Keep dancing while Rome burns?

The recent financial and electoral events suddenly seem history making, whatever that means. I wonder how hindsight will frame it?
I watch the daily drops in the stock market with a bemused feeling. Given my relative lack of assets and relative youth, it all seems like somebody else's bad dream. I can't imagine how it will affect me, just as I can't really understand or imagine the causes of the most current economic crisis. A friend reminded me on the phone, however, that I was muttering about the inflated housing market years ago. Easy to mutter, I suppose, lacking the assets to climb on board the speculative bubble that promised guaranteed equity. Easy to mutter because a slowing of the housing market was inevitable, but who predicted the fallout? I've taken to listening to This American Life episodes for lay information on the causes of our troubles. What is most troubling is how little even the experts seem to know. How much are these assets the federal government is buying are really worth? Why weren't credit derivatives regulated like insurance? Why aren't we even considering a more "Swedish" option, where our money actually gets something for our money?
Meanwhile, the election mirrors my confusions. Suddenly. McCain, Biden, Palin, and Obama are trying to out middle-class each other, talking 'bout their single mother, food stamps, sittin' around the table trying to make ends meet, about gettin' up when knocked down. Suddenly the Republican and Democratic candidates are talking about who is more in favor of alternative energy, who is going to cut taxes more for the middle class, who is more of a maverick, who will bring more change. It's about time that American politics took more of a progressive turn.
That said, life is still pretty good out here in the West. Last weekend was one of those San Francisco weekends, full of crazy, high, half-naked people, world literature, and banjo music, reminding me of all this city has to offer. I still struggle with the relative lack of opportunity for me here, but I'm usually willing to throw it to the wind because of the rich cultural and artistic resources we have. Meanwhile, I just got a rascal of a kitten named Emile or Antoine, or some combination of the two. Stay tuned to see if I run off to Africa, kitten in tow.