Two things the MSM noted about the last presidential debate (apart from the lack of follow-up questions, Tom Brokaw's inability to keep the candidates focussed and how bored the audience all looked) were John McCain's annoyingly frequent use of "My friends" when addressing people he doesn't know and probably would never choose to hang with, and his and Obama's constant bandying of the term "fundamental differences" without explaining what "fundamental differences" they have on the economy.

Although Americans care more about what the next President of the United States is going to do, than what past administrations have done, I heard little but- what's the line in the movie - "You talk a lot, but you don't tell me nothin'"?   John McCain said not so long ago "the fundamentals" of our economy are strong".  I believe this is supposed to be something politicians say to calm the markets, even though it flies in the face of everything those of us who don't have seven or eight houses see.  Surprise, surprise - that hasn't worked, so maybe it's time our leaders say something that makes sense, not beggars belief.

The "fundamentals" of our economy were abandoned a long time ago.  Over the decades, our political masters, in cahoots with corporations, have gradually chipped away at legislation and left us in a muddle which confounds even freshmen business administration students.  Not just individuals, but government bodies up and down the food chain, have been living on borrowed money and borrowed time, with a succession of quacks (politely referred to as "Treasury Secretaries" and "Economic Policy Advisers") treating downturns with placebos of consumer debt and defence spending.  The other day I checked out a pie chart of the government debt the Bush administration has run up.  Talk about scary, I had to take a Xanax just to finish reading the footnotes.  The same day I read that the famous "debt clock" has run out of numbers.  I went to bed that night and dreamt that I lost my job and had to move in with my parents, sleep in my old (bunk) bed and resume my most hated chore - mowing the steep terraced lawn with the aid of a rope.  It could have been worse.  I might have dreamt that I WAS my parents in the 1930s.  Their reality was more frightening than my worst nightmare - even the one where I was hiding from Godzilla in my old high school locker and was set upon by hundreds of poisonous spiders.

We don't like to talk about Depression because it's depressing.  It takes courage to talk about it.  It takes even more courage to do something about it.  Are you still with me?

Remember after 9/11, when President Bush exhorted us to "go shopping"?  Do you think shopping to stave off economic recession is a good idea?  Isn't that a little self-defeating, like eating chocolate cake on a diet?  Tastes good now, but you pay later.  Yes, yes, I know consumer spending is the so-called "engine of the American economy", but does it have to be?  Did you know that since Bush took office, 70% (gulp!) of our entire economy is consumer spending?  Does anybody else see anything wrong with that?  More to the point, did anybody stop spending beyond their means?  This is a complete no-brainer, but I'm as guilty as you are.  But just because we made mistakes doesn't mean we can't change.  Why aren't manufacturing and exporting the engine?  Why is our economy so one-way, gobbling imports and choking on the dust of our bloated trade deficit, like a faulty vacuum?  We are fully capable of designing and manufacturing desirable, marketable, reliable consumer goods and selling them overseas.  We are probably more capable of exporting green technology than any other country on Earth, but we shun it out of ignorant principle.  When the naysayers poo-poo the idea of "American-made" because of labor costs, I wonder how companies like Renault and Peugeot can continue manufacturing cars in (expensive, unionized) France.  Well, it's simple.  Those companies constantly innovate.  There is demand for their cars all over Europe and elsewhere.  From electric mini-cars to fuel-efficient clean diesel SUVs, these companies produce practical cars for practical buyers - you know - practical people who know that cars are not a fashion statement, they're a means of transportation.  So why can't we resolve that we will demand economical, reliable cars and drive them for five or six years or more before we upgrade?  Would you pay a little more for an American-made car which didn't start having problems after three years on the road and which maybe saved you $20 or $30 a week in gas bills?  I would, if given the choice.

What happened to our train networks?  There surely is demand outside of the New York/Washington corridor.  I remember my first train trip, to visit my grandmother.  We ate ice cream sundaes in the fancy dining car.  It was 1,000 times more enjoyable than crossing my legs in anguish in the car, eventually relieving myself by the side of the highway, because my Dad was in such a hurry to get to our destination, or taking the Greyhound to see Aunt Rose in Phoenix when I had to stuff my money in my underwear and sit next to a smelly letcher for two days and nights.  I know America is vast, but when Air France (I'm not French, by the way, just a coincidence that the French make some of the most technically advanced cars and trains) has announced they are going to introduce 375mph passenger trains all across Europe within 2 years, I wonder why we can't upgrade the tracks which cross-cross our country and do the same?  Especially when commercial jets use so much more energy per passenger, are so much more expensive to maintain and are so unreliable of late?  For Chrissakes, we put the first man on the moon - I don't think I'm the only American who thinks we can also manage to build a decent high-speed rail network.

Here's where I favor Obama's policies - although he hasn't gone into any real detail about his plans for investing in our country's infrastructure, at least "rebuilding our infrastructure" is part of his mantra.  Because when America builds things, we seem to do pretty well.  When the basis of our economy resembles some weird pyramid scheme, we don't.

I was never impressed with Keynes's theories because I know some really rich people, and apart from occasional charitable donations and fundraisers (mostly to impress their really rich friends and have somewhere to wear their new designer duds), they have a tendency to hang on to what they've got.  Of course there are exceptions, but think about it.  What is the former CEO of Lehman Brothers going to do with $350 million?  Give it back to the Treasury to compensate in a minor way for the mess he helped make?  I don't think so...

Americans don't want much.  They don't ask for much.  They need, want and ask for the jobs and security that results from "fundamentally sound" economic government policies, and tangible evidence that "The Greatest Country in the World" is not just a campaign slogan.