It's Only Money

So now we hear that the federal government is going to make 800 billion dollars more money available for bailout purposes, including 200 billion to banks and credit card companies, designed to unfreeze credit. Which means these institutions are supposed to loan us money again. The question being, will consumers want the loans, or have some of us gotten used to the idea of living with less?

So the government – meaning we -- is on the hook for trillions of dollars. Where is it coming from? The analysts tell us it’s going to be printed. If you print more money, is it worth less?

Look, I couldn’t even tell you how many zeros there are in a trillion, though by now I should know. I used to tell people I had a six-figure income, but that I wasn’t happy about where my employer put the decimal point. But if it were my job to figure all this out, I’d be on TV like all those other analysts, including the guy who won the Nobel Prize. As they say, that’s above my pay grade.

It’s all about results. It seems to me that it probably doesn’t matter if all this extra money is worth the paper it’s printed on, as long as buyers and sellers think it is.

It’s true that many of us have to be weaned off carrying excessive debt; it’s also true that financial institutions have to be prevented from giving us a fix whenever we want it. But while we’re congratulating ourselves on not buying stuff, the vendors, who are people just like us are suffering from our sudden frugality. If we don’t have a good holiday season, neither will they.

Something has to start the engine, though, and after that, something has to keep the RPM down. I think this is a soluble problem, but somebody has to do the solving, whether it’s the Bush administration or Obama’s, and I can’t blame either of them too much if there’s a false start or two. Doing nothing doesn’t seem to be an option.

So start the presses.

There, now I’ve said it.

She's No Longer News, But Now It's Her Turn

Maybe I’m watching the wrong TV shows, but it’s my distinct impression that I haven’t seen nearly as much of Sarah Palin. 

OK, there was the now-infamous segment of her pardoning a turkey for Thanksgiving while another hapless gobbler was being slaughtered in the background. But Palin just isn’t news anymore. 

It’s time now for her to cash in – and I hope she does. Sarah Palin was elevated to a position she didn’t belong in by a GOP campaign team whose judgment must have been on vacation. Did she lose the election for McCain? I don’t think so. For every Republican voter who may have been turned off by her selection as a running mate, there was likely at least one who was inspired by it, so at worst you could probably say it was a wash.

Governor Palin was ridiculed and abused by people like me, albeit people who get paid bigger bucks and have a national audience, for two months. Now, it’s her turn. In my opinion, she has earned a zillion dollar book deal. And don’t forget what she might pull in from endorsing a line of eyeglass frames. If Joe the Plumber is cashing in, she’s entitled to multiples of what he will get.

But the clock is ticking, and she needs to strike while she’s hot. I’d hate to see her go the way of that losing vice-presidential candidate who made those American Express commercials which as I recall, revolved around the joke that you wouldn’t remember him. And I don’t.

As for political capital, well, that’s a whole ‘nother animal. If Sarah Palin wants that, I still think she’s going to have to earn it, serving a term in Congress or the U.S. Senate.

But right now, opportunity is knocking on another of the doors in front of her, and I hope she walks through.

I’m glad she’s not real news anymore – there’s certainly enough of that to deal with. But it’s ching-ching-ching time for Sarah, and I’m really happy for her.

There, now I’ve said it.

Losing Fair and and Square

Opponents of Proposition 8 here in California have been using a wide variety of tactics to express their displeasure with the outcome of this month’s vote, which came out against same-sex marriage. I also voted no. But we lost fair and square.

How can it be fair, you may say, when the pro-8 side was funded mostly by religious groups and that their ad campaign was deceiving? Well, the same rules apply to almost any election, and the anti-8 forces just plain didn’t mount as effective a campaign as was necessary. In elections, like sporting events, there are winners and losers. At the risk of trivializing this, one team just played a better game.

Now of course, it ain’t over till it’s over, as Yogi used to say, and there are lawsuits pending in the California Supreme Court, which has agreed to hear arguments relatively quickly. The anti-8 forces are demonstrating in front of churches and targeting businesses and individuals who supported Prop 8. They are certainly within their rights to do these things, but these are tactics that are of little use in this new arena.

Steve Pougnet, the mayor of Palm Springs, an important resort community for gays and lesbians, questioned the use of economic boycotts in a period where businesses are already suffering big-time. 

Personally, I think the word “marriage” should be removed from our laws altogether and replaced with “civil union” or whatever you want to call it. All government would do is issue a certificate to those who need one, regardless of gender, and the recipients would have exactly the same rights under the law. Those who want a marriage ceremony could go somewhere else to get it, rather than a city or county clerk’s office or a judge’s chamber.

The anger shown by opponents of Proposition 8 is certainly understandable. The challenge is channeling that anger into actions that actually fix what’s broken. The history of all the civil rights struggles in this country shows us that this may take time.

There, now I’ve said it.

Attach the Strings

Every dollar that’s doled out by the federal government -- alias, the taxpayers -- ought to have strings attached.

Money that’s given to the banks to stimulate lending ought largely to be used for just that – lending. And the banks that get the money ought to be renegotiating loans with borrowers in trouble. It shouldn’t be assumed they will do that automatically.

If money or even loan guarantees are given to auto companies, it ought to be tied to retooling plants to increase the production of alternative energy vehicles. As taxpayers, we should feel no obligation to preserving the status quo. Bridge loans to preserve as many jobs as we can in the short term, OK, but after that, let’s make vehicles people will actually buy. We had more than 30 years to deal with this, and we didn’t, but now we have to.

Blame may make us feel good, but it restores nothing. The most that we can do is to remove those from power who either didn’t have the vision to avoid the situation we’re in or those who had it and failed to act.

If you want to make brain surgery out of this process, have at it. But there’s a simple principle involved. Whatever we bail out has to do more than just stay afloat. It has to be headed in the right direction. Make sure the captain of the sinking ship isn’t rewarded, but don’t waste time on punishment, either. Those who concentrate on leading us out of this financial crisis – and there is a way out – will have their reward.

There, now I’ve said it.

We're All Mutts

Our new president-elect, talking about the dog he is planning to get for his children,  said it might be a mutt like him. He was referring, of course, to his being of both black and white heritage.

Interesting thing about skin color.  Everyone calls Mr. Obama African-American,  but that’s because his skin is dark. I am no genetic expert, but could he not have as easily been born with a light skin, coming from a white mother? Then what would we call him?

For those attracted to the notion of racial purity, you’re going to have a long, hard search for it. We categorize people racially based on what we can see. But what about those factors we can’t see? I suspect that if we all had our DNA analyzed, we’d be pretty shocked at whatever went in to producing us. So there is really little basis for prejudice, at least according to standards like skin color.

Not that I’m in favor of analyzing everyone’s DNA right now. You can see where that road heads, too. Remember the movie “Gattaca,”  in which only those with no genetic defects got to be astronauts? The insurance companies would have a field day with such information.

But when you realize how little separates us,  it’s just too hard to maintain old attitudes that are based on, well, nothing,  really. So as one great American said not long ago, “Can’t we all just get along?” In the modern world, we’re going to find that we have to in order to survive. Barack Obama’s election is one big step toward getting us used to the idea.

There, now I’ve said it.

Educating Sarah

Sarah Palin is not an unintelligent woman. Even her fiercest critics will tell you her problem is ignorance, not stupidity. The thing about ignorance is that you don’t know there are things you don’t know. She was put in a very bad position by people who treated her as a means to an end, and they are the real villains of this piece. 

She’s been used and abused, but now she has the opportunity to turn it to her advantage. You don’t think those book publishers are salivating already over a deal? What about the Sarah Palin line of designer spectacles? Heck, she could make enough to repay the Republican donor whose credit card she allegedly beat up on shopping trips to Neiman’s, and still have plenty left over. 

Even Gov. Palin  realizes that she’s not a realistic choice for 2012. But if she really has a commitment to elected office, she has a pretty good future ahead. She could run for Congress or the U.S. Senate, learn how the system works, or doesn’t work as the case may be, and then she’d have some credibility as a maverick. As we’ve said in this space many times, to fix something that’s broken you have to have a clear idea of how it’s supposed to work in the first place.

There is one condition under which I will offer Sarah Palin my vote right now if she wants to go for the big prize in 2012. Tina Fey absolutely has to be her running mate. Job No. 1 of the vice president is to be a spare president. I wouldn’t have a problem if they switched off from time to time. Who’d have to know?

There, now I’ve said it.

Time For a Purge

As the Republicans try to figure out why their man lost, they should find out who the architects of that loss are and get rid of them. Whose brilliant idea was it to tap Sarah Palin as a running mate for John McCain? I heard from a good source in Arizona that he was livid when they told him Palin would be his VP choice, but he went along with it, figuring that was at least one of his paths to victory. But if he didn’t want Palin , then who did, who backed them up, and why did McCain let himself be victimized? Was it the same group of geniuses who told him to suspend his campaign after the economic crisis exploded? 

I don’t think these were entirely his mistakes, although he let himself go along, and that’s mistake enough. But clearly, the people pulling the strings screwed up. Sarah Palin wasn’t remotely qualified to be a vice-presidential candidate and should never have been put in that position. In her defense, she made the best use of what she had available, but it wasn’t enough, and in a way, she was victimized, too.

We’re all very interested right now in finding out who is responsible for our economic meltdown. But who is responsible for the meltdown in the GOP campaign? To paraphrase John McCain, we should know their names, so that they aren’t around to screw up the next one.

Now that the election is over,  Republicans have the time to do a little navel-gazing. What will it take to make the Grand Old Party grand again? It seems to me that a grand old purge is in order.

There, now I’ve said it.

It Had to Happen

I don’t pretend to be eloquent enough to provide any useful comment on the historic nature of what has happened tonight, neither the dramatic acceptance speech of our new president-elect, nor the gracious concession speech of the man who was defeated.

All I can say is that I have the strong feeling that Barack Obama’s victory was just plain necessary. We needed his election not only to galvanize this country, but to send a powerful message to the rest of the world that things are finally different here.

Our challenge is to be realistic about what this election means. By himself, Barack Obama cannot dig us out of the pit into which we have sunk. He can wave his wand, but it’s doubtful the Red Sea is going to part. The nation’s voters have expressed enormous confidence in him. But he puts his pants on one leg at a time like the rest of us; he will make mistakes, and many of us may find ourselves upset with him from time to time, just as we have been with his predecessors. Circumstances may prevent him from delivering on his campaign promises. Sure, he may get us out of the war in Iraq, but may have to plunge us deeper into the war in Afghanistan. All we can expect is that he brings his personal qualities and intellect to bear on the problems we face going forward.

But it’s fair to say that the big difference is that from here on in, we’re going to be paying attention. For the first time in a long time, this will be a participatory democracy. And just like Barack Obama’s election, this is a necessary development. We can no longer allow the special interests, whether they be lobbyists or PACs or corporations or associations, to lead us and our representatives in Washington around by the nose. We can no longer live narrow, comfortable little lives, assuming that someone has our back. Barack Obama isn’t going to save us by himself, and it would be unfair for us to seek that of  him.  What we can reasonably hope for from him, however,  is leadership.

There, now I’ve said it.

Distinguished Company

So the economy’s in the toilet, your portfolio is close to worthless and your retirement age is now 124. But at least in one respect, you’re on an equal footing with Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, and you’re just as powerful as the President.

They only have one vote, just like you.

Of course, it all depends on how you use it. It’s a really important thing, and not all of us take it as seriously as we should. Do you vote a certain way because your family always has, or because your spouse or your best friend vote that way, or even because of the opinions of Keith or Rush? Or do you make up your own mind?

How about “sending a message?” It seems like a forgone conclusion that Obama will win California, but I have a relative who wants to send a message to him that he’s not entitled to a mandate, even though that voter believes Obama is qualified to be president. Then there’s the issue of having Democrats in charge of everything and the presumed need for checks and balances. If the Democrats do win, don’t worry. They’ll have no money to spend, and if they want to raise our taxes, well, we don’t have enough to pay them anyway, do we?

I think you should vote for the candidate you want to fill a particular office -- even if that candidate doesn’t belong to a major party. You’re going to hear a lot about “throwing away your vote,” but true throwing away is, of course, not voting at all. If you vote for the person who is really in line with your views, you’re sending all the message you need to send.

Where I live, there’s just too much stuff on the ballot. If you really take this voting business seriously, it’s work. You have to study the candidates and the issues, especially if there are all those no-means-yes and yes-means-no propositions facing you. Sometimes I just don’t have a clue, but I never flip coins or do the eeny-meeny-miny thing. I just leave those items blank. I feel that I’m not qualified to vote on something I really don’t understand. Usually, those are the least important things I just didn’t get around to reading about.

The great thing about this election is that the electorate is finally paying attention. I have a strong feeling that whoever wins the presidency won’t be able to get away with very much, because too many of us will be watching.

This is really an historic moment for voters, whether you’re doing it for the first time or you’ve been at it for decades. It would be a real shame if you had the ability to participate and didn’t. Heck, you can be right up there with Bill and Warren. Or Keith and Rush. Or Barack and John. And even Sarah.

There, now I’ve said it.