$3 trillion bailout - Summary

Here's the executive summary: The economy's cracks started showing a year ago. Home prices plummeted and foreclosures soared. Financial institutions carrying mortgage-backed securities on their books took an enormous hit. Banks wanted to take fewer risks, so lending to businesses and consumers froze up.

Then things really broke down in September. The government took over mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The collapse of Lehman Brothers sent investors worldwide into a cold sweat.

To combat the crisis, Congress and the current administration have taken a number of steps aimed at boosting the housing market - providing critical liquidity to financial institutions and saving businesses from collapse.

Thus far, the government has pledged as much as $3 trillion for the crisis, although the ultimate cost to the federal budget won't be known for years to come since much of that money is effectively investment.

"You'd have to go back to the New Deal to find something similar to what the government has done to stop the credit crisis," said Jay Bryson, economist for Wachovia. "It's because the alternative was unthinkable: If it failed, there was potential for another Great Depression."

Your $3 trillion bailout

Washington is waging war on the financial crisis. Mr. Obama: You have to see it through.

By David Goldman, CNNMoney.com staff writer

"Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants."

I like that quote.   Author and foodie Michael Pollan, in his own pithy way, recently distilled the vastness of his victual knowledge into seven simple words of advice:

"Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants."

 

From,

How to green your grocery list

05 Aug 2008

 

http://www.grist.org/advice/how/2008/08/05/index.html

Outlawing the Symptom: Our Broken Abortion Strategy

"As an evangelical who believes life begins before birth, I believe our presumed party alliance has become an abusive relationship. If we as followers of Christ truly believed in the agenda of life, why have we not taken seriously the proven correlation between poverty and increased abortion rates? Why have we not spoken out on supportive health care for women and children? Why have we not cried out about preventative education to minimize unplanned pregnancies that frequently lead to termination? And why, oh why, do we not see war, torture, creation care, or the death penalty also as fundamental issues of life?
The question is, will evangelicals expand their understanding of social influences and actually work towards healing the causes, or just wait around to outlaw the symptom?"

Outlawing the Symptom: Our Broken Abortion Strategy, by Matthew Dunbar 11-03-2008

Children and Proposition 8

At school and on sports practice fields, it's become the No. 1 topic of conversation among kids.
By Alexandra Cole, LA Times, Nov 1, 2008

. . . I arrived home to find an election mailer from ProtectMarriage.com in my mailbox. In big bold letters it proclaimed that "teaching about 'gay marriage' will happen in our public schools unless we vote yes on Proposition 8."

The irony is that gay marriage has become the No. 1 topic of discussion on school playgrounds and sports practice fields precisely because of Proposition 8. The political battle has done far and away more to raise awareness of same-sex marriage among schoolchildren than the state Supreme Court's ruling in May ever would have. This last month has been a giant teachable moment on gay marriage -- which is probably not what Proposition 8's backers intended.

Alexandra Cole is an associate professor of political science at Cal State Northridge.