Poll Finds 'Leadership Crisis' in America Ahead of McCain-Obama Election

Leadership Crisis in America

After 8 years of George Bush warmongering and presiding over a financial system deregulated by republicans -and John McCain wants more deregulation, the finishing line of George Bush's

presidency looks like a dead corpse spree. But after a close-up look, it is the American mainstream investor that is left behind in George Bush's trail like a dead corpse. And now, George Bush's officials tell the debt-stricken Americans that "it will take time for the economy to improve."

Sure it will take time. When the AIG executives took billions from the U.S. Treasury to shore up their failing company, and started passing around $30 million bonuses and $1 million lifetime salaries for consulting, the failing holes remain unplug and the economy stays on the partially starving mode. Only the top executives win, not the investors or the economy.

Then, there are the speculators. On his speech at the United Nations General Assembly, Brazil's president Luis Ignacio Da Silva said that "the current economic crisis in the U.S. is the result of the Anarchy of Speculators," on quote. In other words, there is a "Jungle" out there on Wall Street where the

rich and quick hustle everybody else. The Wall Street used to be, according to Karl Marx sidekick and socialist leader and author Friedrich Engels, "the place where the rich took each other's money." Now, the speculators are taking the poor and the mainstream America's money.

How? one may ask. By watching at night the Tokyo, Singapore, Australia and Hing Kong exchanges, and when they see a sharp rise there, they expect a snowball effect here. They jump in at the opening bell of Wall Street, throw in a $ 1 million, throw the market into a sharp upswing, prices rise - 14% a few days ago, then next day cash in and get their $1 million + 14% raised value = $ 1.140.000. Here is $ 140.000 in a day, maybe 2-3 times as much for those who play in larger amounts, and then lay back and wait for another ambush day for their next scoop. This is what Brazil's president called the "Anarchy of Speculators", and John McCain wants to give Wall Street more deregulation.

How do we come out of this "Leadership Crisis?" We must make Wall Street a place where all American can invest with confidence, and reap the benefits of their investments equally.

Investors shall not be able to cash in their share for a minimum of 30 days. The way Wall Street works now is John Dillinger style: He entered the banks with his gun, filled his bags, and got out fast; speculators get in with 1-2 millions, let the value swell, then sell with the new value and get out

taking money that is not theirs.

It is legal banditry. The U.S. needs now a president that will level the Wall Street play-field where other players can win

something - not only the rich boys that have the ball - the extra million to spare that they use as a vacuum to suck up any surplus in a blink of an eye.

Nikos Retsos, retired Pol.Sci./ History professor

Oh Sandra, you hardly knew you

So Bush, Limbaugh, Fox News get away with murder and are fascists? Interesting. I suppose you know that fascism is anti- liberal AND anti-conservative? I believe you might be surprised to find that out. Maybe, you think you know what a fascist is, but are just a confused person? I don't think so. You seem pretty vehement in your language at any rate. I'm curious though, how many times have you written Sen Obama? I myself have written him a number of times. He is, after all, one of my elected representatives.

I can tell you from personal experience, he tends to overstate what he is doing, has done, and will do. He also does not back the US troops. By that I mean, when I wrote him about what I Perceived as a violation of law, (extending Nat'l Guard Troops without a declaration of war) he backed President Bush by stating the US Code allowed it. By the way, I also wrote to Sen McCain about that back in 2006, same time, he also stated it was allowed by law, but a reprehensible action.

So you see Sandra, one of the candidates is in fact a Leader, and one is a follower. The choice is still yours to make. Good Luck.

A Vote is never a "Waste"

Cowl of Pa, please do not consider your vote for a third party candidate to be "throwing your vote away". You are not. You are making a statement and there are many of us who plan to do just that.

Did you know that the Commission for Presidential Debates is a private organization owned by the Democrat and Republican parties? Ever wonder why Nader/Barr/McKinney can't get any airtime? Because the Dems and Repubs won't allow it.

Vote third party, vote for ANY third party candidate you like. Once the numbers are statitstically important enough for THEM to notice (10 to 15%) then we can force the two parties to open up the races. But until then, those who march to Pelosi's drum -- the ones who think the Democrats are actually better than the republicans (oh my) -- will always tell you it's too important of an election to "waste" your vote. When will an election not be important? How can a vote for "none of the above - I want more choices" ever be a waste?

No party should ever have complete control again, don't we all know that??

Arab?

Brian Stuckey - you are a brainwashed fascist. To subtly slip in that Obama is an Arab belies that you are a right wing wacko out of the bowels of a state that has spawned the most corrupt and inept administration in U.S. history, bar none. My apologies to Texans in general, but you have to admit it is hard to believe that a state that gave us Molly Ivins and Linda Ellerbee could produce such a Joe six-pack of kool-aid like this.

Fascism

M Abbott: Under Bush and the Republican Party, facism has had free rein. We will not let fascism rule in America and we will not let fear based hatred spawned by fascist pigs get away with murder. You have the freedom to watch the Fox News and Limbaugh fascists and regurgitate their spittle - we may have to put up with their twisted truths, but we don't have to like it or get embroiled in a senseless dialog based on fear and smear tactics.

Response to Jon of CA

Oh Jon, if that were true, Lord Sir Montgomery would have led the forces to victory in Europe. Inaction and consolidation are the forte of the European continent. As someone with a few years working abroad, (4 years in a multinational environment) I can assure you that the biggest difference between Americans and any of our European Allies is our propensity for action. They prefer to sit and discuss. Exactly how do you think Hitler managed to invade Austria, Hungary, Poland, before anyone got their act together.

It's easy to study to problem, it's more difficult to go ahead and fix it. Many times mistakes are made along the way, that's why we, as Americans excel at adapting strategies. That plus the BIGGEST FACT, WE ARE THE WORLD. Every single nation on the planet is represented in our country. We have a depth of character that nobody else can match. That's why even when other nations detest our government, they still LOVE our people. We are generous, Loving, Germans, Brits, Scots, Arabs, Jews, Africans, you name it, we've got it. And the best part is, we all come here to work together, as hard as we can. No matter that we can disagree with each other, We accomplish the impossible on a daily basis here. Where else do you see Jews and Arabs, Skinheads and Gays, Democrats and Republicans, all getting along everyday.

When I lived overseas, my wife and I had to look under the car every time we parked to make sure no bomb was placed underneath. Check our yard, and street, our buildings at work. Here in the US, we're secure. Yes we could have a more European/World Community. Call it Socialist if you like, Call it Cosmopolitan. By any other name, I believe NOBODY STATESIDE wants to start looking under their cars on a daily basis. But hey, I could be wrong. Good Luck with your decision.

Also thoughts on the Greed Society

We Americans have been lulled into thinking greed is good and that everyone is entitled to the wealth and privileges that are thrown every day into our faces by those who were either born into it or have learned to use the system to screw others for their unearned wealth. We put our money in mutual funds and stocks of corporations whose activities create dire consequences for our planet and its inhabitants. Thus we unwittingly are held hostage by corporations we know nothing about as long as our fund statements keep going up. How many Americans really care what these corporations are doing in the name of greed, and overlook the outrageous CEO salaries, golden parachutes in spite of whether a CEO succeeds or not, and megagrowth at any cost. Corporations ship American jobs overseas with the excuse that they cannot afford American wages and benefits, yet they gain the benefit of doing business in the USA. I say, if they refuse to keep jobs in America and pay workers a living wage, then let them take their businesses elsewhere. There are enterprising new companies that will fill the void and do it fairly, as many businesses with a social conscience are doing now. Corporations also destroy the earth's resources, exploit third world people, kill off wildlife and pollute our water, air and earth for the sake of profit. Corporations that would normally fail are bolstered up by the U.S. Government through payback contracts by the politicians that control such things. This has got to stop and the new leadership must put the environment and quality of life, ahead of the corporate body. Business at any price? – I say NO.

The media also promotes mediocrity. Hollywood is sometimes a force for great good, but at the same time it sometimes promotes greed, youth and cynicism as the pinnacles to strive for. While there are many young people that are doing good things and many celebrities who serve as good examples, there are many who emulate rich and good looking young men and woman just because of their fame and fortune. The commercialism resulting from such icons of greed creates a consumer subculture in itself. Then there are the loud-mouth pundits like Hannity and O’Reilly who receive outrageous salaries for being jerks, preaching hatred and mediocrity to empty brains.

All in all, America has been falling into the pit of decadence and decay for quite some time, and the counteracting forces have been hampered by those who have a vested interest in that decadence and decay. It is a new day in America - we have serious problems and Americans better wise up. I believe Obama is the leader and the good example we need to help guide us back to the path of decency. America is changing and we will change with it. Some may be dragged kicking and screaming out of their cushy caves, and some may welcome it with open arms, but America = this is the first day of the rest of our lives.

McCain vs. Obama

If lower taxes for the rich and less regulation for corporations are the answer to creating a good economy, why are we in so much trouble? The Republican party has been in power for 8 years, and these policies have all but wrecked our country's economy. Now McCain proposes to lower the taxes for the rich yet more, and to pay for a huge givaway to fat cats in Wall Street, paid for with your tax dollars.

McCain hoped to harness an ugly, slavering beast comprised of far-right paranoia, hatred, fear, prejudice, and ignorance, and ride it to victory, but now he is starting realize that many Americans dislike his substitution of slander for an actual discussion of the issues.

His zig-zagging on slandering Obama is just one more example of his increasingly erratic behavior and poor judgment, and yet more proof that he has completely lost his moral center--the result of selling his soul to the Karl Rove faction of the Republican party. He is retracting some of his slanders, not because he has repented of them, but because he sees that they have backfired by alienating the undecided voters that he needs if he is to have any hope of winning.

To all of this we have to add McCain's truly horrible pick for Vice President. What was he thinking? He's 72 years old and has had repeated bouts with cancer! Can any of us really imagine a President Palin? The thought is frightening-she is far more ignorant and inexperienced than our current president was when he took office, and we have seen what a disaster he created: The occupation of Iraq, the hunt for Bin Laden, Katrina, Wall Street and the banking deregulation fiasco have combined to create a perfect storm of misery for the US.

McCain's claim to be a 'maverick' are absurd-he has voted with Bush 90% of the time, has over 80 lobbyists on his staff, and has elected to veer to the far right in his campaign, to the point of taking advice from Karl Rove. A better description would indeed be erratic, as he claims Obama would raise taxes more than he would one moment, and then the next moment comes up his very own $300,000,000 pork-barrel give-away program to people who borrowed money they couldn't possibly pay back.

I don't think many of us are enjoying the McCain campaign's tactic of slandering the opposition instead of focusing on the issues. Certainly, for every negative thing they say about Obama, they have a similar or worse charge that can be leveled against McCain. Obama and Ayers? How about McCain and the Contras?

If you are enjoying the meltdown of the banking system and the Dow at 9000, you'll love a McCain Presidency--McCain was right there with Bush deregulating the banks and freeing them from the constraints that previously prevented this kind of greed-driven disaster.

Think back, when was the last time you felt secure and prosperous? I'll bet Clinton was President. This is not a coincidence. Vote Obama, if you don't want another Great Depression.

Leadership is not about risk either

It's too bad that the one entity in this country that has unlimited freedom to express opinions and to put forward the truth fails to lead by bringing out the truth about the junior senator his friends, and his beliefs. Our founding fathers provided for the press to shine the light of truth so as to avoid some of the issues our country now faces. You can't blame all of our problems on Bush, he's not a king nor a magician, he has no wand to wave to fix ills brought by lack of leadership and courage on the part of Congress. And when he's gone who will you place the blame on, the people that make and break the laws will still be there doing nothing to fix the problems they caused. Almost all of the problems now in play were started way before Bush took office and he did try to get Congress to fix these issues on more than one occasion on his own by leading the fight when nobody else would. So where is the light of truth to shine on those that caused these problems. You want leadership but not the truth, you can't have it both ways. Remember, the first thing to go in Germany was free press, once it was controlled by the party fascism had free reign and freedom was lost.

Capitals

"Anyone who uses capital letters to emphasize any point whatsoever will be immediately eliminated from all serious debate." Perhaps rules like this one are the reason edeldoug and people like him are so easily encountered in anonymous forums.