Look Out! Iceberg Dead Ahead

In the past several months John McCain's campaign has become a complete and utter political disaster. His campaign might as well be called the Titanic because it is fixing to ram an Iceberg and sink without a trace while John's band is on deck playing Nearer My God To Thee.
Who the hell has he been taking campaign advice from, any joker on the street? I thought there might be a little hope left for him that is until he chose Sarah Palin as his running mate but now the Iceberg lies dead ahead. His campaign of vengeance and hate is sinking faster that the Titanic did. His only redemption is to concede the election before November 4th. If he apologizes for deregulating the financial industry, supporting the Iraq War and maligning Obama's name maybe just maybe he could get a job in Obama's Cabinet. Concession is the only card he has left to play because all the life preservers have already been passed out and John McCain did not get one. Sometimes the best one can do is to salvage one's dignity with hopes of sailing your ship another day.

Getting a Car Out of the Ditch is Almost Impossible

What kind of automobile do you own? A Ford, Chevy, Chrysler or maybe a foreign model, they all have four wheels, a motor and vary very little. There are hundreds of choices when it comes to American made automobiles and that seems to be the problem. The American automobile manufactures need to produce only about half a dozen models and no more. Maybe the Detroit Three, GM-Ford-Chrysler are starting to get the message. GM and Chrysler will merge this year which could benefit everyone who buys a car in the future. The merger could be a rare possibility for starting over and doing things right this time. An American automobile industry, one that is streamlined, smart and world class in every way especially in it's product quality, development and use of new technologies may help them get their car out of the ditch.
Detroit has to make the move and prove to the American public they will not make the same mistakes that put their cars in the ditch. The public will never again swallow Detroit's line of " We only made gigantic SUV because the public demanded them". They made those battleships because the big three made ten times the profit every time one of those monsters rolled of the assemble line. They did not care that the monsters got 17 MPG instead of 37 MPG all they saw was $ signs and value for their share holders. Now no one wants an automobile that gets 17 MPG so Detroit is begging the US government for a bailout. If the American tax payers are going to own a big chunk of the Detroit Three we should demand and receive much more fuel efficient automobiles. Any auto that does not get 37 MPG should never be built but convincing Detroit of that fact may prove as hard as getting a car out of the ditch.

Incompetence and Greed

$700 billion of taxpayer money to bail out financial institutions. It's only money, Right? I do not know about you but every time I screw up because of my incompetence and or greed I have to buy my own medicine and suffer until I get well. The government does not come to my rescue with a prescription for wellness or a self help book for me to read while I am curled up in a ball waiting for the sickness to go away. I just have to make the best of the situation. If this bailout was not so tragic it would be comical. For too long the conventional wisdom of government intervention in the economy was a No-No and was avoided like the plague. The Free Market was depended upon to guide the economy towards growth and justice. Now Wall Street is begging for government aid in light of it's long devotion to a free and unregulated market.
A simple and powerful alternative would be to take that huge sum of money and give it directly to the people who need it. Let the government declare a moratorium on foreclosures, help home owners pay off their mortgages and create federal jobs to guarantee work for people who want and need jobs. The $700 billion should be spent for Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness of the common man not for some fat cats on Wall Street to get even fatter. I say " screw the trickle down effect" and put that money directly into the pockets of the population.
The cry has gone out from Republicans and Democrats alike " Change"! This is a golden opportunity for which ever party wins the election to regulate the financial world so Wall Street and all the rest of the world's financial wizards will never be able to hold the common man's medicine hostage ever again.

Keep Your Eyes on the Flashing Lights Please

Every four years America is dragged into the Presidential debates. The debates are the last phase of a campaign that seems to span a lifetime. We began hearing about knock out punches and game changers but they are rarely seen during the debates. The effects debates have on presidential elections are very small. All they do is to affirm views or ease concerns we have about the candidates.
The concept of a debate typically involves two sides presenting opposing ideals reflecting different views. One form of debate setting is known as Town Hall. These kind of debate meetings work well in a community when it's citizens are complaining to their city council members about the pot holes in their streets that need filling or their trash rates going up $1.50 a month. Those meetings are made up of the most active and engaged citizens in the community not the uninformed and disengaged citizens who are given a free ticket to a Presidential Town Hall debate. Citizen at a Presidential Town Hall debate are suppose to be undecided in their presidential choice. That requirement alone should demand the debates take place in Hollywood. Anyone who is still undecided after eight years of George W Bush, two foreign quagmires and the worst economic meltdown in 70 years surly gets their mail delivered to an address in the make believe world of Hollywood. Those flashing lights at this weeks Presidential Town Hall debate should have been labeled first grade, second grade and third grade because that seemed to be IQ level of the undecided voter's questions.
Lights, Camera and Action! Spielberg would have gotten much more out of the debate's cast of characters so we might as well move the last debate to Hollywood where almost every decided or undecided actor knows how to pay attention to flashing lights.

To save the Sheep you have to slaughter a few Pigs and kill all the Coyotoes

Seized with fear and drunk with hope pretty much describes Wall Street these days. The Money Men believed they were smarter than the rest of us, lulling us all into believing the music would never stop. For years they bet big with other peoples money and when they won they were rewarded with huge bonuses but when they lost they just moved on to the next sucker before the music could stop. Now they can't seem to hear the music and all the suckers have exited the dance so their solution is to dump all their problems on the American tax payer because they know the tax payer owns the dance hall. Ownership of the dance hall is not in question but letting someone with two left feet stay in dance hall is in question.
All this is nothing new. In the mid 70's New York City failed and was rescued by the administration of Gerald Ford. Next it was the failure of Washington DC at the hands of the city's corrupt Mayor Marion Berry and once again the government opened up the cashier's window. In the Reagan era it was Chrysler and the American banks who had lent billions to South American regimes who could not repay their loans. Lets not forget the Asian financial crises and the International Monitory Fund bailouts of the mid 90's. The reality is that every time there was a bailout the American Tax payer took it in the ass, causing the median income to fall because of lost jobs and lower wages. Once again the government is holding a gun to our head as we dance as fast as we can. I for one am not totally against a bailout of some kind because I know that when a gun is used in a responsible manner the outcome is usually pretty good. The solution to today's Wall Street crisis is to slaughter a few pigs because pigs will just make another mess, that's what pigs do and to kill all the coyotes before they eat all us sheep. The government has he right approach with their gun theory it just needs to learn how to aim the gun at the right target.