June 26, 2011
COLUMBUS: There are plenty of families in this country facing huge debts brought about by home mortgages, credit card bills, lost jobs, or medical bills. But any one of these is nothing compared to the $14,000,000,000,000 deficit strapped around our necks by the folks in Washington. Even if you owe nothing and have money in the bank, your share of that debt for a family of four is almost $200,000.
President Obama is finally ready to enter the ring with Republicans to fight it out over the debt ceiling. But really, it’s a simple arithmetic problem, addition and subtraction. Republicans don’t want to add any taxes and the President don’t want to subtract any spending. He brought thousands of new federal employees to Washington to carry out his platform, and he hates to backtrack. Kinda like the guy who financed a new Cadillac just before he went bankrupt, he don’t want to give it up and go back to a Chevy. Well, the way this country is spending itself into a deeper hole, pretty soon he’ll be driving a horse and buggy.
Senator Tom Coburn of Oklahoma has his own plan for the deficit, in case the President decides to punt. He says he can reduce it almost a Trillion dollars a year for the next ten years. But he will make the President show his cards first before giving even a hint of how he can do it. Since Tom is a doctor, I suspect he will propose that people stay healthy to reduce the cost of getting them well again. And because everyone insists on living longer, he may propose that we keep working longer, too.
The President announced that 10,000 troops will be leaving Afghanistan soon. On their way home he wants them to stop off in Libya and take out Gaddaffi.
In New York, the wedding lobbyists, combined with the divorce lawyers association, convinced the Legislature to add several thousand prospective brides and grooms. I read where the average wedding costs almost $25,000, so this will be a nice boost to the wedding business. I have not read anything lately about the cost of a divorce, but you can bet, with more clients around the corner, those New York lawyers will raise their fees. “I maintain that it should cost as much to get married as it does to get divorced. Make it look like marriage is worth as much as divorce, even if it ain’t. That would also make the preachers financially independent like it has the lawyers.” (1928)
Historic quotes from Will Rogers: (from Weekly Article #661)
“It’s a beautiful morning in Seattle, Wash. Wiley and Mrs. Post have been here a few days getting the (plane) from wheels to pontoons. Seattle is a great travel corner. Mrs. Post and Wiley and I drive out to the field. It’s a combination land and water airport, called the Great Lakes Airway, right on beautiful Lake Washington.
Girl newspaper photographer, very efficient and pleasant, in fact all of ’em are. They seem to know we don’t know where we are going ourselves and they don’t insist on us telling ’em. Well, they ’bout got the gas in; Wiley is getting nervous. I am anxious to get going too. I think we are going to have a great trip, see lots of country that not too many have seen.” WA #661, written Aug. 6, 1935