http://www.axtora.com/homesites/us/wisconsin/bashaw/ Bashaw, WI News http://www.axtora.com/homesites/us/wisconsin/bashaw/content/2550f5ba817cd4617334018d4739523b.html LOS ANGELES Tired of getting brushed back in the NL championship series Manny Ramirez and the Los Angeles Dodgers came out ready to fight their way back against Philadelphia http://www.axtora.com/homesites/us/wisconsin/bashaw/content/98b03e06c7f5f149f7989fae40dfdb17.html Are we witnessing the erosion of capitalism or its salvationThat question is swirling around the federal government's latest proposed intervention into the private financial markets since Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson announced Friday a plan to take equity stakes in banks as an efficient way to pump them with capitalCombined with the government's takeover last month of the mortgage companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and of a huge ownership stake in the crippled insurance company American International Group the bank plan represents perhaps the largest federal intervention in private enterprise since President Truman's attempt to nationalize the steel industry to avert a strike in 1952 only to be blocked by the Supreme CourtThe idea of taking direct stakes in financial institutions was adopted by Great Britain last week and Germany's Angela Merkel appears to be the latest world leader to embrace it She said Saturday that Germany would announce a new plan to infuse banks with capitalSeparately Britain reportedly is poised to rescue four of its largest banks today including Barclays Lloyds and the Royal Bank of ScotlandA consensus seemed to be emerging among world leaders of the top economies meeting in Washington on Saturday that whatever economic or political differences existed among them all countries must act aggressively and in concert in guaranteeing deposits in their banks and pumping government capital into faltering institutions to help ease the global financial crisisA stubborn seizeup of bank lending to businesses individuals and each other has sharply heightened the prospects of a deep and lengthy recessionThat devoted spearcarriers for laissezfaire economics are falling into line to bless the aggressive foray into free enterprise by the US government is a sign of the seriousness of the crisis I'm against the government owning anything said Stanford University finance professor Jonathan Berk There's a strong ethic in America that government interference is bad That said buying an equity stake may be the cheapest way to achieve a banking recoveryBut others believe that scrapping freemarket principles in a crisis atmosphere may doom the banking industry to a future of inefficiencyIt's a move in the wrong direction both economically and ideologically said Casey B Mulligan a conservative economist at the University of Chicago who believes predictions of an economic meltdown are overblown Government enterprises don't do well because public management doesn't pay attention to the bottom linePaulson said the Treasury's investments would be in nonvoting stock an important concession to conservatives and others who might be uneasy about giving government officials more direct sway over management of private institutionsWhether the Treasury could resist the temptation to meddle in management or indeed whether it should leave the institutions in the hands of the same executives who turned them into beggars for a federal lifeline is one of the greatest uncertainties of the programProponents argue the new plan is sure to be a more efficient and cheaper solution to the banks' ills than the economic rescue package passed by Congress two weeks ago Details of the government's bank intervention are unclearTreasury may try to link its investments with parallel capital infusions by private investors offering to contribute a stake equal to the private capital a bank raises on its own Economists say that would have the virtue of doubling the bang for the Treasury buckIn a fundamental way the Treasury plan contradicts two centuries of American economic orthodoxy Americans have always been wary of giving the government a direct role in the banking sector These concerns date to the first treasury secretary Alexander Hamilton who founded the nation's central bank the Bank of the United States in 1791 but ensured that the government would be only a minority stakeholder by contributing only onefifth of its 10 million in capital and holding a minority of its board seatsAs president Andrew Jackson who yielded to no one in his suspicion of bankers essentially abolished the bank's successor in 1832 The US went without any central bank until 1913 when Congress established the Federal Reserve System The new institution however was a regulatory weakling rendering it all but powerless to address the Great Depression The Fed obtained the almost unlimited monetary and regulatory authority it has been aggressively deploying in the current crisis only after undergoing a complete reform during the New DealLA TimesWashington PostNews Service http://www.axtora.com/homesites/us/wisconsin/bashaw/content/730e3cee2a03836ef212f510cdc77303.html The Carroll University football team has turned to a sophomore this season to lead its offense http://www.axtora.com/homesites/us/wisconsin/bashaw/content/c09be680309bcb66c32d508a8f365107.html CONCORD NC One by one the title contenders dropped out Saturday night giving Jimmie Johnson a clear shot at widening his lead in the Chase for the championship http://www.axtora.com/homesites/us/wisconsin/bashaw/content/c65b230ac87f972cec392770f28c5f76.html When Carol Sumner dreams of retirement it's not just palm trees and whitesand beaches that she envisions but frequent trips to visit her granddaughter and children in MadisonI love spending time with them she said To me retirement means the freedom to go see them whenever I want toNow as Sumner and other working Americans watch their 401k and pension accounts dissipate daily as the stock market continues its rapid downhill slide their retirement visions appear to be going up in smokeMedia outlets this week reported that Americans' retirement plans have lost as much as 2 trillion during the past 15 months or about 20 percent of their total value The Dow Jones industrial average is down almost 40 percent from its alltime high of 14165 set last yearI don't know that I'll ever be able to retire said Sumner 55 office manager at Klug Chiropractic in Eau Claire Right now it's not looking like that is an optionMillions of other residents in the Chippewa Valley and elsewhere throughout the country are facing a similar dilemma People poised to retire within the next couple of years are now deciding to remain a part of the workforce as high prices for food fuel and other goods combined with a sluggish economy and a staggering stock market are dashing retirement hopesA survey conducted earlier this year before the Wall Street meltdown showed only 18 percent of workers were confident about saving enough money for a comfortable retirement down from 27 percent last year And 39 percent of people believe they will outlive their retirement nest eggs up from 29 percent in 2007 according to a survey by the Employee Benefit Research Institute a nonprofit group that focuses on retirement and security issuesFor nearly 30 years Larry Welden 56 of Eau Claire has socked away money into his 401k account Sometimes doing without that extra money was a struggle as Welden and his wife Jenny raised their four children But Welden stuck to that plan banking on the fact it would allow he and his wife to travel in their postemployment daysNow he's not so sure noting his retirement account has lost tens of thousands of dollars in recent weeksGiven what's happened to my account I know we won't be taking any of those vacation trips anytime soon he saidLosing significant amounts of hardearned cash in a matter of weeks is difficult to handle under any circumstances But Americans here and elsewhere are particularly upset about their retirement reductions amid reports of shaky lending decisions that have severely devalued the housing market and buyouts of bankrupt corporations that have included multimillion dollar packages for top corporate executivesIt's rotten what's happened to all of us said Susan Dworski 63 of Eau Claire A lot of those loans never should have been made and the bailout shouldn't be paying settlements for a bunch of fat catsBack to workIt's not just those people pondering retirement who have been hard hit by the stock market collapse Retirees also are being hurt as some are being forced back into the workforce to make ends meetMany thought the retirement nest eggs they had accumulated combined with Social Security payments would last them from the time they quit their jobs until they died But given surging prices for a variety of goods and continued hits to their retirement accounts a growing number of retirees are returning to workAccording to AARP one of four people who had retired at age 65 during the past couple of years have rejoined the workforce a number expected to rise in the wake of the Wall Street crashNancy Sprinkle assistant director for Senior Center Employment and Training a federally funded program that provides job training to people 55 and older in Eau Claire Chippewa Dunn Barron Clark and Taylor counties said the number of clients seeking assistance from the organization increased significantly last spring when gasoline prices surged upward That figure has continued to rise she said in recent weeks as the stock market droppedFrom July 1 2007 through June 30 2008 the job training center served about 200 lowincome clients plus others who don't meet income guidelines but still receive assistance such as help with job resumes Those numbers were higher than in the past and will grow this year based on increased requests for jobtraining assistance since this summer Sprinkle saidThere are very real concerns out there by these people that they're not going to make it unless they return to work she saidCount Joan Metcalf among them She retired 11 years ago from her office administrator job and moved to Eau Claire from White Bear Lake Minn But Metcalf discovered that her rapidly rising prescription drug costs were far outpacing her retirement savings and she was forced to return to work six years ago She enrolled with Senior Center Employment and Training and subsequently landed a job at the LE Phillips Senior Center where she has worked sinceNow 76 Metcalf ponders retiring again but said the recent stock market problems have moved her retirement further into the future Many other retirees she knows also have returned to work in recent years she said and more are considering it given the tough economic timesOh absolutely I'm glad I'm working right now I can't afford not to she said Uncertain futureThe stock market crash has kept local financial advisers busy fielding calls from residents concerned about how to stop the bleeding in their retirement accounts Talk of the tanking markets is dominating discussion these days whether at workplace lunchtime chats or around the dinner table at homeEverybody is concerned about this right now said Bill Hilgedick a financial adviser with Edward Jones Investments in Eau Claire People want to know how what's happening on Wall Street is going to affect themThe answer Basically everyone who has invested in retirement accounts has been adversely affected Hilgedick said Typically even during economic downturns more conservative investments have been safe But even those retirement sectors such as bonds have been hit by the market free fall financial advisers sayThe reality is that this has affected pretty much everybody in some way shape or form There aren't a lot of places for people to hide Hilgedick saidThat means Sumner and others are changing their habits In the past she typically spent every summer weekend at her family's cabin near Spooner This year she cut back on those trips in an attempt to reduce travel costsBut it's the likelihood of less frequent trips to visit her loved ones in Madison that has Sumner most worried about the futureIt's looking like this downturn could last awhile and that's going to mean some tough changes for all of us she saidEmerson can be reached at 8305911 8002367077 orjulianemersonecpccom http://www.axtora.com/homesites/us/wisconsin/bashaw/content/e935e3ed18d45880dc360553273a40a3.html Police want to step up block watch programs http://www.axtora.com/homesites/us/wisconsin/bashaw/content/118ad68920ce13ff7d6b8dff32f0466d.html LI Strong running: Shioctons running game keyed by Dylan Van Straten with 118 yards broke from an 80 firstquarter lead to score 27 points in the second period http://www.axtora.com/homesites/us/wisconsin/bashaw/content/03dc6f08c1cc54746ea7df5e3e7e7c2e.html EVANSVILLE 8212; TJ Klement was in the right place at the right time 8212; but it took a timeout to get him there Klement a senior on the McFarland prep football team was moved from the 34;x34; receiver spot to the 34;y34; receiver spot and the result was a 66yard touchdown strike from senior quarterback Casey Hagerty as the Spartans remained undefeated with an 82 Northern Rock Valley Conference victory Friday night over previously unbeaten