I know it’s fall, but no where NEAR Christmas, so why all the ornaments on therescue package? I mean I thought we were in a sub-prime mortgage clean-up and asolidifying the financial liquidity mode here so that Americans could continue toborrow money to keep their budgets or businesses afloat?So to hear that the “new” package being voted upon in the Senate as we speak holdsprovisions for wooden arrow manufacturers in Oregon and tax breaks for Nascar racetrack builders and Virgin Island Rum Makers and research tax credits for HarleyDavidson and subsidies for General Electric is stomach turning sick! I mean isn’tWarren Buffet’s 3 billion dollar investment in GE subsidy enough? Tax credits forfilm makers to shoot in the US? Without homes and jobs, there’ll be little demandfor films...sorry! And while most people won’t be able to afford cars or the gasthey guzzle, we’ll be reduced to bicycles NOT Harleys!All the ornaments—that are supposedly “making it more palatable for moreRepublicans”--add up to over $112 billion dollars MORE than the unthinkably large$700 billion dollars floated over the past week. What are the senators, not tomention each of our Presidential candidates thinking? Especially after both McCainand Palin are out fist pounding for “no more pork sausages”! Then, what exactlyWILL they call this?Ok...so perhaps each Senator (or House member for that matter) hasn’t read everyword of the over 500 page new missive, yet to capitulate to these lobbyists inthis manner, to subjugate real credit pain of average Americans to the specialinterests of a few companies or industries that are, may I emphatically statehere, totally fringe to the day-to-day survival of most Americans, and superfluousto them “making it” is more than irresponsible, it’s outright enraging!The defeat of the first bill was unexpected, yet most, including me, argued thatto have extra time to thoughtfully consider the ramifications and to educate thosewho didn’t understand the inextricable connection between Wall Street and MainStreet could turn out to be an unexpected blessing. As it turns out, all it boughttime for apparently was every last lobbyist to cram back into the halls ofWashington to concoct their wildest, most harebrained pet projects and somehow,interject them into this otherwise serious bill.I never want to harangue without dispensing some good news, or giving some goodadvice, and believe me, it’s taken me some time to come up with any, yet here itis. If we all carve out more time to become involved in our nation’s politics,perhaps we can preclude future debacles such as this. The phone campaigns in thepast week have been remarkably popular and effective. What’s to stop us then fromregularly writing or phoning our Congress people or House Representatives andmaking our voices/values known? It’s worth the expenditure of time, believe me. Weneed to get involved, and not just in the 11th hour.Finally, if we all take a smart approach to investing, and instead of “betting” onindividual companies; i.e., investing in individual stocks, we were to invest ourmoney in no load diversified mutual funds or Exchange Traded Funds, then we’llnever be subjected to the single-stock risk that has been so stinging to those whohave “lost fortunes”. I understand investing in the companies in which we work,especially through our 401(k)s and retirement plans. However, we must diversifyour overall investment portfolios and focus on investing in no-load, low-costindex funds or Exchange Traded Funds in order to capture a decent return withoutthe risks of concentrated positions in any one or two companies. (My guidelineshave always been that I want an investor to have at least $250,000 in mutualfunds, before they buy even one stock.)I’ve heard hundreds of people exclaim, “that couldn’t happen to MY stock” only to
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