I’ve had a hard time figuring out just how I should write about the current national/global financial situation, which has, for good reason, been the main topic of most of the news shows I catch. It’s hard for me to avoid a guttural, personal reaction to this, not just because my bank is one of the ones that’s been reported as being the next to go, but because I’ve had to take on so many new financial responsibilities since Dad’s death. I know that our family financial situation is secure and unlikely to be affected much by all of this stuff that’s going on, but with Michigan’s economy faltering ever since I started teaching up there, I’ve seen the effects of bad economic policy in my students for over a year now, and I know that things aren’t likely to get better for them any time soon, especially since Michigan’s economic infrastructure is so vulnerable to globalization.

I do think that the sense of panic that’s been pervading the talk of politicians on both sides is overblown, but at the same time it’s hard to deny that the current economic situation is one of the biggest challenges to face this country since 09.11. Something needs to be done about this, and soon, but none of the proposals that have been officially pushed out there, from the administration’s first $800 billion blank cheque to the bill that goes before the House tomorrow, strike me as helping people like my students. Every bill so far has been geared towards saving companies first when it’s the American people who need saving now more than ever. I know a lot of people are saying to wait a few months when the Democrats should have control of the executive and legislative branches, and then hope that they will "fix" what’s wrong with the current bill, but I’ve heard that since Bill Clinton gutted welfare and I’m just not that confident that it’ll happen.

I do think that the election has, barring a complete game-changer like another terrorist attack or something of that nature, swung to Barack Obama for good. A couple of weeks ago I finally did my own projection for the election, which had Obama winning 273-265. There’s no doubt he’ll win Iowa, and I felt that he had New Mexico and Colorado in the bank as well. After this past week, though, John McCain is clearly stuck, rightly or wrongly, shouldering the blame people are placing on Republican economic policy. I don’t know if states like Virginia and North Carolina will go blue, because I think for lots of voters there the "culture wars" will still trump any other concern, and McCain may still get enough of those conservative Christians to eke out victories in Ohio and Florida, but he will have to spread his resources pretty thin just to hold onto those states. Obama’s campaign has twice the money McCain’s campaign has, and even if McCain somehow holds all those states (and Nevada), he still loses 273-265. Even in a best-case scenario where he snatches New Hampshire back, that only gets him to 269-269, and the next House would almost certainly elect Obama in that case. There could still be an October surprise or a colossal slip-up from the Obama campaign — these are Democrats we’re talking about, after all — but I think Obama has the election in the bag now.