First there was the $700 billion bailout. Then it was a lowering of the federal interest rate. So far, the markets aren't responding. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell another 678 points today to send it below 9000 points to a finish somewhere around the 8500 mark, give or take. In the past few weeks, we've seen trillions of dollars of wealth evaporate, and it is now being said that we're in the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, because this is also being felt overseas. For example, Iceland may be forced to declare bankruptcy!
Iceland! I mean, go figure, huh? Who would have thought that our financial woes would be felt all the way to Iceland, for crying out loud! But that's exactly what seems to have happened in the past few weeks. Stocks in Europe and Asia are also sharply down and the financial crisis is spreading worldwide now, signaling a possible onset of a global recession. How we're going to get out of this mess, I haven't a clue, but the government has hired a "Bailout Czar" to oversee the distribution of the $700 billion that Congress OK'd last week after much brou-ha-ha and the addition of much pork to inflate the thing and get it through our legislative bodies. You know, I find that term, "Czar", for various government positions of responsibility to be an odd one. Why do they use that term, "czar", when for years, the Soviet Union was our worst enemy during the prolonged Cold War? Couldn't they have picked a better term than "czar" for such jobs as Neel Kashkari - our new "Bailout Czar" will be assigned to do (a local boy made good from around these parts)? But anyway, I digress. I just find that term to be such a bizarre use of what used to be used for a Russian monarch to describe a government position of high responsibility.
Anyway, the silver lining in all of this mess is that a). the price of gas is down below $3 a gallon (I always knew that the price hikes we were seeing this summer were the result of ridiculous speculation and that the bubble they created would eventually burst) and b). this mess is happening on the watch of a Republican administration who for a very long time now has favored deregulation of just about everything, which is precisely what led to this mess in the first place, meaning that recent polls are vastly falling Obama's way and he's pulling ahead in some reliably "red" areas of the country. That can only be a good thing, that the economy is Issue Number One right now as people watch their 401(K)'s and retirement annuities tanking as the stock market continues its downward plunge. People are scared, they are, that they are going to lose homes, jobs, cars and everything that they have worked hard for. Democrats are generally favored in times when financial and economic issues are at the forefront of people's concerns, so this bodes well for Obama's chances in a few weeks (at least I hope so, anyway!). So for now, all we can do is to sit and wait out this financial "perfect storm" and hope that things will eventually turn around, but in the meantime, we have this "czar" guy who is some kind of whiz kid who's supposed to be the guy in charge of the money going to bailout Wall Street's woes. I just hope that it doesn't include any "golden parachutes" for the CEO's of these companies who screwed up and got us in this mess in the first place. They should be corralled and taken to Congress to testify about their misdeeds, and then thrown in jail without a key to sit and contemplate what got them there and what this whole thing has cost our country in terms of lost jobs, lost income, lost retirements, lost financial trust and lost prestige around the world. Our image is already in the tank from Bush's many lies and misdeeds over the past 8 years, and now this. Well, at least I have the comfort of knowing that history will not treat him kindly. May he be remembered as the worst President of the US in our entire history. That would only be a fitting end to his reign of terror as he skulks back to his "ranchette" in Crawford in a few months time, to spend his days clearing brush. Frankly, I think he ought to go directly to jail, do not pass go, do not collect $200, but that's my opinion, and I'm sure I'm not alone in thinking that way, either!
First there was the $700 billion bailout. Then it was a lowering of the federal interest rate. So far, the markets aren't responding. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell another 678 points today to send it below 9000 points to a finish somewhere around the 8500 mark, give or take. In the past few weeks, we've seen trillions of dollars of wealth evaporate, and it is now being said that we're in the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, because this is also being felt overseas. For example, Iceland may be forced to declare bankruptcy! Iceland! I mean, go figure, huh? Who would have thought that our financial woes would be felt all the way to Iceland, for crying out loud! But that's exactly what seems to have happened in the past few weeks. Stocks in Europe and Asia are also sharply down and the financial crisis is spreading worldwide now, signaling a possible onset of a global recession. How we're going to get out of this mess, I haven't a clue, but the government has hired a "Bailout Czar" to oversee the distribution of the $700 billion that Congress OK'd last week after much brou-ha-ha and the addition of much pork to inflate the thing and get it through our legislative bodies. You know, I find that term, "Czar", for various government positions of responsibility to be an odd one. Why do they use that term, "czar", when for years, the Soviet Union was our worst enemy during the prolonged Cold War? Couldn't they have picked a better term than "czar" for such jobs as Neel Kashkari - our new "Bailout Czar" will be assigned to do (a local boy made good from around these parts)? But anyway, I digress. I just find that term to be such a bizarre use of what used to be used for a Russian monarch to describe a government position of high responsibility.
Anyway, the silver lining in all of this mess is that a). the price of gas is down below $3 a gallon (I always knew that the price hikes we were seeing this summer were the result of ridiculous speculation and that the bubble they created would eventually burst) and b). this mess is happening on the watch of a Republican administration who for a very long time now has favored deregulation of just about everything, which is precisely what led to this mess in the first place, meaning that recent polls are vastly falling Obama's way and he's pulling ahead in some reliably "red" areas of the country. That can only be a good thing, that the economy is Issue Number One right now as people watch their 401(K)'s and retirement annuities tanking as the stock market continues its downward plunge. People are scared, they are, that they are going to lose homes, jobs, cars and everything that they have worked hard for. Democrats are generally favored in times when financial and economic issues are at the forefront of people's concerns, so this bodes well for Obama's chances in a few weeks (at least I hope so, anyway!). So for now, all we can do is to sit and wait out this financial "perfect storm" and hope that things will eventually turn around, but in the meantime, we have this "czar" guy who is some kind of whiz kid who's supposed to be the guy in charge of the money going to bailout Wall Street's woes. I just hope that it doesn't include any "golden parachutes" for the CEO's of these companies who screwed up and got us in this mess in the first place. They should be corralled and taken to Congress to testify about their misdeeds, and then thrown in jail without a key to sit and contemplate what got them there and what this whole thing has cost our country in terms of lost jobs, lost income, lost retirements, lost financial trust and lost prestige around the world. Our image is already in the tank from Bush's many lies and misdeeds over the past 8 years, and now this. Well, at least I have the comfort of knowing that history will not treat him kindly. May he be remembered as the worst President of the US in our entire history. That would only be a fitting end to his reign of terror as he skulks back to his "ranchette" in Crawford in a few months time, to spend his days clearing brush. Frankly, I think he ought to go directly to jail, do not pass go, do not collect $200, but that's my opinion, and I'm sure I'm not alone in thinking that way, either!
1 comment:
The horrible angle to the golden parachutes is that the CEOs who helped create this mess got out while the going was good, parachutes intact.
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