Calories and Politics

This is the "Hamburger Fatty Melt" a 4 ounce beef patty between 2 grilled cheese sandwiches that act as buns. Quite possibly over 1500 calories but I'm sure its absolutely delicious.

- Last night was the highly anticipated Vice Presidential Debate between Senator Joe Biden and Governor Sarah Palin. It was supposed to be a trainwreck as all eyes were on Palin to have some missteps like she has been having in her interviews with Katie Couric and Charles Gibson. Instead she proved that intense cramming of 10 years worth of material can pay off as she didn't do anything to really derail her ticket. I think Biden was a clear winner, but Palin did the republicans proud. The spotlight should be off of her now as far as being qualified but this wasn't enough to get those ever so important swing votes in Ohio, Florida, and Pennslyvania that the Republican campaign desperately needs. I give kudos for Palin to run with the big boys but I think Obama will continue to gain steam in the polls and keep building momentum over the next 30 days til November 4th.

- Wall Street also finally got it's wish today as the House approved the $700 Billion dollar bail out plan and the ink is drying on President Bush's signature. The new amendments to the bill are supposedly going to protect the tax payer's but I'll believe it when I see it. For more info on what exactly the bail out plan is all about click here.

- Unemployment figures were also released today for the month of September. The bad news is that 150,000 more jobs were lost BEFORE the wall street meltdown. That means that when everything is said and done we could be looking any where from 7-7.5% unemployment rate going into 2009. This is heading to the worst unemployment rate since 1990-91 during Gulf Storm and a recession.

Major companies are already feeling the effects as a litany of lay offs were announced today. Gawker is axing 19 editorial jobs across its sites, Variety is getting rid of half of its sales force for its NY office, The New York Sun newspaper has gone out of business effective its Sept 30 edition, Wells Fargo buys out Wachovia Banks for $15.1 billion, and that's just what has happened for today. Looks to be pretty bleak times and for those out of work I don't think they should expect to find anything for the next 3-5 months under these conditions.