Green Follies

At Christmas the letters would contain a photo, which we ritually magnetted up on the fridge to chronicle his growth. We reciprocated with our family pictures. I sometimes wondered if he wondered about us like we wondered about him. I'm a little embarrassed to admit that I didn't really notice when we didn't receive his annual Christmas letter last year. Yesterday we received a letter from his caseworker explaining why: Bakouma died in December of malaria. He was 14 years old.

More here from Iowahawk.

Its like Re-Gifting; only not as warmly received.

Seems we always have time to bemoan the “environmental legacy” we will leave our children, grand-children and great grand-children but nary can we muster a raised eyebrow regarding the “financial legacy” we will be leaving them.

Why is this? Perhaps its because, ironically enough, its always easier for politicians in power (and we the voters who put them there) to talk and act in the abstract rather than the concrete.

We can use historical trends, population growth forecasting, federal retirement ages, current and projected federal spending and revenue forecasting to come up with a pretty decent idea of how much our federal debt will be as a function GDP but…. that’s just a bunch of numbers and graphs. Lets burn food to tackle global-warming, instead! Yeah, we have no earthly clue as to how much, if at all, that will effect global-warming (if the man-made effect exists at all) but it sure sounds like a hell of a lot of fun and its what those Hawkeye farmers want to hear every four years in January, anyway. Woo-hoo!

Anyway, Pete Peterson and Dave Walker will testify before the House Budget Committee today about America's deteriorating fiscal health. Click here, for the Peter G. Peterson Foundation’s State of the Union’s Finances. Cheery stuff.