Bobby Jindal, Kenneth the Page, & the bailout..

I awoke this morning to a winter wonderland...6 inches of snow outside my apartment in New York City. My family down in Georgia received about 4 inches.  I can't remember the last time it snowed in Georgia..in March. What is going on?  Significant snowfalls used to excite me, until I spent four years in Syracuse, NY; trust me, you haven't seen snow until you go to central New York this time of year. 

I also awoke to news that the insurance giant, AIG reported losses of $61.7 BILLION during the 4th quarter of 2008. These losses are the biggest quarterly losses EVER...in the history of the world...Since capitalism has been around.  Holy cow!

The U.S. government has responded by agreeing to give AIG another $30 BILLION in bailout funds to stay afloat. This new agreement is the fourth instance in which the government has infused $$$ to keep AIG from going bankrupt.

Last week, President Obama addressed Congress and the nation to offer words of encouragement and a plan to bring America out the recession as quickly and painlessly as possible. Shortly after the President's address, Bobby Jindal, the Governor of Louisiana, and arguably the new face of the GOP offered his party's response to Obama's vision for our country's future.

Bobby Jindal got crushed!!  The talking heads across all major news outlets criticized Jindal's speech, calling it "cheesy," and a "flop," and also lacking substance. Ouch!

On last week's episode of NBC's show 30 Rock, Tracy Morgan's character appeared on 'Larry King Live' to discuss the economic crisis and how Americans should maneuver through these times. Tracy told Larry that he always hides cash and encourages Americans to do the same.  Tracy tells Larry that he has a stash of $$$ hidden "in the safest place in 30 Rock.."

We later find out that Tracy's cash is hidden inside the blazer of Kenneth the Page, and Kenneth uses some of Tracy's cash to "bail out"  30 Rock star Liz Lemon (Tina Fey).

I couldn't help but wonder, since a lot of comparisons have been made between Bobby Jindal and Kenneth the Page, and Kenneth came through in the clutch with some bailout funds, when people didn't expect much from him...can/will Jindal and the GOP ever change their tone and work with the President to make the bailout effective and efficient ??

The verdict remains to be seen, but in the mean time we can all get a good laugh out of it.