Writers Block -
I sometimes get a mini-block as a writer.  It is not that I can't think of something to write about, it  just seems that writing what is on my mind at the time is boring... even to me.  Like this morning.  I want to enter a blog, but the only thing on my mind is the current "tournament of bull-headed idiots" going on in Washington, DC.  I sometimes think Washington politicians are being paid a kick back by John Stuart writers just to provide them with stupid material.  A human is the only animal that laughs.  Freud says it is a form of relieving aggression.  We bare our teeth in a smile and laugh rather than fight when we find a situation offensive, or threatening.  Perhaps it is time to take some things seriously and rip the veins of some lawmakers just for being stupid.  The gene pool of politicians has currently reached the stage of regression. At the current rate of attrition a politician in 2020 will have an IQ of less than a turtle and will need to be institutionalized.  I say thin the herd now and allow helicopter hunting. The greatest threat to Americans is not a group terrorist on an airplane... it is a group of idiots in congress.
My Dad was an investment banker specializing in finance for political subdivisions of the State of Texas before he retired a couple of decades ago. He dealt in municipal Bonds and did very well in that career. Just to brag about him, at one time his company  ranked number two in the nation for his specialty of bonds.  Number one was a New York company with several thousand employees.  My Dad's company had three employees, the vice president was my Mom.
Dad was particularly skillful in investing his own personal portfolio.  My talents ran toward performing, but I did pick up a few empirical tips along the way.  One of the things Dad liked most, at the time, was Treasury Bonds.  He liked Treasury's because they were backed by the United States of America.  He used to say, "No investment is a hundred percent safe, but if the Government can't pay its bills, then it means the whole economy is going down and everyone will lose their money."  He did really well with Treasury's and other government bonds. He did not double his money over night, but he did not lose it back over a week. During his career the possibility of the government defaulting on loans was unthinkable.
Yet here we are five days away from the United States defaulting on debt because congress can't come together and see the forest for the trees. And there are some in Congress who think that it would be the perfect punishment for this administration.  I guess sinking the boat in the middle of the ocean would teach the captain a lesson, but we are all going to drown with him.
The problem is that the "tea party -poopers" think they have a mandate but have no idea what they are fooling with.  If our credit rating drops we are in a world of trouble.  It is the only case in which "trickle down" economics actually works.  The more interest paid on the top of the pyramid means an exponential increase all the way down.  Think it is hard to get a loan now?  How about 13% mortgage rates,  20% car loans and credit cards in the low forty percent range? And we are not talking about the rate changing back in a few months when we learn our lesson.  It will stay that way for a long time.  Think that can't happen? Just for reference check the prime loan interest rate in the mid-seventies. And that was with the AAA credit rating we have now.
The rule of comedy used to be, think of something that irritates you and write about that... The rant will become funny.  It doesn't seem to work this time for me.  I'm just irritated.  Just for clarification... Ronald Regan raised the debt ceiling 18 times in his eight years in office, and George W. Bush 7 times in his two terms.  There was never a threat nor even talk of a threat from "tea heads" to default and spoil our credit rating.  Yeah, government needs to spend less, Americans need to eat less as well, both are too fat.  Perhaps this is the way to adjust both.  Default, become a third rate country where a loaf of bread is $20 dollars and perhaps America will lose weight.  Oh, but remember the sinking ship metaphor?  It is really going to be hard to tread water while you are starving.
As you were,
Jay