We are at mid-week and the Editorial Board of Socotra House was flummoxed. You know, from long experience, we do not use terms like that lightly. But the Hundred Days of Mr. Biden’s term has been astonishing, and is worthy of celebration. They have arranged for him to address two hundred assorted people at the Capitol tonight.
Apparently the Scientists have been consulted, and they recommend that number, based on nothing they choose to share. Square feet allocated to each member? No word on that, or on dispersal of viral particles under domes, but the brief address fro the President yesterday talked about some of it. You may have heard.
It was pretty cool. Mr. Biden was outside, wearing a mask, telling us it was OK to be maskless if we were vaccinated with those experimental things they have decided are safe. I kept my silence, because I may have to travel later this year, and thus our segment of the editorial table have already been jabbed without subsequent consequence, though of course we still wonder about social distancing.
Others at the table are adamant in their refusal to submit to anything, while still others claim they already had the virus, recovered just fine and will go with their own auto-immune response.
That sort of meeting non-consensus was obviously not going to be productive. When it was time for the Compliance folks to table their issues we all sighed, since the mask thing is getting old and we are tired of being told we have to wear them by people who are not. And vice versa, of course.
The Legal brief was just as abrupt. Tax issues associated with the newest multi-trillion dollar plan the President is supposed to announce tonight could impact the number of Legal, Compliance and HR people we can keep on staff. Without going into why free community college and a new pre-Kindergarden program costing billions is necessary now, one of the HR folks asked just how many trillions the last two administrations had spent outside the old regular order in Congress.
There was silence, but you could see wheels turning. One of the new legal beagles coughed and started a little timidly. “The Treasury Department says that as of March 1st, the national debt had grown to $28.1 Trillion.”
“That is before the next $1.8 trillion the President will announce tonight, right?”
There was silence for a while as more wheels turned. “That is less than $30 Trillion by a couple bucks.” Chairman Socotra looked a little embarrassed as he said it and tried to get the meeting going again. It is hard, since there is general consensus that talking about money before lunch is never a good idea. He abruptly banged that crazy little gavel thing he uses to demonstrate some imaginary authority the same way the government does.
“It will all probably work out,” he said in conclusion. Then he lifted his little mallet to bang it against something solid.
“But hasn’t every government that tried this sort of nonsense fallen apart with great suffering?” squeaked a lawyer.
It was too late. The gavel hit one of the HR people with a definitive ‘thunk.’ The meeting was adjourned with a strange feeling of dislocation. There was no general agreement on anything, except that next week’s meeting will be held as scheduled. Unless something happens.
Copyright 2021 Vic Socotra
www.vicsocotra.com