Supervisor Mohan will give next year budget September 30, to the Town Board members so they can start working on it.  Should make for an interesting read. 

The financial bailout and the crisis that led to it is, for all intents and purposes, out of the average person’s hands. I’m no economist, so my grasp of the entirety of the situation is tenuous, at best. This is, however, par for the course, since it appears that even financial experts seem to have a flawed grasp of the issues.

I think a lot of people are, to put it mildly, nervous. Even though Buffalo never really reaped the rewards of the latest bubbles and booms, and the landing may be softer as a result, the tightening of credit will most likely cause a downward spiral of sorts across the board. At least for a while.

But even though I’m not religious in the slightest, I have faith that the country will come out of this crisis stronger, and hopefully with some positive changes on the other end.

From a Presidential political perspective, I have to say I feel far more comfortable with Obama at the helm than McCain. You may recall during the debate, there was some back-and-forth about tactics vs. strategy. McCain has been all about tactics; the Palin pick, the non-suspended “suspension”, and whatever other poorly thought-out snap decision he can make without much contemplation for the long term, focused primarily on short term gain.

On the other hand, Obama is all about strategy. Is there anything he changed in response to McCain’s erratic twists and turns? Nope. They have a plan, and they’re sticking to it. He is talking about issues that regular people are also talking about, and he’s free from pronouncements about the economy being fundamentally strong even when a former Fed chief calls what’s happening a once-a-century crisis.

Buffalo Pundit

Debbie Bucki’s fundraiser for her run for Amherst Town Clerk was a huge success. There were well over 80 people in attendance.  The crowd was a mix of family, friends and politicians.  The group mixed well.  The anger between certain Democrats had quickly dissipated.  The Democrats showed they were solidly backing Debbie for the Town Clerk position.

I remember many years ago when Debbie first entered the political arena.  She has come a long way to be one of our town’s most respected residents as well as politician.

Assemblyman Jim Hayes’ Second Job in Deep Trouble.  Wachovia  Was Brought Out 

Wachovia is in deep financial trouble. They got there by selling very low cost mortgages. These homes are now worth very little and the people who bought them can’t make their payments. Citygroup brought out all of Wachovia’s mortgages to save this company‘s life. Assemblyman Jim Hayes works for Wachovia selling homes.

In the latest byproduct of the widening global financial crisis, Citigroup Inc. will acquire the banking operations of Wachovia Corp. in a deal facilitated by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

Citigroup will absorb up to $42 billion of losses from Wachovia’s $312 billion loan portfolio, with the FDIC covering any remaining losses, the government agency said Monday. Citigroup also will issue $12 billion in preferred stock and warrants to the FDIC.

The deal greatly expands Citigroup’s retail outlets and secures its place among the U.S. banking industry’s Big Three, along with Bank of America Corp. and J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. But it comes at a cost — Citigroup said Monday it will seek to sell $10 billion in common stock and slashed its quarterly dividend in half to 16 cents to shore up its capital position.

The agreement comes after a fevered weekend courtship in which Citigroup and Wells Fargo & Co. both were reportedly studying the books of Wachovia, which suffers from mounting losses linked to its ill-timed 2006 acquisition of mortgage lender Golden West Financial Corp.

Wachovia, like Washington Mutual Inc., which was seized by the federal government last week, was a big originator of option adjustable-rate mortgages, which offer very low introductory payments and let borrowers defer some interest payments until later years. Delinquencies and defaults on these types of mortgages have skyrocketed in recent months, causing big losses for the banks.

The FDIC asserted Monday that Wachovia did not fail, and that all depositors are protected and there will be no cost to the Deposit Insurance Fund.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, in a statement Monday, said he supports the “timely actions” taken by the FDIC “which demonstrate our government’s unwavering commitment to financial and economic stability.”

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson also welcomed the sale of Wachovia to Citigroup, saying it would “mitigate potential market disruptions.” Paulson said he agreed with the FDIC and the Fed that a “failure of Wachovia would have posed a systemic risk” to the nation’s financial system.

“As I have said before, in this period of market stress, we are committed to taking all actions necessary to protect our financial system and our economy,” Paulson said.

As details of its takeover unfolded, Wachovia shares plunged 91 percent to 94 cents. The stock had closed Friday at $10, down 74 percent for the year.

Now that a deal for Wachovia is complete, the most troubled of the nation’s largest financial institutions have been dealt with. However, the FDIC estimated there were 117 banks and thrifts in trouble during the second quarter, the highest level since 2003. And that number is likely to have increased during the third quarter.

With the acquisition of Wachovia, Citigroup has reclaimed its title as the biggest U.S. bank by total assets. Including Wachovia, the bank now has assets of $2.91 trillion, as of June 30. That could change, however, as Citigroup shrinks its balance sheet, a decision Chief Executive Vikram Pandit made in May to rid the bank’s books of risky debt.

In terms of current market capitalization, Bank of America Corp. remains the largest U.S. bank, followed by JPMorgan Chase & Co. in second and Citigroup in third place.

Just a short time ago, Citigroup was under the scrutiny of investors who worried about the possibility of its collapse given its massive exposure to mortgage-backed securities. The New York-based bank has not turned a profit for three straight quarters, and lost a total of $17.4 billion during that period after writing down its assets by about $46 billion. That’s the most write-downs of any U.S. bank.

But the government’s proposed $700 billion bailout plan could prove to be the deal’s silver lining.

While the plan broadly aims to prevent banks from profiting on the sale of troubled assets to the government, there is an exception made for assets acquired in a merger or buyout, or from companies that have filed for bankruptcy.

This detail could allow Citigroup to sell toxic mortgages and other assets it gained from Wachovia for a higher price than the bank actually paid for them.

The Wachovia deal caps a wave of unprecedented upheaval in the financial sector in the past six months that has redefined the banking industry, starting with the government-led forced sale of Bear Stearns Cos. to JPMorgan in March.

The failure of IndyMac Bancorp in July reignited investors’ fears about the stability of the financial sector, which led to the eventual takeover of struggling mortgage lenders Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Earlier this month, officials seized both Fannie and Freddie, temporarily putting them in a government conservatorship, replacing their chief executives and taking a financial stake in the mortgage finance companies.

After U.S. regulators made it clear that they would not bail out struggling investment bank Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., rival Merrill Lynch & Co. arranged a hasty deal to be bought by Bank of America Corp. for $50 billion in stock.

Lehman Brothers was subsequently forced to declare bankruptcy, the largest ever in the United States. Investor concerns quickly turned to American International Group Inc., the nation’s largest insurer. Staving off a failure that could have sent shock waves throughout the global markets, the federal government injected an $85 billion emergency loan into the insurer.

Just days later, the government seized Seattle-based Washington Mutual, marking the largest bank failure in U.S. history. WaMu’s deposits and assets were acquired by JPMorgan for $1.9 billion.

These events have now culminated in extraordinary moves by the federal government to try to fix the financial crisis that began more than a year ago. Lawmakers are to vote Monday on an unpopular $700 billion plan to rescue troubled financial companies.

Wachovia’s problems stem largely from its acquisition of mortgage lender Golden West Financial Corp. in 2006 for roughly $25 billion at the height of the nation’s housing boom. With that purchase, Wachovia inherited a deteriorating $122 billion portfolio of Pick-A-Payment loans, Golden West’s specialty, which let borrowers skip some payments.

This summer, Wachovia reported a $9.11 billion loss for the second quarter, announced plans to cut 11,350 jobs — mostly in its mortgage business — and slashed its dividend. Wachovia also boosted its provision for loan losses to $5.57 billion during the second quarter, up from $179 million in the year-ago period.

BY SARA LEPRO, AP Business Writer

AP Business Writers Jennifer Malloy Zonnas and Madlen Read in New York contributed to this report.

Over the past two weeks Obama has picked up steam.  He’s seen a small but steady rise in the polls. Immediately after the Republican Convention, the Illinois senator trailed his rival John McCain by three points in the various daily tracking polls. Senator Obama is now up by as many as six or seven points.

Pollsters say that’s in part because the vital independent voters are now shifting his way.
more…

Pay Down The Debt Party!!

For Erie County Legislator Michele Iannello

(former candidate for NY State Senate)  

Thursday, October 2, 2008,  6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. 

Toni Pepperoni’s Italian Kitchen & Pizza Buffet  2818 Delaware AvenueKenmore, New York  

$25/person - $40/couple - $99/sponsorIncludes food and beverages

 Please make contributions payable to:“Friends of Michele Iannello” 77 Carpenter Avenue, Tonawanda, New York 14223

 Please call Jean Harmon @ 716-713-7059 for further information  This is an important event for Legislator Iannello as she prepares for her reelection to the Erie County Legislature in 2009. She has always been a great friend of organized labor and needs our support at this time.

Early Saturday morning, around 4:00 a.m., an  Amherst man was driving the wrong way on the Expressway.  He struck a jaguar driven by a woman.  Both died. There were two other cars involved.  Luckily those drivers were not injured.

By JULIE HIRSCHFELD DAVIS AP Writer

Congressional leaders and the White House agreed Sunday to a $700 billion rescue of the ailing financial industry after lawmakers insisted on sharing spending controls with the Bush administration. The biggest U.S. bailout in history won the tentative support of both presidential candidates and goes to the House for a vote Monday.

The plan, bollixed up for days by election-year politics, would give the administration broad power to use billions upon billions of taxpayer dollars to purchase devalued mortgage-related assets held by cash-starved financial firms.

Governor Palin of Alaska is a lovely, stylish woman with rimless glasses which other women love.  Theyr are buying the same type in droves.  Palin is such a wonderful person that she receiced free full facials and other presents from friends in town when she was the mayor.  An AP writer did an investgation of Governor Palin when she was Mayor of this little town of 7,000 people called Wasilla.  Her story is below.

WASILLA, Alaska - Though Sarah Palin depicts herself as a pit bull fighting good-old-boy politics, in her years as mayor she and her friends received special benefits more typical of small-town politics as usual, an Associated Press investigation shows.

When Palin needed to sell her house during her last year as Wasilla mayor, she got the city to sign off on a special zoning exception — and did so without keeping a promise to remove a potential fire hazard.

She gladly accepted gifts from merchants: A free “awesome facial” she raved about in a thank-you note to a spa. The “absolutely gorgeous flowers” she received from a welding supply store. Even fresh salmon to take home.

She also stepped in to help friends or neighbors with City Hall dealings. She asked the City Council to add a friend to the list of speakers at a 2002 meeting — and then the friend got up and asked them to give his radio station advertising business.

That year, records show, she tried to help a neighbor and political contributor fighting City Hall over his small lakeside development. Palin wanted the city to refund some of the man’s fees, but the city attorney told the mayor she didn’t have the authority.

Palin claims she has more executive experience than her opponent and the two presidential candidates, but most of those years were spent running a city with a population of less than 7,000.

Some of her first actions after being elected mayor in 1996 raised possible ethical red flags: She cast the tie-breaking vote to propose a tax exemption on aircraft when her father-in-law owned one, and backed the city’s repeal of all taxes a year later on planes, snow machines and other personal property. She also asked the council to consider looser rules for snow machine races. Palin and her husband, Todd, a champion racer, co-owned a snow machine store at the time.

Palin often told the City Council of her personal involvement in such issues, but that didn’t stop her from pressing them, according to minutes of council meetings.

She sometimes followed a cautious path in the face of real or potential conflicts — for example, stepping away from the table in 1997 when the council considered a grant for the Iron Dog snow machine race in which her husband competes.

But mostly, like other Wasilla elected officials at the time, she took an active role on issues that directly affected and sometimes benefited her. Her efforts to clear the way for the $327,000 sale of the Palin family home on Lake Wasilla is an example.

Two months before Palin’s tenure as mayor ended in 2002, she asked city planning officials to forgive zoning violations so she could sell her house. Palin had a buyer, but he wouldn’t close the deal unless she persuaded the city to waive the violations with a code variance.

The Palins, who were finishing work on a new waterfront house on Lake Lucille about two miles away, asked the city for the variance. The request was opposed by one planning official and some neighbors.

“I would ask that the Wasilla Planning Commission apply the exact same rules in this situation that it would apply to other similar requests so that our community can see that being a public figure does not give anyone special benefits,” urged neighbor Clyde Boyer Jr. in a 2002 note to the city.

The Palins’ house was built by the original owner too close to the shoreline and too close to adjacent properties on each side, including a carport that stretched so far over it nearly connected the two houses.

The Palins didn’t create the zoning problems, but they should have known about them when they bought the house, wrote Susan Lee, a code compliance officer with the Matanuska-Susitna Borough, in response to the Palins’ request. The borough, similar to a county government, makes recommendations to the city, which has final say.

Lee, in recommending the city reject the request, noted that the exception was needed to resolve an “inconvenience” the Palins experienced while trying to sell their house. In 1989, another borough planner told a previous owner that a variance for the carport couldn’t be approved because it didn’t meet required conditions and was a potential fire hazard.

But in August 2002, Wasilla Planner Tim Krug approved a “shoreline setback exception” for the Palins’ house being built too closely to the water. He sent an e-mail to the mayor saying he was drafting another variance for the side of the house built too close to the property line, but that he understood from her that the other side “will be corrected and the carport will be removed.”

Krug asked Palin to let him know if he was wrong in his impression that the carport would be removed.

A few minutes later, the mayor e-mailed back: “Sounds good.”

On Sept. 10, 2002, the seven-member Wasilla Planning Commission unanimously approved a variance for both sides of the property, with language covering “all existing structures.” Less than a week later, the Palins signed a deed to sell the house to Henry Nosek.

The carport was never removed.

Nosek said Sarah Palin didn’t do anything more than any other citizen would have done.

“I sincerely don’t feel that Sarah used her position as mayor at the time to get that accomplished,” said Nosek, who no longer lives in the home.

By BRETT J. BLACKLEDGE, Associated Press Writer