Well, butter my butt and call me a biscuit, look who's here!

Today was an exciting day in our area, as President Obama made the scene in Elkhart, Indiana!

Elkhart is a little east of us, as you can see on the map below. (The red X is approximately where Nutwood is.) Air Force One landed at South Bend Regional Airport and the motorcade made its way over to Elkhart. (Cousin Shane flew back from New York today--I just heard from him, and although he didn't experience any delays, he said that some things were changed a bit to accommodate the President's visit.) As I recently mentioned, Elkhart County is hurting in a bad way, with 15.3% unemployment. The President was introduced by an out-of-work Elkhart resident, an RV worker, who is worried what he'll do when his unemployment benefits run out. President Obama spoke for about 20 minutes, then took questions from the audience in a town hall-style format for 35-40 minutes, followed by lots of handshaking on his way out.

He was accompanied on this trip by several Indiana and Michigan politicians, including Senator Evan Bayh, Congressman Joe Donnelly (our congressman), and Congressman Fred Upton of Michigan. A surprising absence was Senator Richard Lugar, who was apparently invited on the trip but declined. Senator Lugar worked closely with then-Senator Obama on some things, and there has always seemed to be a mutual respect there, so I'm puzzled by his absence. Dan wondered if he was being pressured by the GOP. If so, that's a cryin' shame, because Sen. Lugar has always been a great legislator and an asset to Hoosiers. I'll be writing to Sen. Lugar in a moment and urging him to support the President on this.

Oddly enough, the President mentioned something in his speech that I just wrote about: while it's easy to talk numbers, 15% unemployment, 50,000 more jobs lost, etc., we have to remember that there's a person behind every number. That was my philosophy when working in the lab...never forget that those numbers are real people. I think it applies here, too, and I thought it was pretty cool to hear him say that.

I thought he did a great job, and was very well-received. The calls were not prescreened, so he was going in blind, and had to answer a question about some of his Cabinet selections and their tax problems. The crowd kind of started booing her, but the President was like, "It's all right, it's all right...it's a legitimate question," and went on to reiterate that he made a mistake, and that he is committed to changing the culture of Washington. The woman also inexplicably made the comment that she thinks he should "have a beer with Sean Hannity." What kind of bonehead comment was that? He handled it well...said he didn't know Mr. Hannity had requested to have a beer with him...that Mr. Hannity has made no bones about not being a big fan of his...but he's always good for a beer.

I just enjoyed the hell out of watching this today. It took me back to the heady days of the primaries, and then the Presidential campaign. He's so damn good at this. I thought one of the most powerful things he said was that hey, people in Elkhart want to work--nobody's asking for a handout! He got a big cheer for that one, and he's right. Not just in Elkhart, but across the country. Have you seen the pictures of the lines in Atlanta and Chicago for job calls? People want to work. We need to do something to provide job opportunities for them, whether through job creation, job training, or education. That's why I support this, and why I think it needs to pass.

Off to write my Senator! And no matter how you feel about this or any other issue, I encourage you to write your Senator or Congressman. You might be surprised at how responsive they are, and I've been fortunate in that I've always gotten thoughtful responses to my letters. We have the power and right to be engaged in our legislative process, and I also believe it's a responsibility that we shouldn't take for granted. Happy politicking, y'all! And don't forget to watch the President's address tonight.

Economics...how stimulating!

Wow, what an amazing day! It got up to at least 55 degrees here, and an incredible amount of snow has melted. I can see patches of lawn! Ken washed his Mustang! I went out without a jacket! I have one more day of taking care of Shane's kitties, and there's a car wash on the way. I'm going to get Slick washed tomorrow. We know they'll get dirty again soon enough, but it's important to wash all the salt from the roads off of cars as soon as possible. It's rough on cars.

I just got the ribs in the oven, so they can cook for a few hours (we eat late). As I was cutting the slab in half, Ken asked, "What are you having?" Hardy-har. These look pretty meaty, so I think there will be plenty!

Uh oh...looks like A-Rod is A-Roid. Tsk tsk.

Well, it looks like they're getting closer to agreeing on a stimulus package. I know some of you won't agree with me, and that's okay by me, but I believe this is necessary to "prime the pump" and get things flowing again. The downturn is a vicious cycle, a snake that eats its tail: people caught in the crunch spend less on goods and services; businesses losing money cut back on workers and/or hours; people cut back more on goods and services because they have less take-home pay; businesses cut back further. And on and on and on. I'm no economist, but it seems to me that unless we jumpstart things, it's going to cycle down and down until the problem becomes even worse.

Actually, I think it will get considerably worse in the coming months, and I hope no one thinks this stimulus package is going to magically erase our woes overnight. It took years to get into this mess, and it's going to take years to get out. But I believe that if we invest money now in repairs and improvements, it will create desperately needed jobs. I mentioned yesterday that our neighboring county now has a 15% unemployment rate. That is frightening. And I think we need to keep in mind that there are real people behind all these numbers. It's easy to toss around numbers like 15%, or 50,000 more jobs lost...those aren't just jobs, those are people (one of that 15% is my brother-in-law). People who might lose their homes, or be unable to pay for needed medicines and health care, or who can't pay their heating bills.

Would the market eventually correct itself? I would think so. That seems logical. But can we really afford to wait a couple of decades for it to reach an equilibrium? Not when there are people suffering, and I believe some are suffering.

Having said all that, I will say that we, as consumers, definitely need to rethink our crazy behavior. Plenty of people have been living large for quite a while now, and it's time to stop the insanity. I took an Economics class in high school, and a Personal Finance class in college. Is that even taught in high school anymore? And my college class was an elective. Let's make these things mandatory, and maybe our future generations won't make the same bonehead mistakes we've made. I'm not pointing fingers at any particular party, either (although you probably can guess who I would point at the most for deregulation...and with the biggest finger). The blame crosses party lines, and the solution has to as well.

I had no problem with the Republicans wanting to cut some of the stuff out of the bill. Focus on job creation, because that is definitely the most crucial thing here. But keep in mind that what might look like it would squeal if you poked it could very well be something that does create jobs. (For example, Dan said that a friend ridiculed the grass seeding of the Mall in D.C. Dan pointed out that it would mean hiring a local company to put down the seed. Job creation.) Everyone, especially those companies getting money, also needs to keep in mind that this is not a handout, it's a loan that will need to be repaid. That's why I had no problem with the President setting a limit of $500,000 on some executives' salaries, those from the companies who are getting a piece of the pie, until the loan is repaid. That's not enough for managing a company that deals with billions of dollars? They need to pay the big salaries to attract the best people? As Craig Ferguson said, "Cry me a fucking river." Tighten your belt the way so many others are having to do because of your mismanagement. If you budget wisely, I think you can live on half a million a year!

I was telling Ken today that it really is kind of amazing to be living during this time. It's historical, but in such a bad way. My great hope is that we, both personally and collectively, will eventually emerge from this having learned an invaluable lesson. We have to be smart with our own spending and with our finances, and we have to keep an eye on--while doing our best to keep our hands off of--the practices of the financial world. I believe we can get out of this...but as Bette said, fasten your seatbelts. It's going to be a bumpy night.