Let Them Eat Cake

I don't know why Marie Antoinette's infamous line came to mind...but it seems to me that Republicans on Capitol Hill seem to have that attitude today. The proposal to bail out Wall Street seemed to be a go today...that is, until House Republicans turned their meeting today at the White House into a circus.

There are various schools of thought on whether or not the US government should prop up the failing banks on Wall Street. Some oppose the idea of using public monies to save them from collapse while others think it critical to protect the American financial industry. I personally support the bailout proposal as long as there are safeguards in place to protect the necessary public investment, which is huge at 700 billion dollars. The way I see it, if taxpayers don't want to foot the bill now, they will certainly foot it later when they see their retirement savings and pension plans evaporate. That may not mean as much to younger voters, but for anyone planning to retire in the next few years, it could be devastating. And not only to Americans, but to investors worldwide.

What I can't understand is why House Republican, John Boehner, decided to stir up dissent now. President Bush, who has done very little right in his eight years in office, now is unable to even rely on the support of his own party in moving forward on the one of the few correct decisions he's made. My only theory is that this is a staged response, one that will allow John McCain to waltz in and take credit for bringing the dissidents to the table.

Sadly, this is utter bullshit. McCain, who has been a strong supporter of bank deregulation has zero credibility when it comes to battling this crisis. His "suspension" of his campaign was nothing but a political stunt after seeing his poll numbers sliding and watching his VP pick continue to flail around like an elephant in a china shop. I don't buy into comments suggesting he's scared to debate Obama, but I don't doubt that he'd like to delay the confrontation. Worse yet, suggesting rescheduling this debate on the date that the VP debate was supposed to fall was an even larger gaffe. Whether intentional or not, it gave the appearance that McCain's campaign is desperately worried about watching Palin drag down their support even further.

By all accounts, McCain said very little today aside from commenting that the US economy was in crisis. Uh...yeah. No frigging shit, John. You just figured that out? Barack Obama, while not an economic genius either, at least contributed to the discussion and had a few important points that will likely be included in the final proposal, if it ever comes to light.

In the meantime, while President Bush and his administration and Democrats attempt to solve this crisis in a timely manner, McCain sits silent, unable to offer anything useful, and House Republicans have chosen to politicize our retirement. Let them eat cake, eh? Thanks for putting the country first, jerkoffs.

Stop the Bleeding Already!

More bad news from Wall Street again, followed by the usual frenzy of a sliding market. Both New York and Toronto, as well as other world markets, have experienced some major dips in the past couple of weeks, making investors even more nervous and worried than they already were.

There's no question that the bailout of the world's largest insurer, the collapse of the fourth largest investment bank in the U.S., and woes suffered by a number of others is clear evidence that there are some serious issues in the American banking industry. Unfortunately, the punishment for their sins is being passed on us...in our investment portfolios, retirement plans, and pension funds.

As with every other period of market turbulence, eventually it must come to an end, and if history repeats itself, world markets will be at record high levels within the next five to ten years. It is critical that investors do not lose their cool and make rash decisions that simply add more gas to this fire. Already, hundreds of companies who have very little connection or correlation to the financial services industry are trading at 52 week lows and have seen their market capitalization hammered. Has anything changed in the last week that would cause a pharmaceutical company to be worth half what it was seven days ago? The answer is no, and believe me, once the aftershocks start dissipating...large institutional and personal investors will start shopping for bargains...and that's a train I want to be on.

Stay cool....everybody stay cool.