Stock market tumbles again

OK, now I'm nervous. Not so much because of the market ups and downs (these happen, we call it capitalism), but because, per Yahoo! news "[s]tocks saw the most intense selling late in the session after hopes faded that lawmakers would quickly assemble an aid package for U.S. automakers." So basically, at least the guys at Yahoo! think that the market tumbled because there was no huge, bloated payout to inefficient companies just because they have powerful unions. The Wall Street Journal also commented that "Stocks market [sic]seesawed between gains and losses but began a steep slide around 2 p.m. as remarks from government officials cast doubt on a near-term resolution on an auto-maker bailout."

A smart government would realize that, no matter where the line is drawn, there is going to be a drop in stock prices once the market (e.g., people who buy and sell stocks, either for themselves or for other people) realizes that the government won't bail out every company in the world that wraps itself in an American flag and stamps "God Bless the USA" on its ass. Therefore, now is the time to draw the line, pull back from the earlier bailout mistakes as best as possible, and wait for the market to stabilize itself. As a bonus, nobody over there has to get re-elected for another two years, so the October urgency to "do anything that looks like I am doing something to the guys at home" is gone.

Have you looked at who we have on the hill lately? My guess is that we can expect a lot of our money to get funneled to big corporations for the foreseeable future. But I really, really, hope that I am wrong.