Bumped. MB

As Sarah Palin enjoys being able to weather the affects of the financial crisis through shopping sprees that are large enough to be considered economic stimuli in themselves, many women (who still on average only make 79 cents for every 1 dollar their male counterparts earn) are suffering. This issue is not a rant, its not a movement, it is a disparity in our country that still has not been dealt with. People should be rewarded for their work not their gender. Its not just the $150,000 dollar wardrobe, the fact that she bases her foreign policy on being able to see a foreign nation from her window or that she couldn’t name any of the major newspapers that she reads. Instead the biggest problem is that she was selected by the McCain camp in a rushed attempt to secure potential dissenting Democrat women who saw their dreams of President Hillary Clinton vanish after the primary elections. Bad move. They banked on exploiting the female vote without really taking a stance on issues important to women.

I have read the 110-page bailout plan (available from the NY Times), and have a few comments:

First, the Treasury Secretary can buy almost anything he deems to be a troubled asset. This is more than a little too broad for my comfort. In addition, the first "oversight" committee consists of the Treasury Secretary (huh?), the Fed. Chair, the Director of the Federal Home Finance Agency, the SEC Chairman, and the Secretary of HUD -- in other words, five people appointed by the President, including the guy who's in charge of the program.

Another problem -- the Treasury Secretary can waive parts of the "Federal Acquisition Regulation," specifically those parts that require minority participation and opportunities, very easily and with almost nobody allowed to complain about that.

We're just getting started; there's more.

I'll have more (much more) to say about the current financial situation, but for now...

John McCain, after having stated that "the fundamentals of the economy are sound," being against the AIG bailout before being for it, and not read the three-page outline that is the "Paulson plan," decides suddenly to "suspend his campaign" and fly to Washington (dissing David Letterman while taking the time to speak with Katie Couric) in order to fix the problem. (Check out the video of Letterman's reaction on YouTube!)

He even goes so far as to demand a delay in the debates, which would also (conveniently?) delay the VP debate.

So he finally gets to Washington, and what happens? Chaos.