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The Senate easily passed the bailout bill last night, while most Americans were busy watching the Chicago Cubs lose. The Senate couldn't be bothered to hold a hearing to listen to a single dissenting voice, although nearly 400 economists, including Noble laureates, have pointed out that this bailout will solve nothing.

Monday 9-29-2008
What a day! Some bad and some good. At the moment, the huge winners in my opinion, are the free-market system and our system of elected and representational government. Keep in mind, this bailout is far from dead, and the ‘new’ version was barely better than the first version that the President and future 'Czar" gave us. I still think it will be repackaged with even more fear mongering and threats in the next few days. Congress is taking a recess after another sessio of childish finger-pointing. These folks have no clue or conscience!

I’m disgusted by the common bond found by so many of our elected officials in the last few days-greed and ego gratification. As the most prominent economists in the country voice their objections to a $700 billion dollar bailout plan that will solve none of the problems inherent in the investment banking industry, those who want to be on television and sound important are sounding-off. Never mind the experts. Never mind the American citizen.

The day you see George Bush and Barney Frank gushing praise for each other is the day you know we’re in it deep!

I hope you watched the pundits and politicians last night. Many of them pulled the ‘doomsday’ scare tactic of stating that “the greatest danger is doing nothing, so we must pass this bill as quickly as possible”. I understand that many other politicians will speak out of both sides of their mouth and publicly cry and wail about this proposal while they make their deal to vote for it behind closed doors during the dark of night.

After several long-winded blogs about the financial mess, I have one that is very brief and succinct. I’m glad to see that the bailout plan was not authorized without debate, there’s still a little hope that we won’t become a completely socialist country quite as soon as I’d feared. As you listen to the pundits and politicians on radio and television, take note of their demeanor and attitude-I have.

There are plenty of other folks who will tell you how the players and coaching staff performed at Saturday’s Festival. This blog will just be my personal experiences from yet another Blackhawk’s ‘first’ event.

“Being right can be very lonely”, said Richie’s dad to his son in an episode of ‘Happy Days’. It came from an episode back when the show was an actual period piece and interesting to watch.

I’m fortunate to have a couple of friends who are as involved in politics and economics as I am. On any given day I can have a discussion with Les, who is single, childless, fiscally conservative, ethically aware, agnostic and on the verge of a very tenuous retirement. Also on any given day I can have a discussion with Dave, who is married, the father of five small children, fiscally conservative, ethically aware, strict Roman Catholic and a long way from retirement.

Many of us look back at our childhood with envy. We miss the feeling of being cared-for while still maintaining the freedom to experience new adventures, powerful emotions, ever growing strength and the naïve optimism that the future was something to look forward to. Very few things survive those innocent days into adulthood with the ability to resurrect our sense of wonder-they either suffer from our loss of innocence or our increased sophistication.