The stock market has rebounded somewhat; McCain's Palin bounce seems to be dissipating; and my back is about 90% of what it was before whatever it was knocked me out of commission for over a month.
As for the financial upheavals in the markets - I've been a non-believer in the so-called wisdom of the market for a long time. Free markets are by far the best way to produce wealth, but without rules, they sooner or later fall victim to greed. I think the markets have needed more regulation and oversight ever since the go-go years of Reagan. Now we're seeing the worst of all possible worlds with the Federal government bailing out the companies they should have been regulating in the first place. Profits are privatized and losses socialized. After bailing out or taking over Bear Stearns, Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae, and now AIG, who's next? Washington Mutual and Morgan Stanley are good candidates. And don't forget the automakers. GM has just asked for something like $30B in loan guarantees. So pretty soon, the US will have one big bank and one big car maker, both government owned, but health care will still be in private hands. Yes to socialized banking , but no to "socialized" healthcare? Go figure!
I do have some hope that the McCain/Palin ticket will implode under its own incompetence. McCain is clearly out of his league with the current financial mess (I can just hear him muttering, "Give me a war gadammit!!"), and Palin's lies are finally catching up with her. Realclearpolitics.com and Pollster.com are both showing swings towards Obama, and my even favorite site, fivethirtyeight.com is coming around. Maybe Americans aren't as unbelievably stupid as I sometimes think they are.
My back continues to improve. I've been walking and riding my bike quite a bit, and today I worked out for the first time in a month. I did my normal routine, but with about 80% of the weight I normally use. Maybe in another couple of weeks I'll be totally back to normal. I hope.
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