Sunday, September 14, 2008

Sunday Evening

Looks like it's going to be an "interesting" week around Wall Street.

Lehman Brothers is is deep trouble, Merrill Lynch is being taken over by Bank of America for distress prices and the world's largest insurance company, American International Group Inc., is looking about as sound as Willie Nelson's pension plan. I can't wait to hear those who want to continue the Bush economic plan tell us how well it's all going.

Me, I'm not worried. I've invested half of my money in a chain of Simon Cowell Charm Schools and the rest in a self-service massage parlor.

• Posted at 10:08 PM · LINK

Where I'll Be

Just to remind you and also myself: Next weekend, the people who bring you Groo the Wanderer will be guests at the Mo-Kan Comics Conspiracy in Kansas City, MO. Those people are Sergio Aragonés, Stan Sakai, Tom Luth and myself. There will also be some fine guests who have nothing to do with Groo. One of them, Marvel writer Gary Friedrich, will be interviewed by me on some sort of panel. There will also be a panel about Groo, of course, and for an odd change of pace, I'll be giving a talk and answering questions about Jack Kirby. If you're anywhere near Kansas City, come see us.

This is my first time in that neck o' the woods so I'm looking forward to seeing the usual smidgen I see of any city when I travel for a convention. I will be sampling a couple of local barbecue shrines and reporting here on the rib situation, as well.

• Posted at 2:58 PM · LINK

Sunday Morning

In one of the many quotes that John McCain probably wishes he could take back, and probably denies he ever uttered, the Republican nominee for prez said, "The issue of economics is not something I've understood as well as I should. I've got Greenspan's book." It strikes me that this probably summarizes why Alan Greenspan is as powerful as he is. Very few people in power understand economics as well as they should so they just defer to Mr. Greenspan.

I don't understand economics well enough to say whether or not Greenspan does...but when I hear him speak, I always suspect that he doesn't. He's just stuck acting like he does because he can't defer to Alan Greenspan.

On several occasions, McCain has suggested that if elected, his economic policy will be basically to bring in Alan Greenspan and do whatever he says. This plan may change since Mr. Greenspan is now saying the country can't afford the tax cuts McCain is proposing...not without a helluva lot of cuts in government spending. The spending slashes McCain has mentioned are vague in the specifics but would not come anywhere near the necessary level. Even the tax increases that many lower- and middle-class Americans would pay under McCain's health plan proposal wouldn't come within miles of offsetting his proposed tax cuts...which are, of course, weighted towards the wealthy.

This probably won't matter to a lot of people. They hear "tax cuts" and they begin salivating. Never mind the deficit or how much money we're borrowing from countries that we otherwise fear. Never mind the disproportionate cuts that favor the upper class. They won't even notice the hidden tax increases that McCain has in mind.

Not that it'll matter to these folks but I hope someone presses McCain to be more specific and expansive with his ideas of how he'll reduce spending. He'll probably say he's going to have Sarah Palin go around and say "thanks but no thanks" to thousands of bridge proposals.

• Posted at 11:19 AM · LINK

Today's Video Link

Neil Simon's play The Sunshine Boys was about two old vaudevillians — a team that had split up and was reuniting for a TV performance. It was based very loosely on the old comedy duo of Smith and Dale.

Joe Smith and Charlie Dale teamed up in 1898 and performed as partners until 1971 when Mr. Dale passed away. They never split up like the characters Simon wrote. (That aspect of The Sunshine Boys parallels the true story of a couple of other comedy teams, most notably Weber and Fields.)

For the play, Simon wrote a sketch which his characters performed — a routine clearly inspired by the classic Smith and Dale sketch, "Doctor Kronkheit and His Only Living Patient." This clip, introduced by Jackie Gleason, is an abbreviated version of the Smith and Dale routine...and in case you're wondering, Smith is the patient and Dale is the doctor. It's from November of 1962...a CBS series called Jackie Gleason and His American Scene Magazine. Thanks to Jim Engel for telling me about this one.

• Posted at 12:24 AM · LINK