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         The announcements from the Treasury this weekend, October 11-12th, however belated are welcome. Should Paulson take the next step and guarantee interbank lending, we will be where we should have been on the eve of his ill advised decision to allow the collapse of Lehman Brothers just over four weeks ago. Something had to be done, but something much better could have been done. The Treasury proposal to buy toxic mortgage assets wasted valuable time and was the result of Paulson's refusal to consider taking equity or preferred shares plus warrants in return for direct investments in financial institutions. The purchase of toxic assets will take months to implement and would be ineffective, unless the government overpays for those toxic assets. The consequences of the delay and the prospect of overpaying for toxic assets have been and are likely to continue to be dire. The consequences will affect lending to businesses, pension fund and 401 K valuations, state and local government finance and federal government borrowing. Restoring confidence will present extraordinary economic challenges for the next administration and will require comprehensive regulatory reform. The on-going economic crisis cries out for leadership that is economically literate, flexible, and pragmatic. I believe that Barack Obama will provide that leadership.

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         I am the founder and president of a small multinational business with headquarter in New York City. One of the most important issues for me, with respect to my company, is that of employer-sponsored health insurance. Over the last decade, I have seen significant increases of about 10 percent a year for the health care costs that I cover for each employee. Unfortunately, these increases will seem tame compared to what will happen if McCain is elected and eliminates tax breaks for employer-provided insurance. I fear McCain's proposal would be bad for my business, and bad for my employees. After carefully reviewing Obama's health insurance proposals, there is no doubt in my mind that Obama's plan would be far better for my company and better for the US economy.

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         Taxes seem to be the "third rail" in American political discourse....the T-word that cannot be said. My wife and I are very fortunate in having two good incomes and stable jobs, and hence are in the category of Americans that Obama would like to raise taxes on. While paying more taxes is never pleasant, how are we going to dig out of the present economic and political situation without some of us paying up a little bit more? The McCain/Palin administration would have us continue to believe the fantasies that go back to Ronald Reagan: that we can have more by paying less, and that our education system will improve with fewer taxes to pay for it. Personally, I am not ready to drink their kool-aid. The present financial crisis is certainly partially the responsibility of predatory lending practices and derivatives upon derivatives of creative financial wizards. But it is also partially the responsibility of those of us that believed that "interest-only" loans were sensible, and that the adjustable rate mortgages would never adjust beyond levels what we wanted them to. Obama and Biden seem to live in the real world, with smart people advising them. McCain and Palin want to ignore the lessons of the past and look only forward. If I were a member of the Keating five, responsible for the worst financial collapse prior to the one we are in now, (see wikipedia "Keating Five" for McCain's 'bad judgment' finding by the Senate ethics committee) I too would not want voters to look back. But alas, I am afflicted with a clear rear-view mirror, that I use on the way to the voting booth.