1. Tax evader and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner danced through a major speech on Obama's new-and-improved bank bailout plan on Tuesday, raising many more questions in the process. I agree totally with the New York Times Editorial Board, that "his speech invited, at best, healthy skepticism from the markets, the public and lawmakers — and at worst, more mistrust."2. Geithner's performance prompted comedian Bill Maher to go on the Larry King Show and say that he believed that things are a lot worse than we are being told as evidenced by Geithner's "vagueness." This does not make me hopeful. Is Maher an economist by the way?
3. My financial advisor (actually my super-smart financial wizard sister) advised me to get out of all markets - I'm now parked in an account earning so little it's hard to compute. But at least I'm not losing more $$.
4. The Republican party voted NO in the House and Senate on the stimulus package . I am convince that the Repugs are bent on bankrupting this country. What makes Obama think reaching out to them is prudent? The big question now is what is Obama's follow-up game plan. This stimulus package is relatively small potatoes, where's the grand plan. I am not confident.
5. My friend Dallas and I discussed how a capitalistic system based on hyper-consumerism is doomed to fail - especially when millions of jobs disappear and salaries are severly deflated and depressed.
6. Less than 1 in 4 people believe in evolution. America appears to becoming dumber. Gallup showed a "linear correlation between education level and (dis)belief in evolution." We need a poll for that?
7. A good friend needs a hip replacement. When asked how soon he should he have it done, the doctor said, "when the pain gets unbearable."
8. Another plane crashed, this time killing all aboard. I knew one of the victims - Alison L. Des Forges - a dedicated human rights activist who documented the genocide in Rwanda.
9. Another woman decided to be a martyr and blew herself up in Iraq, killing 50 - many of them women and children resting from a pilgrimage.
Tough to be optimistic or confident right now.
