A Lost Balloonist and the Debt Crisis

My friend Bob Bell sent me another good one yesterday... A woman in a hot air balloon realized she was lost. She lowered her altitude and spotted a man in a boat below. She shouted to him,  "Excuse me, can you help me? I promised a friend I would meet him an hour ago, but I don't know where I am."  The man consulted his portable GPS and replied, "You're in a hot air balloon, approximately 30 feet above ground elevation of 2,346 feet above sea level. You are at 31 degrees, 14.97 minutes north latitude and 100 degrees, 49.09 minutes west longitude.  She rolled her eyes and said, "You must be a Republican.  "I am," replied the man. "How did you know?"  "Well," answered the balloonist, "everything you told me is technically correct. But I have no idea what to do with your information, and I'm still lost. Frankly, you've not been much help to me."  The man smiled and responded, "You must be an Obama-Democrat."  "I am," replied the balloonist. "How did you know?"  "Well," said the man, "you don't know where you are -- or where you are going You've risen to where you are, due to a large quantity of hot air. You made a promise you have no idea how to keep, and you expect me to solve your problem. You're in exactly the same position you were in before we met, but somehow, now it's my fault."  ********** My comment: This little joke can be applied to any number of situations but let's take the recent budget "crisis" as an example.  "You made a promise you have no idea how to keep."  The money borrowed to provide bailouts and economic stimulus is at the core of the promise the liberal Democrats in congress and in the Obama administration made to the country that they could end the recession and create new jobs. Of course, that didn't work. The recession worsened and joblessness is still above 9%.  Since the plan didn't succeed, "You expect me to solve your problem." To solve their problem, they expected (demanded) that the Republicans in congress capitulate to their demands to raise taxes (increase revenue). "Somehow, now it's my fault." Conveniently forgetting the four trillion dollar debt burden they added in 2008-2009 which created the problem, they now say the Republicans in congress are terrorists who held a gun to their heads and refused to let them raise taxes. The joke is funny. But the reality is anything but.