"Neither a borrower nor a lender be; for loan oft loses both itself and friend, and borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry." And so it came to pass, as foreseen, that the 150-year old Western experiment with representative democracy came to an end as a result of not heeding Polonius' counsel. Both Greece and Italy have tossed out their governments in recent days, and replaced them with technocrats with no public mandate. They promise, in the fullness of time, to introduce elections again. Who's next?
\(*.*)/ \(*.*)/ \(*.*)/
As any student of history knows, this usually opens the door for a charismatic and determined leader to get himself in power, but the issue this time is not so much geographical or cultural - fingers can't really be pointed at any specific group of people*; much as one can be upset with the Greeks, nobody is going to roll tanks into Athens. This time it is a young generation which has been - in layman's terms - rogered by a much bigger older generation who spent every penny they made, borrowed some more, spent that on wars and welfare, and in a final burst of profligacy, voted themselves generous benefits for early retirement, because, well, because they could. Perhaps in the Laws of Nature there really is no such thing as a "prosperous middle-class", or "comfortable retirement"; perhaps it exists only as a function of borrowed money, dispersed through a democratic process. If this is the case then take my advice and make sure you're born into a large generation! But I digress. You will be relieved to know, though, that our elected leaders have an emergency plan to deal with all this debt, and I happen to be in possession of a copy. Here's a summary:
In case you wondered, folks, this is not a good system of government. So as the young generation's anger trumps the older generation's votes, prepare for a young, enlightened tyrant to step forward and be crowned. exeunt Democracy.
This - for a change - is not strictly relevant for the traditional Haagen Christmas Newsflash, and it gives me great pleasure to report much more upbeat news from the floating trailer park that we call home.
- 12- year old Jojo is writing her Magnum Opus, a 50,000 word expose of bigotry and homophobia in the Mid-West. I am insanely proud...
- 8-year old Patricia is building quite a resume as the enthusiastic lead in several of the school's Glee shows, as Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz, Shania in Jungle Book, Mary Poppins and much else. The camera loves her. So do we.
- 2-year old Kitty could charm the paint off walls, and has used a $3 iPad app to learn enough Danish to save us several years of tuition. I am sobbing like a nancy when I hear her count to ten in the mother tongue.
- Irene's ubiquitous artistic talent is in constant demand, and with any luck she will take over as the breadwinner for the family in 2012.
Here's some photographic evidence:
And on that happy note, please accept our warmest wishes for Christmas and the new year.
* except bankers of course (present company excluded. Oh, and also Søren Kjær, in case you were getting ready your bricks and pitchforks and heading for Sundvænget.)
