We can make this work

Ok, so no one suggested an album to review last week. I expected that would happen sooner rather than later and had decided that I would just review an album of my choice instead. Yeah, that's right, I get a say around here on occasion. So hopefully I'll still get a review done before the weekend.

In other news I tried a new recipe last night that worked out pretty darn well, if I do say so myself. It's a recipe I got from the New York Times for Black Bean Soft Tacos. It's really easy and damn good for you. If anyone wants the recipe (it's also vegetarian, Tina) let me know and I'll send it to you. I'm trying to build a repertoire of dishes that utilize black beans. They are low fat and full of lots of good-for-yous.

On a more current-events note: I've been thinking a lot this week about the financial crisis that's going on right now (something tells me I'm not alone). I have a little bit of money in the stock market by way of a mutual fund I bought into about 10 years ago. I don't really keep track of the damn thing- I couldn't even tell you how much it's worth right now- so I'm obviously not too concerned about my personal finances but according to some experts a lot of people could stand to lose a lot of money before all is said and done. It's times like these that make me wish I understood the economy much better than I do but also simultaneously kind of make me glad I don't. I'm sure if I actually fully comprehended what was happening I would probably be freaking out right now.

It's also made me wonder about the concept of a government bailout. The U.S. gov't just invested $85B taxpayer dollars in AIG to keep it afloat. The idea is that if AIG had crashed suddenly then the implications would have been serious and far reaching. Of course I never heard anyone say or even hint at what those consequences might be, just that they would be bad. It's not that I don't believe what these folks are saying, it's just that I'd like to know exactly what might happen that deserves risking $85B public. This isn't the first time (nor will it be the last) that the government has bailed out a company because the company was "too big to fail." I'm sorry but I just think that's a load of crap. Isn't this just capitalism taking it's course? Like I said, I'm sure that there are some good reasons for this course of action, I just haven't heard any. Anyone care to explain?

I don't pretend to understand economics, people. It's just that stuff like this has never sat right with me. Huge companies collapsing as a result of investor uncertainty/fear is part of the system, right? Isn't that just one of the risks inherent in a free market economy? I might understand this bailout a little more if it could be shown that the trouble was not in any way the fault of the AIG business plan, but I refuse to accept the fact that a corporation can simply be "too big" to fail. That's likely a slippery slope.