Full Text: Barack Obama Economy Speech | Toledo, Ohio | October 13

A Rescue Plan for the Middle-Class

As Prepared for Delivery

We meet at a moment of great uncertainty for America. The economic crisis we face is the worst since the Great Depression. Markets across the globe have become increasingly unstable, and millions of Americans will open up their 401(k) statements this week and see that so much of their hard-earned savings have disappeared. Read more

World Leaders to Act in Concert to Stem Financial Crisis – News Coverage

G-7 Summit Held in Washington This a.m.

• World leaders pledge united response – Times of London
• G-7 pledges ‘All necessary steps’ – Bloomberg
• Bush pledges global response – Washington Post
• Rich nations pushing for joint response
  – New York Times
• Canada backs crisis plans
  – Toronto Star
• Bush: Global cooperation in response – Wall Street Journal

Bailout Deal Bullet Points & Coverage – Sunday A.M.

Bush Administration and Congressional officials came to terms on the proposed $700 billion Wall Street bailout early Sunday morning reports the New York Times, Washington Post, and other media outlets. Find clips of the stories this morning after the bullet points of the deal’s terms. The media are reporting that Congressional staff worked through the early morning hours of Sunday and will continue to work until the deal is in bill form. Votes in both houses of Congress are expected late Sunday or early Monday.

Highpoints of Bailout Deal

• The $700 billion would not be released in its entirety at once. Funds would be made available to Treasury in a first installment of $250 billion, a second installment of $100 billion, and a final installment of $350 billion. Congress would have the right of refusal at each step of the process.
• Pay limits will be put in place for executives of companies who make use of the government bailout.
• A Congressional oversight panel will be empowered to oversee Administration and Treasury implementation of the bailout.
• In some cases, the federal government will receive an equity stake in companies participating in the bailout.
• Conflict-of-interest rules will be implemented for firms who contract to help Treasury run the bailout.

Bailout News

• Breakthrough reached in negotiations on bailout – New York Times
• Lawmakers reach tentative deal on bailout – Washington Post
• Lawmakers reach deal on bailout – Wall Street Journal
• U.S. reaches outline bailout deal – Financial Times
• U.S. Congress reaches tentative deal on bailout – Xinhua

Tuesday Mid Morning – Politics and Faith Podcast, Iraq, Peak Oil, Obama, Bush at G8, McCain on the Economy, Fed

• Go here to listen to the Columbus Dispatch’s Joe Hallet discuss politics and faith with the Dispatch’s Faith & Values reporters – Columbus Dispatch
• Democratic platform to have public input – Associated Press (Dayton Daily News)
• Editorial: Soft words don’t hide impact of economic downturn – Dayton Daily News
• Shell CEO makes presentation of two future energy scenarios – Ethical Corporation
• G8 Pledges to cut emissions by half by 2050 – Washington Post
• Maliki Suggests U.S. Troop Timetable – Washington Post
• Shares of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac Plummet – Washington Post
• Editorial: Mr. Obama on Iraq – Washington Post
• Adding up the cost of Obama’s agenda – Los Angeles Times
• McCain pledges broad based tax cuts – Baltimore Sun
• Fed to clamp down on exotic and subprime loans – Washington Post
• McCain plan for budget: fiscal hawks vs. tax foes – New York Times
• New Jersey’s painful lesson – New York Times
• Blagojevich gets heated with reporters – Chicago Sun-Times

Happy Fourth –

• Age and Experience Matter in Investment World: Study – New York Times

  “The two professors say the experience thesis helps to explain why stock market bubbles are relatively uncommon. “Once investors have experienced a bubble and subsequent crash, they are less willing to participate the next time through,” they write. “The younger fund managers we study in this paper, and perhaps also the retail investors that allocated money to their funds, may have learned from their experiences during the technology bubble.”

  If that lesson spills over into housing, it could be a long time before we see a housing price expansion of the magnitude that took place in the middle years of this decade.” New York Times

• Bush Administration allows sweetheart Iraq oil deals counter to its own policy – New York Times

Last week we learned of no-bid contract proposals for several western-owned oil companies to begin rendering “technical help” to the Iraqi government in getting its oil industry back up and running. The U.S. government apparently helped the Iraqis write those contracts. Today the Times reports that Hunt Oil has been in talks with the semi-autonomous Kurds in northern Iraq to sign an oil deal – even though official U.S. policy is to dissuade the private sector from side deals with regional Iraqi interests. This is because the Iraqi central government has not passed an oil bill which would lay the legal groundwork for a new Iraqi oil industry.

It’s taken several years to get to this point, but Bush and Cheney are still telling us this war wasn’t about oil?

Ray L. Hunt, ceo of Hunt oil, is a Texas oil man with ties to Bush. His company has angered the Iraqi national government for pursuing this side deal with the Kurds. You would think that the President or his staff would abide their own State Department policy and ask Hunt Oil to cool its jets. No, Ray is a friend of W. An already complex set of political and diplomatic circumstances with the Iraqis is exacerbated by actions like this. Read the story.

Red, White, and Boom – Neal Lauron, Columbus Dispatch

• Threats to American Way are Overstated – David Broder column, Washington Post Writers Group

Afternoon Read

• How Long will GM Be No. 1? – Wall Street Journal
• Iraq does not sign no-bid consultancy contracts with oil majors … for now – Forbes
• What would a world with $200 per bbl oil look like? – LA Times