I've said it before, I will say it again. It is not enough just to win this year. We have to win BIG. We need to give Obama a clear mandate. And we need to make Republicans bleed.

Do not get complacent. Get out and vote. Get your friends out to vote. Do not let think they don't matter or "Obama's going to win anyway". A lot can happen in a week and half (this election cycle should have made that VERY clear). Stay focused stay on message.

Let's also not forget a lesson from the primaries. Late deciders in those elections had a tendency to break for Clinton. They went with the percieved 'safer' choice. We've got to keep the margin big enough so those late deciders do not end up deciding this election.

And even if you're in a safe state do not forget the down ticket races and ballot initiatives. Here in Oregon we've got a chance to knock a Repuplican Senator down.

Interest is a measure of risk.

I learned that in the very first finance class I took in college. The professor wrote it on the board in the first five minutes of class. He said if we forgot everything else we learned over the course of the semester we needed to remember taht one phrase:

Interest is a measure of risk.

That means the higher the interest, the higher the risk.

Wall Street, the ratings agencies, EVERYBODY forgot this basic simple little truth. The higher the interest, the greater the risk you take with your money.

That is why 'sub-prime' loans have a higher interest rate. They have a greater risk of not being paid back. And yet the ratings agencies looked at them and despite the high rates, slapped them with 'safe' ratings. The people buying the securities acted as if they were 'safe' (again despite the high rate of return) and over-leveraged.

Everybody acted as though they found the Holy Grail of finance. A high return investment with low risk. They forgot that no such Grail exists and they got burned for it. More precisly, they are burning the rest of us.

Never forget the first rule of finance.

Interest is a measure of risk.

I'm seem to recall a story when this whole mess started quoting a Treasury official asked where the $700 Billion number came from and he basically said:

"We just picked a really big number."

Wasn't there supposed to be some type of oversight or limits on how this money was supposed to be spent?

First it was to buy bad securities, then to equity stakes in banks, then buy up mortgages and now apparently Paulson has the authority to give the money to insurance companies or the auto industry. Where did that come from?

It starting to look like Congress just handed Paulson $700 billion dollars to spend anyway he wanted with zero controls. Was there no place in 700 page novel of legislation that put limits on how Paulson can use the money?

So what happens when Paulso blows this wad and how much is he going to ask for in the sure to be lame duck session of congress that will happen in November? $500 billion, a trillion?

I said at the beginning that no good legislation can be written in week and its looking like I was right.

Wait a second, haven't McCain and Palin spent the past few days arguing that Washington DC is not part of the 'real-America' and where the evil 'elites' live?

So why do they care if people target it for attack?

Broke for Clinton in significant numbers. Honestly I'd prefer to see more polls showing Obama with a lead larger than the number of 'undecideds'. I do not want peope who can't make up their minds this late in the process having any influence on the election.

Such people are McCain's last hope. They tend to vote emotion and fear. McCain's going to start running the Wright commercials in the last couple of days (my guess is Thurs or Friday) in order to try and scare these people into voting for him. It shouldn't work.

I am cautiously optimistic, but it is too soon to become complacent. I want Obama to win and win big.

Turnout is key. Obama needs to bring all those newly registared Dems to the polls and we need to make sure Republicans do not block them from voting.

When wages actually kept up with inflation. When the Middle Class actually saw their incomes increase as opposed the 'low tax' environment of the last eight years when wages FELL for people making below $250k a years. When inflation in home values and healthcare mean the only to buy anything is to go deeper into debt.

Obama's tax increase is to let the tax rates on those making about $250k a year go back to what they were in 1998. And we all know how crappy the economy was back then.

For the record the cost to person with a taxable income of $250k a year is around $22.00 a month. What a horrible burden for them to endure.

This idiotic clothing 'scandal' has officially gotten 1000 times the coverage of the legislative report stating Gov Plain violated state ethics laws. A story that cuts to the heart of how Palin governs and how she views her enemies.

The only interesting aspect of this story is how Palin stresses shopping at an Anchorage outlet store. Meaning she travels quite a few miles out of her way to escape paying the Wasilla sales taxes that she raised while mayor while cutting property taxes (that's right, she cut the progressive tax and raised the reggressive tax - standard Republican). But you won't see that on the national TV.

This is almost as stupid as the Oliver North hearings when the reporters opened by telling people what Mrs. North was wearing.