You heard it here first, folks….”The Frying Pan Revolution”.  Apparently the Europeans feel the same as I do about the world’s bankers:

All kidding aside, we’re someday going to see some serious civil unrest in this country, too.  And I don’t mean the silly little geriatric Tea Party-type marches, either.

S

I recently saw in USA Today this chart showing the tax burden (from all sources) on the citizens of various developed countries:

Denmark           48.3%

Sweden              47.1%

Belgium             44.3%

Italy                   43.2%

France                43.1%

Austria               42.9%

Finland               42.8%

Germany             36.4%

UK                       35.7%

Canada                32.2%

United States   26.9%

Here’s our conundrum:  We want many of the same social programs and safety nets those countries offer their citizens, but we don’t want to pay the taxes they do in order afford those services.  We can’t have it both ways.

Prior to the LBJ years (1964-68) we really didn’t have much of a public welfare system, and our entire national debt was around $311B.  In the 40+ years since we’ve continuously expanded our social safety net, and now we’re looking at some version of universal health care, too.  Not surprisingly, our national debt is now around $11.7T.  That’s TRILLION dollars!  Of course some of that is due to inflation, and it isn’t quite as bad as it sounds due to our now dramatically more robust economy, but still, we’re writing some mighty hot checks.

I’m not saying more taxes in exchange for more services is necessarily a bad thing.  Many of those high-tax countries regularly rate at the very top of the “happy citizen” surveys.  Their citizens have made the conscious decision to trade some of their personal up-side economic potential for more social services/peace of mind.  Fair enough.

So where are we (the US) headed?  I can’t imagine how any politician can look us in the eye and honestly say we can have universal health care, AND a stable Social Security system, AND Medicare for our seniors, etc. WITHOUT raising taxes.

I personally think dramatically higher taxes is where we’re eventually going.  Over the past few years we’ve seen the results of unbridled capitalism where big corporations, special interests, the financial services guys, etc. have shown us that they’re going to get richer, and we’re not.  (Think mega-bonuses FOR them when things go right, and taxpayer bail-outs TO them when things don’t.)  And if “the common man” sees that his upside economic potential is being increasingly restricted, then he’ll probably some day just throw in the towel and go for the social safety net.  Not ALL will, but enough to tip the political scale.

We either must raise our tax burden or give up some of the social programs we have now, and no politician is going to take away the goodies he’s already given us.  That would be political suicide.

You agree, or am I all wet?

S

This morning on the news I heard that at the University of Colorado they’re going to limit the length of showers the inmates….er….students can take in the dorms.  This will save money and help conserve water resources.  Then K proceeded to jump on my case (in a nice way) about how I waste water taking long showers, and how I should cut back and conserve precious water resources, too.

Just how will saving water in Dallas, Texas put more water in the well at a village in dusty Africa, or in drought stricken Outback, Australia?  If I take a long shower, or pee, or wash clothes, the waste water goes into the sewer line to the water treatment plant, where it is cleaned up and returned to the lake where it came from in the first place.  The water that isn’t returned due to lawn watering or car washing is replenished by rain, thanks to God, the ultimate water delivery Guy.  If our lakes are overflowing like they are now, the excess water is just released downstream where it eventually winds up in the Gulf of Mexico.

Lucy, ’splain to me how me taking a shorter shower in Dallas is gonna save Niagara Falls?  There isn’t a shortage of water in the world, but an unequal distribution problem.  Methinks this is all just a huge environmental stampede.

S

…..Or to be a bit more word-efficient, today is our (K and my) anniversary.  It was three years ago today, in a small chapel in Carmel-by-the-Sea, California, that my wonderful wife Kelly and I were married.  We spent the day afterwards at Pebble Beach, had a wonderful dinner out, and finally returned to our temporary residence at the Tickle Pink Inn.  (I know….sounds cheesy, but it was actually spectacular, with a gorgeous room on a high cliff overlooking the Pacific Ocean.  See for yourself here.)

We had already been there for a few days, traveling up and down the California coast, exploring Big Sur, visiting San Simeon, and just enjoying the ambiance of quaint Carmel.  Of course being the architecture nut that I am, I enjoyed seeing street-after-street of this:

It was a magical day that’s only gotten better every day since.  I wake up every morning and see my wonderful wife and realize what a blessed guy I am.  Happy Anniversary, Sweetheart.

S

Hey everyone……not to worry, all is well with K and me.  It’s just the old “so much to do, so little time” thing, and KCL got put on the back burner.  Hope y’all are doing well and are surviving our global-warming-induced cold weather.  *Haha…I crack myself up sometimes*

Merry Christmas!  

S & K

That’s where I’ll attempt to hide out until after the holidays.   Thanksgiving is now fading away in the rear-view mirror, and all I have to look forward to now is….um….nothing.  I DETEST Christmas.  Oh, of course, I love the REASON for the season, but what’s that got to do with Christmas?  Once again we’re buying presents for the grandkids only, so I’ll sneak into the store one weekday mid-morning, do the deed, then slither back to my underground lair.

I’ll come out for the family get-together with my brother and my wonderful daughters and their families, and we’ll have to visit K’s folks, too, but hopefully not much more than that.  Oh, and K’s company Christmas party.  Where do employers get the idea we want to hang out with our co-workers outside of work hours?  Do they see us hanging around together after work the other 364 days a year?  A tip off should be that they wait until the end of the annual Christmas party to have the prize drawings (really nice big TV’s and such), but once that’s over with, we all bolt for the door.

We’ll make the mandatory appearances, and of course go to church like we do every Sunday, and hope that our excuses will be good enough to not hurt feelings when we decline invitations to party with people we barely know.

One of my biggest nightmares was during those years before K when my cousin would invite me to their house for the BIG family Christmas bash.  These might as well have been 75 people out of the Dallas phone book, as I didn’t know any of them.  There were cousins there so far removed I didn’t even know what branch of the family tree they perched on.  It was a nice gesture on my cousin’s part, but after doing that one year, I managed to convince them I really was a secret agent, and my services were urgently needed in the far east.  Amazing how I’m only on-call in December, isn’t it? 

Yep, sounds like a plan to me. 

S

Saudis Seek Payments for Any Drop in Oil Revenues

Here’s hoping everyone reading this has a Happy Thanksgiving.  And if you’re not an American and therefore don’t share our holiday, give thanks anyway.

Bye.

S

I know this because two really cool ladies were both born on that date; Puppyshark and Andimac.  A couple of buddies and I thought we’d send you this sincere birthday sentiment:

I’m the one on the….oh darn, somebody’s at the door…gotta go.  Bye!

S

Thanksgiving means turkey and dressing, right?  And we’ve established that cooking for 2-3 days is alotta trouble for a 20 minute meal, right?  So my compromise was to go to a cafeteria and have T & D there.  No muss, no fuss.

UGH!  K put on her blue wig and I tried to hide my teeth, and we attempted to blend in with the old folks at the local Luby’s cafeteria.  OMGosh, the portions they served could have kept Washington’s army at Valley Forge alive for a month.  I didn’t even accept the second side dish that came with it as there was NO way I was gonna eat all that.  My eyes did overpower my stomach, though, when it came to the dessert selection; I chose a small piece of German chocolate cake and K had a small piece of keylime pie.

About half way through we both gave up.  I hate to waste food, but when I could feel food backed half way up my esophogus I knew I’d better stop eating.  I tried a bit of everything, but left a lot, too.  So did K.

Then it got worse.  By the time we got home I swear all that food was beginning to swell up, expanding like a Mentos dropped into a bottle of Coke (Google it).   Even at bedtime we were both still groaning.  K spent half the night walking around trying to digest her dinner, and I’m hoping for a little after-action relief here shortly, if you know what I mean.

No bagle for me this morning.  Or probably lunch, either.  I might be up for a lite dinner tonight.  I hope.  Happy Freakin’ Thanksgiving.

S