You Ain’t Seen Nothin’ Yet
Irving Rabinowtz is a good friend of mine who’s currently out of a job. He’s usually got something on his mind. He vented a bit this morning in the local coffee shop.
“Let me ask you guys a question. Don’t any of you say a damn thing. Just let me ask the question.”
Several of us nodded.
“Why don’t we spend as much time pre-approving candidates for Congress as we do for Supreme Court Justices? Congress can do more harm in a week than the entire Supreme Court might do in a decade. At least the Supreme Court has to follow the words of the Constitution.”
I . . . . .
“No. You say nothing, and I just ask. Okay?”
Okay.
“How come everyone in Washington is pointing to Europe for models of health insurance and social regulation? Don’t they know that those systems have been discredited by the millions of people who used to live there under very high unemployment rates and in long lines to see unqualified doctors, and moved to America to get away from those same suffocating bureaucracies?”
You might . . . . .
“Please. You promised, and I don’t have much time.”
Sure.
“Every working American has been paying hard earned money into Social Security for their entire working life. Even at nominal interest rates this amounts to a staggering sum of millions of dollars that each of us should have in our own pocket when we retire. So where did the money go? Who spent it? And on what?
Phew.
“Why is the Securities & Exchange Commission of our federal government now paying tens of millions of our dollars to the people who lost money investing with Bernie Madoff? Why are they any different from those who were taken to the cleaners by Fannie May and the collapse in the stock market? What kind of pull do those Madoff investors have that the rest of us don’t?”
But . . . . .
“Please, don’t say anything. These are questions that need to be asked, because there’s no accountability for anything any more.”
“One last question. Do we believe the current Members of Congress will accept or be held accountable for what they are doing now . . . any more than they have in the past?”
Another cup of coffee, Irv?
“No thanks. I have another job interview this morning. I’m hyped enough. Oh, and by the way, if any of you have answers to any of these questions, let me know later, will you? I gotta go.”
