Grim Forecast for Afghanistan; Stocks Plummet Further

One Heck of a job Chimpy and John McSenile! The two of them and the GOP mantra of no regulation has basically wiped out years of investments and retirement savings for millions of Americans and to top it all off, things in Afghanistan are sliding into the toilet too. It is seriously time for the USA to get some leadership that has some connect with reality. According to McSenile/Palin just recently in debate statements (even if Palin can't name the U.S. general in charge), things were progressing just peachy keen in Afghanistan. Increasing the GOP seems to be inhabiting some alternate universe where the only things that truly matter are abortion and gay rights, both of which they believe should be stamped out. Back in the real world, the New York Times is carrying two stories that deal with the fruits of incompetent GOP rule. The first looks at the further dive of the stock market and the other is a report on the worsening situation in Afghanistan. Here are some highlights on the stock market situation:

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The Dow Jones industrial average lost 678.91 points, or 7.3 percent, on the day, while the broader Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index ended down 7.6 percent. The technology-heavy Nasdaq was down 5.47 percent. And the reasons, by now, are a familiar litany — concerns about the credit markets, a slowdown in consumer spending, worries about the economy as a whole and the financial sector in particular.

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Thursday’s decline came despite a coordinated effort by central banks around the world this week to lower crucial benchmark lending rates. “There was no specific story about today; right now we are in a freefall of fear and people are using any opportunity to sell,” said Richard Sparks, senior equities analyst at Schaeffer’s Investment Research. He said the falls were driven by pessimism that the series of actions unveiled by governments around the world were still not enough to end the financial crisis.

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Turning to Afghanistan, the news is bleak and things seem to be going from bad to worse, in part because the Chimperator focused on needlessly invading Iraq rather than dealing with the Taliban threat once and for all. Now we are paying the price for the Chimperators hubristic stupidity. Here are highlights:

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WASHINGTON -- With security and economic conditions in Afghanistan already in dire straits, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said Thursday that the situation there would probably only worsen next year. “The trends across the board are not going in the right direction,” the chairman, Adm. Mike Mullen, told reporters. “And I would anticipate next year would be a tougher year.”

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Admiral Mullen said Afghanistan was likely to continue what a new intelligence assessment calls “a downward spiral” barring rapid, major improvements to curb Afghanistan’s booming heroin trade, bolster district and tribal leaders to offset a weak central government in Kabul, breathe life into a flagging economy, and stem the flow of militants who are carrying out increasingly sophisticated attacks from safe havens in Pakistan.

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The admiral has issued stern warnings before about the deteriorating security and stability in Afghanistan. Last month, he told Congress, ”I’m not convinced we’re winning it in Afghanistan.” But he quickly added, ”I am convinced we can.” In Thursday’s breakfast session with reporters, he seemed slightly less hopeful that the negative trends could be reversed anytime soon.