Coffeehouse fodder [a]

Huh? Subprime meltdown? I thought that was months ago, way beyond my attention/memory.

I guess we can add this to the fixtures of our daily lives like restaurants without trans fat, $4 gas, and tv shows that run from January to May. Or maybe it's worse. Like snowballing or something. Months ago there was a crisis for companies I'd never heard of like Countrywide and Bear Stearns. Now household names like AIG, Merrill Lynch, and perhaps WaMu are going under. I guess this thing is picking up steam rather than hanging in a limbo of slow decay like airlines.

That's rather too bad.

But it's kind of cool for the presidential debates that start next Friday. If the political climate is concern for our jobs, savings, loans, and investments, we're going to hear a lot less fear mongering. That's nice.

Indeed, this financial thing has already brought the Dr. Jekyll out of Johnny Mac. There it is, mid-interview he goes from partisan mouthpiece back to pre-2008 maverick. Near as I can tell, this was a rare opportunity for him to speak without a prompter and perhaps reason took over. He illustrated eloquently, if inadvertently, a fundamental incongruity of his platform:

1. The taxpayer shouldn't have to shoulder this bailout (platform; low taxes).
2. This crisis is the fault of a few CEOs doing unethical things (uh oh, you're suggesting it could have been avoided).
3. We need to get some smart people together to make sure this doesn't happen again (yipes, that's regulation, welcome to the vast grey area between the left and right).

The last debate was a bunch of flag waving and hunch-scowling. The two topics were war and character.

But now, thanks to a small and elite group of morally vacant executives, we suddenly care about the economy. It seems bank statements and gas pumps are far less abstract to the voting masses than budget deficit figures. Better we realize it now than when our tax revenue disappears into interest and the government contracting sector bubble bursts.

A blessing in disguise. Thank you golden parachutists!

So looking forward I wonder if the first debate will feature Candidate McCain, the man that pulls all the usual political tricks of ad hominem, feigning offense, and criticizing unpartisan and legitimate idea because they are not his own. Or will we see Senator McCain, the legislator that is a conservative before he is a Republican, hip to the SNL/Jon Stewart generation, and dares to speak ill of his own party members.

With any luck, substance will abound next Friday night. Because even if the candidates agree that regulation is the way to prevent unbridled, bottom-line greed, the implementation is tricky. Apparently regulatory agencies have to balance oversight and critical evaluation on the clock with sex and blow off the clock.