Hello again to my bevy of loyal readers. Wow the weather sure can change in a hurry. It’s hard to believe we will set a record high and a record low high in the space of five days. Of course, records are a huge misnomer when they have only been kept for around 130 of our earth’s 4 billion plus years. It’s really just a tiny blip on the radar, yet green people want to place major significance on it. Go figure.

It looks like I’ll be playing fantasy football this week for the first pickup next week as I’m projected to get trounced by the great chrome dome. I guess hair just takes up space that can be replaced by brains. I, however, know several exceptions (Dusty Baker) to this rule.

Once again this week I want to plug an informative book, Dick Morris’ Fleeced. This is the story of how government and industry daily rips us off. He starts off with how Congress rips us off working very few days and wasting time. Also by taking paid leaves to run for other offices. Then there are Congressmen who accept large amounts of money either directly or indirectly from foreign countries to pass legislation that is in their best interests, not ours. Chief among this category was Hilary Clinton. Next are the people who have been buying subsidized insurance from the government because they live on the coast in hurricane country with their million dollar homes that regular insurance companies won’t cover. You and I then pay to rebuild their mansions, some several times over in a few short years. Next is the consumer protection agency officials who accept trips from the very companies they are supposed to be regulating.

Industry is no better. We have the hedge fund managers who make soaring salaries but pay lower taxes because it is all counted as investment income. We have the NEA leaders who get kickbacks to sell bad insurance policies to their own teacher employees. Then there is the movie industry who are promoting teen smoking in the movies even though it is supposed to be against the law to accept product endorsement deals from tobacco companies. Next is the media who also accept favors from enemy countries to downplay their villainy in the press and portray terrorists as lone, deranged lunatics instead of being part of a larger plot which they are.

Of course the biggest rip off of all was the banks and their subprime loans. In order to get loan commissions, they inflated the price of homes and adjusted interest down for three years by rolling the remainder into the principal, thereby leaving the customer after three years with a much higher monthly payment and a home that wasn’t worth as much as the remaining principle. They then resold the loans so they wouldn’t be stuck with houses after three years. These are examples of business as usual in the U.S. today.

Until next week, Doc.