Rosenberg and Feldman appeared on LA TalkRadio’s “Sam & Suzy In the Morning” show last week, talking about the media cycle and NO TIME TO THINK.

You can listen to the entire show by clicking here.  (That link should bring up a media player in a new window.)

The interview begins around minute 40.

It is almost mind numbing…no, actually, it IS mind numbing…the amount of taxpayers’ money that has already been handed over to banks, insurance companies and, no doubt soon, auto makers in Detroit.

Still, the latest rescue of a major bank, Citigroup, must give anyone pause.

$360 billion is the amount announced late Sunday.

As Reuters puts it, the government has agreed to “shoulder some losses from toxic debt.”

“Some losses???”

Who are they kidding? Here’s how this latest bailout will apparently work: Citigroup will absorb about $56 billion on losses–the U.S. government absorbs the rest, adding up to $306 billion. See what I mean?

The truly scary thing is, this is not likely to be the last such bailout…and maybe not even the most expensive!

Howard Rosenberg and Charles S. Feldman will be talking about (and signing) copies of NO TIME TO THINK at Village Books in the Pacific Palisades on Thursday, November 20th from 7:30-9:00pm.  CLICK HERE for more information.

Thursday, November 20th, 7:30-9:00pm
Village Books
1049 Swarthmore Ave
Pacific Palisades, CA 90272

The hair triggers of right-wing talk radio are bloviating loudly about left-leaning MSNBC being victimized by hoaxers, citing the incident as evidence of the media’s pro-liberal bias.

Wrong! It’s evidence only of the media’s pro-speed bias, again affirming just how often these impulsive, shoot-from-the-hipsters operate faster than the speed of thought. Wait a minute! Didn’t a couple of guys write a book about that? Yes, Charles S. Feldman and yours truly.

The Fox News Channel got this ball rolling recently when reporting that an anonymous McCain campaign source said Sarah Palin thought Africa was a country, not a continent, something she has vigorously denied saying. The story was picked up by media everywhere. So who would leak this rumor and others about Palin?

On Monday, MSNBC’s David Schuster got the exclusive, disclosing that the source was Martin Eisenstadt, “a McCain policy adviser who has come forward today to identify himself as the source of the leaks.” It turns out that MSNBC learned this from Eisenstadt’s blog.

One problem: There is no McCain campaign source named Eisenstadt. He’s fantasy, a scam, as are TV clips of him on YouTube. He’s the creation of Eitan Gorlin and Dan Mirvish, who were just having some fun with the traditional news media, knowing how easily they and the speed-driven blogosphere can be suckered. Blogging under Eisenstadt’s name, the same two guys reported that Joe the Plumber was closely related to Charles Keating, the disgraced savings and loan mogul. That also wasn’t true, but plenty of bloggers went with it.

“With the 24-hour news cycle they (today’s media) rush into anything they can find,” Mirvish told The New York Times. 

MSNBC says the fake Eisenstadt-did-it item was reported by Schuster after a news staffer received it in an e-mail and assumed it had been vetted, but it hadn’t. So it was rushed on the air because MNBC–as do so many in the media these days–was moving Too Fast to Think.    

Growing signs that the government’s bailout plan was not very well thought out…if it was at all?

Today, the Treasury department backed off its initial plan to use a $700 billion bailout to buy bad mortgage debt from banks.

According to a Reuters report, Secretary Henry Paulson said that ” he preferred to focus instead on buying stakes in banks to encourage them to increase lending,” something the banks are still, by and large, not doing despite the infusion of U.S. taxpayers’ monies.

As Reuters says, “Paulson’s about-face unsettled investors who had backed the Treasury’s rescue effort precisely because it was promoted as a vehicle to buy toxic mortgage debt from banks to cushion potential lossess and kick-start lending.”

This is a perfect example of what happens when policy makers give themselves little time to think about what it is they are doing and then Congress–equally in haste–goes along with it.

The entire bailout package was pushed through at warp speed and only now is the government coming to the realization that the plan is not really working the way it was envisioned.

So, it is back to the drawing board. One can only hope that this time, the thinking will happen BEFORE the legislation is voted on!

President-elect Barack Obama is off to a good start. His commanding performance at his first news conference since being elected the 44th President of the United States set just the right tone.

Flanked by his economic advisors and a curtain of American flags against a blue backdrop, Obama said that the government–he—needs to act quickly to help solve the current fiscal crisis. He hoped Congress and Bush will act now, but, if not, he made it clear that he would as soon as he is sworn in January 20th.

But he said something else that was even more important I think–It was in answer to a question about Iran. He said that he didn’t want knee-jerk reactions.

It is encouraing that Obama recognizes that he needs the time to think through his important decisions–something clearly absent from the Bush White House.

Howard Rosenberg and Charles S. Feldman have an opinion piece in Forbes today titled “Obama’s Unmentioned Challenge” that cautions the incoming Obama administration to “resist shifting into madcap overdrive and hurrying its decision making in response to the reckless speed of today’s media” while referencing some chilling chapters in American history that would have transpired much differently if they took place in today’s media environment.

Click here to read the whole article, and for a directory of Forbes.com’s OpEds on the various challenges that President-Elect Obama will face in his first term, click here.

There’s that old saying about being careful what you wish for because you just may get it.

Wonder if, on some level, this isn’t going through the mind of Barack Obama now that he has been elected the 44th President of the United States?

Look at all the man has to deal with: A protracted war in Iraq, an Afghan crusade that threatens to get Americans bogged down yet again in a war on foreign turf, a global economic meltdown and a country fairly divided politically.

The media like to keep track of a new president’s first 100 days for some reason–that is supposed to be when we get a real taste of what the man intends to really do now that the election is a done deal.

But considering how complex this current financial and credit crisis is, Obama  will be far better served-and the country, too-if he resists the temptation to try and change the planet in his first 100 days in office and gives ample thought to the ramifications of his actions. Something missing from the Bush White House.

Some of us thought this would never end. The presidential campaign from hell. It has lasted longer and cost more money than any presidential campaign in U.S. history! And, that’s saying a lot.

Barring a repeat of Gore vs. Bush (dare I even mention that? is it a jinx????) we should know by Wednesday whether Barack Obama or John McCain will be the 44th President of the United States.

The great paradox of this election is–while it lasted forever, it had more twists and turns and speed bumps and pot holes than previous elections.  In an odd sort of way, things happened really, really fast, only they happened in slow motion.  Think about that for a bit.

This was a very hard fought contest which means a lot of people (those on the losing side) will be really upset with the outcome no matter which way it goes.

It will be up to either Obama or McCain to heal the wounds–and fast. This world moves much to quickly now to tolerate a protracted recuperation period.

While the new president doesn’t take office till January, events dictate that he start the  healing job this week!