Democrats & Republicans are frantically arguing about the package proposed by the US president to spend $750 billion shoring up the financial markets to prevent the US economy going into a tail spin. I have no doubt they all believe that this is a serious situation, and that they, and the people they represent, are in grave risk of getting seriously hurt by this situation. However, I have heard politicians earnestly arguing that it is un-American to interfere with results of a free market, and others saying that if there is money going here then they need other funds to help schemes they deem worthy. All these principles and good intentions and meanwhile Wall St burns…

Principles are all very well and when you are about to spend a sum equal to the GNP of Canada then you need to give it a little thought, however, there is a time to think and a time to act. Imagine arguing with your wife about which things you should drag out of your burning house first, the budgie or the holiday snaps…

Leaders act, they need an instinctive grasp of how to look after the people who look to them. Few of us will ever have to face this kind of decision, but fiddling whilst Rome burnt didn’t help Nero and is unlikely to work any better today.

“What to do if you find yourself stuck in a crack in the ground underneath a giant boulder you can’t move, with no hope of rescue. Consider how lucky you are that life has been good to you so far. Alternatively, if life hasn’t been good to you so far, which given your current circumstances seems more likely, consider how lucky you are that it won’t be troubling you much longer.” Douglas Adams