Ezra's Essays

Category: Money

  • THE FOLLIES OF SECRETARY PAULSON

    Readers of this essay should be warned that the author is completely at sea when it comes to understanding what is taking place in Washington on the so-called bailout or now called the rescue package. I have no clue as to how the bailout package should work but there is consolation in the fact that…

  • ATTENTION: FALL OUT | Meditations Chapter 15: Verses Clayton, Mo. Through Crawdaddy, Texas

    In Chapter 13 of these sacred Meditations, there was a reference to one of the basic principles of the American Army. If the Army possessed a stone tablet reflecting the Ten Army Commandment, high on that list would be the injunction about not thinking. Simply put, soldiers would be warned that they don’t get paid…

  • FROM THE FRIENDLY WHITE HOUSE TO YOUR HOUSE

    If you were alive in January of 2001, you may recall that George W. Bush ascended to the Presidency of this country. He got there by virtue of the ugly fact that the Supreme Court was counting the ballots. At the conclusion of the ballot count, Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonin Scalia issued his ruling…

  • MAYBE BEING POOR AIN’T ALL BAD

    This essay offers the thought that being poor financially, may have its merits. Obviously, its drawbacks are well known. The conventional wisdom these days runs against being poor, but being one step away from financial disaster is in communion with the philosophy of a country woman who claimed Lusk, Illinois as her birth place. Country…

  • WHAT WILL THE CHILDREN SAY?

    Wars have an interesting way of stirring cynicism as time passes. The entry of the United States in the First World War was described by Woodrow Wilson, the president at the time, as the war to end wars. In other quotes, the war was termed an effort to make the world safe for democracy. It…

  • Birthday Post!

    July 24, 2003 My dear Spockling Churchwallop: As you can see, I began to prepare for your birthday back on February 15, 2003. Since that time, you have changed your name and it seems that an English accent has come over you. You are going to be referred to in newspapers as Churchwallop – nee…

  • NEW YORK, NEW YORK PART 10 – SHOW BIZNESS

    When I started out to write about life in New York, it seemed to me that four or five essays would do the trick. Admittedly, I never won a Rhodes Scholarship for my excellence in mathematics. Therefore, it should come as no surprise that Part 10 of the New York series is now being prepared…

  • ESTHER REZOAGLI AND THE MERITS OF BEING BORN UNWEALTHY

    Rodney Dangerfield was a comedian who during his lifetime claimed that he “got no respect.” Dangerfield was a happy comedian who coined a maxim or two. One of his maxims was, “I’ve been rich, I’ve been poor, and believe me, rich is better.” In this essay, I will contend that there is merit in being…

  • “YOU AIN’T TORE YOUR BRITCHES YET” – BILL KNAPP, CIRCA 1950

    In the hills and bogs of this great country, there is a language spoken which is a derivative of the English language. That derivative is called “country speak.” If, for example, you follow the announcements of Richard Shelby, the U.S. Senator from Alabama, you will notice that he pronounces the word “can’t” as “caint.” This…

  • A CASE OF ELEMENTARY FAIRNESS

    In September of the current year, the Secretary of the Treasury came to believe that the American economy and its banking system were on the verge of complete failure. Secretary Paulson persuaded other members of the current administration and the Congress that indeed the sky was falling on the American economy. There are any number…