Newscoma

So I wake up to George Bush talking about the Wall Street bailout bill this morning and my first thought was that dude looked tired.

He wasn’t his smug self as usual and he looked like he hadn’t slept in a week.

We, as a nation, are tired as well.

I haven’t read all 100 pages of the bill which should hit the House today and the Senate on Wednesday but I have hit the highlights of it.

As just your average Joe, I can’t understand how we got into this mess although the signs were all there. In Hoots, we’ve already been hit. Cooperative farming plans have been discussed, issues of unemployment have been a reality and I keep mentioning Martin Manufacturing (which is owned by Warren Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway. Yes I called him. He didn’t call back. I wasn’t surprised.) Everything, no matter where you live in this world, is connected. A town in the county of Hoots which was one of the largest suppliers of clay in the world is barely keeping it’s head above water.

Times are tough.

And, I’m no economist. I know if I have $10, I don’t need to spend $12. Call me crazy.

Oh, and electricity/gas rates are up. I talked to the local police chief a few weeks ago and his officers are adjusting to what he called “Crimes of Necessity.” This is all new to us.

Several people I know here have lost some dough-re-mi in the markets this past couple of weeks. Nest eggs that would protect them as they got older. T. Boone Pickens personally lost $300 million as well, but he’s not going to have to rethink his retirement, his kid’s college education and that hard-earned savings were lost. It’s relative as well. I’m not picking on Pickens, but you know what I’m saying.

They (the big they) say there will be oversights on this bill with two different committees but I want more. I want assurances that the CEOs who lived greedily will not benefit from outrageous bonuses. I want transparency on this.

I had a conversation about 9/11 with some folks the other day as I’m wont to do. Remember when the terrorist attacks happened and the cable newsers talked about how Osama Bin Laden wanted to bring down the financial systems in our country? Curious, but our nation’s leaders were hot and heavy about Saddam Hussien.

I have no opinion on this other than it was the topic of a conversation. Something folks were talking about in a rural community about how recent history and their futures are intertwined.

Today will go on like any other day. I will go to work, covering two press conferences today. I will do my regular duties. I will chit-chat with people at the office. We will mention the Wall Street bill, I have no doubt.

And we will wait, because, as much as I hate to admit it, we have no damn choice.