The State of our Union

[Photo courtesy of MIT's Steer Roast]

I’ll be the first to admit that I’ve never been one to follow the news. Not “hard news”, anyhow. But something about this presidential race, paired with the ever-declining state of the American economy, is doing it for me. Let’s devote a short minute or two to “hard news”, shall we?

Presidential Candidates Dropping Like Flies
Democrat John Edwards came full circle today, announcing from New Orleans that he was dropping out of the presidential race – the same city from which he first announced, back in January 2006, his intentions to run for president.

Let’s face it – he certainly has – no one ever really paid him half a mind. The highlight of his campaign, in my opinion, was his support of Obama in Obama vs. Clinton and Clinton, round two: the Martin Luther King, Jr. battle. Even then, I thought he was only acting with leechlike intentions and trying to come out of the battle unscathed (which he did) and smelling like a rose.

I’m not sure if this was a smart move on his part. As the Obama-Clinton (and Clinton) mud-slinging continues, he could’ve had half (of half) a chance. Roll your pants up, everyone, now that Edwards is out of the way, it’s gonna turn into a full-on mud-wrestling tournament.

And good ole Rudy ... really, we don’t need to comment on that because we all learned in kindergarten not to put all our eggs in one basket.

The American Economy is Doomed! (And We’re Taking Everyone Down With Us)
The Federal Reserve lowered short-term interest rates for the second time in just over a week! The Fed lowered the rate by three-quarters of a point on January 22nd, and by half a point today. The New York Times uses September 11, 2001 as a comparison point: even then, the rate was only lowered by a half-point.

Like I said, I’m no news buff and am certainly not versed in economics or finance, so I can’t tell you exactly what this all means. But I can tell you that words like “recession” and “screwed” come to mind.