George Rebane
2008, the year of fearsome foibles, is ending appropriately for me. This morning, when starting to put on my contacts, I discovered that I had flushed them down the drain last night after taking them off. I have worn contacts since 1961 (47 years!!) and their manipulation is a thoughtless process for me. But somehow last night when I popped them out and put them into their case for the overnight soaking, something switched in the old brainbone as I was talking to Jo Ann. From the available evidence this morning, it was clear that after I put my lenses in their case, I inadvertently reverted to the morning routine, rinsed out the case and then put it on the sink to dry out for the following evening. The kind people at my optometrist office this morning informed that this brain fart will cost about $204. Ahh, the ignominy of too many birthdays.
As we rummage through the ruins of our IRAs and portfolios, a correspondent reminds us that there is still another side of this financial crisis that seeks the light of day. Only one MSM outlet seems to have connected some of the other dots as seen in this little video collage. [update - another correspondent, afraid that I may not fully appreciate the intricacies of federal finances, just sent me this tutorial by Fred Thompson.]
Finally, two correspondents, each from a different world, sent this funny summary of the year’s news assembled by a very clever and talented blogger.
We close this year of bursting bubbles, nuclear standoffs, exploding rockets and missiles, terror bombings, unbridled nationalization, payoffs and ponzis, and hopeful change with a wish that you and yours will brace yourselves and have a tolerable 2009 – anything more than that would now seem syrupy and frivolous - and next year this time not have to look back at 2008 as the good old days. ;-)
The Ultimate Ponzi Scheme
George Rebane
A correspondent sends the nearby cartoon and reminds us again that if we judge the government by the same standards that its citizens are judged, then the government would be the biggest crook of all. All this comes under the growing time-bombs of unfunded liabilities which are set to go off across the land in hundreds (thousands?) of counties, towns, cities, and, of course, the federal government. The MSM uses the Madoff episode to discredit free market capitalism, and to distract us all from the real Ponzi schemes conducted everywhere that government acts as the employer. While we feel sorry for the little guys whose money was invested with Madoff, we continue to ignore our own plight as the biggest suckers of all.
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