Seriously listen to the woman. She is like an awkward Freshman in a public speaking class trying their speech word for word. Palin is currently being drilled by GOP masterminds to prepare her for the VP debate this Thursday October 2nd. Listening to this, I am more convinced than ever that John McCain made a terrible choice in making Gov. Palin his running mate. She is so nervous she can’t even string together proper sentences. First she wasn’t aware of the Bush Doctrine and now she clearly has no idea what the bailout is even about as she just keeps saying we need to “shore up the economy”. No shit Sarah. Seriously listen. She has no idea what she is talking about.

I’ll be quite honest, the room became a bit dusty during this for some reason. Lot of tradition, lot of history, and a lot of memories. See you in ’09.

Apple has just generally raped Microsoft with their marketing for a few years now. And finally MSFT realized they had to hit back a bit. The whole Jerry Seinfeld $300M campaign was a bit of a debacle, as while entertaining, it wasn’t going to do anything to sell non-Apple computers. SO, this ad really is well done in my opinion, and a whole lot more effective than anything MSFT has done in the past.

Face it, we grew up on Windows software. I happen to love Office and my computer that proudly still runs XP. Yes, I do love Apple. And all the innovation they’ve brought to the game is exciting, and their market share proves that their forward thinking (and marketing) is proving to be effective.

But most work in the world stil comes from non-apple. Yes, I give a lotta sploogefest love to AAPL, but I still have a soft spot for MSFT deep deep deep down in my soul. When I learned Visual Basic, designed my first website, and all the other ‘ah-ha!’ moments that were Windows related – they remain fond memories. So watch the commercial, it is very effective, and I approve (which says a lot).

So you’re hearing that the stock market is in trouble. Maybe you are hearing that the Financial sector is the cause of a lot of this unstability right now. Maybe even you know that it involves Lehman Bros, Merrill Lynch, AIG, and Washington Mutual.

I am by no means a finance expert. I’d say I’m aware at best, all theory, no true practical knowledge aside from stock investing. My very amateur opinion goes something like this – we’re fucked.

In the biggest reshaping of the financial industry since the depression, a wall street giant declared the largest bankruptcy ever in American history and a second financial behemoth sold itself. Absoultely alliterately amazing.

Let’s glance at the hitlist:

Started in 1850 as a cotton trading firm before becoming investment banking powerhouse (4th largest).

Declared bankruptcy yesterday after no buyer, domestic or foreign, could be found and the government refused a bailout.

52 Week High: $67.73      Monday’s Close: .21 cents

-99%

Corporate and retail investment firm dates all the way back to 1914.

Being sold to Bank of America for $50 Billion.

52 Week High: $78.68     Monday’s close: $17.06

-78%

Started in 1923, firm was successful enough to avoid any layoffs during the depression.

Once the fifth largest Wall St firm was forced to sell in March to JP Morgan Chase with help from the Federal Reserve. ~9,000 employees were laid off and the stock no longer trades.

The nation’s LARGEST insurance company, started in 1919 in Shanghai. Opened in New York in 1926.

New York state is allowing AIG to access ~$20B from its subsidiaries to help it stay afloat.

52 Week High: $70.13     Monday’s Close: $4.76

-93%

Created by congress in 1938 to buy FHA and later V.A. mortgages.

Taken over by government September 7th to ensure that it wouldn’t fail as it certainly would have in the private sector.

52 Week High: $68.60     Monday’s Close: $ .61 cents

-99%

Created by congress in 1970 to help FannieMae provide mortgage money.

Taken over by the government on September 7th to to ensure stability like Fannie.

52 Week High: $65.88     Monday’s Close: .39 cents

-99%

Don’t feel too bad for them though. Daniel Mudd, the outgoing CEO of Fannie Mae, could receive more than $9 million in combined severance pay, retirement benefits and deferred compensation based on his employment agreement, according to executive compensation consulting firm James F. Reda & Associates.

While their sister company’s CEO Richard Syron may collect as much as $14.1 million, the consulting firm said. The total includes an estimated $8.8 million tied to an unique provision in his contract that became effective last November, when Freddie’s troubles had already come under scrutiny.

If you fucked up your job this badly, you would be fired, not given a multimillion dollar bonus — Which goes back to the need for government regulations for publicly traded company executives.

This whole thing centers around the mortgage mess. Lehman put too many eggs in their real estate division, AIG got in on the mortgage act (and they’re toast my friends, no hope there), and soon we are going to hear concerns over the megagiants of American finance – Goldman, Bank of America, and Citi.

It is an absolute mess out there right now. Not a great time to be a young kid, Ben Bernanke, or the incoming President. God Bless Capitalism.

Listen to the man.

I’ve wrote a many time how impressed I am with the architectural development in Dubai over the past 10 years.

The crown jewel of the skyline, Burj Dubai, is already the world’s tallest skyscraper – and still not done.

The silvery steel-and-glass building’s final height is a secret.

Last summer, the developer announced the building surpassed Taiwan’s Taipei 101 which has dominated the global skyline at 1,667 feet since 2004.

The building’s end date has twice been postponed, now slated for a September 2009 finish. But take that about as seriously as the plot in a Michael Bay film.

As Matt Damon so accurately put it in Syriana (One of my favorite movies):

But what do you need a financial advisor for? Twenty years ago you had the highest Gross National Product in the world, now you’re tied with Albania. Your second largest export is secondhand goods, closely followed by dates which you’re losing five cents a pound on… You know what the business community thinks of you? They think that a hundred years ago you were living in tents out here in the desert chopping each other’s heads off and that’s where you’ll be in another hundred years, so on behalf of my firm I accept your offer.