What Caught My Eye Today

Economy - Despair over the economy sent Wall Street plunging today, propelling the Dow Jones industrials down 733 points to their second-largest point loss ever. On the off chance that you've blocked it out, the largest point loss ever happened last week. Stocks fell on a combination of disheartening economic data, including a big drop in retail sales and a Federal Reserve report that said tight credit conditions are hurting businesses across the country. Investors apparently have come to believe that Monday's big rebound, a response to the government's plan to invest $250 billion in banks to get the lending business restarted, was overdone given the problems elsewhere in the economy. I forgot to mention that the Dow was up like a thousand points on Monday. Turns out that oversight wasn't that big of a deal, what with all those gains being totally over the past two days. Here's the latest on just how bad things have been on Wall Street...you may just want to skip over this if you don't have a strong stomach. The Dow's massive decline marks its 20th triple-digit move in 23 sessions. Broader stock indicators also skidded. The Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 90.17, or 9.03%, to 907.84, and the Nasdaq composite index fell 150.68, or 8.47%, to 1,628.33. Yeah, that's going to leave a mark.

2008 Presidential Race - Debate night in America, my friends. John McCain is hoping to change the course of a campaign moving decidedly in Barack Obama's direction in the third and final presidential debate. With less than three weeks until the election, the debate focusing on the economic crisis offers McCain what could be one of his last big chances to persuade voters to give the race another look. Polls show Obama with a clear lead nationally and in several key battleground states. The debates, while widely watched, have been panned by many critics for adhering to rules worked out between the two campaigns that limited interchange between the candidates and quashed follow-up questions by moderators. The format has allowed both Obama and McCain to rehash campaign talking points while largely avoiding direct answers to questions. Call me a pessimist, but other than the very real possibility of McCain launching some ill-advise attacks at Obama's character, I don't imagine we'll hear anything new. If I had to speculate, I'm guessing that these guys are going to spend most of the debate plugging their recently announced plans for rescuing the economy and explaining why the other guy's plan won't work. Of course, working in Obama's favor is the fact that he has a pretty big lead in the polls. All he has to do is not screw up. McCain needs to figure out some way to salvage his floundering campaign. That means he's going to have to take some risks. I'm not sure that he will, but if he wants to shake things up, I'm not sure he has many alternatives at this point.

Iraq - Washington and Baghdad have reached a final agreement after months of talks on a pact that would require U.S. forces to withdraw from Iraq by 2011. This certainly has all the trappings of a timetable, but we'd never agree to something like that, so clearly I'm mistaken here. The bilateral pact replaces a U.N. Security Council resolution enacted after the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003 and will give Iraq's elected government authority over the U.S. troop presence for the first time. Iraq said it had secured the right to prosecute U.S. soldiers for serious crimes under certain circumstances, an issue both sides had long said was holding up the pact. I'm not saying that U.S. soldiers should be given carte blanche, but this doesn't seem like the ideal situation for our military to be operating. The United States has similar "status of forces" agreements with more than 100 other countries. It allows NATO allies to prosecute U.S. soldiers for crimes unrelated to their military duties, but usually maintains greater protections elsewhere. Then again, if this agreement is merely granting the same rights to Iraq that NATO allies have, then who am I to criticize. Among other affects of the end of the U.N. mandate, the U.S. military will no longer be able to hold prisoners without charging them with crimes under Iraqi law. U.S. forces now hold 18,000 prisoners, few of whom have been charged. Well that totally makes no sense. I was under the impression that Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay were sterling examples of how to detain enemy combatants indefinitely with no accountability or oversight. The pact must be approved by a council of Iraqi political leaders, the cabinet and the parliament. Most major political groups say they accept the idea of a U.S. presence as long as it is temporary. The pact will not require approval by the U.S. Congress. Well in that case, the agreement actually stands a chance of being enacted.

Russia - Apparently, Russia is not terribly interested in keeping its population informed about the global economic crisis. TV channels gloss over the subject and state news agencies are under orders to avoid frightening language. But beyond the spin, Russia's stock markets are plunging, some grocery shelves are empty and one newspaper has even suggested its readers stash some cash — under the mattress. Always good advice in times of economic turmoil. After all, what could possibly happen to your mattress? Last week, the RTS stock exchange suffered its worst trading day on record, plunging 19%. The markets were hit after oil prices — the backbone of Russia's economy — slid heavily amid mounting concerns over the global economic meltdown. But in Russia, it didn't even make the evening news on the three state-controlled channels. Instead, they aired a meeting between President Dmitry Medvedev and one of the country's richest billionaires, Mikhail Fridman, in which the two discussed the investment opportunities created by the global crisis. Wow. Talk about your must-see TV. These guys are really delivering the goods. The Kremlin's message seems to be getting across. Big surprise there. In a poll carried out in late September by the Public Opinion Foundation, one-quarter of those questioned said they had heard nothing about the global financial crisis, while 57% said they were satisfied with the country's economy — up from 53% in July. See that's what's so awesome about Russia. Let's say you are just an average Joe Six Pack Muscovite trying to make a buck. You don't want to waste your precious time coming up with your own opinion on the health of the economy. No problem. Mother Russia will produce a favorable opinion on your behalf. That was no matter how crappy the rest of the world is doing, everything is everything in Russia. Like I said, how awesome is that?