Things I've Learned from Washington and Wall Street

Every where I go, it's "economic crisis" this and "banking meltdown" that, not to mention all the talk of campaigning and non-campaigning. There's so much going on right now politically and economically that I can't help but glean a few take-away lessons.

Lesson #1: Apparently, only two streets in America matter right now--Main Street and Wall Street. If you live on another street, you're out of luck.

Lesson #2: When you take time off from work, whether it be from campaigning or your regular-old day job, you should actually take time off. Don't say you're going to do it and then have people running around doing your work (or campaigning) for you--even if that means you're technically doing what you said you were going to do.

Lesson #3: Being in debt is never a good thing. Running your household (whether it's a White House or a green one) on a deficit is bad practice. It will only get you into trouble.

Lesson #4: You can go around telling people that you get along with your neighbors all you want, but when the rubber meets the road, you have to actually be able to work together if you want to get anything done.

Lesson #5: Standards are different for men, women and people of color. This may sound like a no-brainer, but naive old me thought we'd gotten past a lot of this stuff. Apparently not.

Lesson #6: Crying sexism or racism is like crying wolf. Sadly, the more we cry the less people listen or take us seriously.

Lesson #7: If you're going to play in the stock market, you better know what you're doing.

What lessons have you learned from what's going on in Washington and on Wall Street?