Termination Dust September 29, 2008

The first snow in Fairbanks is always an occasion.  This year it happened on Saturday, the night of the University’s Starvation Gulch bonfire celebration to kick off the fall semester.  The juxtaposition of the heavy  snow/hail and the 30-foot bonfires was striking, and lent an otherworldly feel to the first storm of the winter.

The funny thing about the first snow is that people are never quite ready for it, even though most of us have lived here for quite some time and know full well when it’s coming.  There are always accidents, people sliding through intersections and into ditches.  Afterward, there’s always a tremendous run on snow tires and oil changes, and people start getting serious about digging up their potatoes or putting up the rest of the wood for the winter.  Construction crews push hard to get roofs up before the snow and cold come in earnest.

Today the U.S. House of Representatives voted down the $700 economic bailout bill, and Wall Street treated the nation to its version of the first snow of the winter.  Like Fairbanks’ snow, many of us have suspected this would be coming, and yet no one seems quite ready.

Where we go from here is both an individual and a collective choice.  Individually, everyone has affairs they should probably tend to.  An individual accounting of one’s expenditures and priorities seems in order.  Paying down debt is never a bad idea, and is necessary if we hope to get the economy back on track.  

Collectively, there are a couple of major choices to make as a nation.  The first is the bailout bill: should it be passed?  There are arguments to be made on either side, as there isn’t hard evidence that it will work- or if it does, whether it will be a permanent or temporary solution.  The second is even more important: the presidential election.  Our next president will be the person who has to deal with this crisis, and if we make a poor choice we will have a minimum of four years until we can choose again.

Alaska’s voter registration deadline is this coming Sunday, October 5th- the deadlines in other states can be found here.  If you aren’t registered, I strongly encourage it.  There has probably never been a more important election (at least economically speaking) in my lifetime, and perhaps yours as well.