Biden Tired of Palin's "Politics of Division"

Posted by Ryan Corsaro

(CBS)

From CBS News' Ryan Corsaro:

(MESILLA, N.M.) - Joe Biden says he’s tired of the type of politics of division he heard in Sarah Palin’s comments last night, when she told a North Carolina fundraiser that she liked to visit “pro-American parts of the country.”

“It's disappointing, and I hope it's a slip of the tongue and she doesn't mean it, but she said it. It was reported she said that she likes to visit, quote, pro-American parts of the country,” said Biden, leading into a lengthy dissection of the remarks.

“Ladies and gentlemen, I, like your senator and governor, have been all over this great land. I've never been to a state, I've never been to a state that hasn't sent its sons and daughters to serve and die for this country. Right here in New Mexico right now, there are 1,400 Mexican sons and daughters -- New Mexican sons and daughters deployed in Afghanistan and Iraq. Thirty-six of them have already given their lives for this country.”

“Folks, it doesn't matter where you live, we all love this country. And I hope it gets through. We all love this country. Folks, one of the reasons why Barack and I are running is that we know how damaging the politics of division that continues to be practiced by the McCain, how damaging this policy of division has been. It's time to put this behind us.”

“Folks, it is not a corny thing. It's real. We are one nation, under God, indivisible. We are all patriotic. We all love our country in every part of this country. And I'm tired. I am tired, tired, tired, tired of the implications about patriotism.”

“Folks, that's the reason why Barack and I are running. We are absolutely, totally, thoroughly confident that we can get through these difficult times and like every generation before us be better for it.”

Palin responded today to questions about her remark, telling reporters, “Every area, every area across this great country where we’re stopping and where also the other ticket is stopping and getting to speak at these rallies and speak with the good Americans, it’s all pro-America.”

“I was just reinforcing the fact that there, where I was, there’s good patriotic people there in these rallies, so excited about positive change and reform of government that’s coming that they are so appreciative of hearing our message, hearing our plan. Not, not any one area of America is more pro-America patriotically than others,” said Palin.

Biden not only went after Palin this afternoon, but also had the crowd laughing at Joe Wurzelbacher, now known famously as “Joe the Plumber” after being mentioned 26 times in the final debate between John McCain and Barack Obama.

“We’re going to start with real meaningful tax cuts. I promise you, if you're unlike Joe the Plumber…be nice if he got a license,” said Biden to cheers from the crowd.

“But, Joe the Plumber -- I know you got a lot of plumbers out here making over 250,000 grand,” he said to supporters. “Raise your hands, please.”

At that point, a young man raised his hand, which appeared to be in jest.

“There's a man,” said Biden. “Go borrow money from him, the guy in the green shirt. He makes more than two-fifty. He looks like he's only 18 years old…which means he earned it the hard way. He inherited it.”

McCain spokesperson Ben Porritt fired off an email to press members at the comments, saying “Joe the Senator continued his angry campaign today fresh from his performance attacking Joe the Plumber on national television last night.”

“While Barack Obama attacks small town Americans for 'clinging' to guns and religion, his running mate is busy attacking hardworking Americans who oppose the socialist tax policies of Barack Obama. If anyone is paying attention to Barack Obama’s running mate they will see a serial exaggerator whose only job is to conceal Barack Obama's profound lack of experience, record, and judgment,” wrote Porritt, who titled his email “Biden Irrelevance Tour Continues”.

Biden speaks in Henderson, Nevada tonight as he continues a weekend sweep of West Coast states, including California and Washington.

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Bush urges patience over economy

President George Bush says the US rescue plan needs time to work

US President George W Bush has called on worried Americans to trust in the government's series of interventions to fight the crisis in the banking system.

Global stock markets have behaved erratically despite a multi-billion dollar rescue deal to restore calm.

Mr Bush defended his decisions saying credit markets took "a while to freeze up" and would take a while to "thaw".

He spoke as figures released in the US suggested that the construction of new homes was at its lowest in 17 years.

According to the US commerce department, the building of new homes fell by more than 6% last month and was at its lowest level since the recession of 1991.

I would oppose such measures under ordinary circumstances but these are not ordinary circumstances George W Bush

The BBC's David Willis in New York says the figures are significant, not least because housing - particularly losses stemming from mortgage defaults - lies at the heart of the current economic crisis.

News of the fall in house construction, when coupled with falling consumer spending and reports of rising job losses, is also seen as further evidence that the world's largest economy may well be heading for recession, our correspondent says.

Cash injections

In a further attempt to restore confidence to business, President Bush made a major speech at the US Chamber of Commerce headquarters in Washington.

Mr Bush, a free marketeer by instinct, defended his level of government intervention saying if he had not acted the hole in the financial system would have grown larger.

Losses stemming from mortgage defaults are at the heart of the crisis

"I would oppose such measures under ordinary circumstances," he said, "but these are not ordinary circumstances."

He said that the American people could "be confident" that the measures were "big enough and bold enough to work".

The Treasury has said it wants to implement its $700bn financial bail-out plan quickly.

It has also announced plans to inject $250bn into many of the nation's banks, including JP Morgan Chase, Goldman Sachs and the Bank of New York Mellon Corp.

The president also spoke of the co-ordinated effort with Europe in tackling the global economic crisis, saying: "We're determined to overcome this challenge together."

Mr Bush will meet his French counterpart Nicolas Sarkozy and the European Commission chief, Jose Manual Barroso, at Camp David in Maryland this weekend.

Their talks are intended to pave the way for a global summit on overhauling the financial system.

In other developments:

• European shares indexes fluctuated between small losses and gains of more than 3%, as traders took heart from the gains on Wall Street on Thursday
• Credit rating agency Fitch downgraded Hungary's outlook from "stable" to "negative" as it considers that the global financial crisis has increased the country's credit risk
• Oil prices rose above $72 a barrel on expectations that Opec would decide to cut production at its upcoming meeting
• German bank shares were helped by news that the German parliament had passed a 500bn euro ($672bn; £389bn) bank rescue package

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Why do we need stock markets?

WHO, WHAT, WHY? The Magazine answers...

Share values have dominated the news for weeks yet for many of us they seem a world away from our day-to-day life. Professor Alec Chrystal explains why stock markets exist.

It is easiest to answer this question with another question which is: why do we need companies?

Companies are legal entities which exist to co-ordinate the production of the goods and services that a modern economy delivers, and in the process provide employment to large numbers of people.

They are where many of us work and from which we buy many of the products we consume. They are not the only form a business organisation can take. Government-owned companies would be called public corporations. Small businesses may be "sole traders" or partnerships, which are not companies.

Whenever a company is formed, its owners are the shareholders. Some companies may have only one shareholder and if that is a single person then it will be a private company. If there is more than one shareholder, they own the company jointly, and the size of each share of ownership depends on the proportion held of the total number of shares in existence. So if a company had 100 shares issued then the owner of 10 shares would own 10% of the company.

Why sell shares?

A key reason for forming a company is that the shareholders of a modern company have "limited liability". This means that a shareholder can lose what they paid for their shares in a company but they are not liable for the debts of the company beyond that. This is not true in, for example, a partnership, where partners are jointly liable for all the debts incurred.

Investing in company shares is thus potentially attractive, as shareholders get a share of the profit of the business but know that the worst that can happen is that they lose the value of the original investment.

Many shares are not very volatile at all in normal times, but the recent past has been a very abnormal time

Thus, wherever we have companies we must also have shareholders. Does this also mean we must have markets in shares?

The answer here is no. The Bank of England is a company and its only shareholder is HM Treasury but there is no market in its shares. Virgin is a private company so its shares are not for sale.

It is entirely up to the existing owners of such companies to decide if they want to sell shares to others or not. However, many companies have taken the decision in the past that they do want to sell shares on an open market and the largest of these companies will have their shares traded on an organised stock exchange.

These are known as "quoted companies" and the prices of their shares can be read in the financial press each day. Anyone who wants to can buy these shares, though most are held by big investment institutions such as pension funds and life assurance companies, which hold these on behalf of their members or customers.

Do we all feel the pain?

The benefit to companies from having their shares publicly traded is that they can issue new shares to raise capital for future investment. The only alternative source of funding would be to increase debt (by borrowing more from banks or issuing bonds).

The benefit to investors from having shares traded is that they are not locked into the investment for an indefinite period. Shares held can be sold at their current market price whenever the markets are open.

So why are share prices so volatile? A partial answer is that many shares are not very volatile at all in normal times, but the recent past has been a very abnormal time.

And share prices are determined by the balance of demand and supply in the market at any point in time. If there are more sellers than buyers, prices will fall and vice versa. Share prices will move most when there are big news events affecting investors' perceptions of the future prospects for the company concerned.

WHO, WHAT, WHY? A regular feature in the BBC News Magazine - aiming to answer some of the questions behind the headlines

The value of all shares outstanding in a company (the "market cap") is the current market value of the future profit stream that that company is expected to generate. For example, when oil prices rise sharply, investors will calculate that profits of oil companies are likely to rise in future, so prices of shares in companies like Shell and BP will jump up.

There are times when waves of excessive optimism drive share prices up, such as during the dotcom bubble. The recent episode of share price falls has been a product of pessimism about the prospects for survival of many banks, followed by pessimism for the immediate prospects for many other sectors of the economy in a global slowdown.

Share prices convey the message but the existence of traded shares is not the cause of the problem. The problem is the mistaken investment lending decisions of the many financial institutions that forgot that house prices can fall and that most loans are risky.

Shared pain

For individuals who own shares, a price fall represents of real loss of wealth. This may recover over time, but the recovery may be slow and cannot be guaranteed.

For those who are close to retirement and have pensions with a significant proportion of the funds invested in shares, or mutual funds, the effect could be especially significant. The value of their pension pot at current valuations will be significantly lower than earlier in the year.

The best strategy is probably to postpone retirement (where possible) and certainly to postpone cashing in the pension pot and converting it into an annuity. If in any doubt as to the best course, seek independent professional advice. There can be no guarantees that the worst is over, and even if it is, the recovery may be slow and measured in months and years, rather than days or weeks.

Alec Chrystal is head of Faculty of Finance, Cass Business School, City University, London.

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