PocketBook Economics

It's also not about who looks good on camera, who is the best orator, or who is the sexiest.

It's about who is best qualified for the job, based on a certain set of criteria.

Only you can be the judge.

And hell, the American public does such a good job electing their represented officials, I'm sure you all will do a fine job electing your next president. I'm sure you won't mind if I sit this one out (voting record: Clinton, Clinton, Gore, Kerry...and now McCain).

(Let's see in terms of economics, did well under the two Clinton terms, did ok under the first Bush term, and have sucked doozle under the Second Bush Term...so....).

But we all vote with our pocketbooks, don't we? We're in a recession, and the affluence we have enjoyed for the last decade has evaporated like one of your overpriced Starbuck's coffees left sitting on the dashboard of your overpriced SUV while you idle in rush hour traffic cursing $3.75/gas. Everyone wants change. Yeah, I do too...and not the kind I dig out of a jar each morning to take to work for snacks. I want real, material change. I want the government to shut up and stop rooting around in my couch cushions. I want the government to shut up and stop talking about things that are none of their damn business (like what goes on in my house, for example, or my bedroom, or my doctors office, or my hospital room). I want the government to NOT be able to get wiretaps without court approval (or gone snooping into someone's bank accounts, internet activity, personal life); and if they do go to such extremes, I want there to be legal penalties. I do not want government sponsorship or backing of the banking industry (in fact, I want the recent changes to bankruptcy laws granting favorable protections to banks and credit card firms repealed). I want the government to look at the laws of the land from the eyes of the consumer, and not from the eyes of PAC money (there's an idea!).

What is wrong with making your government accountable?

As a citizen, if you don't pay your income taxes (and earn an income) you go to jail. Accountability to the government, and to your fellow citizenry right there in a nutshell.

What makes the government accountable to us?

Do you honestly think changing elected officials every few years is in any way, shape or form a system that enforces accountability?

My final note: I could not vote for Hillary. As someone who has always considered herself a lifelong feminist and well acquainted with the history of the women's suffrage and liberation movements, as well as someone who has worked in a male dominated industry for...well, suffice it to say, years....Hillary is exactly the kind of woman I can't stand working with. Simply: you don't have to be a ball busting bitch to get ahead. She had a great platform, and some good points (although if you've been reading long enough, you know my thoughts on universal healthcare which is that all able bodied adults ought to have jobs) on education and domestic spending in particular resonated with me. But...but...but....she sounded shrill. You don't have to pretend to be a man to win. As a woman, I can't stand women who go that route. And I don't have to vote for another woman just because she's a woman candidate (Geraldine) OR because I happen to have ovaries. Sorry, everyone, but the ovaries do NOT trump the ole brain.

So do what everyone else does. I've said this once, twice, a million times: whenever the American public doesn't have faith in the lame duck, and the economy is weak....we have an exciting election year. We vote with our wallets. Whomever wins the election will determine whether or not retailers have a good holiday season, which will in turn determine how fast or how slowly we come out of this recession. You think I'm joking? The power of the consumer to spend or save us into oblivion seems so tiny, but it's all about confidence...in your leaders, in your economy, in your jobs, in your self.

So: Pocketbook Economics.

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