Reflections - A reminder of where we've come from

We all tend to have a short memory about current events, and the advertising blitz of the current political campaigns makes it even harder to put our economic situation in perspective.

It is easy to be dissatisfied with the current state of the economy when we don't clearly remember just how close to a total financial collapse we were.  In 2008, for Thanksgiving, 800,000 people lost their jobs.  In the next month, for Christmas, 800,000 more people lost their jobs. Thousands of our troops were dying in Iraq and Afghanistan fighting two unfunded (and off budget) wars.  The country was failing, the stock market was in a free fall, and a de-regulated Wall Street had lost Billions of dollars while defrauding investors with exotic derivative investments based on bad home loans.  No one wanted to see or hear from President Bush, with good reason.

Four years later, not a single Republican candidate, even through the entire primary cycle, would dare mention the former President's name.

When I reflect back, I see just how much President Obama has accomplished, and knowing that there is far more to be done, I am proud of what he has done so far.  Here's a video that will put it all together for you.

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.

KISS - More Ideas

KISS works. Keep it Simple, Stupid !

The way to accomplish huge changes is to ask millions to each make a very small change that they can easily manage. It can work for the environment, it can work for our economy, it can feed the hungry and help the poor.

What are some KISS ideas that can accomplish HUGE changes, by asking many to make a small, seemingly insignificant change. A change we can all live with?

What are some of your ideas?


Some ideas of mine:

I've changed out my light bulbs for those twisty CFLs. They save huge amounts of power, and last for years and years. You can buy them cheap on e-bay or find them subsidized by your local power company. I'm working on the the reflector bulbs on my recessed lighting next. Now, my net power savings doesn't amount to much; probably just a few dollars each month, but apply the power of numbers. In California alone, millions and millions of light bulbs that use 15 watts instead of 75, saving 60 watts/bulb/hour.. saving multi-megawatts of power every single day. Amazing.

Start a piggy bank.. and just collect pennies and nickels. You won't notice the difference.. and when the bank is full, donate it to a worthy cause. It's only a few dollars, over an extended period of time, but if we can get Millions of People to do the same thing, we can solve the problems of hunger and homelessness on our own streets.