Global Economic Crisis Overshadows Debate

Americans woke up this morning thinking about last night's debate, but the news headlines are all about the global crisis in the stock markets. Yesterday, the Dow dropped 500 points as an introduction to the debate. The Nikki is down 9.38% overnight in a post debate curtain-call. All the other Asian markets are down as well. The British now have their version of a bank bailout plan worth $87 Billion that will partially nationalize British banks. The Fed cut their rate 1/2 point this morning in a coordinated effort with international central banks to stop the losses - trillions of dollars in the past few days alone.

Congress voted, passing legislation, but that isn't the same as implementing it. You can't unwind years of mis-management in a couple of weeks. The world markets voted today with a no confidence vote on the US economy. This ripple effect isn't unexpected, just feared.

What we have to do November 4th is clear. We need to elect the brightest, best educated candidate we can in Barack Obama and make real changes to our financial market regulatory practices to restore investor confidence. The recovery from this crisis will be rooted in fundamentals. Americans are not going to be able to 'shop' their way out of this. That card has already been played, and now we are all having to pay for it.