WHILE NERO FIDDLED, ROME BURNED

BBC, front page last evening:

US government rescues insurer AIG

While there are those who feel that large companies should pay the price for their own follies, it is important for people to understand the global consequences that have arisen from our unregulated insurance and investment systems. This situation smacks of some simple sayings like, "They bit off more than they could chew". "They got too big for their britches". The reality is, aside from putting 100,000 employees out of work, not to mention all those supported by the efforts of those who support from outside the company. There are all those countries in which AIG has billions of dollars of assets tied up.

There are no longer simple solutions to our economic problems, just as the technology needed to run our houses and lives is no longer simple. Just to watch television in my own home, I have 12 remote controllers, which includes those to watch DVD. I found myself envying what I heard from a dear friend who is almost ninety. Money is not limited for her but she does not have cable (she prefers to read), she does not own a DVD player (preferring to listen to audio tapes of music familiar to her, though perhaps, played by new musicians). She does not own a computer and carries on correspondence through US Postal Service or by phone. She is in good mental health and knows the frustration she sees around her as people struggle to keep up with all the latest technology. She sees it as interesting but not useful or necessary to her.

If the government had regulated these giant corporations, they wouldn't fall as hard and injure so many people in the process. Tonight I heard Sarah Palin speaking out that it is necessary that we regulate things. Where has the Republican party been the past eight years? Why have they been allowing Cheney to keep blinders on them. Why have the greedy and impulsive abused the system so badly that it has come to such a crisis, affecting the entire global economy?

Are there really people that want to vote in 'some of the hair of the dog that bit them'? Apparently there are!