In 1974 my friend and mentor Sylvia Porter, the financial columnist, was summoned to Washington by the president, Gerald Ford. She had been asked to head a government effort to reduce inflation, which as a result of the 1973 Arab oil crisis had risen to 12.3 percent. When she got there, she was dismayed. The program consisted of red campaign buttons bearing the message “WIN.” Ford said the letters stood for “Whip Inflation Now.”
Gee. Every month people in the financial industry predict that inflation will go down. Almost every month, inflation doesn’t go down. Turmoil in the markets results. It is worth remembering that brokerage houses make money when you buy a security, but they also make money when you sell a security.
And so we turn to fairytales. I don’t mean the softened modern children’s story versions, but the hard-core, often brutal originals. They usually don’t have any moral: they’re not fables. Instead, they are fanciful stories that occasionally go in the direction of fable, often in the direction of religion, sometimes taking us nowhere but a place of fear and bleak despair. They are more sophisticated versions of campfire ghost stories.
The conclusion that the United States is in its bread-and-circuses phase is just about impossible to escape, and our response to it proves the point.
Here we are again. Each time it is worse than the time before. We’re speeding toward the point when, come November, we will have a choice between two men whom we know are unqualified to be president of the United States. The only positive thing that can be said for either is that he is not the other.
The primary season is over. With New Hampshire handing President Donald Trump a decisive win and clear polling in his favor ahead, it’s time for Ambassador Nikki Haley to concede the inevitable and step aside. Er, wait a second… I haven’t voted yet!
Have you ever re-watched a sad movie, hoping that this time the outcome will be different? Welcome to the world today. Only it’s not a movie.
Babies. They beheaded babies. They are proud of it. It is particularly troubling when acts are so horrific that people of good will are sad that they are not there to personally kill the offenders. But that was my instant, immutable response to a video I saw on Saturday.
The bill is coming due, and it will get paid one way or another.