This Time

I see the light! All these years running my business, those 50 and 60 hour weeks for a couple of decades, weren't enough, because my spirit wasn't pure. Unlike that CEO who gave away 60 million to his employees and ex-employees, I sought my own self aggrandizement; my own personal riches. And it was that spirit, the pre-Obama spirit, that 'decades of greed and selfishness' spirit that has held this country back; that has held my business back. Starting tomorrow, I'll no longer make decisions without consulting all my employees and taking a vote. Starting tomorrow, we'll do away with performance based compensation and instead split up all the profits equally. Starting tomorrow I'll show real courage and contrition and ask the government for help providing health care for my employees which we previously funded ourselves. And I won't quit asking until the government provides it affordably and of high quality! And I'll just keep asking and asking for help until we get it because we Americans are not quitters! How could I have been so vainglorious to think I could provide for myself, my family and my employees! Starting tomorrow, I'll consult the local municipal and state governments about how to invest my profits to expand my business with the hopes of forming a private/public partnership. Clearly we private business people are spiritually tainted and defiled by years and years of seeking only short-term gain instead of planning long-term. Actually, we're nothing more than capitalist, gun-toting cowboys; a hopeless historical anachronism. I think I'd better check to make sure that my business even belongs in this new master plan for our economy; this new green economy that this administration has been bequeathed with the wisdom to create. Just what is my carbon footprint? Maybe our time is over. Maybe it would be best thing for everyone if I just liquidated? How was I so blind not to see that for the whole history of our country, up to 'this time', the majority of Amerikind has been pursuing the wrong goals with the wrong spirit and without the requisite moral oversight which, at long last, we finally have - the leadership, the moral compass, the vision to take us to the promised land! Did I hear tonight that we're finally going to cure cancer? What's so deeply puzzling for me, however, is how could we Americans have created the most prosperous, resilient, successful, multiethnically tolerant, pluralist society in the history of the earth all before 'this time', in spite of all our faults.

Is there some sort of ecological confessional where I can go to absolve myself? I failed to recycle some newpapers and cans last month....

Hard Truth Rule #1

Wealth trickles down - Financial pain descends in torrents - Take your pick

Brain Science

Someone simply must speak to this unmitigated, doleful tone from our new commander in chief! The message is clear; things suck, they're going to suck for at least the rest of the year, and if you don't vote for my trillion dollar spending bill, things are going to suck so bad you gonna think today's sucking look good! It's mystifying to me how the American people can so passively accept such an oppressive and pessimistic scenario. Since when has the hope, enterprise and the 'we shall overcome' spirit of the American people been so woefully underestimated - let alone by our own President! I'm here to tell you that America can and will rebound and soon if our almighty government will just quit trying to fix everything, doesn't raise or better yet lowers taxes, slows the growth of government spending and keeps their hands, money and laws off of the private sector. This downturn is nothing new. We Americans have had a dozen of them in our history. What's new is how this new bunch of Democrats is choosing to deal with it. This bunch says tax cuts got us into this mess. (Well, if they'd bother to check, they also got us out of the recessions of 1980, 1992 and 2000. And it didn't take years either! ) This bunch thinks the government can spend money more effectively than the private sector. ( Well I'd rather put my faith in Exxon to fill my tank with affordable energy than Uncle Sam thank you very much ) This bunch thinks that you can fix an international monetary crises caused by too much borrowing by borrowing more. ( If I borrow more than I can possibly repay I declare bankruptcy; what does the government do? ) This bunch can't tell the difference between investment and spending. ( Does anyone really think that building new school buildings will raise test scores? )

I may not have the leadership skills to be President of the United States but I know you don't need no P.H.D. in brain science to be certain that telling the America people that things are going to suck for at least a year no matter what they, we, or our government does, can only make national economic failure and the accompanying despair self-fulfilling and as a direct result prolong our eventual national recovery. So where's the 'Man from Hope' when we need him? ( Yes, I'll take Clinton over this guy )

Could it possibly be that those that can lead can usually inspire but those that can inspire can't necessarily lead?