The Psycho-Bubble

The last two decades have shown that bubbles are not only prevalent, but that they are dangerous. In the 1980’s the me generation rode a bubble of self indulgence rivaled only by that of that of the late 1960’s. The 1960’s imagery of Camelot and innocence was an idealistic bubble thought to be shattered by the violent decade. Yet the 1970 hippie movement was a bubble of idealism too. However, it slowly deflated as everyone grew tired of making love with each other because it came with strings attached, namely herpes and then AIDS.

The 1980’s “throw caution to the wind” attitude was a bubble. At the time the country thought it was large. That generation “hadn’t seen nothing yet.” The 1990’s computer dot-com boom made millions of dollars for people who owned and invested in companies. It was however, smoke and mirrors. The bubble was mammoth as companies raked in money that produced little. Their value so overblown that there was no where to fall but off of a cliff like it was 1929.

Still, America recovered and had faith in its system. Little did they know that since the 1960’s everything was ruled and regulated by something more sinister that corporate executives. Things were being run by emotion. Talk about volatility! The housing boom, created by sub prime mortgage financiers out to rake in billions, related to reality only in name. Everyone was getting a home (the great American dream) without having to work real hard for it. What could be wrong with that? Well, like a proverbial city on a hill, most everyone was dismayed when the FED popped that bubble. The hill under their houses and their feed took a nose dive.

Finally the bubble in energy last year had the price of gasoline rising from about 2.25 per gallon to over $4 per gallon. The friction became quickly obvious, unrest and worry rose, and the speculators drove the price up until the commodity resembled nothing based in reality. After July, the "pop" sound was swiftly followed by a "whoosh" and the bubble of that inflated delusion was over. Unfortunately, the whole financial sector which was built on mortgages that many people couldn’t afford, did the same. Wall Street was exposed for the “air pump” (or is that pimp?) that it really had become.

Now the latest hysteria is hysteria itself. Leading the charge down the hill is the new President. Every word out of his mouth is doom and gloom. We’re on the verge of catastrophe he says. His talk, he says, is an honest warning, not a method. He says he’s an optimist. Unfortunately, he sounds more like Jimmy Carter than Ronald Reagan. Obama has been drinking out of the same half empty glass since long before his Presidency. If this is leadership, someone needs to point out the direction he is headed; down.

Positive noise makes for productivity, and over time success. Being told that the world is going to come to an end just so you can get your agenda passed is political suicide, and the fear bubble is the first vestige of a fool. When the American populace wakes up it may be too late. The only hope to deflate the negative psycho bubble being inflated by the Administration and Democrats is for the entire Republican Party to pop it. Let’s hope they have a pin that’s big enough for the job before folks start jumping out of windows. After all it’s allegedly the worst economy since 1929 despite plenty of signs to the contrary.

Winkin' Lincoln

The Rock band “Faces” utilized a clever phrase with their 1971 album “A Wink is as Good as a Nod to a Blind Horse.” That axiom comes in handy when looking in retrospect at the gala Presidential inaugural held recently in the shadow of the Smithsonian. The astronomically priced festivities remind us of the excess found at a full blown pink-satin Rod Stewart post concert party. The Capital, where all of the important swearing-in occurred, lies at one end of the Washington Mall. Given the tons of garbage left behind, the aftermath reveals that those in attendance were surely not “earth-friendly” but rather a Styrofoam generating throng of star struck drooling followers. If you could cut through the astral plain you might have heard a few different choice words coming from the Lincoln Memorial at the other end of the Ellipse. The large white statue depicting arguably the most important U.S. President, Abraham Lincoln, could have been the place to hear after-life murmurs of a different kind of swearing.


That is not to say that Lincoln wouldn’t like Obama, or the people he attracts, he probably would. The pair does share some connections. Both now belong to quite an exclusive club consisting of a mere 44 males. No it is not a Dumbo-sized ear club for men! All the President’s have been men of course. It sounds a bit sexist, but why would anyone want to be ruled by an administration headed by a woman anyway? Heck that would be just like being married! Perhaps that is the reason that both Hilary and Sarah bumped their noggins on that glass ceiling.


The similarities between Abe and Barrack don’t simply end with the fact that both of these bean-poles are from Illinois. With a little make up and some straw they could be used in corn fields to scare crows. Lincoln’s tall gangly countenance reminds us that his hideously large sized ears were the things holding up those top-hats. The current large-lobe challenged President hasn’t yet discovered the virtue of hats, but nevertheless has magically been deemed qualified to be placed among the D.C. marble. This, despite the fact that he hasn’t even served a hundred days yet! Lincoln had to put up with Mary Todd, but still gave it his all. Obama merely gave us a good campaign and some wild dancing on Oprah. Still, there were no less that 3 commercial products depicting smiling Barack on coins, plates and guacamole dip.


No freshman rookie gets their face plastered on the Mount Rushmore of Mexican dishes until he has done phenomenal feats such as inventing the sombrero. Occasionally however, along comes a personality so revered that the entire population takes a siesta for four years, or the cacophony inverts so loudly that the poles reverse. Obama is just such a figure. In his case no one is sleeping because the grating noise of well wishers is loud enough to make a grown man squint.


So would the man who freed the slaves be happy about America’s election of a man of color? In Honest Abe’s case, there is no telling if his response to Obama’s ascension is a wince of distain, or an approving wink to go with the invisible nod. To the masses who are the blind horses in all of this, it doesn’t matter because once you are big enough to be pictured on food, it doesn’t matter how well sighted the horse. All that matters is that we giddy up!