The long road to recovery...

Sometimes things happen. Sometimes things get broken. Sometimes we can have those broken things fixed. Sometimes instead of fixing them, because we don't know how, we live with them, baby them along, and suffer longer. Other times, we seek the information we need to figure out how to fix them correctly and suffer shorter. If given the choice between moderate suffering for years and extreme suffering for a few months, which would you choose? I know which I choose. Let's get it the hell over with. Let's get on with our lives. Let's put the mistakes, the pain, the brokenness behind and start anew. That is where I've been for the last weeks. Problems in my neck prevented me from sitting comfortably here to give my insightful rhetoric. I don't care if you care. That's not my problem. I had surgery. I feel better than I have in forever. Now, let's look at the economy that the government has "fixed". Years ago we found problems hovering behind the scenes. Lurking, making the aware tremble, the unaware go "Huh?". If when the break was discovered we had said, hmm, well, I suppose the best thing here is to fix it and get it over with. What is the parallel in the economic world to surgery? Well, let's pretend a sector or "business too big to fail" is the break. Let's pretend that instead of broken, this business has gangrene. We all know that gangrene, if left alone, will eventually lead to death. The other option is to amputate. So, assuming this business is gangrene, what should we do? Two choices, let them die, or cut them out. We did neither. We gave them steroids, antibiotics, IV fluids, propped them up, let them fester, and did this all on my, and your, dollar. Now, while the gangrene may have been conquered, they are slowly growing tumors. Not just any tumors. These tumors are not only inoperable, they are unknown, exotic, perhaps a cross between melanoma, lymphoma and Ebola, with just a touch of the aerosol contagiosity of the flu. In retrospect, unless you're a liberal, does this seem the correct course? Could we live without GM? Seems to me many Americans and most of the world has been doing it for years, or they wouldn't have been in the situation they were (and still are) in. Could we live without Citi? Well, do you bank there? I don't, so there must be other options. Can we live without AIG? You get the idea. Everywhere a business fails, someone, somewhere learns something, changes plans, starts a new business to succeed where the former failed. Free market economy. Amazing how it worked for over a hundred years, well mostly, until FDR and LBJ applied "bad touch", and continues to work today. In retrospect, let's make comparisons to things we all understand before making choices. Then maybe we won't make stupid economic decisions that allow prolonged suffering.

J-

PS- Thanks Dr. C. I'm glad you weren't seeking a government healthcare job, I could never have trusted you to fix my spine.