 Against the backdrop of scientific and logistical achievement, the United States (US) economy remains in an unfortunately precarious state of financial flux. 
Clarence E Pilgrim
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NASA's space shuttle Atlantis and its seven astronauts are now set to blast off late at night on Oct. 14 from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, for its last visit to the orbiting Hubble Space Telescope. The flight was delayed due to Hurricane Ike. What is significant about this mission is the fact that it is the first time there is an emergency space shuttle ready to blast off if anything goes wrong. Endeavour will serve as the rescue ship for Atlantis, if there is a need.
Against the backdrop of this scientific and logistical achievement, the United States (US) economy remains in an unfortunately precarious state of financial flux.
The US administration of President George Bush, has proposed a $700 billion plan to rescue the economy. According to the President,"[the] rescue effort is not aimed at preserving any individual company or industry." He said that government is the only entity that is capable of buying financial firms' troubled assets, at their current low prices and holding them until their value returns to normal. His argument was based on the belief that foreclosures would rise, millions of people could lose their jobs and "ultimately our country could experience a long and painful recession."
The desperate financial system in an election year has caused both presidential candidates, John McCain and Barack Obama to re-focus their campaign on the present crisis. Even though both say this situation should be above politics, the fact is that one of them will move into the White House come January, and essential to their rise is proving to the electorate and indeed the world, that they are showing leadership during crisis by providing workable solutions. As it stands now, more voters believe that candidate Obama has greater credibility on the issue of providing solutions for the economy. It is interesting that one of the candidates wanted to suspend their campaign because of the crisis. If this is really a proposition put forward in seriousness, then perhaps that candidate should reconsider their presidential aspirations. After all, when you are a leader you have to grapple with the most uncomfortable of situations, especially when you least expect them. My advice is to continue with the campaign, and use this as an opportunity to debate the issues!
The man who is really in the hot seat is President Bush, who must find a way of convincing law-makers and indeed the contributors to the Dow-Jones index that the bailout is the approach that will work. He believes that this action will "send a signal to markets around the world that America's financial system is back on track." However, an important consideration should be that the bailout is controlled and monitored through oversight duties performed by the appropriate executive body, such as the treasury secretary of the United States, thus ensuring some degree of accountability to the tax-payers.
It would also be prudent if there is a limit placed on very large executive compensation for firms who hope to benefit from this initiative.
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