Okay, seriously now? I’m really, really trying to understand what’s happening with the economy, and why The Bill was good/bad/horrific and who was forthcoming/grandstanding/lying/clueless about everything. Marc at In One Ear…Out the Other has a great post about how we got here. Even when the $7 Gazillion Bailout didn’t pass, I didn’t freak out because I’m not convinced that it was the only way (let alone best way) to go.

But then I saw this post at Crooks and Liars, and that did make me freak out a little. (After scrolling through about 160 comments, it sunk in that the Fed is independent of the Executive Branch, so it acted independently…before the Great Bailout Bill failed.) And then this NY Times article confirmed that yep, the Fed is providing (um, printing?) “an extra $150 billion through an emergency lending program for banks, and an additional $330 billion through so-called swap lines with foreign central banks to help money markets from Europe to Asia.”

So…what was the point of the Bajillion-Dollar Bill again? You know, the one that failed? I am so confused.

Between the Fed printing our way into stability–or something–and the way people are pointing fingers so viciously, you have to shield your eyes against fingerpokes while reading the articles, I’m not sure what to think. And that’s on top of McCain saying this all in the same breath: “Senator Obama and his allies in Congress infused unnecessary partisanship into the process. Now is not the time to affix the blame. It’s time to fix the problem.”

My head hurts.

See, this is why I write fiction. There are times when reality just makes no freaking sense.