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Equation For Happiness

For people young and people old

Throughout the times and so today

Eternal question’ always posed

Toward happiness we seek the way

Religions of the world have tried

To lead us to the promised land

The only problem they all share

Is death precedes that sweet event

All gurus and the folks now days

Who motivate us toward our goal

Describe their magic recipes

To get us on the happy roll

But truth is frequently, it seems,

Both simple and sublime at once

And so with question we all ask

I offer my mere mortal’s stance

The formula of which I speak

Has two determining components

One’s expectations that we hold

From life and all its little moments

The other one on which we focus

Determined by our many senses

Is the reality we live with

Our sense of failure it enhances

If we subtract the expectations

From this reality we live in

Resulting is computed value

Of happiness that we are given

And so we slave to change result

By changing value of reality

Alas, it seems the expectation

Increases. Such a versatility !!!

The damn equation always seems

To strive toward negative result

That causes us to bitch and moan

And leaves us thinking it’s our fault

It should be obvious from this verse

To anyone who had the patience

To know that answer is so simple:

Change expectation of equation

For then no matter what the value

Reality assumes all over

Our happiness is guaranteed

For expectation will lower

Raiding the Treasury

I think we have just witnessed the biggest heist in history. There were no guns, no terrorism, no electronic wizardry. Yet, US government willingly handed over a trillion dollars to thieves and extortionists. And there is nothing anyone could do to stop them. It was almost elegant in a cynical sort of way. The groundwork has been laid by the credit crunch precipitated by an orgy of greed and lies as we packaged our inferior quality debt (created on back of government mandated lending to unqualified buyers) and sold it off worldwide as AAA quality obligations. As soon as housing boom waned, folks decided not to make payments on the suddenly unloved houses and the squeeze was on. That in itself was bad, but hardly without precedent. Similar events have taken place in Japan and Argentina in the 90s. This was bigger and nastier, but hardly the stuff of disaster. Unless, that is, you were a wall street financial company which was left holding some of the smelly bags as it was trying to hand em over to China or India. All of a sudden the door shot and they were left with these bags.

They were hoping that the the Government would bail them out, but when it became clear that the government may not, they resorted to extortion. Their man in the treasury (Henry Paulson - former Goldman Sachs) did the equivalent of yelling "Fire!!!!" in the crowded theater: He pronounced that unless the bailout was made, the western civilization as we know it would go down the drain. Amazingly, he got George Bush (who is looking sadder and sillier with each day he gets closer to the end) to make the same claim. This was the definition of self fulfilling prophecy. He KNEW that after those words, he left the Congress with no choice but to pass it. Check, Mate. if you know anything about economics, you know that the whole system (just like any local bank) rests on confidence of the people. He created the bank run to force the government to bail it out. You can be sure that it wasn't just Hank. But he was the point man and he did the dirty deed. 

The Congress took the burden of people's ire. For a change, they didn't deserve it. They had no choice, they had to pass the bill. They didn't exactly help their image by squabbling like little kids and ADDING another $100 billion of fat to the bill. But in the end, they had no choice. The thieves walked away with the money. We have just witnessed the most spectacular failure of governance and common sense by Government yet.

This one is on Bush and and Federal Reserve. They could have thoughtfully by taken the time to come up with a balanced, well crafted solution. Instead they got taken  clever, corrupt money people. Disgusting.