This is me being fiscal minded.

America is trading pieces of paper for other pieces of paper, and not real things. That is a problem. And Lehman Brothers, after 158 years, seems to have died in the middle of the night. Indeed, America is bearing witness not only to the passing of a more than valuable firm, but to the death of a culture. Roger Cohen of The New York Times contends that the market of today is very reminiscent of the market of yesterday- when trading reopened on September 17, 2001 and the Dow plunged approximately 684.81 points. Perhaps that’s what “financial killing” really means. No better illustration exists of a culture where private gain has eclipsed the public good, public service, even public decency, and where the cult of the individual has caused the commonwealth to wither. That’s the culture we’ve lived with. It’s over now. Some new American beginning is needed. How apropos that a presidential election, marked highly by the motif of change, is right around the proverbial corner.