Links and Minifeatures 2009 02 25 Wednesday

Judging by the thinking I've seen coming out of Washington of late, this may not be as satirical as the author thinks: Obama to Use Inheritance Tax to Pay Off Bush Deficit

Me too: I miss Bush

Not in the sense of wanting him to have had a third term, but I miss having as president someone who actually worked for the good of the country, could tolerate criticism (even when it was way over the line) and cared more about the good of the country than he did rewarding the people who got him elected or about how he looked in the process.

You know, a competent executive.

The three little pigs and the housing rescue plan, a modern fable by Greg Swann

Once upon a time there were three little pigs, and, although they were brothers and looked a lot a like, they could not have been more different.

The first little pig was hard-working and thrifty. He spent very little of his income, saving and investing as much money as he could. He lived with his mother well into adulthood, helping her with her expenses. He finally bought a home of his own when he could afford to pay for it all in cash. As you might expect, the thrifty little pig's home wasn't flashy, but it was all his, free and clear.

The second little pig didn't save very much of his income, but he earned a lot of money as a rising executive, and he had an uncanny luck in the housing market. He bought a condominium on his 18th birthday, then traded up to his first single-family home before he was 21. By the time he was 30, the lucky little pig owned a very stately executive home -- and he had been able to make a whopping 50% down-payment.

The third little pig wasn't very good at working hard, and he had never kept a job long enough to get a raise. He wasn't at all good at saving money, but he could borrow and spend it better than any little pig anywhere. Like the lucky little pig, he moved away from home early, but he just kept moving -- from apartments to friends' couches to rental homes and then to one girlfriend's house after another.

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