Dow Down 778, Do You Have Any Money Left?

What a day dear readers, what a day.

Mondays are my light days, so I can work from home if I so choose. I did. And decided to go back and forth between CNBC and MSNBC to see what was going on as far as the bailout was concerned. Well....the answer came a little after 2:00 EDT. 228 nay, 205 yea.

Where do we go from here ladies and gentlemen? Here are some questions:

-Does the market really need $700 billion dollars?
-What protections should there be for the public and taxpayers?
-Is there any situation in which judicial review is a bad thing?
-What should happen in bankruptcy court in regards to mortgages?

Like I said, a few questions for consideration.

Those who know me in my non-anonymous life know that governance issues play a large role in my life. I also spend a bit of time trying to help those who make decisions understand how those decisions might play in the public eye. And my professional persona is cringing at how this is going to play tomorrow morning. It's not going to be pretty dear readers, not pretty at all. I'll probably write something about that later in the week.

Anyway, I hope you all are not panicking. Panicking is not good for anybody.

Hopefully Charlie Rose will talk about this tonight. My guess is he will.

The Long Goodbye, Paul Newman 1925-2008

Well it just came over the wire that Paul Newman has died at age 83.

Since my favorite line in all of movie-dom comes from "Cat On A Hot Tin Roof", I am sad at the news. But Newman lived a good life and even though he was taken away by cancer, he lived his life the way he wanted.

So dear readers, take a little time out to watch a movie that stars Paul Newman and celebrate a life well lived.

Is It Really A Bailout?

Hello dear readers.

I haven't written since the AIG mess, mainly because I've been watching CNBC most of the time when I'm not either working or in my class.

I can't answer the question as to is this really a bailout, but I'm upset at how this is being framed; as if everybody whose home has been foreclosed on was greedy and stupid and should have never gotten a home in the first place. If I remember this right, when the housing crisis started, the issue was not really the people who were working two jobs to keep their home, but "flippers" who thought they could make some quick money in the housing market and took out very risky loans to begin with. Am I remembering this right?

Well.....back to financial news....CNBC or Bloomberg.

It's 10:45.....Do You Know Where Your Money Is?

Well, the market goes down 446 points. What to make of that?

I must say I'm surprised that there isn't more postings on the financial situation, but I'm not really all that surprised. Bread-and-butter and money issues have never been big issues to talk about in many UU circles.

Anyway......should the government have bailed-out AIG?

Things Are Heating Up

Hello dear readers.

Seems like things are heating up in the UU-blogosphere over cultural misappropriation. I'll have a post about that soon.

Right now, though, I'm watching CNBC and all the talk about the financial markets. Very interesting stuff if I do say so myself.

What should/is going to happen to AIG?
Was the government wrong in not helping Lehman?
What the hell is Bank of America thinking buying Merrill Lynch?
Is this the beginning/middle/end of the financial crisis?

oh well, back to CNBC. And maybe Charlie Rose will talk about this tonight.

An Interesting Sounding Book

So I got to read the Times Book Review this week and came across a review of a book that I had heard about and have been intrigued by since I saw the title in the indie-booksellers newsletter.



The 19th Wife by David Ebershoff.



If you like historical fiction or mysteries, this sounds like it might be the book to pick up sometime. I plan to when I get to read for pleasure again.




I'll be back to writing about UUA stuff when life slows down next month.