What hath Republican economics wrought?

Pres. George W. Bush is going on TV this morning to calm out fears about the economy. I stopped listening to W a long time ago, but others still think that the man will offer up some real policies instead of platitudes. Face it -- Bush, Cheney and the rest of their gang got us into this mess with their deregulation schemes. Some Democrats, damn their hides, went along for the ride. But not all of them.

With this election, we have a chance to elect a different philosophy. It's especially important now that all of us have at least some of our retirement money in the stock market, mainly through 401(K)s. If you tell people to put their money into financial instruments that depend on the vagaries of the market and then take away all the rules that govern bad behavior in that market, you're asking for trouble.

Still, our money managers advised us to stay with it. If you're young, it's O.K. to be a little risky because you can make big gains and also recoup any loses over the course of your long and prosperous life (just hope your job doesn't go overseas like the rest of them). Middle-aged people were told to be a bit more cautious. Those in our fifties and sixties, Baby Boomers, were told to play it safe. But all of us got the same message: the stock market goes up and down but it will always be safe. Your money will be safe. You will have a nice nest egg for those golden years in Sun City.

That's probably what our president will say this morning. All is well. Stay the course. Me and my pals did not lead you into a financial quagmire in the same way we lead the nation into the quagmire of Iraq.

Also remember that our U.S. Senators, Mike Enzi and John Barrasso, believe strongly in Bushonomics and its predecessor, Reaganomics. They believe in deregulation. They will continue on the same disastrous course. U.S. House candidate Cynthia Lummis is also in that camp. To reelect or elect them will be a disaster for Wyomingites and for the country.

Garrison Keillor summed it up nicely in a column that appeared in the Oct. 8 Chicago Tribune at http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/columnists/chi-oped1008keilloroct08,0,4545327.column:

Your broker kept saying, "Stay with the portfolio, don't jump ship," and you felt a strong urge to dump the stocks and get into the money market where at least you're not going to lose your shirt, but you didn't do it and didn't do it, and now you're holding a big bag of brown bananas. Me, too. But at least I know enough not to believe desperate people who are talking trash. Anybody who got whacked and still thinks McCain-Palin is going to lead us out of the swamp and not into a war with Iran is beyond persuasion in the English language. They'll need to lose their homes and be out on the street in a cold hard rain before they connect the dots.