Turn Up The Freaking Volume.

Conditions: A Dry Heat.


What Was It Worth.

If I interpret it correctly, when the investment brokers think the market is going to rise, they buy, which helps make it rise. And if they think it's going to fall they sell, which helps it fall. So after the big fall following the latest bank collapses, when the initial 700 billion bailout plan was put forward, the markets rose. Then the bill was defeated, and yet the market did not tank. The experts said that was because everyone knew eventually the bill would be signed, because it was too important not to be signed. So the market fluctuated about a bit. And then yesterday the bailout plan was signed, and the markets...

Wall Street ended an intensely volatile week with the Dow Jones industrials falling 157 points and the major indexes all suffering big losses.

The credit markets remained stagnant, with no immediate signs of when lending and borrowing would return to levels even approaching normalcy.

Investors dumped stocks late in the session after a big intraday rally, repeating a defensive move seen throughout the yearlong market pullback. As lawmakers voted on the plan, which President Bush quickly signed into law, the Dow advanced more than 300 points. After it passed, the blue chips moved in and out of positive territory.

- huffingtonpost.com/

It fell? After all that drama, and an unprecedented bailout bill signed in despite the fact that every single senator, and every singe American, hates the bill and doesn't want it. And yet the markets still sink.

Financial markets, already weighed down by another round of bleak economic data, including a report showing 159,000 jobs were lost in September, had a mixed response to the House action. Ahead of the vote, the Dow was up about 290 points, but ended the day sharply lower, falling 157.47 points.

- nytimes.com/

So, the jobs market is still falling, the stock market is still falling, but the various investment brokers and entrepreneurs who were stupid enough and greedy enough to get us all into this mess, oh they'll get paid thanks to this bill, and paid handsomely. What other industry does this? In what other industry can you fail, collectively, on such a massive scale and yet the government swoops in to pay you some crazily inflated sum of what you're actually worth? Nothing makes sense anymore.



Waiting For A Crash.

All eyes and ears were on the vice presidential debate this week between Suddenly Sarah Palin and Joe Biden. The old campaigner prone to the odd gaffe going up against the brash, folksy-surprise veep candidate from Alaska. Who is this person? What does she actually know? What kind of a leader would she be?

A lot of Democrats wanted her to do badly tonight. And based on Palin's recent interview blunders, including her now widely circulated walk-and-talk Q&A with Katie Couric, a lot of reporters predicted she would. Now every one of them is eating their words.

I wish I had listened to the debate on the radio instead of watching it on TV because I would probably be writing a very different commentary right now. That's because neither candidate had any major gaffes. There were no memorably embarrassing statements. In fact, we didn't even learn very much tonight about Joe Biden and Sarah Palin because they both spent so much time attacking their opponent's running mate. When the candidates were on point, we either got information we already knew (the Bush administration has run this country into the ground; Obama and Biden want a timeline for withdrawal from Iraq, while McCain and Palin don't), or we learned about Biden and Palin's similarities: Both fancy themselves on the side of middle-class Americans, both oppose redefining marriage; both have sons in or on their way to war; both were hard-pressed to say what they would give up in light of the $700 billion bailout.

This debate wasn't lost or won based on anything verbal. It was won on nonverbal communication. And the winner was Sarah Palin.

The first thing Palin did upon entering the stage was blow a kiss to the audience, then greet Biden, saying, "Nice to meetcha. Hey, can I call ya Joe?" She was colloquial. She was charming. She took control, and except for a brief moment when a teary-eyed Biden recalled his wife's death and the experience of being a single parent, she never lost it. When Biden sighed, Palin smiled. He jutted his jaw forward in frustration; she smirked. He furrowed his brow; she winked.

- alternet.org/

The v.p debate was won on nonverbal communication? Are you freaking kidding me?

And when Palin did speak, even if you disagreed with her words, based on the way she talked, you could feel that she meant them.
[...]

Trust and credibility are two crucial, and often overlooked, components of a debate. That happens when you show your audience you understand them and leave them feeling good and confident in your ability to solve their problems. That's arguably easier for candidates to achieve through behavior and body language than word choice. One UCLA study estimates that up to 93 percent of communication's effectiveness is determined through nonverbal cues. Others place the number closer to 95 percent. If that holds true, it's hard to overstate the importance of Sarah Palin looking into the camera and at the audience, instead of looking away or at Ifill, as Biden did.

Please. Please tell me we're not deciding this election yet again based on who we want to have a beer with? Please tell me that yet again America isn't going to vote for the nice person instead of the right one. Please tell me America isn't going to be fooled yet again by masks and hollow charm?

The final numbers are in: 69.9 million viewers watched the Vice Presidential debate, making it the most watched debate since 1992 and the most watched VP debate ever. From The Hollywood Reporter's James Hibberd:

Thursday's highly anticipated face-off between Alaska governor Sarah Palin and Delaware senator Joe Biden was the most-watched debate in 16 years
[...]

Thursday's event was 33% higher than Friday's debate between John McCain and Barack Obama. It's 61% higher than the 2004 debate between Dick Cheney and John Edwards, and ranks 8% higher than the former most-watched vp debate record holder -- the 1984 match between George Bush and Geraldine Ferrarro.

- huffingtonpost.com/

33% higher than the debate between the actual presidential candidates. Think about that for a second. The actual people running for president weren't as interesting as folksy Sarah and the potential for her screwing up and making mistakes? Is that who we are? A bunch of idiots sitting by the freeway hoping to see a wreck? Or another wreck, as is the case? Oh how I hope we're just infinitesimally smart enough to not make the same mistakes



- Peace out