Dog Gone Mad

It's true. We've all gone mad at our house, and it's not because of the $165 million "retention bonuses" paid to AIG executives.. or the plethra of other handouts paid to executives who drove their respective mega-companies into the ground while these companies (and even the Death Star) are enacting salary freezes for lowly middle management and worker bees. No, I learned long ago there's nothing that can be done to stop The Reagan Revolution. I do find it funny - and even more so sad - that even Right Wingers are now feigning outrage at these exuberant bonuses. Who do they think they're kidding? This is text book Reaganomics. Toss in a dash of Gramm-Leach-Bliley Financial Services Modernization Act, and you've got a recipe for abundance! I'm confident giving already super rich executives even more money, plus repealing a 60 year old law that prohibited a bank from offering investment, commercial banking and insurance services will only create jobs that will eventually trickle down to "lower class" folk while making our financial infrastructure stronger. What's that? Really? You say the rich just got richer, and the financial infrastructure has collapsed? But how could that be? Well, under Reagan the top personal income tax bracket for rich dudes dropped from 70% to 28% in just seven years (and now Rush Limbaugh and other rich guys on Fox News are whining about Obama's plan to raise the rate back up to 39%). Oh, and here are some fun little facts about The Reagan Revolution:

It was in the decade of the 1980’s that the U.S. was transformed from the world’s largest creditor nation to the world’s largest debtor nation. By the end of 1986, the U.S. had a national debt of $269 billion. By 1992, it had ballooned to $3.5 trillion. I guess someone in the Reagan Administration forgot that "reducing the growth of government spending" was supposed to be a cornerstone of Reaganomics. At least they got the part about "hyper-deregulation of the economy" right.

By 1984, the U.S. had the greatest gap between rich and poor of any industrialized nation in world history.

In 1953 there were 27,000 millionaires. In 1964, there were 90,000 millionaires... in 1972 180,000... in 1980 574,000. And 1.3 million by 1988.

In 1981 there were about 10 billionaires in the U.S. This number more than doubled to 26 by 1986. It doubled in just two years to 52 in 1988. No parallel upsurge of riches had ever been seen since the late 19^th century of the Vanderbilts, Morgans and Rockefellers.

So, you need to keep the faith, people! This plan has been nearly 30 years in the making, and it's sure to produce profound results any minute. C'mon, super rich people... get crackin' on creatin' those jobs!

Where was I? I didn't just get sidetracked on a political rant did I? Wow, that's weird... that hardly ever happens. Anyway, we've all gone mad around here because MARCH MADNESS is finally here... the 2009 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament started yesterday! This is a major holiday at our house (at least for Stew and me). For us, MARCH MADNESS is bigger than Cinco de Mayo at an Iowa turkey processing plant (I wrote that joke for you, Lou Dobbs). Last year, I picked the Georgetown Hoyas to win it all, but they disappointed me greatly. Therefore, I put a curse on the team... which mysteriously finished at the bottom of the Big East Conference this year. Coincidence? I think not. This year, I'm going with the Michigan State University Spartans (the team Earvin "Magic" Johnson took to the title in 1979). Momma's picking the University of Pittsburgh Panthers, while Stew's finally tossing aside the Duke Blue Devils (the team he's picked to win the tourney every year since 1986) and instead going with the Gonzaga Bulldogs because he [quote], "likes saying 'Gonzaga', plus they have a cool mascot." Is it any wonder he's never won an NCAA tourney pool... ever?

Claire was on her Spring Break last week, so we've got lots of photos and even a short video to post soon. In the meantime, Grandma Helen will be here any minute for a visit, so I'm supposed to help clean. I overheard Momma "discussing" with Stew last night the need to get the house cleaned up. He mumbled something about the need to watch basketball games all day, but he stopped mid-sentence after lightning bolts shot out of Momma's eyes.

Here's a pic of Claire doing her impersonation of [insert the name of any 1980's musical artist]. But instead of wearing fingerless gloves that were all the rage in the '80s, Claire is wearing her tiny little tube socks. And the microphone she's holding? Well, it's a Swifter duster handle. Apparently she misplaced the toy screwdriver she usually uses for a microphone.