"Yes, we can be like Greece."
There is an old joke told among federal agents from a variety of agencies at the expense of the FBI. For decades, the FBI had a reputation as an agency that, for lack of a better word, always had to be number one. It was a culture that dated back to the days of J. Edgar Hoover. As the joke goes, several agencies made a bet on which had the best detector dogs. They held a contest one day. DEA brought their top drug detector dog, ATF brought their top bomb detector dog, the Secret Service brought their top counterfeit money detector dog, and the FBI brought their top dog, who was considered a jack-of-all trades.
"Yeah. I know that one."
First, the DEA dog went into a vacant house, and within 30 seconds, came out with a kilo of heroin in his jaws. Next, the ATF dog went into the house, and within a minute, came out with a bomb in his jaws. Then the Secret Service dog went into the house, and within a minute, came out with a wad of counterfeit cash in his jaws.
At this point, the FBI dog went into the house. Two minutes, five minutes, twenty minutes went by and nothing happened. Finally, after 30 minutes, the FBI dog came out of the house, ran to the other dogs, grabbed the drugs, grabbed the bomb, grabbed the money, %$#** the other dogs in the ^%$&^#;*, and called a press conference.
Such reminds me of President Obama making the grand announcement that the Republican and Democratic leaders had finally reached a deal-quite without his help, I might add. Here was the President, who everyone said was detached, without his own plan, and irrelevant, taking the stage and grabbing the microphone to take the bows for the work that others had done.
I don't know if this deal is good or bad. It depends who I listen to from one minute to the next. I guess if people like Barney Frank and Paul Krugman are unhappy, it can't be that bad. At this point, there seems to be disagreement over whether future tax hikes can be passed. There is also a question of whether that next round of cuts will ever materialize. All I know as a guy with some degree of common sense is that we are spending money we don't have. Someone has got to rein in government spending, which is out of control. Of course, I don't teach economics at Princeton like Paul Krugman does. He's supposed to be an expert. Today he is saying that we should not cut spending. (Of course, Princeton is also where Cornell West teaches. It is also the institution that gave a PhD to Norman Finkelstein and set him out into the world to wreak his havoc.)
Anyway, the debt ceiling will be raised another trillion or two-for whatever good that will do. This is the bunch (Congress) that still hasn't passed a budget for fiscal year 2011, which ends September 30. By the way, who the Hell is this guy Moody??
1 comment:
Good to know that an Orange County conservative is capable of profaning the sacred memory of J. Edgar Hoover.
As for the debt deal, generally, when negotiations have been going on for months among both houses of congress, the White House, both parties, both of which are dealing with substantial dissent in their own ranks... yeah, the president generally has a prominent role in announcing that a deal has been reached. Quit whining. We know you don't like him.
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