Running Away, Outside The Main, HIIC And Gold

*Running from the president.  When I lived in Georgia, Governor Roy Barnes was not my favorite politician. He was too much of good-ol’-boy power broker/dealer for my taste. But I’d take 100 of him over Jimmy Carter, I must add. And he just went up a notch in my regard: When Barack Obama visited the Peach State, Roy (who is running for governor again) wouldn’t get within 100 miles of him. And he’s the Democrat nominee. Wonder how many other Democratic contenders are doing the same thing?

*The far left of the so-called “mainstream.”  The latest smear campaign from the left-hand side of the political spectrum is that those nasty Tea Party candidates are “outside the mainstream” of American politics. Right. The same folks who will spend us into bankruptcy and welcome avowed communists to their rallies claim that these libertarian/conservatives are just “too radical.”  I wish John Adams or Patrick Henry were around to show what being a radical really looks like.

*Are we becoming a hick nation?  Oops, sorry, the acronym isn’t HICK, it’s HIIC. And it stands for Heavily Indebted Industrialized Countries. In case you didn’t guess, it’s not a good thing. According to many analysts, the U.S., Europe, Japan and Great Britain are becoming very poor credit risks. And that ain’t good. Speaking as a concerned American, what’s to become this HIIC nation from becoming a HICK? I suspect we’ll know more come Nov. 3.

*Could you price that in gold, please?  Just as I was putting the finishing touches on today’s Straight Talk, a friend sent me this fascinating factoid: Ten years ago it took 498 ounces of gold to buy the typical home in the U.S. Today, that same house will cost you 138 ounces. Would anyone like to argue that houses have dropped in value by 72.3 percent in the past 10 years? Or maybe the problem is with our yardstick — that is, how we measure how much things cost.

— Chip Wood