A COLLECTION OF SOCIAL, ECONOMIC & POLITICAL IRONIES

 

 

Ø  It seems like the only couples who want desperately to get married are gays and lesbians. Most heterosexuals are living together outside of marriage or go through life as single parents.

Ø  The identical congressional representatives, who drove the country into two wars, costing one trillion today and over 3 trillion when all is said and done, are now fiscal conservatives who want to balance the budget on the backs of the unemployed and underprivileged.

Ø  The neo cons in the Republican Party water boarded terrorists, the liberal progressives in the Democratic Party kill them with robotic planes.

Ø  The chief cause of financial failure and retirement unhappiness is trading what you will need most for what you want right now. Nearly 75% of retirees have not saved enough and said they would save more if they could do it all over again.

Ø  While Washington County is becoming a prosperous bedroom community, the “Montgomery County of the West”, the City of Washington is becoming a place that time and gas drilling forgot.

Ø  In Cypress when the government proposed to tax the bank accounts of wealthy Russians everyone cried theft.  In the United States when we tax the bank accounts of the elderly and unsophisticated saver by keeping interest rates at zero, we cheer the rising stock market.

 

Ø  Corporations who keep earned income off shore to avoid taxes are called prudent capitalists.  Individuals who do the same are labeled unpatriotic tax evaders.

Ø  City governance in Pittsburgh and Washington is significantly more entertaining than County governance, which is one of the many reasons this form of government should be abolished and the two city governments absorbed by their respective counties.

Ø   Nearly all economists, of all political persuasions, agree that immigrants — those here legally or not — benefit the overall economy.  There is a consensus that, on average, the incomes of families in this country are increased by a small, but clearly positive amount, because of immigration. (NYT-February 12, 2013)

Ø  The Financial Times recently wrote: "In 2008, the three most admired personalities in sport were probably Tiger Woods, Lance Armstrong, and Oscar Pistorius." Given the volume of recent insider trading charges, something similar could occur among the investing "greats."