The World is Ending

Or at least it seems like it. I sometimes judge the importance of news by how the homepage of CNN changes... if it just gets a headline, eh... but if it changes the layout of the whole page, gets a bigger than normal picture and bolded, red words, now that's important!
Well, the failure of Congress to approve a bailout plan and the subsequent historic plunge of the stock market was given the latter treatment on CNN.com today. The picture, spanning the entire width of the front page, showed traders despairingly burying their heads in their hands. Citigroup's preemptive acquisition of Wachovia before failure, one of the biggest banks in the country, barely even registered on the homepage today. There is no denying that this is a huge and far-reaching problem. The Asian markets are already down, and who knows what will happen in the next few days before Congress meets again.
While the condition of the market is scary (especially to someone who is planning on practicing corporate law in a year, and doesn't exactly have job security if the market continues to worsen), it would take a lot to convince me that this is not just a regular business cycle that will right itself eventually.
What really freaks me out is how all of this is being reacted to by politicians in the United States. Everything is merely a talking point or an excuse to blame someone from the other party. At the debate last Friday, neither candidate would give a straightforward answer as to a solution, and neither could resist blaming the Bush administration for all the problems. This article demonstrates my point perfectly. "Lawmakers quickly point fingers after bailout fails." It feels like witnessing siblings complain to their mother about who started the fight and who is more to blame. "House Republican leaders blamed Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic Speaker of the House, for the bill's failure, saying she had scuttled a bipartisan compromise with a "partisan speech" shortly before the vote. Pelosi started her speech by citing 'the Bush administration's failed economic policies -- policies built on budgetary recklessness, on an anything-goes mentality with no regulation, no supervision and no discipline in the system.'
So what I am hearing here is that Republicans were "making a point" to punish the Democrats for hurting their feelings, and Democrats couldn't refrain from fingerpointing one last time before voting on this important rescue measure.

It's not that I think the House should vote for ANYTHING that is proposed just to satisfy the markets. I am generally for deregulation, and I think government intervention got us into this mess, and I'm pretty sure that government intervention is going to prolong, and/or worsen it. Paying double or triple the value of these assets with taxpayer money for a quick fix is not a long-term solution to a serious problem. BUT notice how we have heard few substantive reasons for the failure of this bill. It's because politicians are too busy being politicians. And THIS is what is wrong with this country and politics... at this point, I really don't give a shit how this financial crisis started or who to blame. It sure as hell wasn't one person alone who did it, and almost certainly it's the fault of people on both sides of the aisle. So let's be adults and find a solution, since we're all going to suffer if we don't.

This is the same problem I have with politicians (and the two major parties) in general. But usually I don't think the issues are this urgent. It's sad that I have almost no confidence in the leadership of this country but I don't see things getting any better. I mean, what will it take?!