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Friday, Mar. 27, 2009

Loose Lips: Economic woes on minds of all

A chamber of commerce event isn't where you'd expect populist angst to rear its head.

It's usually where business leaders shake hands, stir martinis and hone what they do best -- red-blooded capitalism.

Perhaps such talk is another sign of the times.

It's hard to avoid joining La Revolución -- or at least griping about how our free-market bill keeps rising -- when you're about to sit through a lecture about how Wall Street financial wizards managed to make our economy disappear -- and then get bonuses for their black magic act.

And there's nothing that says, or sings, "working man" quite like country music, and no song that captures the moment of blue-collar rage like John Rich's "Shutting Detroit Down."

The song's about how, you guessed it, America's auto-assembling hub is on the verge of collapse.

"While the boss man takes his bonus pay and jets on outta town/D.C.'s bailing out them bankers as the farmers auction ground," Rich sings.

Before UC Merced economics professor Shawn Kantor began his presentation about the turmoil, Mayor Ellie Wooten mentioned how she's a country music diehard and has been hearing that catchy ditty as she cruises around.

Fortunately, even chamber events are recession-proof and the talk of billion-dollar bailouts didn't make anyone lose their appetite. The crowd still managed to part with $20 for the Branding Iron chicken lunch.

I shall not be moved

Lips just got back from wiping clean its gigantic white board charting political maneuvers.

Why? Because of Assemblywoman Cathleen Galgiani also known as The Game Changer.

See, Lips, like so many other political fiends, figured she'd climb up one rung on the state ladder by gunning for the state Senate seat that Repub Jeff Denham will be leaving for either lieutenant governor or the political wasteland, depending on voters' whims.

But alas, that's not the case as she's ruled out the upper rung for now. (Lips, of course, is fully aware of what happens when you ass-u-me things.)

Instead, it looks as if 2010 may be a replay of the 2008 race that pitted her against Jack Mobley, who's really never stopped campaigning since he was KO'd.

So who's going to run for Senate? At this point, it's a wide-open field.

The politicos mulling an Assembly run may now look at the Senate, which is bound to be a bitter contest. So far, mum's the word on who's willing to take the public flogging.

Meantime, Lips is ready, dry-erase pen in hand, to start sketching it out once more.

Loose Lips can be reached at editor@mercedsun-star.com.