“If money isn’t loosened up, this sucker could go down.”

– President Bush providing his usual clarity of thought and intelligent plan of action at the White House meeting today.

In other exciting news from the clueless today, Sarah Palin said Iraq was responsible for 9/11 and reiterated her claim that she sure knows a lot about foreign policy because Russia is near Alaska - statements that even have her own party wincing in pain, wondering how they can keep her from the debates.

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Because some men aren’t looking for anything logical, like money. They can’t be bought, bullied, reasoned or negotiated with. Some men just want to watch the world burn.

– Dark Knight (2008)

Take your third deep breath in ten days. Because we stand at a precipice in U.S. markets. Congress is playing political brinkmanship with the biggest financial decision of our generation. We just had the largest bank failure in U.S. history. Credit spreads have widened to the point of gibbering meaninglessness. And some people are still nattering about what might be the perfect variant of the Paulson bailout plan.

This is from Paul Kedrosky of Infectious Greed; investor, blogger, and way active on Twitter. I don’t entirely agree with him (yes, we need to do something, but it needs to be the right thing and not rushed) but you need to read the whole thing. It’s easily the most impassioned thing he’s written, and he’s an intelligent, straight-up, non-ideologue type of guy.

On the WaMu collapse. There had been a run on the bank since Sep. 15 and the death blow was when their debt was downgraded to junk a few days ago. FDIC seized them today and JPMorgan bought them from FDIC. All deposits are safe, no FDIC money was used.

His comment on credit spreads is important. When they go off the charts, stock market turmoil will follow.

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The FDIC generally seizes banks after close of business on Friday. That they couldn’t wait one more day speaks volumes. WaMu debt was downgraded to junk a day or so ago, the final nail in their coffin.

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Barry Ritholtz of The Big Picture financial blog discusses his soon-to-be-published new book, Bailout Nation.

Prediction: The dreaded bailout will pass, the markets will rally, then that pesky reality will intrude again, causing another big downdraft. The credit markets are currently frozen up, WaMu is on its last legs, so really, anything could happen.

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Pelamis Wave Power is now operating the world’s first commercial wave power project off the coast of Portugal.

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Lawrence Wilkerson, retired Army Colonel and past aide & adviser to Colin Powell, on why Cuba embargo needs to end now.

Let’s chalk up the losses of late in Latin America:

We’re being tossed out of Venezuela.

We’re being tossed out of Bolivia.

We’re despised in Argentina.

Nicaragua looks favorably on Russia’s move into Georgia.

Honduras and Guatemala hold their noses when they deal with us.

We’re barely tolerated in Mexico and puzzled over in Brazil, the real looming giant of Sudamérica. In fact, the best leader in the Western Hemisphere, Luiz Ignácio Lula da Silva, just ignores us most of the time because to him, I’m sure, we are indecipherably stupid.

His solution? End the embargo on Cuba and normalize relations with them. Then Latin America would know the US was serious about change.

There’s another, more pressing reason, Wilkerson says. The recent hurricanes have devastated Cuba. “There were reports of walls of water 50 feet high hitting the north shore.” 440,000 homes were destroyed. Food is running out. They need construction material and heavy equipment so they can rebuild. Immediately.

America needs to put politics aside. It is time to do the right thing. Protect the lives of innocent Cubans, protect our electoral process, end a 50-year-old failed policy, and be good Samaritans.

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Bush seeks meeting with Obama

Bush: So Osama, or whatever your name is, we’re here to talk about important things.

Obama: It’s “Obama”, not “Osama.” But, yes, the country needs leadership and a plan to end the financial crisis now.

Bush: Heh, heh. Well, that wasn’t quite what I meant. So, tell me… how do you feel about pardons?

Obama: Do you mean you want to say “pardon me,” then apologize for calling me Osama?

Bush: No. I’m the Decider. We don’t apologize.

Obama: That’s only works if you’re never wrong. So then, what do you want?

Bush: Um, blanket immunity and a pardon for any crimes I might have committed but didn’t.

Obama: That statement makes no sense. If you didn’t do them, then you don’t need a pardon.

Bush: Well, just on the off chance that maybe I did something someone might think was indictable, then I’d like a pardon from you once you become president.

Obama: Why should I do that?

Bush: Um…

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