sometimes when i read the Economist it makes me feel like everything really is going to be okay. they are so smart and they advance such reasonable arguments. maybe, i think, i was wrong. maybe Bush really knows what he's doing and the deficit and privatizing social security makes sense in a way i hadn't thought of. i'm not as smart as his advisors.

and then i read a letter to the editor that suggests tsunami aid be sent on a conditional basis and i nearly gag. the next letter suggests that we give "say, $1,000 to each person in the affected areas and allow human ingenuity and enterprise to do the rest.... It would make for a much more effective response." yeah, i thought it was irony too. but it's not. the letter-writer is worried that aid will be syphoned off by corrupt bureaucrats.

can you imagine? here, kid, sorry you lost your parents. here's a grand. go buy yourself some nice clothes and something to eat. if you can find a store anywhere. and watch out for those pesky sex industry kidnappers.

and i realize that these people for all their "rationality" actually live in a completely different world. a world in which they never personally had to worry about adequate health care or post-retirement funds or even how to feed your kid tomorrow. i guess those of us who do are just lazy. or, "tough luck." because anyone can make it if you work hard, if you deserve it. here's a thousand bucks to get you started.

it would be funny if it weren't so sad.