By BARACK OBAMA

This is a defining moment in our history. We face the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression — 760,000 workers have lost their jobs this year. Businesses and families can’t get credit. Home values are falling, and pensions are disappearing. Wages are lower than they’ve been in a decade, at a time when the costs of health care and college have never been higher.

At a moment like this, we can’t afford four more years of spending increases, poorly designed tax cuts, or the complete lack of regulatory oversight that even former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan now believes was a mistake. America needs a new direction. That’s why I’m running for president of the United States.

Tomorrow, you can give this country the change we need.

My opponent, Senator McCain, has served his country honorably. He can even point to a few moments in the past where he has broken from his party. But over the past eight years, he’s voted with President Bush 90% of the time. And when it comes to the economy, he still can’t tell the American people one major thing he’d do differently from George Bush.

It’s not change to come up with a tax plan that doesn’t give a penny of relief to more than 100 million middle-class Americans — a plan that even the National Review and other conservative organizations complain does far too little to benefit the middle class. It’s not change to add more than $5 trillion to the deficits we’ve run up in recent years. It’s not change to come up with a plan to address our housing crisis that puts another $300 billion of taxpayer money at risk — a plan that the editorial board of this newspaper said “raises more questions than it answers.”

If there’s one thing we’ve learned from this economic crisis, it’s that we are all in this together. From CEOs to shareholders, from financiers to factory workers, we all have a stake in each other’s success because the more Americans prosper, the more America prospers.

That’s why we’ve had titans of industry who’ve made it their mission to pay well enough that their employees could afford the products they made — businessmen like Warren Buffett, whose support I’m proud to have. That’s why our economy hasn’t just been the world’s greatest wealth creator — it’s been the world’s greatest job generator. It’s been the tide that has lifted the boats of the largest middle class in history.

To rebuild that middle class, I’ll give a tax break to 95% of workers and their families. If you work, pay taxes, and make less than $200,000, you’ll get a tax cut. If you make more than $250,000, you’ll still pay taxes at a lower rate than in the 1990s — and capital gains and dividend taxes one-third lower than they were under President Reagan.

We’ll create two million new jobs by rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure and laying broadband lines that reach every corner of the country. I’ll invest $15 billion a year over the next decade in renewable energy, creating five million new, green jobs that pay well, can’t be outsourced, and can help end our dependence on Middle East oil.

When it comes to health care, we don’t have to choose between a government-run system and the unaffordable one we have now. My opponent’s plan would make you pay taxes on your health-care benefits for the first time in history. My plan will make health care affordable and accessible for every American. If you already have health insurance, the only change you’ll see under my plan is lower premiums. If you don’t, you’ll be able to get the same kind of plan that members of Congress get for themselves.

To give every child a world-class education so they can compete in this global economy for the jobs of the 21st century, I’ll invest in early childhood education and recruit an army of new teachers. But I’ll also demand higher standards and more accountability. And we’ll make a deal with every young American: If you commit to serving your community or your country, we will make sure you can afford your tuition.

And when it comes to keeping this country safe, I’ll end the Iraq war responsibly so we stop spending $10 billion a month in Iraq while it sits on a huge surplus. For the sake of our economy, our military and the long-term stability of Iraq, it’s time for the Iraqis to step up. I’ll finally finish the fight against bin Laden and the al Qaeda terrorists who attacked us on 9/11, build new partnerships to defeat the threats of the 21st century, and restore our moral standing so that America remains the last, best hope of Earth.

None of this will be easy. It won’t happen overnight. But I believe we can do this because I believe in America. This is the country that allowed our parents and grandparents to believe that even if they couldn’t go to college, they could save a little bit each week so their child could; that even if they couldn’t have their own business, they could work hard enough so their child could open one of their own. And at every moment in our history, we’ve risen to meet our challenges because we’ve never forgotten the fundamental truth that in America, our destiny is not written for us, but by us.

So tomorrow, I ask you to write our nation’s next great chapter. I ask you to believe — not just in my ability to bring about change, but in yours. Tomorrow, you can choose policies that invest in our middle class, create new jobs, and grow this economy so that everyone has a chance to succeed. You can choose hope over fear, unity over division, the promise of change over the power of the status quo. If you give me your vote, we won’t just win this election — together, we will change this country and change the world.

Popularity: 3% [?]

America, and indeed the whole world, is in the gravest financial disaster since the Great Depression, and McCain is busy hurling baseless and vicious accusations against Sen. Barack Obama.

McCain has admitted on several occasions that the economy is not his forte, and his declaration that the “fundamentals of the economy are strong” while the stock market is tanking proves that his self-analysis is spot on.

I can imagine McCain on the deck of the sinking Titanic, railing that the captain isn’t worthy of his position because he consorts with movie stars, and other riff raff.

But McCain shouldn’t ignore the economic crisis because it’s not a winning issue for him. He shouldn’t focus on trivial and inconsequential issues like Rev. Wright and Ayers while America is in a financial tailspin.

The American people are desperate for a strong and stable leader who will provide solutions to our economic crisis, and McCain is acting erratically and irresponsibly.

McCain and Sarah Palin are trying to portray Obama as unethical and inexperienced, but the facts prove that it’s Palin who is woefully inexperienced and ethically-challenged.

“Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin violated ethics laws and abused her power as governor in pressing to have her former brother-in-law fired as a state trooper, an independent legislative investigation concluded Friday.

In a report whose release was the subject of a high-stakes political showdown that went all the way to the Alaska Supreme Court, investigator Stephen Branchflower documented that former Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan was subjected to a veritable barrage of demands from Palin, her husband and her staff to fire the trooper, Mike Wooten, whom they saw as unfit for the job. Wooten had been involved in a bitter divorce and custody battle with Palin’s sister.”

• http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/front/la-na-troopergate11-2008oct11,0,3721967.story

This is not a quotation from an Obama political ad or a comment from a liberal pundit, it’s a finding from a bipartisan committee.

An independent legislative investigation has concluded that Palin is guilty of violating ethics laws and abusing her power as governor. The last thing this country needs, in these perilous times, is for an utterly unqualified and inexperienced Palin to abuse her power as vice-president, or God forbid, leader of the free world.

Palin has been reprimanded for abuse of power, on the first Tuesday in November the electorate should reprimand McCain and Palin for waging the dirtiest campaign in recent political history by voting for Obama/Biden.

Popularity: 5% [?]

Both presidential candidates want to crucify SEC Chairman Cox for failing to control our creative financial institutions. But rumor has it that Congress specifically excluded the devilish derivatives from SEC purview. Let’s fire the right bunch of “poips” for a change!

Scary markets are brought about by many factors, some normal, and some not so normal. It’s often helpful to look backwards before getting too paranoid about the present. The S & L crisis of the early 80s might be an appropriate starting point.

Later that decade, a multi-year rally had its head lopped off by high interest rates, high inflation, and a computer loop. Ten years later, another soaring market was toppled by economic factors. The turn of the century witnessed the bloody demise of the no-value-at-all dot-com illusion.

A profit taking strategy during the rally days was all that was necessary to cash in on “The Crash of ‘87.” In 2000, the route to immunity could be summarized as: “no IPOs, no mutual funds, no dot-coms, no problem.”

The common historical (hysterical) thread is clear. Rally begets correction; correction spawns rally. This time around, ironically, conservative investors had no trouble avoiding the derivatives that eventually sunk the markets. But, the products were so “out there,” and the regulators so out-flanked, that the unwinding has unglued several investment world icons. This correction is different— but not in the ways you might think:

The scope of media coverage, analysis, and sensationalism; masses of inexperienced, non-professional, speculators; and the popularity of investment products are new phenomena. Millions of nameless non-credentialed Internet investment experts and financial bloggers add to the pandemonium.

Similarly, the proliferation of passive investment mediums (index funds); regulatory tolerance of speculations of all forms, shapes, and sizes; and the relaxation of the trading safeguards that have protected investors for decades encourage a reckless, gambling approach toward what was once investing. We’ve seen what conscienceless commodity speculators have accomplished in world markets.

We have experienced a major movement away from plain vanilla stocks and bonds, and have popularized the thrill ride of speculative activities. 401(k) fund selections include short-long funds, currency trading strategies, and commodity futures. IRA investors seek out the most exotic forms of speculation, convinced that, with a Blackberry and a lunch break, they can master the complexities of high finance.

Regulators have allowed funds of hedge funds into small investor portfolios; brokerage firms short shares that don’t exist multiple times; the once sacred up-tick rule has been abandoned when shorting itself should be a banned substance; and CDOs make it difficult to determine just who owes money to whom.

Enough? There’s more, but you get the idea. Today’s problems are much more visible than yesterday’s. Today’s worries involve bigger numbers. Tomorrow’s solutions will undoubtedly bring creative MBAs to discover new financial WMDs. The investment gods are angry. We need to bring back that old time rock and roll, and an investment world content with individual stocks and bonds.

In less complicated times, the difference was in the fixing. Speculators suffered, but safer investment styles were less vulnerable. Let’s elect a Congress that will regulate the speculations and allow us to get back to the basic, fundamental, adventure of building and protecting our nest eggs. Think back, just a few cycles ago— familiar?

The Market was breezing along during the summer of ‘87, enjoying one of the broadest rallies ever experienced on Wall Street. From the very start, equity prices seemed incapable of going down. The mystical DJIA 2000 barrier was shattered early in the year and upward the market soared.

On through 2100 it rumbled, then 2200, and 2300— even the comic strip, dartboard approach proved successful, and many subscribed to it. The securities markets were simple, with fewer labyrinthine products, and only the dark cloud of rapidly rising interest rates in an otherwise clear sky. 2400 on the DJIA by July and on it went. No end in sight.

The institutions introduced hundreds of new mutual funds, pumped up their marketing efforts, and pushed the rally skyward— 2500, 2600, 2700, just incredible. None of the salivating mutual fund unit holders saw it coming; Wall Street didn’t care. The Dow topped out at 2722 that August— about the same number of points involved in a swinging September 2008. Only the names and the products have changed—

The parallels to today’s markets are interesting. Value stocks and bonds were moving lower while IPOs and other speculations were bubbling higher. As prices weakened, analysts began to mumble. The economy certainly didn’t look like a doom and gloom scenario— just those pesky interest rates. And then it hit the fan.

Technology bombed the market when programmed-trading sell signals ran fast and furious down the cables, resetting themselves lower, and lower, and lower— but the stock being sold actually existed! Wall Street panicked! Inflation fears, higher interest rates, tension in Europe, foreign oil, war in The Middle East, and so on. All of the usual suspects were touted by the media as the culprits that caused “The Crash of ‘87.”

It just doesn’t take a whole lot of Wall Street manipulation (or arrogance) to turn speculative greed into investment fear. The wizards had done it again, sucking the franklins from unsuspecting individual investor portfolios, just as they would two cycles later when their dot-coms sealed the fate of another generation of speculators.

Yes, the similarities are striking— one meltdown to the next. But this time is slightly different. This time the Masters of the Universe were helped by Congress and the SEC to pick our collective pockets, and a few of them have actually, and appropriately, drowned in their own garbage. I’ll shed no tears for the fallen giants, but let’s all cry out loudly about the problem— a problem that both Barack and John were a part of.

It’s Congress that gets to chastise and create regulations for the bad guys. This year, and in those that follow, let’s fire the DC fat cats that caused the problem, and find some regulators with the guts to label speculations as thoroughly as they do medications.

About The Author: Steve Selengut — Author of: “The Brainwashing of the American Investor: The Book that Wall Street Does Not Want YOU to Read,” and “A Millionaire’s Secret Investment Strategy.” Visit Steve’s websites: http://www.sancoservices.com/ | http://www.kiawahgolfinvestmentseminars.com

Popularity: 6% [?]

Writes: Geraldo Rivera

Secretary Chertoff, Call Off These Raids!!

Driven by the most savage talk radio and cable news anti-immigrant propaganda campaign in our nation’s history, the Department of Homeland Security has unleashed an unprecedented crackdown on undocumented workers.

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In an effort not seen since the panic unleashed by the Great Depression, federal law enforcement has been targeting technically illegal workers who have been long tolerated in industries like meat packing, poultry processing and agriculture. In the terror created, fruit trees are being cut down and fields lie fallow, for want of traditional workers.

Many hundreds of otherwise law abiding, hard working, family men and women have been arrested in recent weeks under circumstances more appropriate to operations targeting al Qaeda…..[MORE]

Geraldo Rivera Discusses His New Book: ‘His Panic’ on Fox News — With Bill O’Reilly of Fox News. O’Reilly is one of America’s most SAVAGE ANTI-IMMIGRANT MEDIA GOON.

More Video: Geraldo Rivera Introduces His Panic

Popularity: 28% [?]