``There’s blood in the water in the industry and the sharks are circling’’

How many bursting bubbles can the Fed and US taxpayers’ money support in these extraordinary times, when many financial institutions that were considered rock solid are coming down crumbling like sand castles to hostile winds.

Gorge Bush has another battle to fight to protect homes caught up in the sub-prime triggered crisis which is threatening the US financial market and sending shock waves around other global markets.

Should the malignant strain take root in the US economy and investors’ confidence erodes, a crisis worse that the 1929 Great Depression stares in the face.

The mess such a scenario will create around the globe cannot be gauged easily but the warning signs are scary.

There are so many US dollars around that it will be difficult for any economy to decouple fast enough to save itself from the impact of a sinking dollar.

One wonders whether state intervention will be able to save the situation because confidence in the American model is fast eroding.

At the same time, the verdict is clear that globalization, free trade and the principles of laissez-faire are not enough for creating an equitable global society.

It is also becoming apparent that the Russian botched up socialist economic model which collapsed in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s was actually responsible for supporting the West’s capitalist model.

Attracting the best brains from other countries to fuel unfair competition and unleash it on the very nations from where the brain drain did take place kept the US economy on its growth path.

But once the Russian model collapsed and the need to remain competitive lost out to living expensively, out of cheap credit taken from countries like China and meddling in the Middle East to suppress oil prices, the worlds greatest economy along with all its military might is suddenly very vulnerable.

There are many lessons to learn from what is unfolding on Wall Street, and countries trying out the American model for development need to take correctional steps, lest they get trampled over.

Whats worse, one does not yet see the bottom of the sub-prime crisis that Wall Street is having a reality check with.

As the US government announced a bail out package for the mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, real fears of a large bank going bust soon crept in.

With New York Times reporting trouble at Lehman Brothers that is likely to report a big write down on account of large exposure to the housing market, the blip that Fannie and Freddie caused on the stock markets has fast turned negative.

Jim Rogers, the famous investors view that a “Super Crash’ is so likely that it shakes up so many myths about the Federal Reserve and the Global markets.

None, not even the US home makers can live beyond ones means for a long time and that’s what is unfolding in the sub-prime crisis.

Expensive houses bought on cheap mortgages, strong dollar, cheap gas and plenty of food grains around afforded luxurious lifestyles.

What counted as American poverty, translated into a life well lived in Africa.

What Bob Dylan would have sung ‘times are a changing’ is here.

So much debt has been taken on to keep the financial markets afloat as well as feed the Wars in Afghanistan and Iraq coupled with high gas and food prices, value of the dollar eroding and high mortgage interests that the markets are threatened with deep recession.

With Lehman’s market capitalization shrinking from $47 billion when the stock quoted at $67.73, a 52 week high to it trading at $7.64, a 52 week low, the capitalization has shrunk to a dangerous $5.4 billion today.

Wall Streets fourth largest investment bank is in deep trouble and ripe for sale.

The fears only grow.

Is this the iceberg or only the tip of the iceberg that the financial markets are witnessing?

Given the dominance that China has come to acquire in Asia, rise of another nation that abides by democratic traditions is an open challenge to a neighboring country governed by brute force.

For China, keeping India tied to Pakistan suited its ambitions in the Asian theater.

With India having been granted a clean waiver by the nuclear supply cartel, on the one hand it does indicate its rise as global power and on the other it breaks down any comparison that has always been wrongly made between India and Pakistan.

Though not being party to the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) or the Non Proliferation Treaty (NPT) India unlike China or Pakistan has a track record of a responsible nuclear power.

China role in propping up the Pakistan’s nuclear program is suspect and Pakistan’s role as the World’s top nuclear proliferator is well documented.

At the negotiating table the final push to overcome opposition from China probably came by it being exposed as having assisted Pakistan and other countries in their nuclear programs.

Taking India on board in the nuclear club does not solve all the energy or technology needs of its fast growing economy but by diverting its resources into developing alternative energy sources puts lesser pressure on global oil supply, something that is shaking up many global economies.

China’s attempt to thwart India’s ambition first by buttressing domestic opposition and then by taking off the velvet gloves when it came to pushing the deal through at Vienna lays bear the masks and the seeds of distrust that exist between these Asian giants.

Disclosure about Sarah Palin’s 17 year old daughter being 5 month pregnant just sexed up the unfolding drama.

Be it fair or foul, the lives of young Bristol Palin, and her boyfriend and father of her unborn child, Levi, will test opinions on both sides about issues of motherhood, teenage pregnancies, contraception and the responsibility that the grandmother would have to shoulder to tackle all that ails America.

Upholders of the faith are already aghast.

“An American Vice-Presidential nominee with an unmarried teenage girl in the fray – what example will she make for the much valued family system and the faith.”

Discerning voices about scandals in the republican campaign are questioning whether the value system has been swapped with the democrats.

Some voters even wonder whether this is John McCain’s latest scoop to divert attention from serious issues to more mundane ones as clearly he is having difficulty in matching Barack Obama over them.

McCain with a large family and Palin looking after a toddler and also due to become a grandmother soon, one wonders whether public affairs will take precedent over family affairs as America struggles to retain its supremacy among the comity of nations.

No matter what the consequences may turn out to and what the given life cycle circumstances are, Sarah Palin decision to accept the nomination to be running mate with John McCain is a bold and an adventurous one.

Old war horse, Vladimir Putin, threatening to revive the cold war, has just accused the Bush government of provoking the Georgia War to prop up the candidature of John McCain.

Australian Prime Minister speaks highly of Obama, after having had a telephonic conversation and finds the first black nominees for a major political party as a warm person who as president would strengthen US-Australian ties.

Obama’s popularity abroad, with friends and foes, could turn to be the dead albatross around his neck as the McCain campaign further turns on the heat about who is better equipped to lead the nation.

Taking on Biden, an experienced hand in Washington as running mate has already exposed Obama to Hillary supporters, whom he ruthlessly ran down over her vote for the Iraq War.

Biden having voted for the war and Obama against it, sets up the contradiction in his arguments.