Larry Roibal

Ball point pen on the morning newsprint

…When added to the 700 Billion, the numbers start to get abstract. A trillion dollars is a million million. If you laid one dollar bills end to end, you could make a chain that stretches from earth to the moon and back again 200 times. One trillion dollars would stretch nearly from the earth to the sun. It would take a military jet flying at the speed of sound, reeling out a roll of dollar bills behind it, 14 years before it reeled out one trillion dollar bills.
The tab so far for bailouts has reached 8.5 Trillion Dollars! I wonder how long it will take my great grandchildren to pay it back to China.

Blogging note: A special thanks to Charley Parker over at Lines and Colors, for featuring my blog yesterday. I’ve been a big fan of L&C and I am honored to be included in the pantheon of great art that I’ve so enjoyed reading about over the years. I’ll try to live up to the honor.

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Ball point pen on the morning newsprint

Obama unveiled his economic team yesterday. The starting Director of the White House Domestic Policy Council, from the University of North Carolina and University of Michigan, Melody Barnes. At Secretary of the Treasury, from Dartmouth College and John Hopkins, Timothy Geithner. Starting Director of the White House Budget Office, from Princeton University and London School of Economics, Peter Orszag. At Chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, from the College of William and Mary and Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Christina Romer. Starting at Director of the National Economic Council, from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University, Lawrence Summers
The stock market has rallied 900 points in two sessions.

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Ball point pen on the morning newsprint

When the first whispers of the subprime motgage meltdown started, Citigrpup’s then COE Charles Prince resigned claiming Citi had 11 billion in writedowns. Once the nations largest bank, today we know that Citibank had been taking huge risks and had far greater exposure to subprime mortgages than it let on. Yesterday Citi owned up to 65 billion in writedowns. Citi’s Stock plunged to 3.77 as Citi entered into desperate talks with the treasury. The government has stepped in with an additional 20 billion to guarantee Citi’s 306 billion in assets.

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Ball point pen on the morning newsprint

Partisanships is alive and well on the hill. While Obama is looking to reach out across the isle, many of the old guard democrats didn’t get the memo. Presidents come and go, but these modern day Neros, secure in their chairmanships, snipe while our country is burning.

Ball point pen on the morning newsprint

Obama has chosen Tom Daschle to be Secratary of Health and Human Services. Daschle graduated South Dakota State University with a degree in political science. He served three years in the US Air Force as an intelligence officer, spent five years as an aid to South Dakota Senator James Abourezk, was elected to the US Congress in 1978, and the US Senate in 1986. Daschle rose to Minority Leader in 1994 and served briefly as the Senate Majority Leader before loosing an election in 2004 to John Thune. Daschle was an early supporter of Barack Obama and served as national co-chair for Obama’s presidential campaign.

President-elect Obama also named his chief campaign stratagist, David Axelrod, as his Senior Adviser.

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Ball point pen on the morning newsprint

President-elect Obama chooses Eric Holder to be Attorney General. A Columbia Law School graduate, Holder was appointed by Ronald Reagan to serve as Superior Court Judge of the District of Columbia. He stepped down in 1993 to accept an appointment to be U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia. In 1997 Holder  was elevated to Deputy Attorney General under Janet Reno in the Clinton administration. He was generally viewed as a centrist in the Justice Department.

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Ball point pen on the morning newsprint

Nancy Pelosi will not schedule a vote on the bailout until it is clear the bill will pass the senate. That may not be feasible until after January 20th when the democrats will increase their numbers. Ford, perhaps the healthiest of the three, has burned through seven billion in assets in the third quarter but has enough liquidity to survive into the new year. GM however is only months away from closing up shop and warned it might not see years end. While that news may have some wanting to act quickly, Pelosi did say that auto makers will need to show long term economic viability before being considered for a loan. That makes sense. After dividing the 25 billion between the big three, that provides each with a little over eight billion each. When you consider that Ford and GM are loosing about two billion a month, that gives them a four month window to turn their industry around. Will Detroit be able to retool and make a product Americans want in four months? Will this recession be over in four months? Will they be able to restructure contracts in four months to be competitive with other American made cars that have half the labor cost. What about the nearly half a million retired GM workers receiving pensions and benefits for life?
If the argument for putting this deal together is that the collapse of GM alone will cost the government an estimated 200 billion in additional unemployment insurance, then it’s certain it will cost the taxpayers much more than 25 billion before this bailout is done, because that argument will still be here at the end of the four month window when the automakers are unable to address any of the issues that have caused them to fail.

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Ball point pen on the morning newsprint

Could the Clintons survive a vetting by Obama’s team to clear the path for Senator Clinton to become Secretary of State. Will Bill disclose a complete list of donors to his library? Does Bill Clinton’s post presidency dealings with rogue states constitute a conflict of interest?

Ball point pen on the morning newsprint

The US Senate is attempting to pass a bill giving 25 billion dollars in emergency aid to the US auto makers. Leaders say they might not have the votes, but if they did, would it help? GM is loosing 2 billion dollars a month and has 16 billion left before they could no longer meet their obligations and go out of business. Even if GM could retool and start producing smaller, more fuel efficient cars in the small window the law makers are hoping to give them, they still have to deal with a prolonged downturn in the economy combined with nearly half a million former workers drawing pensions and health benefits. Cost cutting plant closings and layoffs only seem to magnify GM’s problems, creating a greater percentage of those drawing a GM check and benefits while not contributing to producing a product. That business model has made it impossible for GM to compete in the global auto making industry.

GM stock price is 2.98 a share at this writing. When Richard Wagoner Jr. took the helm of General Motors in May of 2003, GM’s stock price was 35.50.

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Ball point pen on the morning newsprint

It seems that presidents like to appoint Goldman Sachs alumni to lead our Treasury. As Henry Paulson is on the way out, Robert Rubin and Jon Corzine are on the short list to become Treasury Secretary. As a Jerseyan my advice to President Elect Obama would be to go with Rubin.

Ball point pen on the morning newsprint

After Opec nations agreed to cut oil production by 1.5 million barrels a day, the price of oil is still falling. As world demand slips and the strength of the US dollar increases, the price of a barrel of oil fell below 60 dollars yesterday. Secretary General of OPEC, Abdallah Salem el-Badri has called for an emergency meeting before the scheduled December meeting of Opec nations. He can’t be pleased,.. but Americans are thankful for the reprieve at the pumps.

Ball point pen on the morning newsprint

My Father, Joseph R. Roibal Jr. or Jose to his friends, served in the US Navy during the Korean War. While serving a long tour at sea, a virulent strain of streptococcus running throughout the ship led sick bay to run out of antibiotics. An infection settled in Joseph’s kidneys, leading to his medical discharge from the Navy, eventually to total renal failure, and after many years of dialysis, to his early passing at the age of 57.

If the above seems like a small footnote, that’s intentional. He never let that monumental event define who he was. A first generation American, he was a strong man in body and mind, a hard worker, tough as nails on the outside, but a loving caring guy to the core….I miss him.

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Ball point pen on the morning newsprint

While I patiently await more cabinet appointments to profile, I wanted to take a moment to consider how artists united behind a candidate. Barack Obama didn’t just inspire people to come to the polls, he inspired both visual and recording artists from around the world to do what artists do best, hold up a mirror to society and reflect a moment in time.

Solo artist and member of the Black Eyed Peas, Will.i.am was inspired to create some very memorable work in support and in celebration of this historic moment in time.

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Ball point pen on the morning newsprint

Obama taps Illinois Congressman Rahm Emanuel, to serve as his Chief of Staff.

When I started blogging 8 months ago, I pondered what to blog about. Being I spend most of my waking hours alone in my studio, I could hardly conceive of a more boring subject to write about than myself, so, I followed the old writers axiom, “write what you know”.

Being a news junkie, there was a little ritual that I’ve been doing for years; morning drawings of the news makers of the day. They’re done over coffee or on the train, quick doodles, done without corrections and off they go into the recycling bin without fanfare. I never really considered it to be part of my career as an illustrator. Just an exercise. I was digging the context that the text added to my drawings, but being they were drawn on the newspaper, they couldn’t be used for publication.

Enter Bob Lindler, the imaginative Art Director for Walden Alumni Magazine. He saw my blog and said he’s always looking to put a unique spin on the standard portrait. He liked my spontaneous ball point pen drawings and even how they sat over text, but what could I draw on that wouldn’t infringe on someones copyright?… In the end, the decision was made to provided him with ball point pen drawings on plain newsprint paper and he would place it over the appropriate context.

Thanks Bob, everyone else told me these drawings had no use.

Ballpoint pen on plain newsprint paper

Ballpoint pen on plain newsprint paper

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Ball point pen on the morning newsprint

If I grew to be 6 foot 9 inches tall, I have no doubt that I would have played in the NBA instead of drawing and painting, (so mad are my skills with the rock)… But John Michael Crichton M.D. had an intellect and skill set far greater than mine and it seems there was little he couldn’t accomplish. While still a medical student at Harvard University, he wrote and published Andromeda Strain. He went on to get his medical degree, write Congo, Sphere, Jurassic Park, Rising Sun, Disclosure, Timeline, State of Fear and more. He wrote screen plays, produced and directed films. He was the creator of the television series ER. His stories often revolved around science gone wrong. He caused controversy when he disagreed with environmentalists in his book State of Fear, but his success as a writer was undeniable. He had a great knack for weaving his exhaustive research into an interesting thriller.

Michael Crichton lost his battle with cancer yesterday. He was 66.

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Ball point pen on the morning newsprint

Yes We Did!

Unfortunately I can’t stop to savor the moment because I have two early morning photo shoots in NY…. I wish I had time to do a better drawing or wax poetic, … I did this 5 am doodle and I’m off to catch a train, but feel free to wax to your hearts content, I’d like to here your thoughts on this historic day.

Ball point pen on the morning newsprint

….this is your time. Go Vote!

The Polls opened at 6:00 am this morning, I got there at 5:58. Of those who’s name ended in L-Z, I was number eleven. It took me 15 minutes.

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…To the prairies, to the oceans, white with foam…

Lisa, of New Jersey, Sandy and Roz of New Jersey and Florida, and Lenny and Janice with their children Benjamin and Hannah of Colorado support Obama at their family gathering.

…Also, since the election is tomorrow, I wanted to thank everyone who took the time and effort to tile this drawing together, display it in your homes, schools and work places in support of Senator Obama.

If you’ve been missing my daily portrait of news makers, I will resume posting my sketches after the election. If you found your way here looking for the Obama Poster, I hope you’ll come back and visit me and my portrait of the day doodle.

NOW GO VOTE!

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