A Jumble

I am unsettled. I feel like I want to say something profound, but I don't know what it is.

I am hard to please at the moment. Tom and I went to Oktoberfest at the Puyallup Fair grounds today. I was hoping to have some good autumnal fun, now that the rain has come. Tom says he enjoyed it. I didn't. I was just glad that there was no admission charge today, because it wasn't worth much, in my view. I am currently hard to impress, it seems. We came home and I ate cake. That impressed me. It was chocolate zucchini cake that I made yesterday for Tom and his twin sister's birthday. I was also glad to be home. I think we have been coming and going too much lately.

I watched the VP debate yesterday. Then I listened to pundits and read headlines. They all kind of said the obvious. Where are the new ideas? My headline would read "Sarah Didn't Suck". As much as I really can't stand her, I'm glad Palin didn't do too badly, because she was really becoming an embarrassment. The world watches us and our politics, and I cringe to think what they must think.

I thought Joe Biden was wonderful. My favorite line, when Palin was accusing him of always looking at the past, was "past is prologue"! Now that impressed me!

Earlier this week I went to Oregon to visit my mother. She is 86, still lives alone, but is hard of hearing, can barely see, had to give up driving, and is not very mobile. She has had a hard life, and it has taken it's toll. And yet she is determined to stay independent, and I honor her for that, even though my four siblings and I worry about her. She sees and hears enough to be aware of the financial crises, and she decided she wanted to cash out her AIG annuity. She asked me to help her fill out the forms she had sent to her.

Now, investment finances are not my strong suit. In fact the whole topic makes me feel insecure. But I did know enough to ask if she really wanted to have to pay taxes on this considerable chunk of money. I consulted her bank. They advised caution. I told her that we, the tax payers, now own a controlling interest in the company. Did we really want everyone to bail out of our company? I convinced her to wait, to get more advice, and when I got home I dumped it on my brother, who is her executor. He thanked me, but I'm not sure he meant it.

Today we bailed out Wall Street in the hopes that the rescue will trickle down along with the misery. Will it? How will we know if it is working? Will it work fast enough to stop the hemorrhaging of loan freezes, layoffs, businesses going belly up? How will we pay for it?

I am dissatisfied today.