Shopping ranks so low on our least-liked activities, it needs it's own page. So, clearly, any possibility of a shopping errand is definitely bad news. Moreover, if the main goal of the expedition is home decorating-related, the classification falls even further into the little-known, but very real, abyss of despond, located just down the street and around the rotary from the slough of despond. Think root canal. all of which sets the stage for the soon-to-be-announced search for new wallpaper.
How, you may ask, could anything this oppressive have an element of good news? The good news is the reason we need to shop for wallpaper. Now that it appears that the Beltway wizards have struck a last minute deal avoiding a U.S. Treasury default, we will not be able to use our Treasury bonds to paper the walls. And while the View's investment account doesn't hold enough of this paper to cover much wall area, we felt we would have no problem snapping up enough bonds from other bondholders to get the job done. We could paper the entire house at a substantial savings over more traditional wall coverings.
Of course the deal is not entirely done and there is still a slight possibility that the agreement might fall apart, but we think the process has finally run its course. Look next for those claiming credit for averting financial chaos. The Pres, will of course, take center stage in this regard, even though his participation in crafting an acceptable plan seemed to be limited to telling us we have to eat peas, or some such nonsense. The View would point, instead, to John Boehner and his few stalwarts who actually made it happen. The only thing louder than those claiming credit, will be the critics. Those on the left will scream that taxes, or is it revenues, have not been increased enough. Those on the opposite side will match the outcry, arguing that spending has not been sufficiently cut. While we would like to see government spending rolled back to say, 1959 levels, it just ain't gonna happen.
There are two things, the old saying goes, that are totally unfit for public observation: making sausage and crafting legislation. Unfortunately, this deal that will at least allow us to stay solvent for the short term, has probably created the biggest wiener since Oscar Meyer.
