Why we're broke

I cherish scenic by-ways. I find them all by myself and am hardly ever devastated to learn that they are not official scenic byways.

But I must be in the minority because my leaders in Washington continue to suck money to pretty up scenic by-ways with official signs telling us we're on scenic by-ways.

Of course, it isn't quite that simple. Before you can declare a scenic by-way official and put up signs, you have to study the matter to make sure you don't screw up and put signs on a scenic by-way that maybe ain't.

Read it carefully, translate the gobbledygook, and you may conclude that we've just bought $61,680 worth of paper saying how scenic and by-wayish this chunk of back road really is. Only later do we borrow some more money from the Chinese to actually put up the signs.

Credit the fence, maybe?

My president made me proud  yesterday down there in El Paso where he reported on what a good job he is doing controlling the border. Of course he is right. There has been a drastic reduction of American citizens sneaking into Mexico for the greater opportunities there.

Boooooring

Boring to most people, maybe, but not to me. Among my exciting personal goals is  economic survival. That depends largely on a Yankee C-note being worth more than a Snickers wrapper.

The world's biggest bond fund isn't making me feel too good about that.

For those who won't click the link because of limited patience for market and economic jargon, a condensation will cover the main point:

These guys are pretty sure anyone buying U.S. debt (aka the Clinton-Bush-Bernanke-Obama IOU) will lose his or her ass.

...and the crick don't rise

Rivers are libertarians. The can be temporarily coerced in relatively small ways, but, in the end,  they will obey no laws but the laws of physics. Even one of the great journals of statist Washington is beginning to recognize that the Corps of Engineers is no match for Mother Nature.

You'll recall the dam and dike builders promising their latest gazillion-dollar projects will protect people from 100 or 200 or 500 year floods. Which they don't do very dependably.

A cynic might suggest what we really need is an continuous flood of common sense, i.e., "Don't build stuff on flood plains, or, if you must, don't come whining for handouts from smarter folk when the river reaches your  BarcaLounger."