Cicero and the budget

My friend Nat sent me this:

What have we learned in 2,064 years since the Roman Empire?

So here it is. What have we learned in 2,064 years?

"The budget should be balanced, the Treasury should be refilled,
public debt should be reduced, the arrogance of officialdom should be
tempered and controlled, and the assistance to foreign lands should
be curtailed lest Rome become bankrupt. People must again learn to
work, instead of living on public assistance."

- Cicero - 55 BC

End of tunnel

So I spoke with the state of WV today. They said the $3000 penalty was just for not including my W-2! I swear I did anyway. But it sounds like it I just need to send them a copies and this will go away. Also Brian is coming home from Malta in a few hours. I have to work on adjusting my mood from mopey to happy before he gets here.

Predictions about the next administration

Under the present economic conditions the loser of the election will be whoever wins the election. If that seems like a strange statement, consider the following. Both candidates promise to cut taxes and raise expenditures. In the best of times a universal health plan is mostly unaffordable. I have long advocated health care for immunizations, trauma and obstetrics, I also think that complete care is an economic impossibility.

Both candidates plan to give hell to the Taliban, and rightly so. Both are predicted by pundits to start a war with Iran on the expectation that Iran will almost certainly give nukes to terrorists. All this adds up to increased expenditures with decreased revenues in an economic situation where stimulus isn't going to help much. The economic situation is basically a worldwide crisis of confidence.

Something has to give, and, I know what it will be. All the promises about health care will not be kept. Taxes will go up. The predicted wars will be made more economical by use of nukes. The loser of the election will be whoever wins the election.