Yes we can, and we will. God bless America.

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As we begin to see the biting winds of this economic whirlwind bear down on us we begin to cling to what is most important. Remember when I start my blog I said we do not want to see ‘historic’ changes – be it weather, economic or in our lives.

Ah, you caught it – sometimes ‘historic changes’ in our own lives are good – weddings, births, etc. and some are bad – deaths, accidents, etc. We want the good things and accept and grow around the bad things.

Of course we all want everyday to be 78 degrees, a slight breeze and sunny. But we take the rain, survive the cold and pray through the hurricanes. With the economy we take advantage of the good years, hunker down to weather the slow downs and tell stories of how bad it was during the last recession. Well, the times they are a changin’ – and they are changing in historic ways.

We are in another Vietnam with the Iraq War; we are trillions of dollars in debt; Wallstreet is sending our retirement years further away; and we are watching a recession (or depression?) develop before our eyes. These are historic events.

I am not a political person. I like technology, I like science, I like music. My friend Ralf is very current and much more politically aware then myself. Personally, I believe both major parties to be corrupt and a tragedy to democracy.

When W came on the scene Ralf said, “this guy is bad news.” My thought was, well of course he is, he’s a politician. I voted Libertarian, but Ralf was right. Our turn of the century Joe Six Pack with the White House address was pissing off foreign dignitaries repeatedly. We were beginning to see he really was just a regular guy and maybe he wasn’t presidential quality. Though when 9/11 happened, it was comforting to see ‘our father figure’ reflecting our anger and the injustice done to us as a nation. But then we again saw – he wasn’t presidential quality. The only way to lead is by example, and he led us into an unjustified war with Iraq and made-up WMD.

The next term Ralf begged me to vote against W. I could see we went to war under false pretenses. While I wasn’t a democrat, I could see Ralf was right – W couldn’t get another term. So I voted for John Kerry. And I was floored when W won a second term, many of us were. A month ago I saw a bump sticker that said “Jan 20, 2009 – The End of an Error.” Thank God for two term limits.

In this presidential election, we are faced with historic obstacles. Such obstacles demand a historic response. We need to elect the first Muslin president of these United States.   Sorry, I couldn’t resist. I find it incredible that there are people out there that a) still think Obama is Muslin and b) that it matters. Well, it matters as much as it would that he’s black.

As both candidate profess – we need a change. Logically, you must first decide, are you electing an individual that can actually cause change or are the presidential candidates merely figureheads in front of political machines? Personally, I believe the Bobblehead Theory – they will nod forever telling us yes to everything we want to hear. In this scenario, the only answer is to vote the Democratic party in and change the current machine that’s running. My personal plans is to vote out everyone who is in office or replace the previous party.

If you believe an individual truly can lead dispite their party affliation and think McCain is the Mavrick he proclaims to be, check out why William F. Buckley’s son Christopher, a long time Republican and until recently McCain supporter, is now supporting Obaman (thanks for the article Ralf). McCain has been very pointed with his critism of ACORN and “what may be one of the great voter frauds in history.” And there is some truth in that statement – some (thanks Jeff). And can anybody honestly say, Sara Palin was the best choice for VP from the Republicans? Especially when she doesn’t know what the vice president does (thanks Dave)?

Obama is currently ahead by 8 points, he has 277 electoral votes and now has reserved Grant Park in Chicago for his victory party. It appears we are on the verge of a historic presidential election. But before the Democrats get too full of themselves – realize once again our country is not run by one man, or woman. The current state of our country is more like thirty flaming bags of dogshit on the White House porch. And as much as Obama and the Democratic machine tries to stomp out those flames, there’s going to be dog shit everywhere. And believe me, its going to stink up more than just the White House. From what I heard, it was a historic turd Spot’s been taking for the last eight years.

Just caught up with this episode of the Daily Shaw and again Stewart makes great points. Not only that but its hilarious! The show begins with ‘The Angry Mob’ the McCain-Pallin ticket has raised with their Ayers/Obama comments. And, of course, the sweet old lady that is afraid of Obama because he’s Arab – and McCain’s response that he’s not Arab, he’s a decent family man. Stewart pokes fun on the implication that an Arab man cannot be ‘a decent family man’ (Italians beware!).  Check it out:

Well the markets continue to dig holes. As I’ve been telling people, and I am by no means an expert, but what I do know is we don’t to hit historic levels. And we are…

Desi asked how this will affect us. Well, I could lose my job but, so far, the tech sector hasn’t been as hard hit this time around. Our bank accounts are protected (though that does remind me, I need to open another account – we’re only insured up to $250K. Hey, I can dream!). Luckily our cars are fairly new but if the Neon had lasted a couple more years we’d be looking for a car and that’s not the same anymore.

But our 401K’s are taking a beating. Even between my fingers I can see the damage that has been done – 18% down. I’m glad my retirement plans includes working at Walmart at a greeter – though I suspect many are adding this to their plan now.

There are a number of Rats that have been flushed out into the open and I believe its just the beginning of the witch hunts. I also believe the US will be vilified throughout the worlds’ markets. And we can take the same approach we have with our financial leaders. We didn’t ask you to invest in our markets. It was your choice.

Though the next question I ask is are we leaders? Do we take responsibility though its, technically, not our problem? As the golden rule applies to the individual, I believe this quote applies to the masses: “the only way to lead is by example.” (I cannot find who first said this, please let me know if you know who did.) I believe we have a responsibility as the founding global culture.

There are a couple couple interesting articles on WSJ there are interesting from the global perspective and from a historic perspective. Have no doubt there are rats to be skinned but most will run away unscathed.

Another classic from Tina!

Wow, what fun we’ve had these last couple weeks. Watching the little Wall Street graph go up and down. Though yesterday was the largest single day loss on wall street, it was only #17 from a percentage perspective. It was the fourth largest percentage in ‘modern times’ – meaning the drops in recent memory (the rest were around the great depression, except 1987’s October 19 – which holds the record). But when George Bush came on the box speak to us over a week ago, I couldn’t help but picture GW turning to all his Wall Street buddies, and in his best Rodney Dangerfield – “Hey everybody, we’re all gonna get laid!” And Wallstreet loved it – but Liberty wept.

Make no mistake, this is a serious issue. Estimates range from half to 1.2 TRILLION dollars for actual bailout. The Bailout will be limited to $700 Billion Dollars (did you remember to use your pinky?) Remember that email about all Michael Jordan’s money and in the end Bill Gates farts and makes more then Michael? George Bush just farted but instead of making a thousand time more money, we’re that much in debt.

How did we get here? The housing market was the tool but the real issue is the financial institutes backing these and other investments. Or read Michel Chossudovsky’s ‘Global Financial Meltdown‘ (this reads like an economic spy briefing, interesting but a little technical). But we’re still the ones footing the bill – again.

And those bastards on Wall Street, and their friends in DC won’t feel a thing. So, finally to my title – what do you do when you have 150 Enrons? When you have 1250’s mismanaged companies and the exec’s and the chair people that are approving the abuse of the system in the name of competition, there should  be  a price they pay when it all comes down.

Honestly, I’m not sure how to feel about The Bailout. On one hand, we may be on the verge of an economic meltdown and we need to start sandbagging or everything going under. On the other, we didn’t create this mess – why should we clean it up? Shouldn’t Wallstreet pickup after themselves?

Tell you what – I’ll agree to The Bailout if part of it includes prosecution of those who broke the law and a 50% Bailout Tax on the profit of those people or institutions that gained financially in the last 10 years from the housing market boom – losses are deductible. The only exception would if you own one house, or two houses for less then 12 months. All profit gains over the last ten years from this housing bubble will taxed at 50%.

Holes are beginning to appear on Main Street. This is definitely affecting the presidential campaigin. This will definitely be felt by you and I. Regardless of where you stand on Global Warming, you don’t facts want to cross the line of ‘historic events’. Regardless of where you stand on The Bailout, we don’t want our economic numbers to cross into ‘historic events’ – and we are.

People react very strongly when when their role changes from observer to participant. Unless you are already involved in the financial industry, our perspective is changing. It did if you lost your job. It did if you were rejected for a loan. It will when The Bailout passes, and it will for our children.

If you haven’t seen this its worth a watch – Tina Fey is great