I just liked it, that's all there is to it. (And hey, I can dream, can't I?)

 

I thought this might be good to show both how busy it truly was on the Plaza (no surprise) and the West Edge and its cranes threatening the area--and city. (lol)

 

This wouldn't be any big deal but this accomplishes two things: it gives the near-obligatory photo of the fountain in front of the Eddie Bauer store, which we all like so much, think, and because it shows this rather cute couple. I say cute (reluctantly, believe me) because they were getting a picture of what looked to be their newborn baby on what must be the child's first Thanksgiving and then I felt I had to get a shot of them because they wore matching "Thanksgiving brown" clothing. I wouldn't do it but it was cute on them.

 

This was pretty incredible, in its own way, and unique--at least for Kansas City. These guys kept driving around the Plaza, making the car bounce and twist, as is shown here. The car, amazingly, isn't broken--the suspension system was hopped up to do just these kinds of tricks. (To each their own, right?).

 

This is just to emphasize, again, how warm it was in the area this day, Saturday, and really, how warm it's been since, what? October, I think. Great Autumn to remember. (Don't forget it when we're freezing our tushies off, later).For clarification, too, I'm not going to turn this into my photography blog, either. I'll still continue to put my photos on my other blog (KC Photog Blog). It's just that this seemed like the perfect time, day and weekend to put these up, from the holiday weekend, as a way to keep up with the city and the Thanksgiving weekend.

 

I just threw this in to show how beautiful a day it was (as though we needed reminding, right?) and because I thought it turned out well, what with the light and clouds, etc. I will tell you, the streets were far more busy than this shows. It seemed everyone in town had the same idea--to go to the Plaza.

 

This was really refreshing for me and, I suspect, a lot of people--two young guys with their string instruments, playing for the public. (So you know, I'm a huge lover of string music, classical, in particular). They were in front of the Buca de Beppa Restaurant entrance.

 

And what would the Plaza be anymore, if not for the collection of cyclists and their cycles at Latte' Land, right?

 

And these beautiful people were helping collect donations for Salvation Army, of course, in front of Barnes and Noble bookstore.(It's admittedly not a great picture--the light on the sign is too harsh--but I wanted to make sure I put thse folks up, as a way of thanking them for their work and volunteering.

The annual "Thanksgiving weekend Elvis sighting on the Country Club Plaza"

 

To the Kansas City Star: Don't do us any favors

The headline on the front page of The Kansas City Star today is "When might Squitiro return?"

The Star shouldn't even pose the question.

The answer is, hopefully, bloody never.

I mean, really, if you're Mayor Mark Funkhouser or his wife, Gloria Squitiro, evntually common sense should hit and the conclusion should be that a) you've cost the city you're supposed to run enough money (one-half million dollars in settling the lawsuit against her and her big mouth, was just one example) and b) for pity's sake, you can give him advice from home all you want.

Give it up.

The follow-up section of the same, continued article, back on page A20 had the following headline for it, too: "Her advising of Funkhouser continues away from City Hall".

And that's as it should be.

Hopefully, we'll leave this little arrangement just as it is, for the benefit of the all involved, but most particularly, the city and citizens of Kansas City, Missouri.

Link: http://www.kansascity.com/637/story/1599158.html

Sanity and insanity on the Thanksgiving weekend

All from The Kansas City Star today.

First the insanity:

--some lunatic in Florida (thank God it was there) "opened fire on his family after Thanksgiving dinner."

I always wonder why these people don't do everyone a favor and put the gun at their own head, instead of anyone else. Granted, this guy is clearly nuts but, I ask you, wouldn't it be nice?

--The couple who crashed the White House State dinner the other night got to walk right up and meet and greet the President and First Lady.

Nearly unbelievable.

As I said, somebody's ass is out the door on that one.

--Now our Congress is considering doing a "Cash for clunkers" for appliances and that industry.

Really, our government needs to learn that we're unplugging a bit, as a consumer society. We've spent way too damned much money on virtually everything and the party is over. They need to stop throwing our own--now borrowed--money at us. First it was for houses--which they're likely going to extend--then it was for cars, now appliances. Give it up, ladies and gentelmen. We know we're over-extended on credit. When are you going to learn you are?

--Sady, some coupld from our own Columbia, Missouri fell asleep in a Caseyville, Illinois motel room "after leaving an infant and toddler in a running van outside."

Yikes.

I'm not even going to touch that irresponsibility and stupidity.

--Mayor Michael Bloomberg paid $100 million of his own money "to narrowly win a third term" for himself in New York City, "breaking his previous records for the most expensive self-financed political bid in US history..."

This is where we're headed, folks, with rich people buying our elections, only much worse, if we don't institute very real--and stringent--campaign finance reform.

--Former CNN host Lou Dobbs looks to be eyeing a run for President in 2012.

I'm not sure if I should laugh or cry.

--It looks more and more like some idiot with a bomb blew up a train in Russia, killing 25 people and injuring lots more, of course.

--This last one falls in the insanity and sanity column, both. I reported earlier that our city is going to have a two-day free health care clinic downtown at Bartle Hall. The insanity is that we have to do this, here in the United States.

The sanity:

--Again, that we are having a two-day free health care clinic downtown soon, at Bartle Hall. God bless all the people who are sacrificing their time, talent and energy to do this for the less well-off.

--The Governor of Bali had put in a request to sacrifice "hundreds of rare reptiles"--turtles--that were "to be killed for religious ceremonies."

Thank goodness common sense prevailed.

--I'd almost put money right now on KU's head coach Mark Mangino being fired very shortly--possibly as soon as tomorrow. It might not happen but after reading what he's said and done with his football players, I'm thinking it's a sure thing he's out. He was just too politically incorrect--and way off base.

--It looks like China and Russia are backing a nuclear limits ban on Iran through the UN. International cooperation always looks good.

--It's a beautiful weekend here in the midwest US and there are loads and loads of people helping and doing things for, their fellow man (person, whatever).

That's always terrific.

Have a great weekend, y'all.

Link: www.kansascity.com

For anyone and everyone who thinks we don't need health care reform

This is what too many of us have come to.

The Kansas City Star reports today that there will be a free health care clinic right here in our own little cowtown. It is to be a two day event at Bartle Hall December 9 and 10.

As I said, this is what health care has come to here in the US.

The richest country in the world has the most expensive--and least available--health care system in the world.

These free health care fairs have been done in the Appalachians, the West Coast (LA), the East Coast (West Virginia) and elsewhere. For too many of us, our insurance and insurance companies have priced us out of having good, sound health care.

It's undeniable but people and corporations deny it, regardless.

It's sad.

It's pathetic.

Maddening.

Did you know that the US is ranked 37th, internationally, when it comes to mortality rates?

Yeah, we are.

We are BEHIND Costa Rica on this.

Costa freakin' Rica, people.

Think we have the best health care system in the world?

Think again.

And did you see yesterday in the media that we are ranked number 3, again internationally, in terms of obesity rates?

I'm not saying that's anyone's fault but our own, individually, but it adds up to a really ugly health care picture.

If one more right-wing, closed-minded, uniformed, jingoistic chucklehead--family, friend, whatever--claims we don't need health care reform, I may well go apeshit on 'em.

Link: http://www.kansascity.com/115/story/1597536.html

Whole lotta' hatin' comin' on

The President is going to the United Nations first, it seems, on December 9, at the start of a 12 day session, then go to Oslo to accept the Nobel Peace Prize the next day.

Can you imagine how Glenn Beck, Rush "Porkulus" Limbaugh, Bill O'Reilly, Sean Hannity and all the folks at Faux News are salivating for this? I'm thinking they all figure they have a great deal to be thankful for.

They'll be trashing the UN, this Nobel Peace Prize--again or some more--and dissing on Mr. Obama all they can, every second.

Get ready. They're going to whip themselves into a holiday frenzy.

Link: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/26/us/politics/26climate.html?_r=1&th&emc=th

Random thoughts on a wonderful, long, beautiful holiday weekend

--The Star reports that "A 17-year-old girl remained hospitalized this morning after she was shot on Thanksgiving night in central Kansas City." I can't write very long here, today, because I'm going to join the East side clergy who are going to be protesting this and the other shootings and killings of their fellow-citizens in the city. Yeah, right;

--The Kansas City Star reported this morning that drivers who already have suspended licenses are being picked up outside court in downtown Kansas City by the police. A couple things come to mind--first, good for the cops. This is a great idea. It should have been done years before now. And two, it was reported on, I think, KCTV5 a few days ago, on the evening news. What this means is that now the Star is following the local, crappy TV news coverage, which is notoriously lame. That's how bad it's gotten at the Star. Used to be, the Star scooped virtually all news organizations in town. No more, no surprise, sadly. So it goes;

--It isn't my goal to repeatedly complain about our local newspaper but one of the big stories on the front page this morning was that the Country Club Plaza Thanksgiving evening holiday lighting ceremony "is a balm in hard times." Really? If I'm unemployed--or underemployed--how is that going to give me comfort? And this is news how? And still, to this day, the Star hasn't done one more researching story on the ousting of the City Manager--they still haven't tried to ask the questions for us of just why he was let go. Oh, well. Que sera, sera;

--People are still, amazingly, writing in to the Star today, supporting now-ex-City Manager Wayne Cauthen. Nearly unbelieveable, but for being uninformed;

--Much more surprisingly, there was yet another letter to the editor in the paper, declaring that we, the people of Kansas City, should "Just give the man a chance to be the mayor and see what good things he can do for Kansas City." And she was serious. Of course, she lived in Leawood, Kansas but what the hell, right?;

--The Star editorial staff let Mike Hendricks write yet another op/ed column about how we should ride our bicycles to work. Yeah. Right. That's gonna happen. I really don't like or want to be cynical or sarcastic but that just patently isn't going to happen. Not here in America. Not with Americans. A few of us but darned few;

--If I could, I would never hear the term "Black Friday" ever again. Same with reports the last few days, continuing all weekend, I'm sure, about the shopping season. This morning, even NPR went WAY overboard with this. One of their reports said "people are looking to save money." Really? There's a surprise, huh?

--Then there's the Reno County (Hutchinson, Kansas) defense attorney who brings and presents a "dud" hand grenade in his closing remarks for his client's case to prove a point. Oh, yeah. There's a rocket scientist;

--Who would think it would ever, anymore, be possible to crash a State dinner at the White House, no matter who the President? It's for sure someone's job--or some people's jobs--will be sacrificed. Makes me want to crash a Ward Parkway or Mission Hills party one of these days. (Not actually, but suddenly seems much more possible);

--did you see where we (the US through the US Forest Service) just bought 1200 acres of "scenic meadow land...in the Sierra Nevada neard Truckee, CA" for $3 million? Sounds cool. I'd love to go see it. I don't know how we're going to take care of it, since we don't take care of our National Parks already but what the hell. At least, hopefully, the logging companies won't get it. Hopefully;

--did you know you could die if you get stuck upside down in a cave for 24 hours? Who knew? (And I'm not being flip about the young man's death);

--Fortunately for everyone--and Wal-Mart in particular--apparently no one was killed this year, trying to get that terrific holiday bargain in the early-morning hours. (And now that I think of it, how would you like to be remembered as "the person who was trampled to death on Thanksgiving morning, trying to get that perfect holiday bargain"?);

--It's great, I think, to sit at a Panera's restaurant, writing a local blog, while listening to your favorite music, while all about you is near-chaos. (Right now, Andrea Bocelli singing "Ave Maria").

Okay, everyone, go out there and have a terrific holiday weekend!

Links:
http://www.kansascity.com/news/breaking_news/story/1596294.html
http://www.kansascity.com/934/gallery/1596068.html
http://www.kansascity.com/934/gallery/1578438.html
http://www.kansascity.com/115/story/1595583.html
http://voices.kansascity.com/node/6681
http://www.kansascity.com/340/story/1595391.html
http://blogs.kansascity.com/unfettered_letters/2009/11/cauthens-dismissal.html

Ethics in government?

I follow 44th District Congressman Jason Kander on Facebook (yes, Facebook) and find today that he wrote an "As I See It" column that was printed in The Kansas City Star this morning.

It is excellent.

In it, he very succinctly calls for ethics legislation for all the representatives out of Jefferson City.

Hallelujah. Amen, brother.

A couple examples:

"Missouri’s “anything goes” system of campaign finance seems designed to promote, not deter, laundering of political contributions. It is common practice by many Missouri politicians to shuffle funds from one political action committee to another to “wash” contributions and mask their source."

"We should ban committee-to-committee donations and make it a felony to transfer political money for the purpose of hiding the original donor."

For me, as I said on his FB page earlier today, the topper was when the Republicans took down all limits on campaign contributions.

That was terrific if you're a corporation or just simply filthy rich (and I mean filthy). This way, you can virtually, if not actually, buy any regulation or bill in government you want--or think you need.

On top of that, you can certainly help any friend and crony you want get elected so, again, you can get whatever legislation you decide you and/or your business needs.

Poor? Middle-class? Sure, you're screwed but for the wealthy and, again, businesses, you're in. You have it made. Truly the finest government your money can buy.

So kudos to you, Representative Kander. Good on ya', mate. We're with you. Keep pushing for higher ethics standards and ethics reform.

Let's help clean up Jefferson City and our government.

Hey, I can dream, can't I?

Link to story: http://www.kansascity.com/618/story/1592164.html

Not only is Michael Moore right about US health care but an insurance executive says he is

An open letter to Senator Christopher "Kit" Bond

Senator Bond,

We need to make it clear that we not only want true, comprehensive health care reform in our country, we need it--and we need it badly.

We need the single-payer option--but apparently aren't going to get it--and we need the public option for insurance and aren't likely to get that, either.

Lots of us don't have health insurance out here, Senator, because health care costs here in the States are the highest in the world, as we all know.

Lots more of us can barely afford our health care for the same reason.

We need help, Senator.

We need your help.

We need you to vote for health care reform when it comes up for a vote soon.

We know you're not likely to give it to us because you don't want this President or his party to succeed, for fear of your own party's failure, but it's the right thing for the country and for its citizens, and your constituents

It's the right thing, Senator, it's worth repeating.

Vote for health care reform, Senator Bond.

Do the right thing.

We need this help.

We need your help.

Sincerely,


____________________________

Now, go write Sen. Bond. You can do that here: http://bond.senate.gov/public/

On the City Manager being ousted

Forgive me, folks. I was out of town for a few days on business.

Some catching-up now:

I leave town for a couple of days and find the City Manager has been ousted?

Holy cow.

Sure, there was no love between the Mayor, it was known,but thrown out, just like that?

I read the article in The Kansas City Star about this thing and it has flags all over it. Following are some questions:

1) Why did Mr. Cauthen have to go? What did he do? Was it just poor work or was there something(s) inappropriate? Or both? I can't believe nothing has been said on this--and there should be. The Star needs to step up to the table and report on this very question.

2) The replacement is from podunk Marengo, Iowa?? Population 2,500?? Are you kidding me? To run Kansas City, Missouri?

3) The replacement guy was also hired without a current resume' or an interview, according to the Star. ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME?? I can't get hired to walk dogs without both of these things. How did this hayseed from corn-country get hired to run a city of Kansas City's size without both of the above?? "Oh, you do your job okay so I guess you can run the city, at least for a while, if you will. And while you're at it, here's $3,600.00 a week. Will that do?"

4) This is the perfect story for the Star. Is the newspaper researching this stuff, to find the answers?

5) Was or is anything remotely inappropriate (read: illegal) about this done or involved in any way--either the ouster or the new-hire?

And, just like when we fire our School Superintendents, it looks as though this is going to cost us around $250,000.00 to pay Cauthen to go away. But what the heck, it's just money, right? And in the meantime, we'll be paying the new guy the equivalent of $187,200.00 a year to possibly learn the job. And do a good one, it's hoped.

There are more questions to be asked, for sure, but I'll stop here. That's plenty for right now.

Stay tuned.

Links to stories: http://www.kansascity.com/news/politics/story/1584137.html

http://www.kansascity.com/news/politics/story/1587348.html

In praise of a newspaper

Having just flown from Kansas City to Birmingham, Alabama, via Chicago, I have to say the Chicago Tribune is a good, old-fashioned, well-written, well-researched newspape with lots of traditional, local stories and information.

It's a pleasure to read, even for those of us outsiders like me, someone not from Chicago. It had terrific stories about local people and their problems and issues.

Simplify! Simplify!

With a nod to Henry David Thoreau.

On a business flight today, I read an article in the in-flight magazine about a new trend in for runners and their running shoes.

The trend stems from research that finds that, since the 1930's, our speed runners have been running slower and slower, first, and second, virtually all runners have been experiencing more and more injuries. (For more information, see Christopher McDougall, "Born to Run").

What's that tell you?

It seems the running shoe companies have been making our shoes more and more complicated, technical and expensive with the result that it's worse for us and our feet.

Crazy.

Fit in with our current economic downturn, it seems we've come upon a time where we're to simplify. My Mom would have loved this if she were here.

So, herewith, are some thoughts on how we could and should, possibly, simplify further:

--How about we take all the chemicals out of our food? For thousands of years, we've and eaten our our food without them. It's only been in the last 50 years that we've introduced them to our food and lives and it hasn't been with good results. Can we agree on that? Does cancer mean anything to these corporations?

--How about taking our cattle out of the mud and feces-loaded feed lots, with the idea that we'll have less deadly e coli in our food?

--Could we take BPA out of our plastic food service pieces (utensils, cups, etc.). It's thought--strongly--to cause problems with our children's develpment, at minimum.

There's a few thoughts.

There are a lot more, I'm sure. Stay tuned.

Link: http://health.usnews.com/blogs/on-fitness/2009/04/28/born-to-run-christopher-mcdougall-says-humans-evolved-to-run-like-the-tarahumara.html

Missouri ranks what?

There is a Forbes poll out just now on the healthiest and unhealthiest states.

The healthiest are, by and large--no surprise--in the Northeast with Hawaii right in there.

Iowa at 15.

Neighbor Nebraska? Not bad at 16 out of 50.

Kansas? 24. Again, not too shabby.

Missouri?

Oops.

38.

In the bottom half, for sure.

Not only that but we're also in the "bottom 10" when examining obesity, overall.

Then there's smoking and Missouri burns that one (no pun intended) by coming in dead last (again, no pun intended) at 50.

The only way that looks good is if you compare us to neighbor Oklahoma who, at 49, are only worse off than nearly-always-at-the-bottom Mississippi.

Ow.

Link: http://www.forbes.com/2009/11/16/unhealthy-healthy-states-lifestyle-health-states-top_chart.html?partner=yahoohealth

Mohler case just gets worse and worse

As if this whole Mohler family incest/rape case, with the father and sons all doing God knows what to relatives couldn't get any worse, it just did.

It seems now they're accused of murder, too, according to The Kansas City Star.

"The Mohler case took a bizarre twist with new documents indicating that the young child victims allegedly were forced by their father to help kill a man abducted from his driveway."

Yi. How horrible.

Why couldn't this have not happened?

Or happened in some other state, anyway?

Link: http://www.kansascity.com/679/story/1575436.html

Oh, yeah, that seems fair, for sure

http://www.kansascity.com/679/story/1573135.html

Protesting over what?

Wouldn't it be nice if the local clergy--and everyone else--who has their bowels in an uproar over the clothing policy issue at the downtown Power & Light District were as upset and giving as much energy to the killings that have gone on in town for the past year also?

I mean, come on. Sure, go protest about some real or imagined discrimination but if your own people are being killed in drive-by shootings and whatever, isn't the murder rate much more of an important issue than someone not letting you in a bar because of your clothes?

Let me be clear here, too. I am absolutely not defending any discrimination that may or may not be going on downtown. I don't defend anyone's discrimination, anywhere so don't accuse me of that.

I'm just saying if you're going to protest clothing, where were these groups last summer, when people were shooting and frequently killing people in their own homes and front yards?

And where will they be next summer, when it starts all over again?

Does this strike anyone as hypocritical?

Link to stories: http://www.kctv5.com/news/21621538/detail.html

http://www.nbcactionnews.com/news/local/story/Group-Protests-Dress-Code-at-P-L-District/jK20e3uhw0unJGKxBaLbPQ.cspx?rss=764

http://www.kansascity.com/news/local/story/1570708.html

The Star is "SHOCKED"--but for the wrong reason, it seems

Once in a while, these things almost write themselves. This is one of those.

The front page of The Kansas City Star has a big headline today: "SHOCKING INCREASE IN DEATHS".

So I'm thinking, great, they're finally covering the senseless murders city-wide.

Wrong.

It's an article about a big upswing, they say, in deaths by drunk drivers.

WTF?

Are you kidding me?

It seems there are a whopping 36 deaths this year, so far, in people being killed by drunk drivers. And sure, that's terrible and a tragedy. Heck, I've been nearly killed twice by drunken drivers so it's not as though I don't sympathize.

But they're "SHOCKED" about 36 deaths by drunken drivers.

I don't believe they've yet expressed any of that same shock over the 98 senseless, ugly, vicious murders by weapons here in the city.

And sure, it's not as big an increase in deaths by weapons but it is an increase.

It would seem that people shooting people would be a worse, and more senseless, tragic issue about which to be shocked.

Then, I went further into the article, back on page A10 and suddenly you realize a disparity.

Check out all the pictures of the people killed by these drunk driving tragedies.

See a pattern?

Yeah. I thought so.

They're all white.

So The Star is "SHOCKED" a big upswing in deaths by drunk drivers amounting to 36 but they're not upset about an upswing (admittedly smaller but an upswing) of 98 murders by weapons.

I would love to know what the statistics are of the percentage of people who have been murdered this year in Kansas City and what percentage of them were White, African-American and Hispanic. I think it could be illuminating.

I'm certainly not saying The Star shouldn't have reported on this increase in deaths by drunk drivers, not at all. I'm just saying that the much bigger story is the nearly 100 deaths by weapons.

If The Star would get together with the police and the East side of town--the whole community of churches and associations and groups of people who want to fight the deaths by guns and gun violence--they could write a series of articles about the problems and a) possibly solve the problems and b) increase readership.

It's a thought.

For clarification, I have to say, I don't take the newspaper any longer and I may have missed a big, recent article covering these shootings and killings but I don't think I have. There was one--last Spring?--on the murders in one area code (64012?) in Kansas City but that's been it since, I believe.

This just seemed like an odd, possibly unfair and obvious discrepancy in reporting for the paper.

I know people will let me know if I'm wrong--or if they think I am.

Link: http://www.kansascity.com/637/story/1570597.html

We want THEM to agree to arms control??

There is a report out right now that President Obama is over in Asia, pushing for the Russians (or do we call them Soviets?) to agree to arms control.

My first reaction was stunned disbelief.

Do you have any idea what the United States spends annually on arms?

Seven hundred eleven billion dollars per year.

We spend forty-eight percent of all international dollars on arms, every year.

The Soviets?

They spend $70 billion dollars.

If you do the math, you'll find that's 5% of the total funds spent per year on arms.

And we're asking them to cut back?

What chutzpah.


Links: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091114/ap_on_re_us/obama

http://www.globalissues.org/article/75/world-military-spending#InContextUSMilitarySpendingVersusRestoftheWorld

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_military_expenditures

For the weekend

Music is, for some artists, now not all just about the music--it has become performance art and about the performance. This, I think, is proof of that.

Have a great weekend, y'all.

More reasons why, maybe, we should also "come down a few notches"?

Thanks to Skippy the Bush Kangaroo and his blog for this.

Maybe we need to come down a few notches?

Because the average guy and gal on the street isn't really thinking about the "big picture" of the American economy, maybe we should.

Let me propose an idea, folks, that some economists are batting around that has to do with you and I, directly, in our country and the world.

There is a theory out there that proposes that maybe you and I make too much money, spend too much and live too high on the hog, so to speak, and that maybe we need to bring it down to the rest of the world's level.

Yeah.

It's called our "standard of living." You've heard of that.

The ideas are that maybe you and I and the whole country live beyond our means and both cost too much (we're paid too highly per hour, etc.) and spend too much.

Think about it.

It's virtually impossible to deny that we--both as a group (read: a country) and as individuals (people individually and per households)--are in way too much debt so I think we can safely take that for granted.

The one, last part of this to consider is that maybe we do, as a nation and individuals, maybe make too much money, especially compared to the rest of the world.

And this is the tricky--and unpleasant--part.

Maybe what we do isn't all that special, and that much above what all the rest of the world does and makes. Sure, we used to make GM cars and all that but we know we've put most of our manufacturing offshore.

And when you put this all in the context of our debt and this huge downturn in the economy, with the Federal government trying to spend our way back to where we used to be and propping up not only huge manufacturing sectors of our economy but also banks and financial and insurance institutions, it gets to looking as though this may be true.

Those economists who are discussing these thoughts and issues are suggesting that maybe our government shouldn't, in fact, be throwing $700 billion in TARP money at us, in an effort to prop up our economy and economic way of life.

Sure, they should keep us out of a true economic depression in the shape of the 1930's but we're already in huge debt. Does it make sense to get and put us in much, much deeper debt, instead of letting this business cycle play out a bit more?

Are we, perhaps, setting ourselves up for a much worse situation by doing this?


But no one wants to think on these things--with the exception of economists.

Granted, if we did or do "ratchet ourselves down," it would be painful. Incredibly painful. We'd have to look at ourselves and our country in a completely new way.

For decades, we've thought of ourselves as rather wealthy, even by our own standards. There was nothing we couldn't have, if we only worked hard enough. Hell, our billboards, radios and televisions told us all this, ad infinitum. Why would we think or believe anything else?

And we really did believe, as Michael Douglas' character--Gordon Gekko--in the movie "Wall Street" said, that "greed is good", whether we want to believe that or not.

So, if this is true, that we have to lower our standards, that is, lower our wages, lower our purchases (and we're already doing that, as a nation, check it out), lower, really everything, it's going to likely be painful.

And the more we fight it and push this possible, even likely, possibility away, the more painful it will be.

Denial makes things worse, especially in these matters.

If this isn't all true, the data sure makes it look this way. Stay tuned.

Links: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0094291/
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/

Side note: Tip of the hat to Michael on this. We've been discussing this for a couple years. I've been meaning to write on it for some time. Thanks.