THE BIG "O"

I love how some people ASS-U-ME that everyone else voted Democrat. Now I believe voting Democrat and voting for Obama are not the same. Just as voting Republican is different from voting for McCain. There were years when I voted for the Democratic candidate because the Republican Party were idiots (and vice versa). That said, I plan to opine the following regardless of who or what party won.

I find myself thinking about the state of our economy lately. As a reticent taxpayer caught up in the middle of this debacle, I have a few things to vent about:

The "O" Face
What was Ben Bernake doing when he allowed the goverment to hand over the first installment of the $700 billion bailout of the finance industry? No wonder Joe Francis and Larry Flynt took a stab at asking Congress for money. You gotta love the argument that in times of economic duress, Americans need pornography to manage their stress. Using that logic, perhaps the Chicken Ranch should go public to build a few new wings (no pun intended). Heck, I may be asking for a "bailout" of my own. The "Ben" (which means stupid in Chinese) has certainly lived up to his name.

"O"verpaid
OK, so all these executives at banks and other industries are being overpaid for poor performance, including putting their stockholders and employees at unnecessary risk. What gave these execs at the Big-3 automakers the cajones to fly to their own bailout testimony in their $12K/hr corporate jets!?? Whether the bad results were flagrant or unplanned, seems to me these people have little to fear in terms of failure. What happened to Darwinism in business? Seems to me we're no longer about survival of the strongest business; rather we are about survival of the business which can complain the most. Sorry if this sounds too Gordon Geko-ish. Next in line will be other industries such as the airlines and large retail conglomerates. No doubt the executives at the airlines are already buffing their dancing shoes for the Potomoc 3-step. The only people making money out of this appear to be the bankruptcy attorneys.

"O"nauguration
To cap all this off, we have a presidential inauguration tomorrow that is estimated to cost about $170MM dollars. It should be noted that a portion of that comes from private donors, including wealthy individuals representing all of the industries which were (or will soon be) bailed out by the goverment. Thousands of porto-potties, thousands of security and medical personnel to fend the O-Curious and O-Groupies who wave lighters in the air like some White Snake concert. Seems like it will be difficult for Obama to answer why he cut certain social/environmental services later in the year citing "budget shortages" when he allowed so much money spent to honor his swearing-in. Perhaps HB"O" can share profits from the pre-funk concert.

This time of year I find myself thinking about that dreaded mid-April date. Just like serving in a jury is civic duty, so is paying my fair share of government taxes. I think it will be especially difficult for me this year considering what I feel like my money will go toward.

There's this small company I heard on NPR which made millions of Obama campaign and inauguration trinkets. They plan to close shop the week after the inauguration. I wonder if they should print some Republican T-Shirts that read, "I told you so"....hopefully not, because that would mean we are even more SCREWED than we currently are.