The News One Year Ago

Here is an interesting snapshot of how much has changed over the last year, and how much hasn't. This is some of the news we were talking about at this time one year ago:

In an article that appeared in RealMoney, Jim Cramer said October 2007 was "the month where pretty much everything went awry in America. October 2007 proved to be the most dismal month for retail I can recall in years..." Take a moment to read the rest of the article. This guy was amazingly prescient. The only thing he didn't see coming was how much worse October 2008 would be.

USA Today reported on the death toll in Iraq as of October 31, 2007 as "at least 3,842 members of the U.S. military." A year later the death toll is reported some where around 4,500.

On October 31, 2007, The New York Times reported that Hillary Clinton had been pummeled in a presidential debate by her rivals. This is what the article had to say about Barack Obama. "But for all the attention Mr. Obama drew to himself coming into the debate, he was frequently overshadowed by former Senator John Edwards of North Carolina, who — speaking more intensely — repeatedly challenged Mrs. Clinton’s credentials and credibility, and frequently seemed to make the case against Mrs. Clinton that Mr. Obama had promised to make." Hmm, for all his "overshadowing" John Edwards didn't stand the test of time, and now Hillary Clinton is on the campaign trail, stumping for her former rival.

And this time last year, the Democratic chairman of the House Ways and Mean Committee, "proposed a sweeping overhaul of the tax code last week, aimed at shifting more of the burden of taxation to the wealthy." Now why does that idea sound so familiar? Predictably, the GOP wasn't thrilled at the idea of rolling back Bush's tax reductions, but it seems that over the course of the last year, the Democrats have had a change of heart.

I wonder what we'll be talking about in October 2009? Who will our president be? Will it be Barack Obama? Will it be John McCain? Or......... will it be Sarah Palin? Boo! Scared you didn't I?