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My cohort DJ is going to disagree with me.  Just you wait and see.

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Today did not scare me.  It did surprise me, because I didn’t think that Congress had the ability to face down the President, Treasury Secretary and their own part leaders all at the same time.  (For the votes of the Representatives from Iowa, see below, or this link for the roll call vote).

I am so proud of them!  From the above Reuter’s article:

“This isn’t legislation. This is extortion,” said Florida Republican Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite. “This is so embarrassing it turns the stomach of most Americans.”

That pretty much sums up my thinking on this.

As I mentioned yesterday, I think we should seriously consider turning this bailout into a bond issue, and perhaps force some of those who have been steering these ships to buy and add the bonds to their retirement packages.  Instead of selling taxpayers a bill of goods, sell these instruments back to the people that brought them to us, and maybe they might do some things to help make sure the instruments become profitable.

So, the Dow dropped 748 points by the end of the day, it’s largest one-day point drop ever, and yet the ground did not open and swallow me up.  It almost seemed like just another day.

And the biggest surprise to many who have been watching oil prices jump in the opposit direction of the stock market on most days was a $10.52 drop in the price of oil.  We are at $96.37!

And, according to gas-cost.net (widget found in the middle column of our page), the average price of a gallon of regular gasoline is now $2.76.  We are defintely going in the right direction on gas prices.

If only that were enough.

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I know this is going to be a tough week.  And frankly, we’re probably in for a tough time for quite a while.  It makes no sense to me to draw out the inevitable events and put them on out children’s shoulders instead of taking it on ourselves.

This generation’s ability to suck it in and work through this problem, regardless of whether it ends up as a regressive blip or a deep depression, will be a key test for our society.  Our survival may depend on our ability to live with less, to accept failure, to put aside our selfishness and work (and I mean WORK) to rebuild and help our neighbors through the difficult road ahead.

Something we’ve been trying for decades to ensure we would never have to do.

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If you think me a fool for not being scared by all of this, perhaps it’s true.  But I do know the one who owns it all, and I believe He is in control.  That doesn’t mean we won’t have bad times, but I believe God has a plan.

And DJ won’t argue against that, I assure you.

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For those readers from Iowa, here is how our Congressmen voted:

Braley (District 1): No

Loebsack (District 2):Yes

Boswell (District 3): Yes

Latham (District 4): No

King (District 5): No

Doesn’t look very bipartisan to me.

Update: Added link to roll call vote.

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