Grab your rosaries—we're going down!!

Well the so-called compromise bill to save Wall Street (uh, with our money) has bit the dust. And so did the S&P index, Nasdaq, etcetery.

I went to trader Joe's and stocked up on some canned and boxed victuals to eat when the sh!!t hits the fan and the electricity goes out and civilization as we know it ends. I still need some more briquettes for the grill so I can heat up this stuff and I'll be set for a while.

I was torn earlier between being sad about Congress shooting this deal down and being happy that they slapped Bush upside the head. That was earlier. As I learn more about what was defeated I am increasingly glad it failed. Mr. Paulson would still have been the most powerful man in the free world under this bill (did you vote for him? I didn't) with an oversite committee with no teeth.

“This is a huge cow patty with a piece of marshmallow stuck in the middle of it and I am not going to eat that cow patty,” said Representative Paul Broun, Republican of Georgia.

Great line. I applaud a great line no matter which side of the political spectrum it comes from.

The august New York Times thinks it was a mistake to reject this bill, that the Republicans who voted against it were acting out of partisan politics rather than concern for the country. The NYT neglected to say why they thought the Democrats who voted against it did so. I know why— $750 bil is a lot of moola. And the collateral was suspect. How would we get paid back? Are we going to send a contingent of Marines to break financier's kneecaps if they don't pony up? Me, I'm still waiting to see when I can ride my corporate jet that I must own, as a taxpayer, now that we all own 80% of AIG.

Some of that bill was good, but man, the people who caused this mess should be putting up more of their own, and the taxpayers less. If I screw up and go into debt, people will say "You schmuck! You knew what you were doing!" (actually I have and they have—and it's true).
But if Mr. 10 Million Dollar Severance Package screws up, it's "Hasta la vista baby, I'm off to the Mediterranean for a rest before I come back and ruin another company."

What I want to know is, what are the business schools teaching people anyway? Apparently ethics and sound fiscal planning are not on the curriculum.

"Truly, I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go throught the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the Kingdom of God." Jesus said that.

Truly I tell you, if any of my tax money goes to help those wankers on Wall Street, and nothing comes back to me, there will have to be some changes in the makeup of Congress. And I may just personally take a ball peen hammer and visit some of those wingnuts who are stealing my money. I said that.

No, not really, I'm not a violent person by nature. But a boy can always dream.

Incidentally, according to Jesus, by my financial state I am in like Flynn for the Kingdom—well, hopefully, He'll overlook some of my activities during the sixties. Really, I don't do that stuff any more and I'm very sorry, mostly.

In other happier news, the Palin person is starting to be as welcome as an Alaskan winter in South Carolina. I feel sorry for her, a little—she saw the golden ring being handed to her, and reached for it without thinking about whether she had done the preparation necessary to make her worthy to have it. It will leave burn marks on her hand where she touched it and had to let go. I took a job like that once. Went in over my head, eventually got fired. And actually felt relief at being fired. Of course I didn't have a religious agenda to push, so it didn't hurt that much. Our Sarah thinks she is working for God, so it's going to be a real blow when Johnny Mac comes to his senses and tells her to step down.

She comes off in interviews as being about as knowledgeable as a tray of ice cubes. The expression on Katie Couric's face as she was interviewing her said it all.
How do you respond to this?—" . . . where it is the taxpayers looking to bail out. But ultimately, what the bailout does is help those who are concerned about the healthcare reform that is needed to help shore up our economy. Um, helping, oh -- it's got to be all about job creation too. Shoring up our economy, and putting it back on the right track. So healthcare reform and reducing taxes and reining in spending has got to accompany tax reductions, and tax relief for Americans, and trade, we've got to see trade as opportunity, not as a competitive, um, scary thing, but 1 in 5 jobs being created in the trade sector today. We've got to look at that as more opportunity. All of those things under the umbrella of job creation. This bailout is a part of that."

Bye, Sarah.
And goodnight to you all.

Both of you.