Tuesday, September 30, 2008

The Market: Don't Panic - and Bring a Towel

The utter outrage I'm reading here and there in the progressive blogosphere, especially over at a blog I normally like, AmericaBlog, is a bit silly. No, the American worker didn't lose 7% of their retirements. They had a bad day at the market. This one, of course, was particularly bad, but it doesn't change the fact that it was just one day. And it doesn't change the fact that next week will probably be better.

Nor should we exhibit one of the most dreaded reactions in humanity when it comes to something seemingly big and scary: knee jerks. The fact is that the bill was bad, in any measure. As currently constituted, the bill didn't alleviate the fundamental problems in the economy - and was just going to serve as one, last, giant giveaway to Wall Street. No thanks. It wouldn't have solved the underlaying problems, likely only delaying another meltdown by a few years. The market would have cheered, meanwhile, for adding millions to their purses, as the Treasury pays top dollar for investments that literally weren't worth the paper they were printed on.

That does not mean that the government has given up. It does not mean the no votes were unpatriotic. It doesn't mean that those who voted no just don't care. Let's skip that nonsense, okay? It's not time to dwell on one bad day at the market. A better bill could be passed later this week - and we'll see the market rally by hundreds. This is not the time to get all worked up, it's time to craft a Democratic bill that we pass on our own, giving the public a real choice on November 4th.

As is pretty much rule number one in one of the funniest books I've ever read - Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Don't Panic. The next most important rule? Always bring a towel. I suggest those who are actually angry or terrified by today's actions on Capitol Hill make sure to keep their towels close by to wipe the sweat off their brows, or cover up the wet spot on their pants, because today was not the Restaurant at the End of the Universe. Today was a day when a bad bill died.



3 comments:

Anonymous said...

So 70% of our Massachusetts reps were wrong.

Ryan said...

Yes, as a matter of fact. The next bill will be better.

Anonymous said...

So those pesky Republicans from the minority in the House (along with 3 of our reps), helped save the day?

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