One feature of the past 20 years is the ongoing attempt by Generation Greed to convince, or force, today's youth not to be the kind of irresponsible jerks they themselves had been when younger (and in some ways still are while in charge or our institutions). I live in a city where a retiree health insurance fund has been raided to get through a recession, and some pols want it raided more now that the recession is over. I live in a state where localities outside New York City have been encouraged to shirk making required contributions to the public employee pension funds, borrowing against them instead. I live in a country that collected additional regressive payroll taxes from workers for nearly 30 years to "Save Social Security" for younger generations, then blew the added funds on older generations' tax cuts and health spending, leaving behind IOUs. That country is now borrowing from federal pension funds to pay the bills.

I was shocked to find out, in the wake of the housing bubble, that many Americans were running their personal finances just like our governments, perhaps based on the same values. And now, some pols are proposing this.

Yesterday, I saw a guy on line at "My Little Pizzeria" wearing a sandwich board announcing that the world was ending on Saturday.

I walked in and told him, "If I thought the world was ending that soon, I'd be getting lobster for lunch"

Last Friday at lunchtime, Downtown Brooklyn was swarmed by Chabadniks; when the third one in the course of fifteen minutes stopped me to ask if I was Jewish, I said "No, G-d gave me this face because he has a sense of humor."

One must marvel at the emergence of China as an economic and political power after an eternity in the doldrums.  Pundits speak with amazement at their new found power as if it has never been the case in their long history.

The question is with the Arab Rising and the emergence of China is what kind of prosperity are they seeking, the form found in America or that of Europe.  Well with the Arabs they are seeking freedom and with that freedom concurrent prosperity.  As for the Chinese they may dream of freedom but on the surface at least are satisfied with prosperity.

The good news is that Ron Paul said he might consider supporting the 13th Amendment, provided the owners were duly compensated Paul says he would have opposed Civil Rights Act thehill.com