Thought For The Day

Here’s a thought for the day. You probably learned it in school many, many years ago, or maybe from some distant relative.

It’s a lot easier to tear something down than to build up something new.

What does this have to do with our current national madness? Well, all the ranting and raving going on in Washington and on Main Street seems to be about efforts to tear down existing things - the Environmental Protection Agency, health care, existing trade agreements.

Of course, they - the demolition team - keeps promising something new and better to replace those things, once the rubble is removed. We need less regulation, they say. Just plain common sense will do.

Well, not to be a traitor to my class, but have you ever read a mortgage or a quarterly statement from any company or investment fund. I’m sure they would love to simply put out a one-page letter, saying something like “We made 6 per-cent this quarter. Don’t bother with those other details we used to include, because the government now says we don’t have to report on them.” Do you think anyone would buy a share?

Heck, I just got an offer from a bank telling me I could get an interest-free loan for 18 months. Big print right on top of the blank check they sent. Tiny print on the bottom of the page said that when the 18 months is over, the interest rate would likely be 28 per-cent, or maybe more. Details to come.

So, when people in Congress promise that things will be better when they get rid of all those bad regulations, you might ask yourself what they’re really talking about.