The Reckoning Continues

Wall Street is ‘rocked,’ stocks are ‘plummeting,’ Lehman is done , Merrill is on the ropes, AIG stock crashes 51%, Washington Mutual shares drop 24%. Business and individual investors are running for cover. Even the average Joe with a little money in a retirement account or a just a CD or two at the bank is now worried as his modest nest-egg erodes before his eyes. The financial industry is in crisis.

Today, the government and of course the presidential candidates will be ‘responding’ to the frightful news.

Of course there was one presidential candidate who was forecasting rather than responding. Ron Paul can say, “I told you so.” He said the crash was coming. He said the situation was unsustainable. He said the ‘corrective actions’ were postponing not solving the problem. Big corrections were inevitable, he said.

Ron Paul, in a brief moment when he was allowed to speak at the California ‘debate,’ chided McCain, Romney and the commentators for allowing the debate to be about ‘who knew Reagan first, who supported the surge first’ when the nation is ‘going bankrupt.’ Why, he pleaded, are the candidates not talking about what is really happening and what really needs to be done to solve it?

But we can be comforted that the White House is ‘monitoring’ the situation. All day today, “I don’t know much about economics but I got Greenspan’s book’ McCain will give his sound-bite solution. The other guy, who has zero executive experience but is probably glad that the ‘rich’ are getting pummeled, will of course just blame the Republicans (as well he should) while offering some glib quip of a direction.

Unfortunately, you can’t cover your ears and hold on to your wallet at the same time.