We’re sure we’re not the only two people who wrote to the Barack Obama campaign to ask them to explain the Keating Five to people who don’t know - or who don’t remember - what happened and about McCain’s implication in that affair. But, we took pride in what we saw this morning - the Obama Campaign had done more than we expected. Here is an entire Web site devoted to that savings and loan scandal that occurred in the late 80s and early 90s.

The full documentary about McCain’s involvement will be available beginning at noon today. But, in the meantime, you can read current news and information gathered from research (including downloads). This is nothing but facts, folks. We’re old enough to remember this debacle, as we both were in business when it happened.

This is why we don’t trust John McCain with the economics of this country. Nor do we trust his economic “adviser” Phil Gramm (the man who said that this was a nation of whiners this past spring and who helped to draft the Enron Loophole).

Please go to the site, read the information available, and then think about how McCain acted last week when he suspended his campaign to do nothing in Washington re: the bailout. No, we’re wrong - he actually muddled the situation by asking for further deregulation.

Posted by FA Editors at 7:57 AM PDT

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The Free Software Foundation (FSF)  announced a “reboot” of its High Priority Projects

ABOUT THE PROJECT

The FSF high-priority projects list serves to foster the development of projects that are important for increasing the adoption and use of free software and free software operating systems. The projects on this list are neither run, controlled, nor maintained by the FSF, but are supported entirely by the individuals in the free software community.  Read more on the high priority project.

INPUT AND DONATIONS

It is an opportunity for all to collaborate, giving input and on the development of these priority projects, which can only strengthen our community. It is especially important for the community to work on our own technologies, especially for problems that affect the most users and in cases where the community needs to bridge the gap with Proprietary software.

As the free desktop and free software adoption increases and new technologies become available, it becomes more and more critical for our community to have a mechanism to keep up and meet new challenges facing free software. The FSF high priority project will do just that.

The FSF has set up a donation page just for the Priority Projects. Help build the fund, any amount small or big is appreciated: https://www.fsf.org/donate/directed-donations/high-priority and/or contact the FSF at campaigns@fsf.org and give them your feedback on which programs you think should be listed.

Posted by FA Editors at 5:48 PM PDT

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• Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. is investing at least $5 billion in Goldman Sachs, with warrants to invest another $5 billion in Goldman’s common stock.
• Goldman also said late Tuesday it would raise another $2.5 billion in its own public stock offering.
• Hank Paulson, a former co-CEO of Goldman Sachs, wants $700 billion from the American public to bail out some financial institutions - who, what, when, where and how are unknown. Why? Because.
• Buffett also supports Paulson’s bailout plan.

Something smells fishy, right? Well, we haven’t got half the story, which is why the stench will get bigger. Half a fish is half as smelly. Howard Rodman has the whole fish:

• Goldman Sachs gives Hank Paulson seven hundred million dollars (that’s seven zero zero comma zero zero zero comma zero zero zero) in salary and bonuses.
• Goldman Sachs lends Hank Paulson to the Treasury (now that he can afford to be a public servant).
• As the Secretary of the Treasury, Paulson insists that we give Goldman Sachs a lot of money, in exchange for a lot of crap. (If not, we all die.)
• Except it’s not Hank Paulson’s money, it’s ours.
• If the crap turns out to be crap, we’re stuck with it. (And by the way: if it’s not crap, why are they so desperate to unload it?)
• In four months, Paulson returns to Goldman Sachs.
• Paulson receives salary and bonuses from the money we just gave to Paulson to give to Goldman Sachs to give to Paulson.
• It’s our money. Or was. But we don’t get preferred shares. We don’t get a ten percent dividend. We don’t even get a free copy of The Warren Buffet Way: Second Edition (Paperback). We get crap.

AH - Now, it all makes sense! Thank you, Mr. Rodman! Screw you, Mr. Paulson!

Posted by FA Editors at 12:30 AM PDT

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 ICONS ON WALL STREET TURNING INTO CRUMBS.

In one of the most extraordinary days in Wall Street’s history, Merrill Lynch is near an 11th-hour deal with Bank of America to avert a deepening financial crisis while another storied securities firm, Lehman Brothers, hurtled toward liquidation, according to people briefed on the deal. Via NYT Read the Rest

UPDATE: Sept. 15 (Bloomberg) — Australian stocks and U.S. futures tumbled after Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. prepared to file for bankruptcy as potential buyers abandoned talks.

UPDATE 2: Merrill Lynch agreed to be acquired by Bank of America for $29 a share, or $43.5 billion, after being pressured into a deal by federal regulators. Read the rest

UPDATE 3: Year 2007:  Goldman Sachs will hand out $16.5 billion in bonuses overall, the largest in history. Sachs top managers will each take home at least $25 million in bonuses. Year 2008: Goldman Sachs, the investment bank, today reported a 70 per cent decline in its third-quarter profit to $845 million, as the credit crunch dragged down asset valuations and reduced mergers and acquisitions activity.

UPDATE 4: Goldman, Morgan Stanley Bring Down Curtain on an Era. The Wall Street that shaped the financial world for two decades ended last night. “The decision marks the end of Wall Street as we have known it,” said William Isaac, a former chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. “It’s too bad.” Read the rest

Posted by FA Editors at 9:31 PM PDT

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