BAILOUT DEFEATED IN THE HOUSE

The President's $700 Billion bailout bail did not pass the house as just reported by CNN.

The republican leaders are not there for President Bush on this bill. "There is no juice to get it done." The democratic leaders came on CNN Sunday to report that they reached an agreement on paper and CNN spent all day Sunday talking about the bill, yet, the real story is on the floor.

The congressmen and congresswomen have listened to Main Street. I know I contacted my elected officials in Missouri to register my stance against bailing out Wall Street. I know the economic market is uncertain right now, but the reality is that the majority of us, the real people, have been living through "the worse economic times since the Great Depression" for some time now.

Missouri has unemployment higher than the national average. The National Black MBA Association just had their conference in Washington D.C. My fellow business people reported that there was a gluttony of marketing MBAs seeking jobs that are just not there. I earned my MBA from the University of Iowa and I felt the hit to my industry in 2003. Real people have know about the crisis for some time.

What can be done? Clearly the bill needs to be passed in some form. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senator Harry Reid, Secretary Treasurer Henry Paulson, and all the rest of the crew need to stop making a rush and really think about how the bill will benefit all of America. There has to be a guarantee that the taxpayers will be protected. It can not be a bill without real oversight. It has to have real limits on the CEOs who walk away with millions. We want oversight so there isn't corruption.

I am watching closely and know that I don't want to hand my four-year-old daughter a tax burden, beyond the $3 Trillion debt due to the illegal war.

There can be a move beyond this. This did not happen overnight. It goes back to Reagonomics. The middle class has been chipped away more and more. Greed and risk were the twin criminals in this. It was not just Wall Street, I give that. People used their homes as piggy banks and took advantage of unrealistically low interest rates - courtesy of Alan Greenspan - to take out "equity" in their homes that was inflated. They bought cars, upgraded to "mega mansions" and took luxury vacations. Some just opened more credit cards and bought that long-wanted Prada handbag or Jimmy Choo pumps. It was a rollercoaster ride that came to an end.

The elected officials also have some blame to this. They received financing from the lobbyists or the CEOs who made lots of money on Wall Street.

We have investments in 401(k)s and retirement accounts. Baby boomers stand to lose. We stand to lose. It is not a win-win situation, it is a lose-lose situation. Something must be done and some of that rests with us.

The jobs are not there yet some consumers have still shopped as if there were a major piggybank standing by.

The democrats are taking it to another vote without letting Jewish members go home for Rosh Hashanah that begins at sundown. There are anxious times there. The democrats delivered their votes and are hoping the republicans deliver so it will look like a bi-partisan agreement. The other option is that they can just go home for the holidays and start over.

One thing I know as a person is that when you make rash decisions in a hurry, you never make the right decisions.