Bailout talks in Washington aimed at setting right the nation’s financial system. They also proved a useful lesson in geography.

Nobody knew Wall Street and Main Street ran in such close proximity.

Those for and against the $700 billion plan used the words in making their case. The theme carried with either argument: Wall Street bad, Main Street good.

Fat cats in thousand-dollar shoes look to line their pockets at all costs on Wall Street.

On Main Street, hard-working souls wear penny loafers and just want a comfortable life.

The U.S. House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, said she wanted to “insulate Main Street … from the crisis on Wall Street.”

Economist Nouriel Roubini said reckless bankers wanted to get richer “under the fake argument that bailing out Wall Street was necessary to rescue Main Street.”

The two main presidential candidates, John McCain and Barack Obama, used Main Street and Wall Street in the same sentence on occasion last week.

Mingling of these streets has become a go-to banality.

Located on the southern tip of Manhattan Island in New York, Wall Street runs just eight irregularly shaped blocks. From its end point at Broadway, it’s a short downhill walk to South Street and the East River beyond.

Of course, the Wall Street of bailout consideration has little to do with pavement and everything to do with financial houses in that area. Even at New York prices, some company could do an asphalt overlay of Wall Street for much less than $700 billion.

In St. Joseph, about 1,200 miles to the west, Main Street appears longer and probably more costly to pave. But it’s not a Main Street like in most communities.

Those in the know on St. Joseph history can explain the original town platting as a tribute to the children of founder Joseph Robidoux. The streets leading east from the Missouri River — Felix, Francis, Edmond and so forth — bear the names of his 19th-century offspring.

Main Street in St. Joseph has most of its length in a residential area. From its northern dead end, it falls in grade to an end 19 blocks south.

It appears as American as any street. A half-dozen or so flags wave in front yards, and one residence has a banner with stars in a picture window, indicating a military household. These are homes of the working class on the city’s North End, and no golden parachutes ever landed hereabouts.

Between 2006 and 2007, a recent Census Bureau report shows, median household income in Buchanan County fell more than 4 percent, and those households getting food stamps in the previous 12 months went up more than 54 percent.

The number of people living below the poverty line rose 17 percent during that time, and the median home value fell by about $1,400.

All of these government-supplied numbers reflect a time before the current Wall Street crisis bloomed.

It would be nice to think the statistics since then show the local economy spearheading a trend toward national recovery. Anecdotally, that seems unlikely.

In the generic realm of Main Street, suffering preceded the bailout talks. In another generic realm, Wall Street saw and cared little.

Ken Newton’s column runs on Tuesday and Sunday.