LEE RODGERS
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December 31 –

AMERICAN LIARS …
ARGENTINA: OUR ROLE MODEL …
YOUTHFUL RESOURCEFULNESS


My New Year's resolution: Never take a stock-market tip from a Mayan.
I might also borrow this one from Mark Twain: I resolve to live within my income, even if I have to borrow money to do it.


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The American public consists largely of liars. Survey (Rasmussen) says …
    Only five percent (5%!) think Congress is doing a good job.

    Yet 90% of House members who sought re-election were returned to office … 91% of Senators.

    Obviously, the relevant question for the giant, dumb beast that is the American public is this: If Congress is so awful, why do you keep re-electing your own members? Is yours the only virgin in the bordello?


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Alejandro Chafuend and Daniel Bunn, Investors Business Daily, get serious about the idiocy that is guiding our economic
policies ...
    "There is some dispute on who was the first person to come up with one of the most popular forecasts of all time: 'après moi le deluge,' or, 'after me, the flood.' Was it Madame de Pompadour or Louis XV?

    "We sometimes use the term in economics to criticize the attitude of those who focus only on the short term.

    "The 'cliff' scenario argues that if there is no action, spending will be cut by 3%, tax revenues will go up by 16%, unemployment may jump to 8.5% and this sluggish recovery might turn into a mild recession.

    "The worst 'flood' forecasts would be based on a continuity of a policy of monetary expansion and high government spending: going the Argentine way.

    “A combination of both could occur if the final outcome presents us with policies that make only marginal cuts in government and a few cosmetic revenue enhancements. The Fed will continue printing money with little restraint until it sees some improvement in the macroeconomic measures.
    "The authors of this op-ed come from very different backgrounds. One lived 30 years in Argentina and witnessed the deleterious effects of similar inflationary and statist policies as those being implemented in most sectors of the U.S. economy."


Regular readers of this space will recall that I have previously mentioned the Argentine analogy. The economy is approaching the crisis point in that short-sighted, economically chaotic country. If the present madness in Washington continues, we face the same fate. And probably sooner rather than later.


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My friend Kevin reminds me of a timeless statement ...
    "Government is the great fiction, through which everybody endeavors to live at the expense of everybody else." -- Frederic Bastiat, French Economist (1801-1850)

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Michael Goodwin of the NY Post looks at our sick economy, bloated and ever-larger government and chaotic foreign policy and reaches a conclusion …

    “This being the season for predictions, mine is that millions upon millions of Americans who voted for Obama will be disappointed in 2013. But most will not blame him. They will agree with him that the solution is to double the dose of Washington power.
    “Never mind that the patient is dying. The Obama operation is a great success. Just ask him.”

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I admire resourcefulness. It is often evident in imaginative but impecunious youth. More than a few of us have, in our school days, learned to use many ketchup packets and piles of free crackers to stretch a small bowl of soup or chili into lunch or dinner.
    Several years ago, a friend who worked at a major radio/TV operation in Chicago told me about a young intern or low-wage employee -- probably himself -- there who anticipated the "Wedding Crashers" movie by many years, turning up uninvited at receptions to chow-down on hors d'oeuvres and occasionally comfort a friend of the bride. He occasionally got busted and escorted out, but more often managed a substantial intake of groceries.
    He also confided that the best freeloader feasts were to be found at the well-attended after-funeral gatherings that were common when friends, admirers and hangers-on of deceased popular politicians congregated. He often returned from such events with plastic bags of food sufficient for three days stashed in his pockets. He said his major health concern was the possible effect of excessive consumption of peeled shrimp.

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Jim Eason reminds me of yet another corruption of the language common even among media mouths who should know better ...
    The word is REAL-TOR, not REAL-AH-TOR.
    To the many on-air people who have added that extra syllable: Go ... and sin no more.

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I'm a football fan. No particular team, since the pros – and many college players – are simply hired mercenaries. I just like the game.     As a fan (and former broadcaster of major-college games) I hereby state without fear of rational contradiction that this is the worst college bowl game season ever.
    The thousands of empty seats at virtually every game so far are a clear indication that my lack of interest in watching a team with a 7-5 record playing a 6-6 team is widely shared. How demoralizing it must be for players to see only a handful of spectators in the stands.


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Again as a fan … I hope Larry Fitzgerald, one of the half-dozen best players in the NFL, finds a way to extricate himself from the wretched Arizona Cardinals organization and their joke of a coach.
    In all their years starting in Chicago, St. Louis and finally Phoenix, this bungling family-run circus has had success only once.         That single brief period of football glory happened largely by accident, when Kurt Warner rolled off the discard pile and found himself as a player. Otherwise, to call the Cardinals' operation “professional” football is a corruption of the very word.


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A moment of mourning for Jerry Jones, whose Dallas Cowgirls again folded like a wet sock when the chips were down. RG-III and the Washington Redskins took 'em to school last night. Face it, Jer; your team sucketh.

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Reader Jack calls our attention to a medical item …
    “When your gecko is broken, you have a reptile dysfunction.”

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Dan Sorkin assembled this collection of classic country song titles …
    I Hate Every Bone In Her Body But Mine.
    I've Never Gone To Bed With an Ugly Woman. But I Woke Up With a Few.
    If The Phone Don't Ring ... You'll Know It's Me.
    I've Missed You ....... But, My Aim's Improving.
    I wouldn't Take Her To A Dogfight, Cause I'm Scared She'd Win.
    I'm So Miserable Without You, It's Like You're Still Here.
    She Took My Ring, and Gave Me the Finger.
Lee Rodgers"...and now, if you'll excuse me..."
radiorodgers1@yahoo.com