jay-Z rapped: “You can keep ya puss, I don’t want no more Bush/ no more war, no more Iraq, no more white lies, my president is black!”

NBC’s “Today” — After getting a nod, she changed the subject to commerce: “But he knows what sells. You scare people.” 50 Cent agreed: “I know I scare people. That’s actually my job. That’s why they buy my music. I scare them for $16.99, and they — and they buy the records and they’re entertained by it.” Gangel suggested it was all unreal, and therefore innocent. Does this woman fail to understand this guy was a crack cocaine and heroin dealer before being “discovered” by Eminem?

Sadly, when Gangel proceeded to ask young blacks whether President Obama or 50 Cent would be a stronger role model, most picked the rapper, as one said, “because he’s cool. I mean, he’s what’s in. Yes, the highest leadership position in American has changed, but society has still not changed yet.” Another added: “I do think that the life experiences of 50 Cent cannot be dismissed, and I think a lot of African-Americans can relate to 50 Cent’s experience.”

These kids still tried to pay tribute to Obama — by calling him “gangster.” It’s partially President Obama’s fault. He’s been very tight-lipped and cautious about disparaging rappers. He’s done it only when pressed, and always with great caution and tributes to rap artistry. He’s tried to display how he’s down with hip hop. He has copied Jay-Z’s moves and invited him to perform at a concert after the Inauguration for his staff party in Washington. What wonders he might work if President Obama would sound much more like Bill Cosby now that he’s standing in a powerful bully pulpit. But who will press him to try it?

Promise squandered.

By GaLiberal

January 26, 2009 8:04 PM | Link to this

Haven’t the obstructionist and impeding Rethuglicons been claiming the economy would fix itself if only the government would butt out? We don’t need no stinking bail outs. Let them businesses fail. That’s the “free market.” So what if 61,000 people can’t pay their mortgage or buy food or pay their gas/electric/water bill. It’s their fault for not being better prepared. Personal responsibility. Of course, let one of these Rethuglicon buttlickers lose their job and watch them scream the government isn’t doing enough. Just look at it as the George Bush 100% tax cut.

Despite the facts, the Rethuglicons are going to obstruct and imped President Obama and the Democrats. I had one person tell me he voted for Saxby Shameless so Obama would not become a dictator. He was afraid Obama would ban his guns and raise his taxes. The sad fact is there are too many other Rethuglicon bootlickers like this person.

When you vote Rethuglicon, you vote against your own best interests. And the loss of 61,000 jobs in one day is living proof.

By Incredulous

January 26, 2009 10:41 PM | Link to this

61,000 unemployed workers in a single day: Change We Can Believe In.

By I'm Rick James

January 26, 2009 11:13 PM | Link to this

I laugh my A$$ off at you morons (like Incredulous) who lick your chops at being able to pin this F’g fiasco on Obama.

Nice try $h!tbags, he’s only been in office for a week! Stop trying to rewrite history like you always have. This turd of a country has been brought to you by George W. Bush and those who think like him. It has been in the making for 8 whole years, Obama has nothing to do with it.

Losers. Go ahead and call him a N——, it’ll make you feel better. Won’t change anything, he’s still President. In the words of Dave Chappelle as Rick James… “it’s a celebration b!tchez!”

By h ryder

January 27, 2009 8:29 AM | Link to this

Please, It is time that many of the people in the U.S.matured and actually presented logical thinking based on varifiable facts, not just another person’s words. Too many of the posts are from ignorant undeducated nonthinking bigots who desire to be wealthy and powerful by legally opressing and taking from those who have earned through legitimatly moral efforts. You have the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. You are not entitled to happiness as you define happiness, merely the pursuit. Stop blaming others, grow up, obtain an education and/or training, and then get to work.

By Peadawg

January 27, 2009 9:26 AM | Link to this

Don’t worry everyone, Robin “Obama” Hood will rob the wealthy and give to the poor.

GaLiberal: “When you vote Rethuglicon, you vote against your own best interests. And the loss of 61,000 jobs in one day is living proof.” Democrats control the House, Senate, and Presidency now…and you still blame Republicans? LOL!!!!!

By Copyleft

January 27, 2009 9:37 AM | Link to this

“Robin “Obama” Hood will rob the wealthy and give to the poor.”

Peadawg: Are you suggesting that would be a bad thing? Robin Hood was a hero, remember?

By Peadawg

January 27, 2009 9:49 AM | Link to this

Copyleft, if I remember the story correctly…he was an outlaw. He was only a hero to the poor, not the people he stole from.

By Soothsayer

January 27, 2009 10:23 AM | Link to this

Twenty-five people at the heart of the meltdown …: The worst economic turmoil since the Great Depression is not a natural…

Alan Greenspan: Chariman of US federal reserve 1987-2006

Only a couple of years ago the long-serving chairman of the Fed, a committed free marketeer who had steered the US economy through crises ranging from the 1987 stockmarket collapse through to the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, was lauded with star status, named the “oracle” and “the maestro”. Now he is viewed as one of those most culpable for the crisis. He is blamed for allowing the housing bubble to develop as a result of his low interest rates and lack of regulation in mortgage lending. He backed sub-prime lending and urged homebuyers to swap fixed-rate mortgages for variable rate deals, which left borrowers unable to pay when interest rates rose.

For many years, Greenspan also defended the booming derivatives business, which barely existed when he took over the Fed, but which mushroomed from $100tn in 2002 to more than $500tn five years later.

Billionaires George Soros and Warren Buffett might have been extremely worried about these complex products - Soros avoided them because he didn’t “really understand how they work” and Buffett famously described them as “financial weapons of mass destruction” - but Greenspan did all he could to protect the market from what he believed was unnecessary regulation. In 2003 he told the Senate banking committee: “Derivatives have been an extraordinarily useful vehicle to transfer risk from those who shouldn’t be taking it to those who are willing to and are capable of doing so”.

In recent months, however, he has admitted at least some of his long-held beliefs have turned out to be incorrect - not least that free markets would handle the risks involved, that too much regulation would damage Wall Street and that, ultimately, banks would always put the protection of their shareholders first.

He has described the current financial crisis as “the type … that comes along only once in a century” and last autumn said the fact that the banks had played fast and loose with shareholders’ equity had left him “in a state of shocked disbelief”.

Politicians Bill Clinton Former US president

Clinton shares at least some of the blame for the current financial chaos. He beefed up the 1977 Community Reinvestment Act to force mortgage lenders to relax their rules to allow more socially disadvantaged borrowers to qualify for home loans.

In 1999 Clinton repealed the Glass-Steagall Act, which ensured a complete separation between commercial banks, which accept deposits, and investment banks, which invest and take risks. The move prompted the era of the superbank and primed the sub-prime pump. The year before the repeal sub-prime loans were just 5% of all mortgage lending. By the time the credit crunch blew up it was approaching 30%.

Gordon Brown Prime minister The British prime minister seems to have been completely dazzled by the movers and shakers in the Square Mile, putting the City’s interests ahead of other parts of the economy, such as manufacturers. He backed “light touch” regulation and a low-tax regime for the thousands of non-domiciled foreign bankers working in London and for the private equity business.

George W Bush Former US president President Clinton might have started the sub-prime ball rolling, but the Bush administration certainly did little to put the brakes on the vast amount of mortgage cash being lent to “Ninja” (No income, no job applicants) borrowers who could not afford them. Neither did he rein back Wall Street with regulation (although the government did pass the Sarbanes-Oxley Act in the wake of the Enron scandal).

Senator Phil Gramm Former US senator from Texas, free market advocate with a PhD in economics who fought long and hard for financial deregulation. His work, encouraged by Bill Clinton’s administration, allowed the explosive growth of derivatives, including credit swaps. In 2001 he told a Senate debate: “Some people look at sub-prime lending and see evil,” he said. “I look at sub-prime lending and I see the American dream in action.

“According to the New York Times, federal records show that from 1989 to 2002 he was the top recipient of campaign contributions from commercial banks and in the top five for donations from Wall Street. At an April 2000 Senate hearing after a visit to New York, he said: “When I am on Wall Street and I realise that that’s the very nerve centre of American capitalism and I realise what capitalism has done for the working people of America, to me that’s a holy place.

“He eventually left Capitol Hill to work for UBS as an investment banker.

Wall Street/Bankers Abi Cohen Goldman Sachs chief US strategist The “perpetual bull”. Once rated one of the most powerful women in the US. But so wrong, so often. She failed to see previous share price crashes and was famous for her upwards forecasts. Replaced last March.

“Hank” Greenberg AIG insurance group Now aged 83, Hank - AKA Maurice - was the boss of AIG. He built the business into the world’s biggest insurer. AIG had a vast business in credit default swaps and therefore a huge exposure to a residential mortgage crisis. When AIG’s own credit-rating was cut, it faced a liquidity crisis and needed an $85bn (pounds 47bn then) bail out from the US government to avoid collapse and avert the crisis its collapse would have caused. It later needed many more billions from the US treasury and the Fed, but that did not stop senior AIG executives taking themselves off for a few lavish trips, including a $444,000 golf and spa retreat in California and an $86,000 hunting expedition to England. “Have you heard of anything more outrageous?” said Elijah Cummings, a Democratic congressman from Maryland. “They were getting their manicures, their facials, pedicures, massages while the American people were footing the bill.”

Andy Hornby Former HBOS boss So highly respected, so admired and so clever - top of his 800-strong class at Harvard - but it was his strategy, adopted from the Bank of Scotland when it merged with Halifax, that got HBOS in the trouble it is now. Who would have thought that the mighty Halifax could be brought to its knees and teeter on the verge of nationalisation?

Sir Fred Goodwin Former RBS boss Once one of Gordon Brown’s favourite businessmen, now the prime minister says he is “angry” with the man dubbed “Fred the Shred” for his strategy at Royal Bank of Scotland, which has left the bank staring at a pounds 28bn loss and 70% owned by the government. The losses will reflect vast lending to businesses that cannot repay and write-downs on acquisitions masterminded by Goodwin stretching back years.

Steve Crawshaw Former B&B boss Once upon a time Bradford & Bingley was a rather boring building society, which used two men in bowler hats to signify their sensible and trustworthy approach. In 2004 the affable Crawshaw took over. He closed down B&B businesses, cut staff numbers by half and turned the B&B into a specialist in buy-to-let loans and self-certified mortgages - also called “liar loans” because applicants did not have to prove a regular income. The business broke down when the wholesale money market collapsed and B&B’s borrowers fell quickly into debt. Crawshaw denied a rights issue was on its way weeks before he asked shareholders for pounds 300m. Eventually, B&B had to be nationalised. Crawshaw, however, had left the bridge a few weeks earlier as a result of heart problems. He has a pounds 1.8m pension pot.

Adam Applegarth Former Northern Rock boss Applegarth had such big ambitions. But the business model just collapsed when the credit crunch hit. Luckily for Applegarth, he walked away with a wheelbarrow of cash to ease the pain of his failure, and spent the summer playing cricket.

Ralph Cioffi and Matthew TanninCioffi, pictured, and Tanninn were Bear Stearns bankers recently indicted for fraud over the collapse of two hedge funds last year, which was one of the triggers of the credit crunch. They are accused of lying to investors about the amount of money they were putting into sub-prime, and of quietly withdrawing their own funds when times got tough.

Lewis Ranieri The “godfather” of mortgage finance, who pioneered mortgage-backed bonds in the 1980s and immortalised in Liar’s Poker. Famous for saying that “mortgages are math”, Ranieri created collateralised pools of mortgages. In 2004 Business Week ranked him alongside names such as Bill Gates and Steve Jobs as one of the greatest innovators of the past 75 years.Ranieri did warn in 2006 of the risks from the breakneck growth of mortgage securitisation. Nevertheless, his Texas-based Franklin Bank Corp went bust in November due to the credit crunch.

Joseph Cassano AIG Financial Products Cassano ran the AIG team that sold credit default swaps in London, and in effect bankrupted the world’s biggest insurance company, forcing the US government to stump up billions in aid. Cassano, who lives in a townhouse near Harrods in Knightsbridge, earned 30 cents for every dollar of profit his financial products generated - or about pounds 280m. He was fired after the division lost $11bn, but stayed on as a $1m-a-month consultant. “It seems he single-handedly brought AIG to its knees,” said John Sarbanes, a Democratic congressman.

Chuck Prince Former Citi boss A lawyer by training, Prince had built Citi into the biggest bank in the world, with a sprawling structure that covered investment banking, high-street banking and wealthy management for the richest clients. When profits went into reverse in 2007, he insisted it was just a hiccup, but he was forced out after multibillion-dollar losses on sub-prime business started to surface. He received about $140m to ease his pain .

Angelo Mozilo Countrywide Financial Known as “the orange one” for his luminous tan, Mozilo was the chairman and chief executive of the biggest American sub-prime mortgage lender, which was saved from bankruptcy by Bank of America. BoA recently paid billions to settle investigations by various attorney generals for Countrywide’s mis-selling of risky loans to thousands who could not afford them. The company ran a “VIP programme” that provided loans on favourable terms to influential figures including Christopher Dodd, chairman of the Senate banking committee, the heads of the federal-backed mortgage lenders Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and former assistant secretary of state Richard Holbrooke.

Stan O’Neal Former boss of Merrill Lynch O’Neill became one of the highest-profile casualties of the credit crunch when he lost the confidence of the bank’s board in late 2007. When he was appointed to the top job four years earlier, O’Neal, the first African-American to run a Wall Street firm, had pledged to shed the bank’s conservative image. Shortly before he quit, the bank admitted to nearly $8bn of exposure to bad debts, as bets in the property and credit markets turned sour. Merrill was forced into the arms of Bank of America less than a year later.

Jimmy Cayne Former Bear Stearns boss The chairman of the Wall Street firm Bear Stearns famously continued to play in a bridge tournament in Detroit even as the firm fell into crisis. Confidence in the bank evaporated after the collapse of two of its hedge funds and massive write-downs from losses related to the home loans industry. It was bought for a knock down price by JP Morgan Chase in March. Cayne sold his stake in the firm after the JP Morgan bid emerged, making $60m. Such was the anger directed towards Cayne that the US media reported that he had been forced to hire a bodyguard. A one-time scrap-iron salesman, Cayne joined Bear Stearns in 1969 and became one of the firm’s top brokers, taking over as chief executive in 1993.

Others Christopher Dodd, Chairman, Senate banking committee (Democrat) Consistently resisted efforts to tighten regulation on the mortgage finance firms Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. He pushed to broaden their role to dodgier mortgages in an effort to help home ownership for the poor. Received $165,000 in donations from Fannie and Freddie from 1989 to 2008, more than anyone else in Congress.

Geir Haarde Icelandic prime minister He announced on Friday that he would step down and call an early election in May, after violent anti-government protests fuelled by his handling of the financial crisis. Last October Iceland’s three biggest commercial banks collapsed under billions of dollars of debts. The country was forced to borrow $2.1bn from the International Monetary Fund and take loans from several European countries. Announcing his resignation, Haarde said he had throat cancer.

The American public There’s no escaping the fact: politicians might have teed up the financial system and failed to police it properly and Wall Street’s greedy bankers might have got carried away with the riches they could generate, but if millions of Americans had just realised they were borrowing more than they could repay then we would not be in this mess. The British public got just as carried away. We are the credit junkies of Europe and many ofour problems could easily have been avoided if we had been more sensible and just said no.

Mervyn King Governor of the bank of England When Mervyn King settled his feet under the desk in his Threadneedle Street office, the UK economy was motoring along just nicely: GDP was growing at 3% and inflation was just 1.3%. Chairing his first meeting of the Bank’s monetary policy committee (MPC), interest rates were cut to a post-war low of 3.5%.

By Shane

January 27, 2009 10:28 AM | Link to this

It’s absolutely hysterical for republicans (like the ones on this thread) and really, well, anyone, to expect Obama to come in and magically fix all the problems that have come to light over the past eight years.

Give the guy about 4 years and then let’s reassess.

At least he can appoint intelligent people of substance to important positions, and it doesn’t hurt that he’s got half a brain (or more) and can finish a complete sentence either.

And what happened to a president believing “the buck stops here” ? Obama seems to fully take credit for his authority while Bush W is busy slipping out the back door taking as many interviews as he can to explain how his whole horrendous administration was mired by ‘bad situations’ - it’s your mess - take credit jerk. Not that you got there alone - you had plenty of help along the way - but the decider made some seriously incompetent decisions and the buck should stop with him.

By JackLeg

January 27, 2009 10:31 AM | Link to this

This is too funny, the dimacrats can’t live with out a crisis so they can grow government to fix the problem. LOL You idiots think the GOP bent you over? You are just starting to see “The Change We Need”

By Earl

January 27, 2009 10:32 AM | Link to this

When we’re all standing in line at the soup kitchens will we be able to tell who is a Democrat or who is a Republican. Just fix it, somebody….please.

By Soothsayer

January 27, 2009 10:43 AM | Link to this

Deregulation

Outsourcing

Globalization

China

India

OPEC

Foreign oil dependence

Balance of trade deficits

“Free” trade instead of fair trade

“Big box”

Loss of domestic manufacturing

These are the structural causes of our economic difficulties. Until and unless we solve these structural problems, we will remain mired in debt and recession.

If you wonder where all the money went. Look at OPEC countries, China, India, etc.

By Copyleft

January 27, 2009 10:45 AM | Link to this

Peadawg: “if I remember the story correctly…he was an outlaw. He was only a hero to the poor, not the people he stole from.”

Yep—and Lincoln was none too popular among slaveowners, either. What’s your point? Robin Hood was on the side of RIGHT, and his enemies were wrongdoers.

By Peadawg

January 27, 2009 10:51 AM | Link to this

Copyleft, so people who make more than $250,000 are wrongdoers now? how’s that?

Why should we help people who keep popping out kids every 9 months w/ different dadies just so they can stay on welfare?

By Big MIKE

January 27, 2009 10:53 AM | Link to this

“Conservatives”, you were, and still are the biggest joke of a party, that this country has ever seen. You put this joker in office for eight years,and let him totally destroy a economy that was benefial to all Americans having some substance of living, and then you get on your blogs, and blame this on a President who has been in office one week. This is nothing more than your racial hatred, and prejudice towards anyone that dare oppose your right wing thinking.You don’t seem to realize that we’ve spent enough money in Iraq to keep all Americans that were laid off working, and to continue adding more ‘Americans’ to the work force.Bush, became a good salesman in your homes and told you everything you wanted to here, and you bought into it, now the crap that you bought into has come home to roost. No more getting Mexicans to do cheap labor, Blacks to take care of children, while the wife goes and sleeps with the young White boy who you yourself look down on.Continue to listen to Rush Limbaugh,the fat lazy pill popping nobody, who feels you head up with false accusations of African-Americans, Mexicans,people from the Middle-East, and anybody who oppose your “Christian” views.You want people to believe in you, but cotinue to be one of the most separist groups in America.Blame the Man, or Woman who works the low end scale of the job market, while CEO’s cotinue to take home 20 million a year salaries, if he/she was a real “American”, wouldn’t they say put 5 of that 20 million back into the company so my employees can have an opportunity to take care of there family’s? President Obama, is going to attempt to clean up this fiasco that has made a once proud country, become the biggest joke on this earth.61,000 jobs, I hope when it’s your turn at the chopping block conservatives, that you have your so-called Christian values in order, and that can start by realizing that “all” men who want to work and take care of there family should have the opportunity to the maximum limit.

By Peadawg

January 27, 2009 11:17 AM | Link to this

Big MIKE: ““Conservatives”, you were, and still are the biggest joke of a party, that this country has ever seen”

Isn’t that “nothing more than your racial hatred, and prejudice towards anyone that dare oppose your” left wing thinking??

hypocrite

By Break Like the Wind

January 27, 2009 11:35 AM | Link to this

I relish the irony of the conservatives on this board deigning to mock “Obama Fever” or annoint Obama “The Savior”. Their words, not ours.

Mind you, these were the same people who reminded us ad nauseum of their love affair with 43 with their inane bumper stickers: “W”, or “W - The President”, or “W - Still the President”.

Hero worshippers, every one of them. Too bad they hitched their wagon to the worst President in modern American history, and now want to ascribe his failure to President Obama on Day Seven of his term.

There’s a reason you folks have been losing elections since 2006.

By Hip Hopcracy

January 27, 2009 11:52 AM | Link to this

Let me get this straight:

One week into his term, and the Repukes are blaming Obama for the ills of our society.

EIGHT MONTHS into the Bush Presidency, and the neocons blamed Clinton for the attacks of 9/11.

No wonder you folks keep losing elections.

By AJ

January 27, 2009 11:56 AM | Link to this

Give President Obama a chance, he’s only been in office ONE week. Stop whinning, in my lifetime I have been laid off twice, once when Ronald Reagan was President and the second time when George W Bush became President. Enough said!

By AJ

January 27, 2009 11:59 AM | Link to this

Give President Obama a chance, he’s only been in office ONE week. Stop whinning, in my lifetime I have been laid off twice, once when Ronald Reagan was President and the second time when George W Bush became President. Enough said!

By GaLiberal

January 27, 2009 12:52 PM | Link to this

**By Peadawg

GaLiberal: “When you vote Rethuglicon, you vote against your own best interests. And the loss of 61,000 jobs in one day is living proof.” Democrats control the House, Senate, and Presidency now…and you still blame Republicans? LOL!!!!!**

Peabrain is more like it. Obviously, you’ve had your head shoved up someplace dark because this recession started in 2007 and has continued to get worse with each day. The recent loss of 61,000 jobs is just more testament to Bush’s bungling of the economy. Remember, President Obama INHERITED, not created, this problem. The Rethuglicons are doing what they do best; obstruct and imped President Obama’s efforts at getting the problem fixed. Rethuglicon obstruction and impediment. That’s the real reason 61,000 jobs were lost in one day.

It’s small brained butt-sniffers like you the Rethuglicons count on to elect them to office. They lie about how their tax cuts will make your life better when in fact it will cost you more. A lot more. Like your house. Or your life. Just think what you pay for gas and then factor in the cost of the reckless and unnecessary Iraq war. Instead of investing in new energy systems, Bush gave you a tax cut of oh say $1,000. Yet, he made his rich oil buddies even richer when oil prices shot up last year. Think you won’t be paying $4/gal or more? It’s simply amazing how these Rethuglicon bootlickers will buy into the con job. There truly is a sucker born every minute.

When you vote Rethuglicon, you vote against your own best interests. And Peadawg is living proof.

By Big MIKE

January 27, 2009 1:37 PM | Link to this

Peadawg, This is in a sense the hate, that hate made, when Conservative[actually preservatives]continue to want to look at this world view of what thewy seem to think is yesterday’s way of thinking, it doesn’t make me a racist, or prejudice. See if I saw you, and did harm to you, are you going to show love and respect to me? No I doubt it! You may not agree with me, but can we agree to disagree? Can we acknowledge that this country was not this bad off when Clinton was in office! Bush, and Chaney, sold this country on terroism, long after this man should have been executed, he told Americans that we where going to take care of this, and it [Osama]is still a problem, and a threat.Even the most conservative of conservatives, can see this is a farce.America, and Americans need a President who will work for the people, and let outsiders know that this Country is and always be strong! The right man is in there, and he will work for us all, even if “Conservative white America wants to classify him as the first “African-American President. See there is two things wrong with that connotation, first, we are not African Americans, we are Americans, and second acknowledge this man,”America’s President, as multi -culteral, wether you want to acknowledge it or not, his mother is a white woman.See liberals can understand, and accept this, Preservatives can’t.