When lawyers become more important than doctors.

Today's Tids Issue 2,784

Opening Stuff:

 

It really is getting tougher and tougher to be positive about the outlook for America. We have had pendulum swings throughout history, but it seems now it might just be impossible to have it swing all the way back the other way; as it always has swung in the past. For one, the government has just become to big. Things don't act naturally anymore. And, the nature of the economy has changed dramatically. Almost every day we hear of somebody somewhere wanting to intrude in personal lives. I don't like intrusion. The demographics of the country are dramatically changed, with too large a voting block either un-knowledgeable, disinterested...or just inexperienced in the so-called American way. ObamaCare which was probably designed primarily to take care of 30 Million without coverage; Now has turned into an unwieldy monster which seems to become more burdensome every day. Doctors and nurses are becoming slaves to the government. Manufacturing will never, ever generate again the spate of good paying jobs. I guess I'm just having one of those days. Maybe a blue bird will fly upon my shoulder and whisper in my ear, "Don't worry, everything will just be fine." And I will feel my body relax and I will smile. Until I turn my head and see that it is really Mayor Bloomberg. That's just the way it is these days, Walter.

I guess my internal woes will never be as bad as waking each day with a excruciating backache pain.

In the be careful what you wish for department, the banking and financial lobbyists have to be kicking themselves for blocking Elizabeth Warren's nomination to the Consumer Financial Protection Agency. All she did was go back to Massachusetts and become Senator. Now she has been appointed to the powerful Senate banking committee. In her first session, her first question to the multiple financial fraud and other crime investigative agencies (i.e. SEC, FDIC): "Why aren't more people in jail?" (As opposed to the pay-fines-and-go-back-to-biz-as-usual scenario). They looked at each other in in amazement.

Free enterprise capitalism works best when the honest win; when risk is punished, just as success is rewarded.

The Question:
I've been so gloomy today, I thought I'd look for a happy question. So I sought out the top ten Happiest Movies. Then, I got confused by all the possibilities. So much for happiness. Anyhow, think of your favorites, and I'll find a list you can comment on.

The Headlines:
--Dow Tops All Time Record; Up 156 Before Noon.
--Major Snow Storm Bearing Down On Midwest, Mid Atlantic.
--Kerry says Rodman Not Solution To Difficult International Problems.
--North Korea Threatens To Scrap 1950-53 Korea Conflict Armistice.
--Italian Government Officials Still Confused In Comic Election Drama
--50 Egyptian Protestors Wounded in Battle With Police.
--Dominican Woman Apparently Absolves Menendes Of Paying For Sex.
--Jeb Bush Takes Tougher Stance On Immigration; Says Illegals Should Be Shipped Back, Get Back On Legal Line; Not Given Path.

The appointment of McCarthy as new EPA Czar could signal an all out war on coal with an underlying objective of increasing the costs of traditional efficient energy sources, thus making new, very expensive alternative energy sources more competitive.

Wall Street: On fire; Or Burning:
Is the Dow record level good news or bad news. Is it a sign that the steam will soon leave the market, clouding the future? There is a little more diversification now than at other times when the market toppled from peaks -- Dot.coms, Housing, Banking exuberation. Retail investors still seem cautious, yet the market has broken records. Maybe this time when the stocks fall, the Panic will be less severe. But, then, maybe the new stock market is one tenuously propped up upon the tinderbox of government debt.

Happy 332nd Birthday to Antonio Vivaldi. Everybody likes his Four Seasons. Think about the durability of that piece. As pleasant today as it probably was over 300 years ago. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GRxofEmo3HA

Then there is hedge fund guy Stan Druckenmiller who is getting nervous about the current "Party". The guy who averages 30%/anum gains and predicted the last big collapse is saying loudly that this party may continue a bit longer, but it will end badly. Gulp! I don't even have a noise maker yet! Or glitter hat.

Speaking of war on women, how about this oversight: I was watching a report on the Obama-Woods golf match saluting two successful "Blacks", with the esteemed press totally disregarding the contributions, must less the race and ethnicity of the women behind them, the white mother and the Cambodian mother. There is something awfully chauvinistic about granting the twosome the blackness of the fathers and totally forgetting the other half. Or, is that just the way it is, this Tuesday in March 2013.

Does the world only see the character of the US through a Hollywood's lens?

I've been spending a lot of time with the Tids Legal department. It appears that that there are just too many lawyers out there looking for ways to sue about nearly anything. If I let my lawyers take over, the energy of the Tids could just disappear. Innocuous lethargy will be come the new standard. We would just print news releases from the White House. Tis a conundrum.

I'm having a problem accepting the functionality of the rumored Apple IWatch.

Janet Napolitano seems to be doing her best to encourage hysteria as opposed to finding a solution.

The Answer:
The French film Amelie pops up on a lot of lists, and I liked it. I liked another romantic Comedy quite a bit -- Love Actually. ET and Close Encounters of the Third Kind. How about these from the fifties -- Sabrina, Singing in the Rain and Some Like it Hot. I could also go for the Muppet Movie and the wonderful song The Rainbow Connection. Other favorites on various lists are Ed Wood and Harold and Maude. I have to add Mary Poppins and My Fair Lady. I liked smile on the face movies like Sally Met Harry, and You Got Mail. Frankly, picking the happiest for me is difficult becasue I'm so easy. If it has a happy ending, no matter how bad the movie may have been, I walk out of the theater, Happy.

I wish I could say the same after reading these tids.