the next three fifty

As I was watching the news today I saw a playback of good ol' Hammerin' Hank Paulson's press conference from earlier in the day. When he was asked about the balance of the 350 billion bailout, er rescue package and when it might be tapped he said something about ...when we get the next three-fifty...blah, blah, blah. He really said three-fifty. Not three hundred and fifty BILLION, but just three fifty. Like me saying to my buddy Joe, 'hey can I have a five spot?'. It seemed really weird to me for him to talk about it like it was just three fifty. Crazy.

I was also amazed at the remarkable stupidity of the talking heads on the PBS news (don't ask me why I was watching it). Apparently, the 'experts' think all we need to do is get 'credit flowing', and 'confidence up' and 'people buying houses' again. If credit were accessible they said, surely people would be buying cars. What the hell? Maybe people aren't buying cars cuz they woke up to the fact that they don't need them. Perhaps the car they already have is just fine. Or maybe people are lacking confidence because they don't have jobs or fear losing their jobs? Perhaps people aren't buying houses because there are too many houses already. I have no idea who these people were- one was from something called the Brookings Institute- whatever that is. Maybe they should talk to people who actually know what's going on and don't expect that some politician is going to wave a magic wand and make it all better. Like you can just create demand and wealth out of thin air. Idiots.

Whatever...

Brian