Sarah Palin got 909 votes when she ran for mayor of Wasilla in 1999.  I got 1506 votes when I ran for state rep in 2004.  

I’m just sayin’.

The Senate tonight voted to approve the bailout bill.  Not only did they approve $700 billion (BILLION) in spending, but they approved $150 billion in tax breaks.  Apparently our financial crisis is so severe that we need to rescind a $.39 tax on wooden arrows.  Wooden arrows?  Are you kidding me?

Are our legislators so totally intellectually and morally bankrupt that an unacceptable spending bill of unprecedented proportions can be transformed into something acceptable by throwing in a little gift for everyone?  Can they really justify squandering such a huge sum because, at long last, the makers of NASCAR tracks have a smaller tax burden?

I feel like I can dangle a piece of tinfoil in front of Congress, hand them all a lollipop, and tell them to hire me as a Red Sox Playoff Game Historical Evaluator.  At $1,000,000 a game, I’d be dirt cheap in comparison.

One final item before I take my enraged self to bed: I’d like you all to refresh yourselves on the US Constitution, Article I, Section VII, which reads: “All bills for raising Revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives . . .”  And then ask yourself: why is the Senate voting on a revenue bill that was defeated in the House?

We need to clean house.

Bush says that if we don’t do a bailout, then we’ll get a recession. It’s tough to argue that, but. . . when there are huge financial mistakes, don’t you expect a recession? I’m unconvinced that a bailout actually averts a recession. It just costs more.

Brad Feld: “I reread Nassim Nicholas Taleb’ brilliant book The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable. I reached a very simple conclusion – everything that I was watching being discussed on CNBC was probably incorrect and, more importantly, likely irrelevant. The actual events that occurred would take me less than five minutes to read the following week when I skim BusinessWeek in the bathroom. The commentary was just noise.”

All of these talking heads saying that we need a bailout are empty parrots. Bernake and Paulson haven’t slept in days – they aren’t capable of rational thought anymore. Bush was never a problem solver. McCain and Obama are focused on November, not the long term.

I haven’t changed my mind. Let the failures fail. Let a million successes bloom.

President Bush has proposed a three-page document that he says will cost up to $700 billion of taxpayer’s money. There aren’t many people who think that the document has enough detail. There aren’t many that think it actually will stop at $700 billion. Senator Dodd puts it better than I could: “After reading this proposal, I can only conclude that it is not just our economy that is at risk, Mr. Secretary, but our Constitution, as well.”

We don’t need this bailout. Some companies made some bad decisions and loaned money to people who also made bad decisions. The people can’t pay, the homes aren’t enough collateral, and the companies are losing money on the deal. I tell you what should happen next: bankruptcy.

Paul Krugman appears to have fallen into some wisdom on the question. (Krugman is one of those nitwits who drives me crazy because he is smart enough to know better; regardless, he got this one right).

He reviews why the bailout is on the table in the first place: banks have a crappy set of assets, and that makes them nervous, and they don’t loan money when they’re nervous. They’d unload their crappy assets, but no one will take them until they know just how crappy they are. That makes the assets look even more crappy. The result is no new loans into the economy and a big logjam while everyone stares at their crappy assets.

Krugman’s key point: the banks “will be crippled by inadequate capital unless the federal government hugely overpays for the assets it buys, giving financial firms — and their stockholders and executives — a giant windfall at taxpayer expense.” Restating: The only way the banks will sell is if they get a good price on their crappy assets. The government plan is to buy the crappy assets at deliberately inflated prices.

So, we have a financial logjam. We shouldn’t try to solve this problem by overpaying to remove the logjam. That’s the brute force method, and a dumb one. We should be smarter. Let the logjam go bankrupt – they’re getting what they deserve. Instead, create an alternate channel around the logjam. Create another method for citizens and companies borrow money. Permit a new market to be created, next to the old and broken one. Lenders still have money, and borrowers still need it. They’ll find each other.

Warren Buffet’s investment in Goldman Sachs is an example. Goldman isn’t going to go under with Buffet’s leadership. Goldman can take the money from lenders and match it with borrowers. Meanwhile, the idiots who loaned the money to the idiots who pretended they could make the payments will continue to suffer their way through bankruptcy. It’s the way the system should work.

McCain suspended his campaign today to that he could focus on the economy.  He canceled his appearance on the Letterman show . . . but still had time to talk to Katie Couric.  Letterman let him have it. Check it out at http://lateshow.cbs.com/latenight/lateshow/

I assume that link will come down sooner than later, so here are a few quotes:

Then in the middle of the taping Dave got word that McCain was, in fact just down the street being interviewed by Katie Couric. Dave even cut over to the live video of the interview, and said, “Hey Senator, can I give you a ride home?”

Earlier in the show, Dave kept saying, “You don’t suspend your campaign. This doesn’t smell right. This isn’t the way a tested hero behaves.” And he joked: “I think someone’s putting something in his metamucil.”

“He can’t run the campaign because the economy is cratering? Fine, put in your second string quarterback, Sara Palin. Where is she?”

“What are you going to do if you’re elected and things get tough? Suspend being president? We’ve got a guy like that now!”

McCain is cooked if the election just keeps going.  Business as usual leads to President Obama.  McCain has to gamble; he has to do something disruptive.   So, we get to the point here: Did McCain suspend his campaign so that he concentrate on the economy?  Or, to quote Letterman, “are we suspending the campaign because the poll numbers are sliding?”

Voters will decide.