Bush, Buffet, and What Next?

Just a few quick thoughts on this hectic day of news:

1. Bush's speech was a yawn, as expected. I think it's the first entire speech of his I've watched since he addressed Congress after 9/11. That one was full of determination; this was a walk-through, read in a monotone voice off the teleprompter. For the first time to my eyes, he is starting to look like a little old man, something about the way the lines and sags of his face are congealing into old age. Of course, every president looks a lot older by the time he leaves office; but was it just my screen, or were his pupils dilated? And did he ever blink?

2. Bush purported to explain why the Wall Street meltdown occurred, and why it matters so much to ordinary Americans that we fix it right away. But that was the fastest, most hurried explanation I've ever listened to. Since all this started, I'm still trying to find out exactly why "the credit crisis" is so monumentally god-awful this time. All reports and analyses in the MSM seem to just gloss over the actual details; the most specific thing I've read is that "the commercial paper market froze," so banks and businesses can't borrow to meet their payrolls and operating expenses; but I'm not understanding why, if the doors are open and they are doing business every day, why they can't pay their people and their creditors out of gross receipts. I mean, like, isn't that how business works? Obviously, I was not a business major, and my ignorance is probably laughable here. But still, you'd think somebody by this time could have actually explained the mechanics of the crisis in a way any college graduate could understand.

3. I don't feel so dumb, though, when I realize that most Senators and Representatives talking to the media seem not to have much more understanding of all this than I do. Everyone agrees, from both sides of the aisle, that it's a mega-monster-crisis; but despite the calm faces, I'm not hearing that anyone in Congress really knows what the hell is wrong or how the hell to fix it, exactly.

4. McCain is making a grandstand play to the crowds by "suspending" his campaign; and on a private level, I can admire Gramps for wanting to go out in style like that, one last hurrah, I'll-show-these-whippersnappers-I've-still-got-the-moxie. But on a political and presidential level, he's toast. History. And he knows it. And so does the rest of the country. Even Republican leaders, I think, are shocked at his lightning-quick move to duck the debate with Obama; wonder if Obama will show up all by himself at the debate?

5. Palin's barbie-doll charade of speed-dating world leaders is not worthy of any comment whatsoever. But Russ predicts: when the election and her political career are both fast-fading memories, she will no doubt end up with her own talk show, and won't that be just nifty? "And now, live from Pocatello . . . iiiiiiiiit's Sarah!" You heard it here first, remember.

6. The other thing I don't yet understand is, exactly what horror is it that we are straining every nerve to prevent now? If the Big Bailout doesn't happen immediately, will the Dow fall to 8,000? 6,000? 1,000? 100? What? The President and various politicos have mentioned some banks might fail, unemployment might rise, pensions would be endangered, mortgage and car loans would be "hard to get"; well, all that sounds like a recession, and I've lived through several in my lifetime already.

But in a year or two or three, they pass, and things sort themselves out. Are we thinking this would go on for a decade? Would unemployment rise to 20+ percent like in the Depression? Would banks fail all over the country, factories lock their gates? Would we have Weimar Republic runaway inflation and a worthless dollar? Would it take a wheelbarrow full of cash to buy one latte? What? Nobody seems to be saying exactly. Why not? What exactly are we supposed to be so terribly afraid of here?

7. Warren Buffet seems not to be terribly spooked; though if I had $62 billion in my back pocket, I wouldn't worry about a damn thing, either; I'd be catching some rays on a lovely tropic isle right now and letting the world roll on by. Buffet just invested $5 billion in Goldman Sachs, and he is betting, as is only natural, that he will make a cool profit on the deal eventually. Buffet told CNBC, "Last week, we were at the brink of something that would have made anything that's happened in financial history pale." But Warren, what exactly was, or is, that Something?

Again, I'm sure my ignorance is palpable here, and perhaps even ludicrous; but I think many millions of my fellow citizens are in a quandary like me when it comes to specifics. All we can do is trust that our elected leaders take good counsel and do the best thing; and of course, we can vote to end this lousy, arrogant, greedy, completely irresponsible Republican regime that has driven this country and its future straight into the ground. How remarkable it is that even hard-right conservative Republicans in Congress have said, "Oh hell no" to the Bush Administration's attempt to snatch and grab all the power and money they can in a blitzkrieg attack on the Constitution and the taxpayer. Let's hope they have the balls to hold the line there.

"The party's over" for the fat cats on Wall Street with the "nearly immoral" salaries, Speaker Pelosi said on a CNN clip I just saw; it's way over for the Republicans too, if people only have eyes to see what is right in front of their noses.