Life's Crooked Casino

Today, the Nashville media announced that median home values had fallen $15,000 on an annualized basis here. Our 401Ks seem to be melting away with every statement. Government securities may provide safety but yield virtually nothing. So what is the prudent investor to do? I asked a wise man, Illuminate Sr., who supported his family doing backbreaking labor as a child of the Great Depression, who began working eighty years ago, and who has owned and operated a variety of businesses and invested consistently mostly buy and hold throughout his life, what should be done now? He replied with the story of his friend Gordon who was an inveterate small town gambler. Gordon would lose the bread and milk money of his young wife and growing family almost nightly. Well, Sr. asked him if he knew the tables were rigged? "Why yes", Gordon replied, "of course I know the game is fixed but it is the only game in town. " We have all staked our futures on sticky-handed croupiers. The winning hand may be held by a derivative player in an alternate universe. The safe bet is there are no more safe bets.

Sweet Cesspool Chicago

Yet another politician has been implicated in the endemic corruption of Illinois politics. With today's charges against Governor Blagojevich, another Presidential pardon will soon be forthcoming. Rats of all stripes, Republican and Democrat alike, have emerged from Chicago sewers. I fear that the largest rodent of all may have crawled out and is about to raid the White House cupboard. But today some good news appeared at a Cracker Barrel in Tennessee where a woman found $97,000 and actually returned the cheese to its rightful owner. Diogenes would have been proud and that cash would never make it into the Cayman account of an Illinois politician-would it?

Into the Abyss

Obama collected the support of voters who balloted on the basis of sharing his race. Other Obama backers are union members particularly SEIU members, teachers, and other government workers increasing their own power. Many of his voters were so ill-served by their education in government schools that they simply do not know the difference between capitalism and socialism. Others were young and naive. Obama won the blame America crowd including college professors. Trial lawyers by in large backed Obama. Obama did not run a masterful campaign. He was protected by an uncritical mainstream media. McCain and Palin were pilloried by them. Convicts, non-existent folks, and motor voter illegal aliens seemed to be universal Barry backers. Wasn't Governor Crist brilliant in Florida giving felons their suffrage back? We were told denying these criminals the vote was racist as they were largely African Americans. They were disenfranchised not because they were black but because they were lawbreakers. Now, my own re-elected Republican Senator speaks of creating universal health care and replacing fossil fuels to fight global warming. If the state of Tennessee had wanted ever expansive government, burdensome regulation, and infringement of our lifestyle Senator Alexander, we would have voted for Bob Tuke. Don't cross the aisle to betray your constituents. Fight for Tennessee values.