The definition of irony: having to pick a new 401(k) investment plan during the week of the country's biggest financial crisis in years. When I turn to a trusted friend to reassure me, she put it in perspective for me: "You can count on not having Social Security, so you better get to planning your retirement now."

I am sure I am not alone in worrying about my future. After several "good learning experiences" in my college education, I am strapped in student loan debt. I can't even begin to think about a mortgage to buy the sweet house I'm renting. (It would be a great place to start a family.) But I have a good job, right? And I'm secure in it? Well, I work in an industry that depends on consumer spending, so you be the judge.

My mom and I had a discussion tonight about how it's hard to know how this economic crisis will affect us. Montana's had its share of rough times, but our unemployment rate is below the national average at just 4.4%. (www.mt.gov) That number is of no comfort to this summer's 125 laid off workers at the Columbia Falls Aluminum Co. And Plum Creek is shutting down Kalispell's finger joint mill, displacing 50 workers. This economic crisis and downturn in the economy didn't happen overnight. Hank Ricklefs, a Vice President for Plum Creek told the Missoulian that construction started to slump last year, leading to a drop in demand for construction products like lumber and wood, then loggers get laid off, then lumber distributors stop distributing, leading to a ripple effect throughout the economy.

So why, all of a sudden, are we suspending our campaigns and rushing back to Washington to come up with last minute bailout plans for something that even someone who never attended even one Econ class could have seen coming a mile away?

Tonight, no bailout agreement has been reached, and Montana's congressional delegation is largely opposed to bailing out big companies. Senator Max Baucus (D) is for penalizing top executives that accept help in the bailout, and imposing heavy taxes on the "golden parachutes" given to executives of companies in trouble.  He noted the example of Bob Gannon, former CEO of Montana Power Co. When the company bit the dust, he received a multi-million dollar payout. Senator Jon Tester (D) agrees that this was a foreseeable crisis. He told the Great Falls Tribune Tuesday that "This has been going on for 10 years, and we were told last week that this has to be passed by Friday or there's potential for severe problems in the economy." Representative Denny Rehberg (R) is a member of the House Appropriations Committee, and wants to slow down the process and get it right, and not govern based on election year politics.

But aren't election year politics adding to the drama that is this crisis? When voters go to the polls in November, this will be fresh in their minds. They will be thinking of their wallets when they go to vote. In the most recent CNN/Time Opinion poll John McCain is leading big in Big Sky Country, an eleven point lead (54 to  43 percent.) Is it a coincidence of this roller coaster election year that the poo is hitting the fan six weeks before the election? It will be interesting to see what affect this has on the polls, and just how this crisis may hit Montana. Looks like Montanans won't know how their Public Employees Retirement System (PERS) fared through the market upheaval until October, just before election time. Perhaps some early voters are wishing they hadn't turned in their ballots so soon.

They say money doesn't buy happiness, but the research is still out on that.  I think of my grandmother, who had dozens of coffee cans full of used bars of soap that we threw out when she died.  Having lived through the depression, perhaps she saved them to be prepared for this time, and she'd be ready to melt them down and make her own soap.  I wonder what she would make of this. Would she think we're going down the same path she came of age in?

I look around at the material possessions I hold so dear. Sure, it would be great to retire with a full 401(k) plan and more money than I'll ever use. I hope I'll have a house with a dog and some kids running around who will have the opportunity for a good education, and to do whatever they dream about. Every generation hopes they can do a little bit better than their parents, and I hope that American Dream will hold out through my adult years. (Oh, and I also hope I pick a good 401(k) investment that really will yield me 100,000 by the time I'm 103 for only pennies a day!)