Morning Coffee

Good Morning, friends. As I drink my morning coffee and fire up the laptop, the first thing that catches my eye is this report from Asia.

“'I do not believe in U.S. financial institutions anymore; I don’t think any U.S. bank is safe anymore,' said Wang Xiao-ning, a Hong Kong homemaker. Even after the Federal Reserve had taken control of A.I.G., she waited in line with dozens of other anxious policyholders at one of the insurer’s customer service centers for the chance to close her investment account."

"Asia’s savings have, in essence, bankrolled American spending for decades, and an Asian loss of confidence in American financial institutions and assets would have dire consequences for both the United States government and American taxpayers." (NYT)

One has to ask whether the outcome of the election will make a difference in Asian confidence. Obama is up a little in the latest polls, indicating that he gains when the economy is frontpage rather than 'lipstick on a pig.' Given his popularity overseas, would this help the US to gain some confidence with foreign investors? I know it would make me more confident in the future.

One of the reasons I had been pulling for Obama over Hillary since last fall, is the sense that he represents the future, and the chance for the next generation of Americans to take their turn at moving America into a better future. I believe that is going to take change in the way we do things. It's either transform or decline. We simply cannot keep doing the 'same old, same old.'

McCain's insistence that he is the candidate of real change is simply not credible, at least to me. More on my Obama preference later.