It's enough to make you sick, isn't it?!

It's been pretty apparent for most of ye socks that things are dysfunctional on Wall Street. So, I won't belabor the point.

Yesterday, though, the House's rejection of the much-ballyhooed "bailout" plan reminded us all that Washington is even more whacked-out than the subprime mortgage yayhoos.

Somehow, over the last two hundred years or so we've "evolved" from Democracy to DemoCRAZY!

Just before the big vote, Speaker Pelosi went on the floor of the House to deliver a speech attacking the Republican minority. 12 of them who were on the fence cited her rant as the reason they switched their votes. That was the exact margin of defeat. Imagine what could be done if some people in the chamber knew how to exercise leadership, hold their tongues, and demonstrate a little bipartisanship . . .

What a lot of ye socks may have missed (and who could blame you given the plunging values of your retirement accounts?!) is that Pelosi's House also failed to extend tax relief:

1. The Alternative Minimum Tax is about to expire, something that will affect about 25 million American households.
2. Deductions for state sales taxes, college tuition, and teachers' out-of-pocket classroom expenses will no longer be allowed.
3. Tax credits to businesses for research and development and using renewable energy sources will be scrapped.

Seems to me that we need to bail ourselves out of more than one mess here . . . and, frankly, I wish they'd start in DC and let the free markets be just that and sort themselves out . . .