There's another presidential debate scheduled for Sunday at 8pm Eastern, that most people probably haven't heard of. That's because it wasn't organized by the Commission on Presidential Debates that organizes the ones you usually see before each election (and which has only ever invited one candidate who was neither a Republican nor a Democrat), ( Read more... )

I have always found
that non-sequiturs are fun
Snuffleupagus

That's just the sort of mood I'm in this morning.

So the bailout bill has been signed into law. Do you feel better about the state of the economy? I sure don't ( Read more... )

The last couple weeks have been pretty good. I've read good books, participated in good gaming, re-connected with an old friend, heard from someone I hadn't expected to ever talk to again, and from someone else that I just didn't know when I'd get to talk to again (and who reads this blog - hi, to the person I'm referring to, I'm happy to know you' ( Read more... )

Today I watched the system work, and it made me proud.

I also watched the system be subverted by an un-elected official, and it made me sick.

The bailout bill was voted down, thanks in large part to the vocal opposition of the people. In response, Fed Chairman Bernanke started to dump billions into the market - some sources put the amount at ( Read more... )

I should say that since I don't have TV, I didn't watch the debate last night - if I can stomach it, I may watch it when it shows up on YouTube (and I've got some time ( Read more... )

Public support for the bailout: estimated at 7%

Likelihood of the bailout improving the situation: 0%

Chance that the bailout will be forced through regardless: I'm going with 100% - anyone want to place a wager?

There are many schools of thought when it comes to Economics - the one that's dominated American society for the last 30 years is Keynsian economics, which is based around the idea that the government can increase utilization of resources and thus increase wealth and prosperity by (partially) controlling the economy. The Austrian school holds that ( Read more... )

The Bush administration has proposed a plan to bail out the country's financial markets, at a cost of $700 billion - or, as the article puts it, "more than $2,000 for every man, woman and child in the United States". Not many people in Congress even batted an eye at this, and most of them immediately jumped in to support the plan. The Democrats are ( Read more... )

Where does the government derive the right to spend billions of the people's dollars to protect the relatively small number of people who made poor financial decisions from the consequences of their actions (thereby passing on the consequences to you and I ( Read more... )