Random Thoughts

Seen driving yesterday – a license plate from Maine: REHABMD

Also seen – a street sign: Slocum Avenue. (I pointed it out to Sara, whose reply was, “That’s unfortunate.”)

The results of the Iowa Presidential Caucuses surprised me.

I am still undecided about who I like. There are few I do not like. It is easier to cross candidates off my list, than picking one. Top criteria in my book? Beat Bush.

I have written about sixty pages in the last week or so. Whew!

They aren’t very good, but at least they are written.

The steady decline of the value of the dollar is not good. Two years ago 1 euro was worth $0.87. Now it's worth $1.28. That means things that are imported are 50% more expensive. And we import a lot. Some say it will help with the trade deficit because we will chose things that are made in the US. The truth is that we are dependent on things made abroad. If anything, producers will cut costs abroad in order to be able to keep the price the same. This means lower wages for foreign workers, more child labor, worse working and evironmental protections, and ultimately, shoddier products. There are so many reasons why this is happening, but I will keep them to myself. Nobody really cares, but it is yet another example of how the Bush administration is screwing things up. Ok, time to put my internal economist back to bed.

Enough random thoughts.