Daily Verdict: October 23, 3008

Author The Social Verdict on October 23rd, 2008

McCain attacks Obama with Ayers, NYT endorses him
John McCain has once again attacked Obama’s character and patriotism by attempting to link him to Ayers while the RNC has attempted to portray Obama as the next George Bush. I guess they are trying everything they tried before, hoping this time it might actually work. Remind me what Albert Einstein’s definition of insanity was? As for good news for the Obama camp, most polls have him up again with significant support among many Bush-backers and he also won the endorsement of the prestigious New York Times.

Greenspan admits he was wrong, sort of
Alan Greenspan, former chairman of the US Federal Reserve for over 18 years, has stated he is “shocked” at the development of the current credit crisis. He also stated that his previous belief in the self-regulation of investments has been an economic mistake. He admitted his fault, even though he had warned of the increased risk of many current investments, and implied that some governmental regulation is necessary to prevent crises like this one.

Slow day for markets
In a slow day for international markets, the Dow posted gains of up to 170 points, the FTSE100 gained a modest 46 points and the CAC barely moved up with 12 points. The DAX, IBEX, Nasdaq all suffered minor losses with the Nikkei posting a 413 point drop.

Missile strike in Pakistan turns deadly
The Washington Post reports that at least 10 people were killed and 6 others injured in an attack on a tribal region in Pakistan. The strike is suspected to be of American origin and the supposed target was a madrassa, a religious school, that was operated by a Taliban commander. With recent tensions with Pakistani officials, I sure hope the US coordinated with someone in the local government or intelligence agencies to at least inform, if not request permission, for such an attack to take place on another country’s sovereign soil.

Greenhouse gas higher than originally thought
Bad news for environmentalists today as a report written in the Geophysical Research Letters has come out to say that real levels of a particular greenhouse gas in out atmosphere are actually 4 times higher than originally estimated. Nitrogen triflouride, which is 17 000 times more effective at warming the atmosphere but does not yet have a major effect on global warming, has been measured to be 4 times the original amount previously estimated to be in the atmosphere. I sure hope the aren’t wrong about other gasses as well!

Gates starting up new company?
There are rumours out on the internet that Bill Gates, recently retired from full-time operations at Microsoft, has a new business venture. The same rumours suggest the company will be called bgC3 (Bill Gates Catalyst 3) and will be a think tank service mainly focused on developing innovative ideas in science and technology. Others suggest it will be a side company with philanthropical purposes to run alongside his foundation. Either way, I personally hope he will start a new company and given the success he has had with his previous 2 ventures, other people will be rooting for him as well.