Tourism generated $19.7 billion of revenue for governments in Canada in 2007, boosted 4.3 per cent over 2006 by domestic travel.

Oil slipped below US$54 a barrel today as stock markets across the globe fell and yet another U.S. government report illustrated just how far the housing market in the United States has fallen.

The German economy, Europe's largest, contracted more than economists expected in the third quarter, confirming it has entered its worst recession in at least 12 years as the global financial crisis curbs exports.

Economic gloom swept through Japan and several emerging nations on Monday, and European banks bore the scars of the worst financial crisis since the 1930s.

An index of sentiment among 4,000 manufacturers declined to 80 in November from 87 the previous month, according to Insee, the Paris-based national statistics office. The reading was the lowest since October 1993 and compared with the median forecast of 85 in a Bloomberg News survey of 22 economists.

I have over the past several years conducted dozens of technical analysis seminars for private investors and various financial institutions. The objective is to promote the value of technical analysis without being too academic. I try to keep attendees involved by engaging them in a town hall atmosphere.

Investors poured $2.2 billion into equity-based mutual funds during the seven days ended Nov. 5, compared to an outflow of $9.2 billion the week before, according to TrimTabs Investment Research. The last time stock-based mutual funds saw net gains was during the week ended July 23.

Ameren Corp. may halt construction of pollution controls at a St. Charles County power plant as part of a broader plan to defer up to $1 billion of 2009 capital and operating expenses in response to the ongoing turmoil in the financial markets.

The price of goods leaving Spain’s factories, mines and refineries fell 1.2 percent from the previous month after a 0.7 percent decline in September, the National Statistics Institute in Madrid said in an e-mailed statement today. That compared with a median forecast for a 0.7 percent decline in a Bloomberg News survey of eight economists. Prices rose 5.9 percent on the year.

Retirement accounts already battered by a steep market decline may get hit again as several companies suspend or reduce their 401(k) match to save cash.

Japan cut interest rates for the first time in seven years on Friday, expecting severe stress in the global economy to persist, while UK banking giant Barclays said it was raising $12 billion in capital.

The nation’s economy slammed into reverse in the third quarter and suffered its biggest decline in seven years, according to a government report Thursday.

Chemical company BASF SE said Wednesday it is temporarily closing 80 plants worldwide due to slumping demand and cutting production at 100 more, including facilities in Texas and Louisiana. Some 20,000 workers are affected.

Nobody from Detroit got a particularly warm welcome in Washington last week, but the reception was coolest for General Motors, the largest and most vulnerable automaker.

French manufacturing confidence dropped to a 21-year low in October as new orders fell because of the global financial crisis, suggesting the economy will probably contract in the fourth quarter, the Bank of France said.

Gasoline prices fell to their lowest level in more than a year and a half Thursday, according to a nationwide survey of credit card swipes at gasoline stations.

In the face of severe crises in diverse segments of the national and global economies, Democrats need to respond effectively and advance the principles and ideals that got them elected. As Martin Luther King, Jr., declared, "It is always the right time to do what is right." Democrats achieved significant victories in the general election of 2008. In part, these triumphs can be attributed to Republican malfeasance in office and their ineptitude on the campaign trail. In greater part, however, Democrats won because of they affirmed ideals and articulated principles that touched the better angels of America's nature. Throughout the almost two year long campaign, Democrats issued both a call to conscience and a call to service. To their enduring credit, a majority of Americans responded positively.   Read More »

Watching askance from Europe, we note the wild allegations of "socialism" being thrown around in the US and the apparent inability of many Americans to recognise that capitalism, to succeed, requires rules just as much as football! And that it was lack of up-to-date rules, taking into account new forms of credit, that led to the current "meltdown". This was predicted by leading investors such as George Soros, but no one listened: the music played - "let the good times roll".

This return to laissez-faire capitalism by the neo-Republicans (who ditched the moral concerns of traditional Republicans) and not a few Democrats, not only promoted deregulation, but also involved denying the work of Keynes and others about the need for government to "prime the pump" at the beginning of a recession. A confusion of Keynsianism with socialism.

So now there is a panic about how "capitalism has failed us" when really it is the laissez-faire neo-Republican crowd who have failed capitalism!

Capitalism will come to the rescue if society knows what it wants of it. One obvious thing is alternative energy. There is much else too, that we need to meet the immense challenges humanity faces.

"Prime the pump", set the rules, and make it worthwhile for the captains of industry to undertake the great works the world needs - jobs will appear, demand will revive. And a chastened banking/investment sector will perform its traditional role (like non-toxic mortgages without the disastrous derivative frills that brought it low.

More than anything what the world needs is a sense of direction - without that capitalism will wander off to find profit in what is unprofitable for society. Capitalism is the most effective tool for getting what it is you want done. But our leaders must make clear what that is!

We are attempting to set up an information and educational group set up to help new Democrats. Topics covered will be:


1. fostering enthusiasm in all aspects of the political process.

2. identifying strong candidates for leadership positions.
within individual states. and connecting them to their corresponding leadership.

3. Insuring that willing volunteers are connected to leadership that will put them to work.


If you are in a leadership position your help would be appreciated. WE NEED LEADERSHIP FROM ALL 50 STATES

SEND ME A MESSAGE OR A FREIND REQUEST.

The groups name is:Party Builders Volunteer Action Group

HAVE A WONDERFUL DAY
MICHEAL

We are attempting to set up an information and educational group set up to help new Democrats. Topics covered will be:

1. fostering enthusiasm in all aspects of the political process.

2. identifying strong candidates for leadership positions.
within individual states. and connecting them to their corresponding leadership.

3. Insuring that willing volunteers are connected to leadership that will put them to work.


If you are in a leadership position your help would be appreciated. WE NEED LEADERSHIP FROM ALL 50 STATES

SEND ME A MESSAGE OR A FREIND REQUEST.

HAVE A WONDERFUL DAY
MICHEAL

We are attempting to set up an information and educational group set up to help new Democrats. Topics covered will be:

1. fostering enthusiasm in all aspects of the political process.

2. identifying strong candidates for leadership positions.
within individual states. and connecting them to their corresponding leadership.

3. Insuring that willing volunteers are connected to leadership that will put them to work.


If you are in a leadership position your help would be appreciated. WE NEED LEADERSHIP FROM ALL 50 STATES

SEND ME A MESSAGE OR A FREIND REQUEST.

HAVE A WONDERFUL DAY
MICHEAL

"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat."   Read More »

Plato actually opposed Democracy because he thought that the inevitable result would be anarchy.

Madison Avenue has greatly increased this danger by their division of people into consumer groups.

They sell politicians the same way they sell cat food and everything else.

The electorate will have to demand better before they will ghet better.

A million Adjustable Rate Mortgages (ARMs) about to reset potentially costing 1,000,000 homeowners their homes. The largest US housing crisis since the great depression.

What does John McCain have to say?

We should also convene a meeting of the nation's top mortgage lenders. Working together, they should pledge to provide maximum support and help to their cash-strapped, but credit worthy customers. They should pledge to do everything possible to keep families in their homes and businesses growing. Recall that immediately after September 11, 2001 General Motors stepped in to provide 0 percent financing as part of keeping the economy growing. We need a similar response by the mortgage lenders. They've been asking the government to help them out. I'm now calling upon them to help their customers, and their nation out.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/25/us/politics/25text-mccain.html?pagewanted=2

Nothing like a voluntary pledge to solve a problem. Why not try that in Iraq? Perhaps we could get out of there in less than 100 years and with less than another 4,000 dead and 60,000 wounded.

John McCain isn't even substituting carrots for sticks. There are no carrots. He is not having a Federal agency take over the mortgages in return for having the terms renegotiated.

John McCain's approach to a national crisis is truly pathetic and demonstrates a real lack of understanding comparable to Bush in New Orleans.

Jim Callahan
Orlando, FL

No one is listening. I wrote a complaint and got "welcome to the party" email. I've been a member of the Democratic party since I turned 18--that was 25 years ago.

I am leaving the Democratic party. I was originally a Clinton supporter but liked both Obama and Edwards--felt like this was going to be a win win for the Dems--we were nearly at an end of these dark days--

I would not now vote for Hillary Clinton under any circumstances, having seen her and her team daily resort to slander and falsehood just to attempt to remain in a race that she should have left weeks ago. Until Texas and Ohio, though I had decided that I might prefer Obama, I had voted for HER in my own state's primary and it never occurred to me that I might not want to vote for the Dem candidate in November, no matter which one it was. But her behavior has been nothing short of Bush-like. I won't support that--though I can't vote for McCain, I will NOT cast a vote for Clinton. If it comes down to it, I'll stay home.

I'm switching my voting orientation to Independent status, but not because of that alone. I am ashamed of the lack of leadership and unity this party has shown. Where is Howard Dean, exactly? I've read conflicting statements, seen our system is in total disarray, and I feel strongly that the Democratic party was supposed to be above the muck that is being slung about by the Clinton machine, which is the way I now view it. I loved the Clintons. Wow. What a difference two weeks can make. Our party should rein her in--if she wants to stay in the race, that's one thing, but the Democratic party should immediately move to disenfranchise anyone who behaves the way that Clinton has--releasing rumors and weirdly out of context photos, issuing barbs and then name calling--which--ok, calling someone a Carl Rove is a Carl Rove. And how is comparing Obama to Ken Starr NOT ad hominem???? We're Democrats, for the love of everything--we're not supposed to be stupid and mean just because it's effective.

Is anyone at the Democratic Party listening???

 Here is what I think about Hillary after carefully studying her biography’s historical timeline. I do not believe that she is a strong leader and not because she is a woman.  For example, I think that Barbara Boxer would be a strong leader.  This viewpoint has nothing to do with Hillary’s gender.  I would vote for Barbara Boxer in a heartbeat, even before Obama.

 

I’m not saying that Hillary is an evil satanic demon or even a horrible person (She is in fact, nice in most all ways.) but I am saying that she is a classic example of a co-dependent female.   

 

Her life as it is reported in her biographical sketches is the life that reflects a woman who believes that she needs the support of a man behind her to succeed. (Not that I think that Hillary does need a man, but rather her life reflects that SHE holds that belief regardless what she says.)  The following represents a time line from her adult life. I believe these events support my assertions regarding Hillary’s ability to lead a nation.

 

   Read More »

One person posted the following list as an example of how much better Hillary represents Democrats than the other candidates. 

Voted with Democrats

Clinton 97.1
Biden 96.8
Obama 96.4
Dodd 94.4
Kucinich 90.8 

Well if this record is true and I think it is because the person who posted it is usually accurate in the literal sense, you can draw the accurate conclusion that Hillary voted more with the Democrats than did Kucinich for example.  And on this strict interpretation you could argue that Hillary is a “better” democrat than Kucinich. 

 

But if you think that this also makes her a better leader, as several of you indicated, then you don’t fully understand the value of dissent.  And if you think that always going along with the mob is what makes a good leader, then you don’t understand leadership.  A leader is someone who has to make the best decision regardless what the crowd is shouting. A leader is someone who gets it right the first time—not 4 or 5 years later.

This is where dissent comes in.  Voting with your party, especially when you are joining with republicans in the vote, is not always the best thing to do. A lot of readers got in goose-step, stopped thinking for yourselves, and agreed with the logic of this person’s clever comment and congratulated him on it.  The truth is always found in the details, not in statistical summaries.

Please stop and think a moment:  Which was the better vote?  All those democrats who got in goose step with the Republicans and George Bush and voted for going to war?  Or those 156 members of Congress like Dennis Kucinich, Barbara Boxer, Ted Kennedy, Feingold, etc. who had the courage to vote no?  (Clinton, Biden, and Dodd all cast their votes with the Republicans and Democrats to go to war.)  This vote would have added to percentage count such as the one see above and lessened the one for Dennis, making him a “bad” democrat and those who voted to go to war “good” democrats.  This is where judgment and morals come into play.  Neither of which were demonstrated by Clinton, Biden or Dodd in their votes to go to war.  A real leader has the courage to stand above the crowd, not run with it.

   Read More »

She did, sat down with the leader and everything. Even though the Shrub asked her not to. Actually managed a little foreign policy. Anyway, my point is if Pelosi went to Syria, where did Barack go? On his own? I mean he went to New Orleans with Hillary. I am sure he went other places with other people...but what about on his own? If the problems in Darfur are so important he could have gone. I am sure they would have welcomed him and given him safe passage. They might have even listened to him some...not sure, I don't know politically anything about what is going on in Darfur...except it's a talking point at times. But anyway, all these opportunities to show leadership and garner experience and what is Barack doing with them? More importantly, what has he done in a leadership role in America? Let me think about that one for a while!

The value of good leadership, judgment and competence has become more significant than mastering the bureaucratic process, after enduring eight years of a President that had previous executive experience as the former Governor of Texas. Although no job could truly prepare a person for the gravity of becoming the leader of the western world, a Governorship should be the most comparable position. Currently, the presumed better resume is being defeated by the ability to communicate and inspire a better vision for America.

Leadership
The ability to inspire, manage, guide and persuade people to accomplish a goal or task defines a good leader. Given that it takes 60 votes in the Senate to pass a bill into law, a president must have the power of persuasion beyond party lines to promote an agenda. A great leader inspires and cultivates the best from followers to build a strong institution.

Judgment
Since the primary role of a President is to steer the direction of the country, the ability to make sound decisions is vital. The President operates within a structure of support staffers; advisors and executive administrators who execute and monitor the expressed objective of the leader's communicated vision. Since the wheels of government will continue to turn, should there be more emphasis on knowledge of the process or the directives? A President must discern, analyze and make estimations of information presented by advisors. Great leaders are steadfast on convictions but able to adapt to changing circumstances.

Competence
A President's ability and intellect is essential to the effectiveness of communicating and executing a successful plan for the future. Initially more was made of the punctuality and procedural discipline of the Bush administration, than the substance of the decisions and strategies. Does procedural efficiency equate to competence?

Hillary Clinton's argument of more experience in the mechanics of a system that most Americans want changed is becoming less effective. When both frontrunners have such similar policy initiatives, it has amounted to who inspires and motivates the Democratic following to build the talent and capacity for change. Obama speaks in terms of "we" and Hillary speaks in terms of "me". Although the majority of Democrats appreciate the contributions the Clintons have made to advance the Party, some do not subscribe to the "it's my turn posturing."

Strong, successful and special leaders are not just born of charismatic attributes; they are developed from comprehending the lessons of life experience. The American people increasingly appear to embrace Obama's experience of supporting a middle class family, navigating between ethnic communities, unifying legislators in Chicago to pass difficult bills, adding sophistication and respect to the political discourse, overcoming enormous obstacles to even be a contender, promoting optimism and facilitating change through leading a tremendous organization of supporters. The American people value a candidate that challenges and renews their faith and dreams for the future, not just entrenched in the practicalities of the process of the presidency.

By Jonathan Weisman and Paul Kane
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, December 20, 2007; Page A01

The first Democratic-led Congress in a dozen years limped out of Washington last night with a lengthy list of accomplishments, from the first increase in fuel-efficiency standards in a generation to the first minimum-wage hike in a decade. But Democrats' failure to address the central issues that swept them to power left even the most partisan of them dissatisfied and Congress mired at a historic low in public esteem.

Read this link

Percy H Florez

The clamor for the White House is on. Clinton, Romney, Obama, Thomson, Huckabee, McCain and a fountain of other well known Washington insiders, many steeped in years of cozy relationships, cloak and dagger histories of deal making and inside political trading, not focused on Americas well being, but aimed and purposed for the retention of power or extending ones influence. Political dynasties somehow permitted by the electorate to remain, in many cases, at the expense of Americas democratic health and vitality. We have permitted old money, old influence and all the political experience and seasoning it could buy to get us where we are today, drowning in two wars and a nine trillion dollar debt, trillion with a "T".   Read More »

Percy H Florez

by TERRY MORAN, JULIA HOPPOCK and MELINDA ARONS
Nov. 26, 2007
Iowans' 'Extraordinary Privilege'

While Obama is leading in Iowa, he is showing no signs of relaxing. According to the most recent Washington Post/ABC News poll, 30 percent of Iowans support Obama, 26 percent support Clinton, and 22 percent support Edwards. Obama continues to press hard against Clinton, reach out across party lines, and convince Iowans of just how important their votes will be.

Read this Link

Percy H Florez

leader: "The person who leads or commands a group, organization, or country."

Leadership: "The action of leading a group of people or an organization, or country."



The future is in your own hands!
Vote "Obama"

Percy H Florez