I stayed in last night. I have been feeling unsettled- some vague nausea that kept me away from happy hour like usual. I was watching TV up here, since the satellite connection down at the farm is on the fritz, and I was down a quart on whatever the latest scandal of the century. I was listening to the economist who worked for Ronald Reagan, Arthur Laffer, who invented the “Laffer Curve,” among other things.

He has been in the politico-economo business for more than a half century, so he understands politics. He seemed a bit bemused by the toxic emanations from the Swamp that is fiercely fighting being drained. I certainly understand it- I was part of the dark green water for most of my professional career. With that said, I agree with Dr. Laffer. I have never seen anything like this circus-horror show.

With that, we still have to pay attention. Otherwise the cascade of emotion is going to be totally wasted. I give you my weekly slide that attempts to quantify what is going on.

Of course, we are now in a strange place where the regular ballet of media and government has been disrupted. The scandals and alleged scandals are now so thick that the litigation surrounding them is liable to last beyond our lives. Slower to sort out, but happening in a sort of avalanche of real and false data that an ordinary citizen could spend all day worrying about it.

Or just shrug and hope that somehow a grown-up is going to show up and sort this all out- and send the bad children to their corners for a time-out. Figure those odds.

I dare you.

Vic

Copyright 2017 Vic Socotra
www.vicsocotra.com