What's going on, Albuquerque?

"Route 66 is Main Street and we don't want this billionaire bailout"

People are gathered right now in Albuquerque to protest the Wall Street bailout.

"Route 66 is the Mother Road. Route 66 IS Main Street," a man with a megaphone shouts, "And we don't want this billionaire bailout."

The gathering has attracted Ron Paul supporters, Barack Obama supporters, and economic-minded independents but there's nary a political sign in sight, unless you count a couple of Ron Paul stickers on the back of this guy's sign.

One typically gauges the success of such a protest by the amount of follow-up media exposure. But for those wearing out shoe leather, the supportive honks of passing cars help too.

Today, there's plenty of both. Probably 50% of drivers are honking with approval and at least one local TV station (KOB) is onsite filming. It's a scene worth filming too, with Route 66-era optimism still palpable in the old De Anza Motor Lodge visible behind the protesters' gloomy signage. The setting feels poignantly like an Ernst Hass photo which only serves to remind me of the contrast.

Here are a few more photos from the protest:

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Comment by JeSais on September 27, 2008 at 1:52pm: it's a red herring.... designed to distract us from the real issues...

from the The 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene:

"Law 3 - Conceal Your Intentions.... Keep people off-balance and in the dark by never revealing the purpose behind your actions. If they have no clue what you are up to, they cannot prepare a defense. Guide them far enough down the wrong path, envelope them in enough smoke, and by the time they realize your intentions, it will be too late."

Comment by slamwagon on September 27, 2008 at 2:36pm: eh... this country could use a good dose of reality.

Get your victory gardens and rain barrels up and running asap!

Comment by chantal on September 27, 2008 at 5:08pm: JeSais, and here I thought all the other red herrings were distracting us from the underlying economic issues. For what, in your opinion, are the economic issues a red herring?

Comment by Gus on September 27, 2008 at 5:21pm: The idea of a government bailout is ugly, painful and probably very necessary. It has unfortunately illustrated how broken our national "leadership" really is - our Congress can't pull its head out of its collective *ss long enough to lead its way out of a wet paper bag. They need to drop the partisan politics, stop the grandstanding and pass a comprehensive, expensive bailout of our financial industries...with provisions to ensure that those companies do not profit as a result.

Anyone who says we don't need this bailout doesn't understand the issues, hasn't read the history of the great depression and has put way too much faith in the market. Herbert Hoover put his faith in the market's self-correcting ability back in 1929...didn't work very well for us then, either.

The government has fundamental responsibilities. Unfortunately, now that we're face-to-face with one of them, it seems our government has decided to forfeit the game.

This is a sad commentary on our political system and our Congress. Ridiculous. Disgusting.

Comment by JeSais on September 27, 2008 at 6:10pm: hmmm..... I guess I wasn't entirely clear. It's not that I don't think there is a financial crisis. I just have faith in the market-- long term. Look at WAMU. JP Morgan Chase just got a bargain basement deal. And Bank of American just bought Merrill Lynch for a song. Warren Buffet just scooped up a chunk of Goldman Sachs....

I just don't think it is a crisis of the magnitude to require Taxpayer bailout.

Why is it we can suddenly afford 700 BILLION dollars to bail out banks and we can't afford to spend money on healthcare, education, investing in alternative energy... etc etc etc...

Comment by Adelita on September 27, 2008 at 6:22pm: Dang, Chantal! Had I known this was a multi- million dollar website I woulda asked for a paycheck! All this time I've been volunteering...

Comment by Lisa Abeyta on September 27, 2008 at 6:45pm: Interesting.

I posted a blog this morning here on DCF talking about what we can do as individuals, and not a single reply all day. I guess we just like to be angry at the big guys, not look at the smaller picture...

Not that we shouldn't be mad at the big guys.

Comment by chantal on September 27, 2008 at 7:40pm: Adelita, I'd have asked for a paycheck too ;-)

JeSais, why can we suddenly afford a financial market bailout when we previously couldn't afford healthcare, education, and alt energy? Now that's the billion dollar question ;-) Seriously, though, I'm not convinced the entire system is going to crumble but I do believe some kind of government intervention is necessary right now. And I do fear that the free market economy is not as inherently stable and self-balancing as we once believed it to be. Perhaps I'm being uncreative, but I don't see much of an alternative to more government oversight/regulation of our economic infrastructure.

Comment by Lisa Abeyta on September 27, 2008 at 8:48pm: Ok - I whine on here, go to the gym and whine some more about exercising, and come back to find that my blog is now on the front page. Wow - I wish whining got that kind of results here at home.

Cool post, by the way - love the photos, especially of the camera man inches away from the guy's face. I'd hate to have my face that close up on TV without a lot of photo-shopping going on!

Comment by Robert S. on September 28, 2008 at 2:16am: My "bailout" is figure out current value of mortgages on the bank books, give the banks 30 cents on the dollar to take them over, and have patience while we hope those people make good on their mortgage payments and eventually pay them off.

The banks will have to declare losses of 70 cents on the dollar of each mortgage sold as a "penalty" for bad loan decision making and the U.S. government Treasury wins if people pay off their mortgages as we get back the 30 cents on the dollar back plus any interest.