Republicans to Stephanopoulos: We’re Not There Yet

Hey, it’s ok. McCain can stay home. I’ll watch Obama take the questions. McCain is turning into a REAL old fool.

Obama is campaigning around the country while the grown-ups are trying to fix the economy.
“Call me if you need me” … thanks Obama, now THAT’s leadership.

Must mean Commander McCain has not crossed the Delaware yet to save the Republicans….er Republic.

Send Palin.

McCain’s fooling no one.

since all the changes ARE the ones that Obama listed last week
and mccain seems to be coming around to
and now the same cra##y team that got us into this mess are trying to pull some
“oh oh wait wait…it needs to be tweaked…while McCain is here”
it’s bull
same team same tactics
real leadership is the guy who figured out astep one without making it political
LAST WEEK!
You know the guy who acted like a President
as opposed to the crazy maniac shouting crap and then pulling stunts this week
that are reminiscent of the last 8 years of diversion and cover-ups and figuring out there is a problem AFTER we are in the shi##er.
throw Mccain and his S&L returning team…and the trillion dollar losers from the Committee for Liberation of Iraq
out on their a$$es.

For crying out loud!! If John McCain was going to fix the MATTER he should have been in Washington at 10 AM!!!

Mack he is showing what a leader does
calmly comes up with the first steps (that are now being implemented)
and not making it some cra##y political stunt

If McCains campaign is suspended why is PALIN answering questions for the first time today? and his surrogates are on TV all day & ads are also continuing to run on TV?
The diversion is another lie

McCain unilaterally suspending his campaign is an unamerican, undemocratic, cowardly thing to do.
Democratic societies do not flinch in the face of adversity and to call off the electoral process is absolutely the wrong action and sends a terrible message to the world. Our democracy has survived much worse and this rash decision is just one more piece of evidence that John McCain does not have the temperment to be the leader of the free world.

hmmm …..
McCain meeting with Boehner McCain camp says Sens. Kyle, Graham, Lieberman are also in attendance.
Bipartisan?

brad knows the Republicans are just waiting for McCain to stop by the house and pick up his plan. If he can remember which house he left it in.

Hey since it was Obama who denied McCain 10 summer town hall style debates because he is not comfortable in speaking without a teleprompter in public, there should be no reason to doubt McCain’s intention in putting ‘country first’ by stopping campaign and debates to work on the economic crisis today and tomorrow.
Heard that the 9 pt. lead Obama has in the CBS poll yesterday may not be legitimate when they admitted that they oversampled larger number of African American Democratic voters in this telephone poll…
Hey is Obama suddenly in favor of Friday’s debate one of his orchestrated publicity frauds to make himself look good when the fact is, he would not do well in the debate tomorrow again?

I did not know that the new world order was spam , I am sorry ABC or maybe it was my comment about the bailout money going overseas

I am glad they are working out a deal. I think its important. I am also glad they have taken some time to amend the deal . Mc Cain made a smart move to dump his campaign and go back to washington.
The basic reason is because both he and Obama are Senators and it really is their jobs. They have both ignored their senate jobs to run for president and this was too big to ignore.
I am glad Obama took the presidents invitation and went back to washington so they are both there and both can work their parties to get the deal done.

Brad…Obama is in DC and has been since yesterday…get your facts straight.

bsg…grown up…this was a political ploy to get you jerks to think he is presidential, when his party, including him, voted in de-regualtion which caused the whole problem in the first place.

infoseeking
there only job in this situation as senators is to be aware express their opinion and vote.
this is a lying stunt just like the last 8 years.
same team
same tactics
same schmucks who got us here in the first place
throw these bums out!

geevil…Palin cannot even answer Katie Courics questions, how will see settle the mess? She is at Ground Zero today looking in the hole…
“Sarah, you’re 12 days!!!”

tret…don’t be an idoit….!!!
The mess is real, McCain is just taking advantage of the situation and fools like you follow like the Pide Pipers mice…

Do you realize that McCain is not part of the Banking Committe that is making decisions and they are having a closed door session. Cris Dodd, Chairman of this presitigious Senate committe has made it very clear that McCain’s presence in Washington is a hinderance instead of a help. McCain has a record of causing rifts in the Senate.
Obama has spoken to Dodd numerous times well as Paulson. Who is doing more good? Senate Repubilicans and Democrats claim that it is OBAMA
VOTE OBAMA!!

Infoseeking,
McCain will not be allowed in the meetings. McCain and Obama are only need to garner support for the bill the committee puts together. Basically McCain has ‘rushed’ back to Washington (after a quick unscheduled stop to do an interview with Katie), to sit around and wait for the committee to work things out, or maybe watch CSPAN with the rest of the legistative branch who are not on the committee. Neither would be allowed in the room. There was no need to try to cancel the debates two days before they were scheduled.
Both use private aircraft to go from one location to another so are not tied to commercial airline schedule or seat availablity. If both get the right support for the bill from both sides, their physical votes are not needed. (Considering McCain this year has only placed one vote, he knows how that works.) The decision about the debates could have waited until Friday instead of occuring on the day new polls showed Obama over 50% in the polls and gaining momentum.
Giving the voters the information needed to make an informed decision as to who will lead the country is also very important. The campaign process has continued during the Civil War, D-Day, and many other national crisis. Postponing may not be an option due to venue availability, and canceling will cost Ole Miss over $5M.

Dear Mr Obama, You are running for president of the United States, this is a job which requires leadership and it is not possible to lead from afar. This is a crisis of dramatic proportions, too use your own words the worst crisis since the great depression and yet so far you have voted NOT PRESENT!!! Thank You The American Taxpayers!!!

I heard Palin proposed resloving the debt by putting Air Force One and the Pentagon building up for sale on e-Bay.

I THOUGHT McCHICKEN SUSPENDED HIS CAMPAIGN?
DIDN’T PALIN GET THE TALKING POINTS MEMO?
Oh, I forgot McCain’s campaign sent the confidential talking points memo out to reporters instead!!!!!!!!
http://coloradoindependent.com/9151/oops-colorado-mccain-camp-sends-internal-e-mail-to-reporters
Ha, ha, ha, ha!!!!!! WHAT A JOKE!!!!

cindyct: Sorry, Obama got on his plane to DC this morning. He was not in DC.

Willie,
And when this McCain each DC this afternoon again?

Now that we have a deal, I will see how McCain will wiggle himself out of the debate tomorow.
I bet he will fake a heart attack.
We are having Chicken Little McCain for diner Friday night, oh sweetie goodie.

you people are so retarded. the committee has CLEARLY said they do NOT want this matter politicized ,that is on the record. that statement shouldve been all that was necessary to alleviate any concerns john mccain might have had concerning his presence or lack thereof in washington ,for whatever reason he might claim.
this (going to washington/suspending his campaign) is CLEARLY a republican stunt/diversion , like his whole campaign has been up to this point ,mostly empty rhetoric and pandering to the empathy/sympathy/moron voting demographic.
i really believe obama would wipe the floor with mccain on foreign policy and that is supposed to be mccains STRONG area of expertise. let them debate the economy and that will be the end of a republican in ANY elected seat or appointed position, excepting dog catcher…
the republican party and its ideals are CLEARLY out of step with what american needs , obama and a straight democratic ticket vote is this best choice for the AVERAGE american taxpayer ,hands down.
CLEARLY ,OBAMA IS THE NEXT PRESIDENT OF THIS GREAT COUNTRY !!! I CANT WAIT!!!

Does McCain really think the average American is so stupid that we believe he wants to reschedule his debate to replace Palin’s debate just so he can singlehandedly swop into Washington and save the nation. Give me a friggin break. The debate will only take a few hours out of his Friday. I think we can spare him.

Mack
Your TRUE colors are showing!

To: dl
You claim you know what the plan is? Strange no one has actually published these “changes” you claim Obama is for. Where is the legislation?
Have you seen the legislation?
McCain says the American People should
actually see the bill before it is voted on.
Obama’s people are crowing about a secret back room deal they claim to have but they are keeping the legislation, if there even is any, secret.
If there is legislation let’s get it on the internet so the American people can actually read it before the congress votes on it.
Sounds like Obama is all about secret deals and business as usual.
McCain wants to change things and actually let members of congress and the American people see this great legislation before they vote on it.
Now having time to actually fully read a piece of legislation before you vote on it – that would be real change in Washington.
dl wrote on Sep 25, 2008 at 1:28:44 PM
“kinda funny
that all the changes to the plan
are the points that Obama brought up LAST WEEK!”

Why does McCain come up with some many excuses….
“Excuses are tools of the incompetent, those who use them seldom succeed in anything else”

Barak….it is about him being President, not about doing the right thing for the American people.

The proposed bailout bill was just three pages long. McCain read it yesterday for the first time.
Bush’s speech was reminiscent of his post 9/11 speech, full of scare words: panic, depression, urgent, bank failures, crisis. This is the same kind of scare tactics that led to the Iraq war, the so-called “Patriot Act, and other infamous deeds.”
Simply put, it’s the Republicans trying to buy a nice big set of handcuffs for President Obama — or anyone else, for a long time to come. When the funds transfers are complete, be it in installments or one spectacular $700 billion tranche, there will be virtually no new social spending possible.
The bottom line is: this is a bailout bill to save the billionaires.
And they have covered their arses: See Section 8 of the bill:
“Decisions by the Secretary pursuant to the authority of this Act are non-reviewable and committed to agency discretion, and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency.”
The deal proposed by Paulson is nothing short of outrageous. It includes no oversight of his own closed-door operations. It merely gives congressional blessing and funding to what he has already been doing, ad hoc. He plans to retain Wall Street firms as advisors to decide just how to cut deals to value and mop up Wall Street’s dubious paper. There are to be no limits on executive compensation for the firms that get relief, and no equity share for the government in exchange for this massive infusion of capital. Both Obama and McCain have opposed the provision denying any judicial review of decisions made by Paulson — a provision that evokes the Bush administration’s suspension of normal constitutional safeguards in its conduct of foreign policy and national security.

Beware the below is NOT a real bail out related web site – probably full of malware as well as advertisements.
http://www.VoteNoBailout.com

I heard that Obama was mad in the meeting becasue I have to attend it. Poor baby….

Bush has used every scare word he could think of to push his scam on the American public: urgent, panic, risk, danger, harm, damage, harm, scare and all of the same words he used to push through the war in Iraq, the Patriot Act, wiretapping, etc.
This bill is one of the worst scams on the American public in history. Why should the average American pay for the party that Wall Street had? And, of course, they want to do it without any potential liability to themselves. Take a look a Section 8 of this rip-off bill:
“Decisions by the Secretary pursuant to the authority of this Act are non-reviewable and committed to agency discretion, and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency.”
It’s called covering your arse.

MCCAIN AND PAULSON HOLDING WALL STREET HOSTAGE WITH THE AMERICAN PEOPLES MONEY TO HELP MCCAIN LOOK LIKE HE SOLVED IT.
MORE LIES, DECEPTION AND CARE LESS ATTITUDE ABOUT THE AMERICAN PEOPLE. THE PARTIES INVOLVED CAME TO AN AGREEMENT WHICH INCLUDED HELP FOR TAXPAYERS, THEN MCCAIN FINALLY ARRIVED IN WASHINGTON AFTER HIS INTERVIEW WITH KATIE CURIC AND THE REPUBLICANS TAKE THE DEAL OFF OF THE TABLE PRETENDING LIKE THEY CANNOT NOW COME TO AN AGREEMENT. BUSH AND MCCAIN DO NOT CARE ABOUT THIS COUNTRY, BUT THEY ONLY CARE ABOUT HELPING MCCAIN TRY AND WIN AT THE COST OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE. IT’S ASSININE THAT THEY HAVE A STATEMENT ABOUT DEMOCRAT’S WHEN THESE IDIOTS HAD AN AGREEMENT THEN TOOK IT OFF THE TABLE TO TRY AND INVOLVE MCCAIN WHO HAD NOT EVEN READ THE THREE PAGE PAULSON PROPOSAL, EVEN THOUGH HE SAID HE NEEDED TO GO AND HELP. HE LIED. HE DID NOT EVEN READ THE THREE PAGES. THIS IS ANOTHER POLITICAL GAME AT THE EXPENSE OF THIS COUNTRY. HE LIED WHEN HE SAID HE SUSPENDED HIS CAMPAIGN. THEY ARE STILL RUNNING LYING COMMERCIALS. THEY ARE STILL CAMPAIGNING IN THEIR OFFICES AND NOW THEY ARE PROPOSING DELAYING AN AGREEMENT TO HELP MCCAIN LOOK GOOD FOR THIS ELECTION AT THE COST OF OUR FINANCIAL MARKETS FAILING AND AT THE EXPENSE OF THE AMERICAN AND FOREIGN PEOPLE. HOW DARE THESE IGNORANT, INCONSIDERATE PEOPLE ALLOW THIS NONSENSE. THEY ARE STALLING PROGESS FOR POLITICAL GAMES. MCCAIN IS MCCAIN FIRST AND COUNTRY IN YOUR DREAMS.

MCCAIN AND PAULSON HOLDING WALL STREET HOSTAGE WITH THE AMERICAN PEOPLES MONEY TO HELP MCCAIN LOOK LIKE HE SOLVED IT.
MORE LIES, DECEPTION AND CARE LESS ATTITUDE ABOUT THE AMERICAN PEOPLE. THE PARTIES INVOLVED CAME TO AN AGREEMENT WHICH INCLUDED HELP FOR TAXPAYERS, THEN MCCAIN FINALLY ARRIVED IN WASHINGTON AFTER HIS INTERVIEW WITH KATIE CURIC AND THE REPUBLICANS TAKE THE DEAL OFF OF THE TABLE PRETENDING LIKE THEY CANNOT NOW COME TO AN AGREEMENT. BUSH AND MCCAIN DO NOT CARE ABOUT THIS COUNTRY, BUT THEY ONLY CARE ABOUT HELPING MCCAIN TRY AND WIN AT THE COST OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE. IT’S ASSININE THAT THEY HAVE A STATEMENT ABOUT DEMOCRAT’S WHEN THESE IDIOTS HAD AN AGREEMENT THEN TOOK IT OFF THE TABLE TO TRY AND INVOLVE MCCAIN WHO HAD NOT EVEN READ THE THREE PAGE PAULSON PROPOSAL, EVEN THOUGH HE SAID HE NEEDED TO GO AND HELP. HE LIED. HE DID NOT EVEN READ THE THREE PAGES. THIS IS ANOTHER POLITICAL GAME AT THE EXPENSE OF THIS COUNTRY. HE LIED WHEN HE SAID HE SUSPENDED HIS CAMPAIGN. THEY ARE STILL RUNNING LYING COMMERCIALS. THEY ARE STILL CAMPAIGNING IN THEIR OFFICES AND NOW THEY ARE PROPOSING DELAYING AN AGREEMENT TO HELP MCCAIN LOOK GOOD FOR THIS ELECTION AT THE COST OF OUR FINANCIAL MARKETS FAILING AND AT THE EXPENSE OF THE AMERICAN AND FOREIGN PEOPLE. HOW DARE THESE IGNORANT, INCONSIDERATE PEOPLE ALLOW THIS NONSENSE. THEY ARE STALLING PROGESS FOR POLITICAL GAMES. MCCAIN IS MCCAIN FIRST AND COUNTRY IN YOUR DREAMS.

Women For Truth… take off the damn CAP LOCK. Nobody will read your posts regardless of the importance of it’s content. It’s just a block of unreadable babble. PLEASE STOP,

If they do debate, Obama will blame McCain if he performs poorly in the debate. Because he was forced into going to DC and not study for the debate FL. Obama, Obama, you are not in college in anymore, this is the real world.

Go here to have letters sent to your Congressman automatically based on your zip code.. NO BAILOUT !
http://www.VOTENOBAILOUT.org

Obama driving that bus of his racking up all sorts of road killed ex-friends.

Rome is burning and you are seriously considering electing Nero?!
The world is going mad.
Throw the bums out!!

There’s more to the housing bailout measure than meets the eye, says a Minnesota lawmaker. She contends that members of Congress need to be called back to Washington to reverse the measure that, among other things, sends millions of taxpayer dollars to a radical illegal immigration advocacy group.
The housing package signed into law by President Bush extends an unlimited line of credit to troubled mortgage giants Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae and rescues homeowners near or in foreclosure. The measure also increases the federal debt limit by another $800 billion — and sends millions of dollars in aid to La Raza and the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, or ACORN.
Representative Michele Bachmann (R-Minnesota), a member of the House Financial Services Committee, says she finds it “unconscionable” that the legislation included funding for the two groups, which serve as political action arms of the Democratic Party.
“At the same time that the American taxpayer was being asked to bail these companies out, Barney Frank, the chairman of the Financial Services Committee, instituted a sort of tax on Freddie and Fannie, and that tax goes into what’s called an affordable housing trust fund,” explains Bachmann. “It’s a really a taxpayer-subsidized housing fund, but that money will go to organizations like La Raza and…ACORN.” Both groups — “particularly ACORN,” says Bachmann — have been found to be involved in “activities where they have perpetrated voter fraud,” she contends.
Bachmann advises Congress to get back to Washington, stop the funding stream for ACORN and La Raza, and also get American taxpayers off the hook for bailing out Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Why are CNN and MSNBC showing clips of the Senators, ‘claiming McCaught with his pants down’, LIED. interesting. does this mean the when they also say, they have not talked to McCain, iin a Week. WOW. Just wait, until the signs go up. Clinton and Rick Davis, seen huggin, ‘McSmoke Another’. I think Shelby may have a change of heart. Russian Planes over Alaska? Gee Palin, tell us more. You daughter is going to have her baby next week. Better tell us Quickly. free Market Terrorists, taited milk in China. I bet since the Deregulations during Clintons term, They may be able to sneak in America. Or Heck, Russia trades with us, in Russia. Maybe they will get us there. Or tainted Bottled Water? What if they have already gotten through the Deregulations on Clintons term. But hey,he is having a fund raiser right now. Maybe Rick Davis and Bill Clinton and McFeint, take pictures for CNN and MSNBC. Russia in Alaska. Who else will ask McGottcha.
Go Penn State. Ask your questions, put up your signs.

vote a president whos got stamina to be every where,what has mccain goin to washinton done to the bail out.they adopted obama proposal.i strongly thing that the president should be able to handle more than one issue at a time, mccain does not even have an assistant,this is the mistake of not chosing romney,,obama 08

MCBush is so desperate and out of mind that is mixing politics with this plan, This guy is so out of touch and mind that
put himself before country to get attention, if he really is in favor of plan could issue joint statement to support the plan instead of playing politics. so far this guy has not stated his position clearly ,since he goes with wind to see what is most popular , how can you trust this cheater man lead America in crisis? Palin choice has already proved that he puts himself before country and does whatever takes to get him elected.

Sarah Silverman is a Clinton Fan, she also enjoys monry from Rick Davis and Ricard Shelby. Besides, she Shares something with Palin BESIDES her first name. Should I tell Ya. Or will Silverman Be TOO upset? Let the Humans Unite against Clintons Family Members.

You Obama voters just keep drinking the kool-aid…Of course Obama wants to have the debate or a town hall meeting or anything to hear himself talk. That’s all he does is talk, but with no substance. You guys want to elect the classic high school debate wimp to be president of our country! Just keep drinking the kool-aid.

The heart of the Republican proposal- more DEregulation, tax cuts, and pray for private investors to give some money.
http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSTRE48P0EH20080926?virtualBrandChannel=10112
How many lost their retirements fund when WaMu folded yesterday?

We have a problem in America.
The immediate problems for much of what is wrong with Wall Street at present can be traced back to the deregulation of the so-called GSE’s that go by the name of Freddie Mac, and Fannie Mae. During the Clinton administration a preferential relationship was established, and strongly promoted by the more socialist leaning democrats, whereby these two entities could borrow money at preferentially lower rates from the Fed. The condition sine qua non by which these two entities could enter into the new preferred relationship was that they would from then on offer un-guaranteed loans to any and all comers, for buying homes, for new business start-ups, etc. It does not take a genius to understand that these types of practices are, and were, an attempt by the more leftist leaning parts of the Democratic Party to effect their policies of “social engineering” outside of any normal purview that would normally be influenced by normal free-market checks and balances.
Many alarm calls as to the inherently dangerous implications of this type of non-regulated social engineering have been raised, but have been generally muffled by a certain bias of the by now almost universally leftist media that now exists in the USA. Those who have raised objections have not been allowed a normal vetting before the american public in the newspapers or in the broadcast media.
The legislative organisms that are in place in Congress, and that should have seriously taken into consideration thoughtful fears regarding this headlong flight into potential mortgage and mutual fund insolvency, have instead, systematically killed any and all legislation that would have tended to limit these practises, and therefore the influence of the Democratic Party, with these GSE’s, and within their demographic voting base. All attempts to take in hand the regulation of these two GSE’s, Freddie Mac, and Fannie Mae, have come to the same end, i.e., they have all been killed at the behest of the Committee Chairmans, all socialist-leaning Democrats, and by roll-call votes whereby the democratic majority within these legislative organs have come into play to kill any and all attempts at reasonable regulation of these two entities. None of the many attempts to review this special relationship have ever seen the light of day for vote – they have all been killed in Committee. That these two entities are, and were, huge Democratic Party cash cows, is no secret.
Once the housing bubble burst, we now assist to the inevitable consequences of having had these two attempts at social engineering becoming insolvent because of all of the bad paper that they have put out into the american economy.
Now, we taxpayers, are once again looking on with the handle of a broomstick up our collective derriere.
The so-called “bailout” should be renamed to what it really is if the real political implications are understood. This will be if implemented, and I am not exaggerating, the insertion of socialist political practises in a key sector of the american economy, that of banking and finances.
We now have the Democratic Party, behind closed doors of course, having a good old time and dreaming their wildest dreams, dreams that they would never have thought possible, that of transforming a democratic free-market based country, into a socialist regime controlled by them. These are the same people that got us into this mess in the first place!
The Democratic Party which has the preponderance of guilt in this whole affair (and no, I know that there have been collusive relationships also with some elements of the Republican Party wanting to get in on all of the “free money” from the democratic lobbyists protecting Fannie Mae, and Freddie Mac) now have a nice bludgeon. The bludgeon is fear. The choice, according to the socialists, would be to risk economic disaster, depression of the same order of 1929, etc., or to accept their “bail-out” which if accepted would be a de facto socialist “coup d’etat” that would mean the direct demise the United States of America, democratic and free-market, into the United Socialist States of America (USSA) – yes we might as well get used to the new acronym, and notice how much it resembles another similar of the near past, the USSR.
The Democratic Party happens to think that having created this situation they will now use it to their advantage against the American people by scaring them into submission with apocalyptic economic scenarios. Whether or not they will succeed will depend on if there are still people in the Federal Government that are not afraid to call a spade a spade, i.e., that are not afraid to use the word Socialism! The socialists such as Pelosi and Reid are already hard at work trying to get the Federal Government to accept another more than $50 Billion for their other dreams in their social hope chest.
Personally, I am sickened. I was once rather far-left leaning, but ever since these socialist democrats, including Obama, Pelosi, Reid, Murtha, Schumer, Frank, Biden, Kennedy, Rangel, Dodd, Feinstein, and others of their elitist clique have come to determine the politics of the Democratic Party, well, I have rescinded my membership with the Democratic Party, and am now a registered Independent. I want nothing to do with those people.
What I would like to see, therefore, is that the attempt through fear at a socialist coup d’etat on the part of the socialists just mentioned above, does not meet with success.
We need another plan, not their so-called “bail-out”, on their terms. We need free-market solutions to the problems that these people have created all of us. If this means having to go into a recession, having to go through hard times before coming out of it, then so be it.
I say no to the United Socialist States of America ruled by a socialist american Politburo.
The choice is ours. I have already written my Congressmen, though I have not wasted my time writing either Feinstein or Boxer, as they are elements already involved in this socialistic subversion of American society.

yep, “Don’t worry, Obama promises to be available by phone just in case his Community-Organizer expertise might come in handy for solving this economic crisis.” That all America needs….hahahahahaha

Rep. Franks (D) Chair House Financial Committee.
Rep. Waxman (D) Chair House Oversight committee.
Sen. Dodd (D) Chair Senate Banking committee.
Two years…Where Were They???

Nik….What do you know that I don’t know? You say you are smarter than me and make more money than me!
Why would you vote for a man who says he is going to increase taxes, make government bigger and make “Volunteering” for Government service mandatory (Political Forum 9/11 PBS)
Oh..Taxes on everyone. He said he will roll back the Bush tax cuts. So, correct me if I’m wrong, if tax was 5% Bush rolls back to 2.5% then Obama goes back to 5%. Isn’t this an Increase???