A candidates event, where we'll never get to vote? That's right.

Somehow I was invited to a forum for the candidates jockeying for the Maine Attorney position. The AG is chosen by the legislature, so our only strategy is to lobby our legislators for the candidate of our choice. This was a rare opportunity to hear all three legislators who are seeking this position in the expected-to-be democratic legislature.

Why I was invited to this forum I might never know. Looking around the room, I didn't see anybody from the Maine Civil Liberties Union, or the NAACP, or any other activist groups with a vital stake in this office. I might have been the only "activist" there. Evidently nobody from NAACP was invited; I'm not sure about MCLU. The meeting was held at the offices of Pierce Atwood, and most of those in attendance looked like they worked there or at other top law firms in the city.

Listening just to what was said in this forum, I'd have to say that Sean Faircloth was the clear winner. He spoke clearly of taking leadership on civil rights issues, noting that he'd be in much better company if the next US attorney in Maine is appointed by Barak Obama, and he promised to take a "significant and activist" role. Brautigam was not as clear or articulate, didn't sound as strong to me, but was still impressive in this performance. Enough said.

The Attorney General position is incredibly important. Look at at the recent history of racist incidents, anti-gay violence anti-Muslim displays, and it's clear that the civil rights agenda for the AG's office is vital. I certainly hope to hear more about this contest, and want to see stakeholders such as NAACP and MCLU invited to take part -- even if we don't get to vote on it directly.

OK, now that President Bush made the announcement at 8 AM Tuesday that on Saturday I passionately argued he HAD to make before the markets fully opened, I have now SOLVED the commercial paper crisis :) and I can move on to a much more important world wide concern --- bottled water.

**************

I drink water, lots of water.

Eight glasses of water a day? … That's a child's play. I drink much more.

People think I have a Poland Spring bottle of water surgically attached to my hand, but the truth is it is the Velcro strip that IS SURGICALLY attached to my hand.

Why Poland Spring?

Well, if they serve it on the Sunday talk shows, and if it is owned by Nestle, which makes my favorite candy bar, then it's MY water.

For the first part of this decade, carrying a bottle of Poland Spring water meant you were cool, that you probably went to a gym with carpet and a juice bar, you ate tofu stroganoff and you fed your dog organic dog snacks.

However, now there is a rap against bottled water.

First there is THAT bottle.

It is not bio-degradable and will be in the land fill, if your local community STILL has a land fill, when the sun vaporizes in 5 billion years and spreads the plastic molecules into space to become new planets.

1) Use of Poland Spring plastic water bottles creates space pollution and new planets.

Then, as represented by the brave "Horatio at the Bridge" stand by the voters of Kennebunk, there is a fear that, if Poland Spring continues to suck water from Maine's aquifer, we will all FALL into a gigantic Florida-style SINK HOLE and New Hampshire will have a new coast line.

2) Use of Poland Spring plastic water bottles will lead to new beaches for New Hampshire.

Honestly, none of this concerns me.

I figured that, since I was leaving the massive national debt and cost of Federal entitlements to my grandchildren, I could leave them the sink holes and the plastic in space.

Those grandchildren are pretty darn smart; they will figure out something, or else they will move to Greenland.

However, the last straw was broken when I was walking around Whole Foods waiting for Di to put together her salad to to eat while I had my extra crispy KFC, and I realized the Trendies were shooting harsh glances at my water bottle.

Those Trendies, who carried these very same bottles a few years ago, now think the bottles are dirt, but then, dirt is biodegradable.

So I started on my search for the perfect substitute for my Poland Spring water bottle.

1) The new bottle had to be light.

2) It had to fit into the cup holder of my car.

3) It had to be able to be attached to my hand by Velcro.

Nearly everything I looked at failed my test.

The fat water bottle that the Trendies use at work didn't fit into the cup holder.

An aluminum or plastic coffee mug did fit, but it was too heavy to carry every day.

I COULD refill a Poland Spring water bottle, but the Trendies at Whole Foods wouldn't know it was refilled.

I remembered that Egyptian travel bottles had been woven from reeds, and reeds are very light, but it was not reed season, and with the plastic water bottle attached to my hand, I would not have been able to weave the reeds even if I had them.

Di, my good lady wife, as good an urban gatherer as I am an urban hunter, had long been on the lookout for me. She made countless trips to Kittery to look for the perfect bottle in her favorite stores like Jones New York, Anne Klein, and Liz Claiborne.

She spent hours each weekend, untold hours, wearing herself out looking for the perfect bottle in Kittery, but she came back exhausted, with nothing but a carload of bags.

That's why I love her so much.

And this weekend, she outdid herself.

She burrowed deep into the nooks and crannies of L. L. Bean, handing me each type of bottle she found so I could measure it against the bottom of my Poland Spring bottle for cup holder size comparison.

Nothing fit, and as we were just about to cut our losses and console ourselves with clam chowder and lobster, Di found the PERFECT PLASTIC BOTTLE.

Of course, L. L. Bean, had tucked it away in an odd corner where the young healthy people would NEVER see a bottle in Bean's that fit in a CAR cup holder -- you know the ones who camp outdoors without a tent, pack nothing but wild salmon jerky and freeze dried ice cream and have L. L. Bean outdoor gear for their dogs.

DRUM ROLL … Di had found the CamelBak Classic Water Bottle which Bean has for $8.95 in the store and on line. It comes in the same trendy colors that refrigerators now come in. The bottle even has a built in straw, but I will still manage to find a way to spill the water, I'm sure.

A CamelBak Classic Water Bottle is already attached to my wrist.

BUT I STILL have a problem.

I am accustomed to having a 24 pack of Poland Spring bottles in the trunk. When I finish one bottle, I put that in my recycle bag and just grab a full one.

I agonized over what to do when I emptied my wonderful new bottle --- where would I get my constant fix of water --- would I be carrying around an empty, but very acceptable bottle?

How I agonized.

Finally, at 2 AM last night, IT came to me.

The SOLUTION.

I headed up the road to Freeport and filled the trunk with 23 more CamelBak Classic Water Bottles.

I will fill them from my pallet of Poland Spring bottles also in the trunk.

How simple and elegant a solution.

Peter B Hayward

A Maine Armchair Philosopher

I am amused to see John McCain realign his campaign to be pretty much whatever platform Barack Obama campaigns on in the last week or two. When McCain is not being negative, he is chasing the platform of the Democratic party. It is unfortunate that he is seemingly unable to recognize the wants and needs of the populace without the guiding hand of his opposition. The only major difference is the accusation of the Democrats being the tax and spend party. John McCain and the Republicans clearly believe in spending without taxation, thereby leaving the bill - with interest - to future generations to pay. My 14 year old son was extremely upset when I explained to him that the Bush Bucks we received in July would have to be paid back by him and his brother because the President didn't believe in the country paying it's way as we went along. It's a terrible thing to tax and spend. It's much worse to spend without tax.

This is a true story.

At the age of 57, a good friend of mine decided to change careers and give back something to society.

As a baby boomer, she had studied art history at one of the seven sisters, but in the heady days of the early seventies, no one really needed a degree that was related to his or her career and, upon graduation, she found a job as a runner on Wall Street.

Over time, she moved into insurance, then finance, and finally became qualified as a Certified Financial Planner (CFP). In the early 1990s, she transferred from New York to her firm's office in Portland, and continued to do well working with those who wanted guidance or more with their estate planning, asset protection, investments, etc.

In 2004, she took early retirement and entered a clinical mental health counseling program with the goal of working with the elderly after she was certified.

A good student, she got As in her classes, she passed the first national test, passed the practicum where she had 8 clients of her own, and, with the end in sight, she worked to line up her 900 hour internship.

Much like a doctor, mental health professionals have to work as interns under qualified professionals in clinics, hospitals, prisons, etc for 900 hours which is the equivalent of 7 ½ months of working 30 hours a week.

The work is nearly always unpaid. As an intern, the student is exposed to a wide range of mental health issues, and is mentored by a practicing clinician. In addition, the student attends University classes during this period.

Taking guidance from her professors and from the school's internship placement officer, my friend sent letters to or visited 22 clinicians or organizations. In an attempt to secure an internship, she traveled in a circle bounded by Biddeford, Augusta, and Lewiston.

Of the 22, she was invited to an interview by 5.

She was turned down by all, each citing in turn and as if reading from a script that they were looking for someone more "qualified or with more experience"

Oh discrimination so insidious.

All of my friend's classmates were accepted into internships, and she told me that half of them had the same amount of mental health counseling "qualification or experience" that she had -- which was simply having passed all the courses for the degree and the first national exam.

And all those receiving internships were younger. In fact, the next youngest student was 12 years younger, and the youngest had simply graduated from college and gone straight into the counseling program.

She asked me what life experience I thought those 24 year olds could possibly bring to a counseling session.

In one interview, the interviewer asked my friend whether she thought she could empathize with the issues facing late 20 and 30 year olds, even though the interviewer, herself, was older than my friend.

In another interview at a University mental health clinic, my friend was told that "students these days really like to talk to people closer in age to themselves."

The person stating that, she learned later, was just five years younger than herself.

So, after having paid out $22,000 to the University for her classes, with no internship she withdrew from the program.

Life experience and wisdom just isn't what it's cracked up to be, at least not when it comes to clinical mental health counseling.

Peter B Hayward

A Maine Armchair Philosopher

I was beyond flabbergasted as a read a recent blog that blithly described the Maine Lobster industry as an 'endangered species'!! If lobstering is dead, than we are in lobster heaven! The author clearly has no knowledge of lobstering or the way of life for thousands of Maine fisherman. As the wife of a Maine lobsterman, let me tell you the true side of lobstering.

My husband has worked on the Maine waters for over 30 years and I can tell you first hand what it's like. He leaves the house to be at the dock well before sunrise and often doesn't get home until dark. He fishes in all kinds of weather - hot, cold, rain, ice and snow do not stop them. Only wind will keep them home, but at times they do take chances. They have families to feed, mortgages and bills to pay. So they go because they need to. And they go because they love it. The hard physical labor and the beauty of being on the water gives them a sense of self and pride in their work that cannot be duplicated, bottled or sold. It is their life, their heart and their souls.

Boat price today is $2.50/lb I think. Last year at this time they were all complaining because it was $4/lb. I won't quote gas prices, but we all know that the price of diesel has skyrocketed. The herring they use for bait is now unobtainable due to fishing quotas on the herring. There will be none through the month of October as the allowable amounts have already been caught. So the fishermen are now forced to purchase whatever bait fish they can find. And guess what? Some of it must come from as far as California and it all costs a lot more than herring.

The lobster markets are also frozen now due to a glut in frozen lobsters in Canada. We no longer have processors here in the US. Government regulations made it unprofitable for the processors, while the Canadian government subsidies their fisheries. Oh - and the Canadian lobster fishing season begins November 1. So the processors will want the Canadian lobsters first.

Also I want to stress how much the lobster industry brings to the state of Maine in terms of tourist dollars and money for the local economy. It supports local small coastal businesses, boat builders and restaurants. It is a healthy protein that provides delicious, chemical free food! It supports the environment by being a beacon of sustainable harvesting of seafood. Without the cold, clear Maine water, the lobster would not live, so fishermen respect and take care of their livelihood. Sustainable practices include strict size limits, trap limits, limited numbers of fishing licenses, and v-notching egg bearing females to use as brood stock. No other fishing industry can claim such diverse and thorough practices.

Please support your neighbors, your state and your health! Buy and eat Maine lobster. It's cheaper than steak and better for you. Your fishing neighbors will thank you!

To get away from the madness in the stock exchanges, my wife and I went to Freeport on Sunday, stopping first at the fantastic bead shop there, Beadin' Path.

What a totally glorious day for walking and shopping in Freeport: crystal clear blue sky, just the right temperature, the brilliant reds, oranges and yellows of the leaves, and the right sized crowds.

While there, Di, who is a water color artist, and I wandered north on Main Street and found an absolute treasure --- one that art lovers MUST visit.

At 140 Main Street, next to the Catholic Church and across from the Post Office, is FREEPORT SQUARE, an enormous, light and airy gallery with a large representation of Maine artists. The works are nicely displayed, and given the size of the gallery, there is not the crowding of the art found in typical galleries.

The owner, Kathleen Meade, has works waiting to be displayed and artists in line, so art lovers making regular visits to Freeport Square will not have that feeling that "I have seen all this before."

Too often those of us who want to build our collections, or maybe just want to see fresh new work, fail to break out of the mold of the "same old - same old."

Freeport Square is a wonderful find for us, and I hope will be for you.

And, for party lovers, given the gallery's size, beautiful hard wood floors and art covered walls, Freeport Square is also a great place to consider for private parties (and then later the group can skip down the street to L. L. Bean for 24 hour shopping.)

Freeport Square
140 Main Street
Freeport, Maine 04032
207-865-1616
www.freeportsquare.com

The hours are listed as Wednesday to Sunday, 10 AM to 8 PM
and Monday and Tuesday by appointment or chance.

Peter B Hayward

A Maine Armchair Philosopher

Saturday the eleventh of October was a marvelous example of the best that Maine fall weather can offer. The afternoon featured brilliant sunshine, highlighting the glowing colors of changing leaves, and temperatures well into the sixties.

In the early evening coatless wanderers still roamed the Old Port enjoying the mild air, but inside the Civic Center over 5,000 people had paid to watch an indoor activity more associated with the often bitter climate of Maine's winters.

The Portland Pirates were back in town.

At the end of the 2008 hockey season the Pirates were in the chase for the Calder Cup, winning the Atlantic Division title, but then failing by a whisker to win one last game against the Hershey Bears to advance to the American Hockey League finals. And then the Pirates ended a three-year association with the recent Stanley Cup champions the Anaheim Ducks, leaving the Portland team with no National Hockey League affiliate.

No immediate decision regarding a new alliance was announced and for much of the summer the future of professional hockey in Portland was open to speculation.

Hockey at its best is a game of speed, power and grace, a true team sport that enjoys a widespread fan base here in Maine. Many high school teams take the ice each year, along with high-profile teams such as the University of Maine Black Bears and the Junior League Lewiston Maineiacs.

To the great credit of the Portland Pirates' organization, no hasty decisions were made. But as the months wore on professional hockey fans became increasingly apprehensive. Would there be a team in Portland this year and if so, who would be the NHL affiliate?

The story finally broke that the Buffalo Sabres and the Portland Pirates had reached an agreement and that players from the Rochester Americans would form the nucleus of the 2008-2009 Pirates' team. This appeared to be a mixed blessing, since the Rochester Americans had recently been the product of a dual affiliation agreement with both Buffalo and the Florida Panthers, a union that had resulted in a poor performance record for the Americans over the past several years and left few available players to move from Rochester to Portland.

There was some good news late in the summer when it was announced that Coach Kevin Dineen would be returning as the Pirates' Head Coach and that he would have Eric Weinrich as his Assistant Coach.

But the weeks slid away and very little information became available regarding players comprising the Pirates' roster, except that only one player from last year's team would be returning and only a few former Rochester players under contract with Buffalo would be relocating to Portland.

What might this new season bring, after a return to winning ways over the past few years?

Saturday's season opener was against the Manchester Monarchs, a rugged and reliable team that historically has given the Portland Pirates strong competition. No more than a week before opening night the Pirates had difficulty in putting enough players on the ice for their only preseason game.

Still, 5,000 curious fans filed into the Cumberland County Civic Center - and roared raucous approval as the new Portland Pirates defeated Manchester 6-3 in an action-filled, high-tempo performance that featured a hat trick by Mark Mancari, two goals by former Pirate Tyler Bouck and an intense effort by twenty-two players who have yet to benefit from a full week of practicing as a complete team.

But this is indeed a different group of Pirates; faster, better skaters, oriented more toward scoring than plodding defense and as a group unwilling to be pushed around. They can excite a crowd.

Kudos to Brian Petrovic and the other members of the Pirates' management team. And welcome and thank you to the Buffalo Sabres.

Enjoy the new season, Pirates' fans. The boys are still in town.

There are many who think that Sarah Palin is not ready to be President but I'm not one of them. I know, you say that she is running for Vice President, but with John McCain as her running mate it is easy to see where she will have the top spot inside of four years.

Sarah has shown her command of politics with her actions. In the Alaska Troopergate affair she is accused of firing her former brother in law from his public service position after an unfriendly divorce of her sister. She uses private email to do public business, striking deals behind closed doors and keeping her official actions secret from the public she is supposed to serve, and Her husband, the "First Dude" has been shown to make extensive use of government facilities and participate in official meetings. His efforts to "help her in her career" show the kind of support needed by a President who doesn't have the time or interest to actually find out what is taking place in the world around her.

Since this is just a mirror image of our Presidency of the last 8 years, there are few who can actually claim that Sarah is not qualified to be President.

I think it was Richard Nixon who said something like "What do the voters know anyways?"

While listening to the news, another story pops up about the dilemma of the Maine lobsterman. With high prices for fuel and bait as well as multi hundred thousand dollar boats and reduced access to the water it is easy enough to see the problems they face but now we have a relatively new source of trouble. It seems that the financial collapse in our country is killing the taste for lobster and the price of a landed harvest is collapsing into areas not seen in decades.

I have now been boatless for a year after sailing our 36 foot cutter out of Rockland for 18 years, and we always enjoyed seeing the working boats plying their trade as we coasted by. Mostly friendly but sometimes not, they were just part of the environment but perhaps now their days are numbered. With so many endangered species it seems that the forces of man are responsible for their fate and I cannot help but think that man is again a large factor in the lobster industry decline. Outside forces are usually to blame but in this case the lobstermans own efforts have a large measure of responsibility for their troubles. I'll go out on a limb here and say that I don't think that the lobster are over fished but instead clearly the market is over served.

In the approaches to Vinalhaven and Port Clyde as well as many other areas that we have visited, you could seemingly walk on the water, being held up by the carpet of pot buoys laid out before you.

The lobster certainly appreciate the plentiful food dropped conveniently on the ocean floor for them but the large number of traps seals the fate of the industry. In an effort to increase their incomes and provide growth in their industry, the lobsterman is instead killing the golden goose. It is always difficult to recognize when an industry is on the verge of collapse but the lobstermen need to recognize and act before economics and not species collapse kills their way of life. It is long past time to limit the total number of traps in the water in a meaningful way, providing a steady but reduced supply to the market and to allow individual lobstermen to own their license as some European countries do, thereby allowing them to sell the license or give it away at their time of retirement. If the lobster can again regain the description as a delicacy and not a commodity then the industry will have gone a long way toward survival. It's not too late to act, but once again we will likely see a waiting game played until bankruptcy and market forces simply cut away until only a few survive.

Anyone reading my blogs on the zigs and zags of the proposed bailout of the credit system will know that I have LITTLE faith in the ability of the Federal government to do the RIGHT thing in a timely fashion.

To me, TIMELY means NOT at the end of the October, but immediately as the British government did last week when it injected 50 Billion Pounds into its credit banking system, which, on a comparable GDP basis, would be equivalent to a $500 Billion injection here.

The Brits didn't need to meet with the G-7 and the IMF to get their approval as our government seemed to have to do this weekend; the Brits just did it.

Imagine what would have happened if Secretary Paulson had immediately injected the $700 Billion in the fashion I had proposed on September 29 by lending the banks the money, or alternately by purchasing preferred equity, as he now seems to be "dabbling" with.

On the 29th of September the Dow Jones Industrial was at 11,139. At close on Friday it was at 8,568, a loss of 2,571, or 23%.

I don't read tea leaves, but it's my bet that with a quick injection on the 29th or 30th, the Dow would be much higher than it is right now, and the PANIC selling by hedge funds, mutual funds, and institutions would not have happened.

What we have right now is panic, stark panic.

People, and not just investors, are terrified.

People are bailing out of the stock market because there was no immediate bailout, and we have, I fear, passed the point where people can believe that any new action by the government WILL return the market to sanity.

People have lost trust in the Federal government because it has appears to have lost its ability to lead.

The hedge funds are causing much of damage in the market. Hedge funds are somewhat like mutual funds, pooling money from RICH customers, many from overseas, and then using that money to buy stocks, some on margin. Buying on margin is what caused the 1929 stock market crash.

Panic from customers of mutual funds is also driving the downward spiral. In September, over $70 Billion was pulled out of mutual funds, and another $50 Billion was pulled out in the eight trading days of this month. The market simply cannot absorb that many shares in an orderly manner.

Finally, there is program selling by stock brokerages and massive selling by institutions such as pension funds, college endowments, insurance companies, etc.

Observe when Friday's sharp 6% drop occurred -- in the first 7 minutes.

That is when the hedge funds came in to cover margin calls, when the program selling kicked in because of the free fall, and when the mutual funds where dumping the stocks because of the customers' overnight requests.

It is not now a time to worry about how a strong decisive action taken by the Federal government will look to, or be interpreted by partisans on the fringes of either party.

It is time for the politicians, and the Secretary, to rise above politics and save the economy.

Our strong democracy can take bold actions and survive.

By Tuesday morning when the market reopens, investors, hedge funds, institutions, and holders of 401Ks will have had the three day weekend to worry, to listen to the analysts, and to wonder what to do.

Secretary Paulson, reportedly, does not intend to undertake his injection of Billions into the investment banks through the purchase of preferred stock for another two weeks. Apparently he wants to wait for the banks to ask for the money instead of making it appear that the Federal government is taking a unilateral action.

It has been less than two weeks since September 29 and the market has fallen 23%.

Another drop like that will get us down to 6,600, a level last seen in the mid 1990s.

If we don't have a BOLD and almost SHOCKING announcement from Washington by 9 AM Monday* about an IMMEDIATE $1 to $2 Trillion injection into the credit markets, I suggest you watch the market opening at 9:30 on Monday morning.

The opening drop will be awesome.

We will never see a drop like that again.

(Unless it occurs again on Tuesday because there is no announcement by then.)

********

Now....can an investor recover from his or her losses?

Yes, certainly.

Can and should an individual make purchases in this market?

Yes, certainly.

I will discuss these matters on Tuesday at noon.

Peter Hayward

*An earlier version of this blog misstated the day on which the NYSE and NASDAQ will open. Although Monday is a Federal Holiday, those markets are open that day. The Bond Market is not open.

Welcome to a wonderful new lunch place right across the street from the Maine College of Art. The owners of Sengchai Thai Cuisine (on Forest Avenue) have opened up a new Thai buffet. The lunch buffet, at $8.50 is an incredible value, considering what's available. I had several varieties of sushi, spring rolls, tom yum soup, and a variety of tofu, chicken, fish, and beef dishes -- all excellent. It's a pleasant comfortable place.

And the "but": Like any buffet, it's much too easy to overeat, and with the array of choices here, that's especially tempting. So, only head to 511 Congress Street if you've plenty of self control.

Do support our local businesses -- and this is one of them!

Click here to view a larger image ...

Nine days ago, on September 29, I explained in my blog post here, why the original Paulson plan was wrong and what the bailout SHOULD look like.

1) I noted that the White House and the Congress needed to think outside the box in rewriting Secretary Paulson's misguided proposal, because Paulson's imperial proposal simply removed from the investment banks' books billions of dollars worth of mortgage derivatives for which a market value could not established.

2) I explained how most of the mortgages in the derivatives were actually good, and that the derivatives did have value. That value was difficult to determine at this moment in this crisis, but that it could be determined if the derivatives were held to maturity.

In that post I wrote:

"My solution: the Federal government should authorize the Federal Bank to LEND up to $700 billion to those banks IN THE US holding these derivatives at a to-be-decided interest rate that is slightly higher than the normal rate. Banks would use the mortgage derivatives as collateral for this loan but would be required to hold these derivatives to maturity."

Two days after I wrote this, ex Secretary of the Treasury Paul H O'Neil
spoke publicly for the first time on the bailout, calling it "crazy" and called for approximately the same solution I did -- (quoting from the Denver Post's interview with O'Neil): " To replenish capital in banks, the government should make 20-year loans to institutions and charge 2 percentage points above the government's borrowing rate".

If the bailout had been structured as I proposed, as an immediate loan, the banks would have that $700 billion THE DAY AFTER THE BAILOUT WAS SIGNED, not by the end of October as Secretary Paulson now plans.

Credit would have started flowing again, and confidence would have returned to the entire economy, and not just the markets.

The failure to resuscitate the economy immediately by directly injecting the $700 billion into the economy means credit markets in the US are NOW illiquid with no or very little money being lent at the highest levels -- the levels that make the economy work.

For example, companies cannot get short term loans to tide them over until their customers pay at the end of the month; this usually means the company may not make payroll or pay its own creditors.

States often take short term loans to cover government costs while waiting for tax revenues to come in.

The Los Angeles Times has reported that California may need an $7 Billion emergency loan from the Federal government to carry on normal governmental activities this month that it would otherwise fund by short term borrowing until tax revenues came in.

Municipalities, states and companies cannot issue long term bonds for projects because the interest rates now being quoted for those bonds are, in some cases, triple what they were three weeks ago.

As a result of this credit freeze, the US stock market has dropped to levels not seen since the beginning of the decade, wiping out Billions of dollars of paper value.

And this lack of liquidity has become a world wide problem: Japan's stock index fell 9% yesterday, its biggest drop in 20 years, and the markets in London, France and Germany have fallen since Friday by 12%, 14% and 14%.

Today the Federal Reserve Bank announced a 0.5% cut in the Federal Funds rate to 1.5%, coordinating this cut with similar 0.5% cuts by the European Central Bank, and the central banks of China, Great Britain, Canada, Sweden, Switzerland and Saudi Arabia.

As of 1 PM today, the stock markets of London, Paris and Frankfurt showed little confidence in these rate cuts, with all three down nearly 6%. The Russian exchange was closed until Friday after a 14% drop in the first half hour. The Dow was flat, less than 1/10 of 1 % from its opening.

So now what?

The Congress needs to return to Washington tomorrow and do a BAILOUT OF THE BAILOUT, unanimously passing legislation to inject between $700 Billion and $1 Trillion IMMEDIATELY into the credit markets.

We need a Congress of national unity and a nation-wide awareness of what lies ahead if this is not done.

America should NEVER AGAIN be held hostage by politics as it was between the first and second versions of the bailout. The economy should not be governed by the political whims of a few.

If this is not done, our economy will NOT wait until the end of the month for the Government to inject money through buying the derivatives.

By then, our nation and the global economy WILL, not may, be in a depression deeper than that of the 1930s, and once there, it could take years for us to crawl out.

Peter B Hayward

Click here to view a larger image ...

What about the Bailout?
What do you think? Are we saved or sunk? Are you mad? Are you confused? Me too!
I'm worried that a month ago …everything was fine. There was no banking crisis.
Then a $700 billion bailout was suddenly needed!!! Within 2 weeks - we got it …now what? The Market falls again and we're told to "Be patient". I've lost my patience.
Instead I'm disgusted and embarrassed for this country. I'm saddened for the children that will carry this burden and for their children who will do without because of this government's greed and avarice.
I laughed yesterday as I read someone blame this on the Carter administration. Hello? If something has been wrong for that long, why didn't this administration fix it? They've been in there for 8 years.
Let me ask another question. If the government hid this financial disaster from us, and I think they MUST have known something was going wrong, than what else don't we know?
Also - if the banks mishandled loans, why aren't they being prosecuted? Where is the accountability?
Where is the outrage??