The landslide victory of current president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the announcement of same, only hours after the voting polls closed, even though paper ballots had to be hand counted, has cast serious doubts about the election results.

Last week I wrote of Iran's great potential but today much of that potential has evaporated for the time being, and perhaps for another four years. The rulers of Iran have decided that the devil they know is better than the one they don't. Unfortunately, as far as politicians go, they may have gotten exactly that.

Iran's flawed democracy is still better than most of the political systems among other countries in the region. For the past few decades the morality police, prodded by religious literalism, have mandated women to cover themselves when they are out in public. This same religious literalism has impeded the potential of a country that has a large population, in a key geographic region, with oil and other natural resources.

Iran is in the midst of a presidential election that has stimulated much heated debate among the population about the failures of the current government in economic and political terms, and that has created a feeling of isolation. The isolation is more than a feeling, and it has limited the growth of the nation to something far less than its capabilities.

Oh-Oh.There's trouble in River City (from the Music Man.) There is fight brewing over proposed labor law revisions giving workers bargaining rights based on signing cards instead of winning a secret ballot election. Senator Tom Harkin is the sponsor of a bill that would make these changes law.

Now enter the billionaires that supported President Obama's campaign. Even the President's finance chairperson, Penny Pritzker, who is a director of the Global Hyatt Corp., is opposed to the bill. Neil Bluhm, a partner in Walton Street Capital, LLC and Lester Crown, chairman of Henry Crown & co. voiced their criticism of the measure. Now here's a sledge hammer: the US Chamber of Commerce plans to spend $20 million dollars this year advertising and lobbying to block the card check rule.

Tomorrow morning before the bell, The Washington Post Company (NYSE: WPO) will have its chance to impress Wall Street when it reports its fourth quarter numbers.

Going into tomorrow's announcement, analysts are expecting the company to show earnings on the quarter of $8.17 per share. Should the company hit this estimate, it would be a decline of 16.5% from its reported $9.79 during its fourth quarter 2007.

A historic transition of power has taken place with the inauguration of Barack Obama as the first African-American President in U.S. history. We have heard repeated commentary in the press that this President will have a longer honeymoon than most. This seems to be supported by extremely high approval ratings of the new President in almost all opinion polls across the board.

However, there appears to be one area left out of this. Where is the Presidential honeymoon on Wall Street? Last week, the markets were down across the board with varying degrees of destruction. Companies continue in general to offer disappointing and downright dreary economic outlooks with more layoffs arriving every day.

Remember honest Abe? Most everyone does remember him and holds him in high regard. While he is admired, few can live up to the standard he set.

Yesterday as our new president Barack Obama took the oath of office with his hand on Lincoln's bible, the stock market was tanking and the financial stocks were taking the worst of it. The overall market was down about 3.5% and one of the stocks included in Chasing Value: 9 picks for 2009 -- APC, GE, ISRG, WFC and more, Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC), dropped about 20% -- yikes!

Lincoln served during our nations most trying times and President Obama will not be having an an easy time either.I was pondering some of our many problems this morning, and one that caused me to think about the subject of this post was the gargantuan government budget deficits that know no bounds in our current economic turmoil. That deficit is likely going to be higher than anyone thinks, because the government will be collecting less in taxes based on business and personal financial losses that have grown larger after each budget estimate.

Popular home shopping television network QVC will be at Obama's inauguration this month to sell a full line of "limited edition" and "collectible" trinkets. The network will broadcast live from the festivities.

QVC has already sold more than 100,000 Obama items. The Associated Press reports that "Among the items QVC has been selling since the election are a Barack Obama stamp collection, with stamps from Liberia, Sierra Leone, Grenada, St. Vincent and The Grenadines ($38.88). One set has an Obama-Biden half dollar coin and a 1939 stamp depicting George Washington taking the first oath of office ($23.75). An Obama throw blanket is marked down from $41 to $36.84."

It appears to be a case of life imitating art: With just a couple weeks left before the election -- and Senator McCain's presidential hopes looking increasingly dismal -- McCain appeared on Saturday Night Live in a skit featuring him and Tina Fey as Sarah Palin hocking collectibles. Watch the video below:

This post is part of our feature on Money Losers of 2008. See all 20.

Willard Mitt Romney, governor of Massachusetts from 2003 to 2007, was the wealthiest of all the 2008 presidential candidates. When he formally announced his candidacy for the Republican nomination for president on February 13, 2007, the former venture capitalist was believed to have amassed a fortune worth as much as $250 million.

After the first fundraiser for his presidential campaign committee on January 9, 2007, Romney had already brought in $6.5 million, more than the amounts raised by any other Republican contender. Meg Whitman, CEO of eBay and a former colleague of Romney, signed on as a financial co-chair of his presidential campaign. And first quarter 2007 fund-raising information showed Romney leading the Republican field with more than $23 million, though that was less than funds raised by Democratic contenders Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama in the same period. Fund-raising results for the second quarter revealed that Romney had lent $8.9 million to his campaign from his personal funds, as well as that he had spent $20.7 million, more than any other Republican candidate. By the end of 2007, he had raised $88.5 million, but $35.4 million of that came from his own pocket.

Winning the money race, strategically outspending other candidates on advertising in the early primary states, and promising to donate his salary as president to charity (as he had done as governor) wasn't enough to secure Romney the nomination. He dropped out of the race after disappointing Super Tuesday results in February 2008, when opponent John McCain solidified his position as the party's frontrunner. Romney won only 11 state primaries and caucuses, 4.7 million votes, and 291 delegates. According to Federal Election Commission filings, all told, the campaign spent $113.6 million, $44.6 of which came from Romney himself.

This post is part of our feature on Money Losers of 2008. See all 20.

Hillary Clinton is easily one of the most polarizing figures in U.S. politics. Perhaps it's because she combines the DNA of a female with the ruthlessness, grit, and cold-blooded calculation of the average male politician -- journalists never know whether to criticize her hairstyle, or her foreign policy credentials! (Governor Sarah Palin received similarly schizophrenic coverage: Yes, she's got an opinion about offshore drilling, but what kind of statement are those pumps making?)

In any event, it was a given that Hillary would run for president in 2008. As an idealistic, card-carrying young feminist, I'd personally been chanting "Hillary '08!" ever since I cast my vote for her in the 2000 Senate race in New York. Unfortunately for Ms. Clinton, it seems that most of her fervent supporters have a certain characteristic in common with me. No, it's not two X chromosomes; apparently, we're all broke.

When she suspended her presidential campaign in June, it was a bitter defeat for Hillary. Not only was she edged out in the primaries by an Ivy League rookie, but she also had to contend with a whopping campaign debt load. Reports indicate that the future Secretary of State poured $11.4 million of her own money into the campaign, just for starters. At the beginning of November, she still owed $7.5 million to various vendors, and the primaries haven't even been paid for yet.

When President-elect Barack Obama was Candidate Obama on the campaign trail, there was talk of raising the tax level on long term capital gains from the current 15% to as high as 29% but soon became 25%. It has not been that high for quite some time.

Obama was challenged by this throughout the campaign and it was one of the questions he faced in the presidential debates. He had to answer a direct question as to why he would raise this particular tax in light of evidence that the reduced rate had benefited the government coffers and investors. He replied that he was interested in balancing the budget and fairness in the system, but that he would be weighing all of the issues under discussion and he might temper his opinion.

Well, as I recall, toward the end of the campaign he tempered his opinion all the way down to 20%.

Now what brings this to mind as we close out the year is that I have been reviewing 2008 with my accountant and making projections for the purpose of last minute adjustments I might need to consider. As we were discussing capital gains for 2008 we, like many of you reading this, discovered there would not be any. The losses outweighed the gains.

Then I started thinking about Obama wanting to raise the tax and realized he could raise the tax to 100% because this year and next many people may not be paying any due to their accumulated losses. As a matter of fact, in extreme cases some folks may not be paying any capital gains even if he is in office eight years.

Sheldon Liber is the CEO of a small private investment company and the principal for design and research at an architecture & planning firm. He writes the columns Chasing Value and Serious Money.

This post is part of our feature on Money Winners of 2008. See all 20.

Barack Obama became the king of fund raising in 2008, having received a record amount in donations for his presidential campaign in the neighborhood of $750 million, and finishing with over $100 million in the bank. These contributions factored into a winning, grass-roots campaign strategy.

Actually he used a two-prong approach that enabled him to tap into the existing Democratic fund-raising machine attracting large donors through various traditional means, such as banquets and A-list parties. At the same time he was able to play the role of outsider and underdog to rally his grass-roots support among the young and commonly disenfranchised, handshake by handshake, and through a very adept use of the internet. The internet provided a constant source of connectivity with his followers, and allowed his team to respond to any news item with immediacy.

Now, president-elect Obama will be hoping to continue to amaze as he is tasked with guiding a devastated economy on the brink of collapse back to some semblance of equilibrium.

This post is part of our feature on Money Winners of 2008. See all 20.

2008 was Tina Fey's year as the award-winning TV star, writer, and creator of 30 Rock, then completing her first hit movie Baby Mama, followed by a return as SNL's Sarah Palin. Fey is now one of the most sought after people in Hollywood.

Evidence of this can be found in the recent Barbara Walters interview listing her as one of the ten most interesting people of the year as well as the current issue of Vanity Fair.

Sarah Palin was a gold mine for political pundits, tabloids, and comedians alike during her run as the vice presidential sidekick of John McCain, but to none more than Tina Fey, the seven-time Emmy award-winning star and writer. Fey's satiric renditions of Palin brought more publicity to both women then either of them could have hoped for.

This post is part of AOL Money & Finance's Best & Worst in Money 2008 feature.

The great media circus that so richly illuminates American life is constantly producing new stars to dazzle us, and this year has been no exception. In addition to the usual offerings from television (Tina Fey), sports (Michael Phelps) and books and film (Stephanie Meyer), 2008 saw new stars emerge from the presidential election (Sarah Palin) and the spectacular and ongoing financial crisis (Neel Kashkari). Of course no one knows what 2009 will bring, but we can be sure of one thing: that each of these new stars will likely try to cash in on their new-found celebrity in the new year.

Tina Fey has been fairly well known for several years, first as the head writer and Weekend Update host on Saturday Night Live, then as the creator and star of the critically acclaimed show 30 Rock. However, she ascended to a higher level of celebrity with her dead-on impersonation of Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin. (It's so good that if you search for the phrase "dead-on impersonation" on both AOL and Google, the first results that come up are clips of Fey doing her Palin shtick.) There was a lot of debate about whether Fey hurt or helped Palin, but it's pretty clear that all of the attention helped Fey enormously, making her one of the most famous female comedians in the U.S. Look for more TV and film deals for her in 2009.

This post is part of AOL Money & Finance's Best & Worst in Money 2008 feature.

I am not familiar with Vince Offer so this is not a fair ranking; however, based on who got the biggest 15 minutes of fame and is most likely to fade from memory the most permanently, here's my ranking of the most notable 15 minutes of fame:

1. "Joe the Plumber" (Sam Wurzelbach) -- a "representative of the middle class" frequently referenced by Senator McCain late in the 2008 presidential campaign
2. the Reverend Jeremiah Wright -- excerpts of this former pastor's sermons received intense media scrutiny during the presidential campaign
3. Vince Offer -- ShamWow pitchman who has been compared to renowned pitchmen Billy Mays and Ron Popeil
4. Ashley Alexandra Dupre -- the high-priced call girl at the center of the Eliot Spitzer prostitution scandal
5. Katy Perry -- the singer-songwriter whose "I Kissed a Girl" became a controversial worldwide hit

I think Ashley and Katy are not going to fade from memory because they'll still be around. Ashley will probably come out with a book and try to sell her music, and Katy has other popular songs -- like "Hot 'N Cold" -- that will keep her on the radio. Joe the Plumber will be history and so will Reverend Wright -- both share a distinction of being props in the failed Republican effort to demonize Barack Obama this year.

Do you agree?

Share the reasons for your pick in the comments, or let us know about any contenders we overlooked. Also be sure to see the rest of the Best & Worst in Money 2008.

In comments to reporters in Chicago today, President-elect Barack Obama indicated that he was going to push for a stimulus package -- a really big one.

"Not only do I want the stimulus package to deal with the immediate crisis, I want it also to lay the groundwork for long-term sustained economic growth," Obama said in a quote from The Wall Street Journal. "With our economy in distress, we cannot hesitate and we cannot delay."

To be sure, time is of the essence. The economy is in free fall and may not improve until the end of next year. Investors have as much confidence in the stock market as Philadelphia Eagles fans have in quarterback Donovan McNabb and head coach Andy Reid. (For non-sports fans, the Eagles are the NFL's answer to Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C), careening from one disaster to another. It's too bad government regulators can't take over the Eagles for bankrupt football play.)