Blithering On

At a little after 4:00 this morning, I woke up and checked my phone to see if I had missed any calls or had any messages. For the past few days, we knew that Mom was fading and wouldn't be with us much longer. There were no missed calls and no messages on my phone so I got up to get a drink of water before I returned to bed. In a few hours, I'd get up and visit Mom at the healthcare facility where she was staying. I got my drink and started back toward the bedroom when my phone rang. I walked to the bedside stand and picked up my phone. I didn't really need to see who was calling or answer it to know the reason for the call. Not at that hour, and not under the current circumstances. My suspicion was quickly confirmed when my brother spoke from the other end of the line. He told me that Mom drew her last breath and passed away at 4:11 am, at about the same time that I woke and checked my messages. I got dressed and headed for the healthcare facility. On the way, I called my

"History repeats itself, but in such cunning disguise that we never detect the resemblance until the damage is done."  —Sydney J. Harris Inflation, the U.S. dollar’s volatility, unemployment, and an increase in the U.S. money supply... In spite of the concerns we have when we watch the morning news, we Americans tend to believe that our long-term outlook is good because, as we interpret our relatively brief history, we're Americans and we always come out on top. But the history of the world has many examples of great empires and nations whose leaders felt the same way, but turned out to be wrong. We can look, for instance, to the Roman Empire which enjoyed 200 years of prosperity until it collapsed over the course of the next 300 years.  But the machinery of the collapse didn’t begin during the final 300 years of the Empire. It started long before with sometimes short-sighted economic and monetary policies and practices. Then, incrementally, th eir excesses, the border in