JUST SOME POSTS

We, the U.S. of A. seem to be rapidly heading towards socialism. Our efficient, well-managed, totally ethical government in one week has taken majority ownership of the world's largest insurance conglomerate and the two largest mortgage lenders. We have added billions upon billions of potential debt, and no small measure of real current debt to our burden as taxpayers. Although I understand the reasoning behind all three moves, at a base level I abhor them. Free enterprise involves both reward and loss. It appears now that there is expected to be only reward in any investment. Risk is inherent in all speculation. In a free market (or as free as we historically have ever been) the potential reward was scaled in relationship to the degree of risk. Low return equalled low risk - think U.S. Savings Bonds or a passbook savings account. High return equalled high risk - think "junk bonds" or a venture capitalist providing start up dollars for an inventor. Mortgages have t...

I have always known we are on the verge of anarchy and chaos. Just go to a grocery store in N.C.(or most other southern states) when the first snowflake is forecast. Bread is treated like true manna from heaven and milk is like liquid gold. People will fight to the death over a half-gallon. Don't even get me started on toilet paper - you would think it was made with $10 bills..("isn't Jackson snuggly soft today?") Chicken Little would be proud. Friday, with Hurricane Ike pounding the coast of Texas/Louisiana; someone, somewhere said - "gas will be going up!?!" The rallying cry started - "Gas will be going up $1 at noon" - "Gas will be $10 by Saturday" - "Aliens are probing our *SS" (sorry, I lost it a minute - that one is ALWAYS out there). I was told by many people Friday morning that they heard from someone that heard from someone that ate a bagel next to the CEO of Exxon that gas was going to go up $5 by dinner-time that ve...

I did not realize how long it had been since the last post - apologies. I forgot one got "eaten" by the internet one night in a hotel. I thought some more memories might be in order - "Give ya a quarter for a peek at those." Man if I had a dime for every time I heard that one. Another memorable summer was the one I spent with my Uncle Pierce. He was a strange little man that was quite disagreeable. Of course some of that angst may have been from his job. Pierce was a chicken sexer . (yes, even in the age of computers, that is a real job - look it up) Pierce spent his eight working hours looking at chicken butts. Through some magic of prodding and observance he could tell if the chick was Al or Alice. This "talent" was of no use in the real world and made Uncle Pierce a bit mean and cranky most of the time. (he also had a bad habit of taking babies and looking in their diapers - hey, thinking back on that - he was weird !) Not much happened that summer...