Category Archives: One-Foot Putts

I don’t often comment (often? never!) on international topics, but this is one I can’t resist.  Cyprus is having a financial crisis.  To alleviate the crisis, the European Central Bank asked Cyprus to charge a “tax” on the deposits in Cypriot banks, where each depositor would pay 6.75 percent of the amount in his account.

It is incomprehensible to me what message the European Central Bank intends to send.  The only message I heard from this episode is this: if you are a European with deposits in any European bank, you can lose a chunk of your savings at any moment if your friendly Euro Council decides you need to help bail out the banks.  Rational people will respond by withdrawing their money and putting it under the mattress.  This will cause banks to crash and take the economy down with them.  What the hell are the Europeans thinking?

Hopefully the government of Cyprus will reject this and lurch to a better solution — but the fact that the European Central Bank even proposed such a measure is cause for concern.  Imagine if your bank told you that your account balances were cut by 6.75 percent and you had no recourse.  Would you ever put your money in a bank again?  Simply schaapachtig.

You loved to watch the hours fly by on the Fiscal Cliff Countdown Clock.  Then you glued your eyes to the Sequestration Countdown Clock.  Now, with those two non-events out of the way, you can finally turn your attention to something far more entertaining, namely, The 100 Billionth Person “Just Another Zero” Day.  Yes, readers, we are fast approaching one of those singular moments in history when I can once again write my age with a zero.  Seeing how your anticipation is growing with every passing millisecond, I offer you this “Just Another Zero” Countdown Clock.  Watch, wait, and worry with me!  My descent into decrepitude begins at zero-hour.  Even Congress is powerless to stop it.

These are the Powerball numbers I would have selected but did not.  I expect to be vindicated (and two dollars richer than if I had played the game) come morning.

Thursday Morning Update:

The numbers were 5, 16, 22, 23, 29 and 6.   As expected, not a match to be had.

The total amount won in yesterday’s Powerball lottery was $711 million, $580 million of which was the six-number jackpot.  Since the participating states distribute only 50 cents of every dollar as winnings, this means the total amount spent on Powerball tickets since the last jackpot winner (eight weeks ago) was on the order of $1.5 billion.  Total revenue for the year is expected to be $5 billion.  For comparison, the organization CARE was able to raise $310 million in private support in 2011.  Food for thought, if not for the hungry.