I don't know if you were aware of it, but there were two—count'em, two—big stories in the news these past few weeks. (There were actually far more than two, but it just dawned on me that these two weren't actually the same story!)
The first one has to do with something called a “fiscal cliff”--more money troubles for our friends south of Sweetgrass. Then there was something called the NHL lockout. It's confusing to a simple man like me: When I heard comments about one, I thought it was the other. And while I don't believe they are one and the same, they could easily have been--if you take a deep breath and work with me.
When I think of “cliff,” for example, I think of lemmings running off one, with reckless abandonment. I like the lemmings imagery, so let's work with that. You see, with lemmings, I think of a mindless mass of followers, chasing something elusive and imaginary, all to their self-destruction.
To repeat: Mindless people following something that leads to nowhere but down. Whether they're coming or going, you might say it's downhill all the way for politicians and athletes. And I think we have our first link between these events.
You're saying to yourself: Is that nutcase columnist talking about the American Senate or professional hockey players? My short answer is, Yes; and my long answer is, Yes, Yes.
Here's another connection: It's all about the misuse of money. Whether it's Obama and his cabal of clowns, or Fehr and his insatiable greed for power—as he leads the players with their insatiable greed for more money—the link is just too obvious to ignore.
Two questions come to mind when it comes to both dilemmas: How do you spend what you don't have, and how much is too much? I could reverse the questions (uh, Maurice, that means the first one could be for the hockey players and the second one is for the politicians), and it would still work.
I wonder what would happen if the roles were reversed; that is, if the politicians played hockey and the hockey players tried to ruin, sorry, run the country. The hockey players would likely lobby for longer terms in office, with no possibility to be cut from congress and an increase in salary for every year served. And the politicians would likely do something idiotic, like shoot on their own net.
At the end of the day, it comes down to irresponsible thugs looking out for themselves.
I can't get my head around the gazillions of dollars that's at stake with the so-called fiscal cliff. I'm a Language Arts guy, not a Math guy, but I do run a home based on a budget. If I want to stay out of financial trouble, then I spend no more than what I take in. Too much C-R-E-D-I-T, you might say, is a four-letter word in our home.
As someone once said, if my output is greater than my income, then my upkeep will be my downfall. Too bad the government and the NHL don't live by that maxim.
I think I found another connection between fiscal cliff and hockey lockout: Don't punish the wrong people. The politicians want to increase the tax on the rich, the entrepreneurs, the self-starters, and the job-providers. Stupid move, I say, on their part. I suggest start with the politicians themselves: Cut their own incomes and perks by a third, and take it from there. Lead by doing.
And the same goes for those hockey players: Let's start with those abominable salaries—provided by the very owners who locked them out. But their obstinacy never affected the rich (read: the owners, the very people the fiscal cliff is impacting—ironically, another link); no, it affected the middle-class, the ordinary, common people like, well, you and me.
Either way, the whole bunch of them are, ahem, skating on thin ice.
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