;)
RON SMITH'S SOMETHING TO SAYA collection of Ron Smith's Something to Say commentaries over the years. The dates and names in the news of today may be different. But, the truth as Ron saw it when these columns were first published, is as true today as ever. Always the voice of reason, Ron always had something to say.
Semi-Big Boss [Jeff Beauchamp] knew I had gotten a new computer, and he said, “Ron, I have an idea.” I knew this meant trouble.
I’d like you to do something that means a lot more work, but no additional money.”
“Sounds wonderful,” says I.
“I want you to do commentaries that will run in the Morning Show.”
“I’ll think about it,” I said.
Whenever the Boston Celtics are on the tube, I make every effort to watch them. I used to hate the Celtics and root against them and I’m not quite sure when the transition between love and hate took place, though it was probably when Larry Bird joined Auerbach’s boys back in ’79.
Why one roots for or against particular teams is sometimes hard to figure out.
Years ago, Engine Charlie Wilson, General Motors Chairman, turned Secretary of Defense, uttered the memorable thought “what’s good for GM is what’s good for the United States.” In the fifties that was probably true enough not to quibble with. A bit later, the giant computer company, IBM, became the business that epitomized American technological supremacy in the world.
It’s hard for most of us to believe that deflation is even a remote possibility in this point in history. Economists and political leaders have told us since the end of WWII that government learned so much from the Great Depression that another period of severe deflation just couldn’t happen again, that John Maynard Keynes had discovered how governments could intervene in their economies to prevent catastrophes.
Many years ago, as a young Marine I decorated my upper arms with tattoos, a panther on my left arm, the initials USMC on the right. Now, I never thought is a particularly intelligent thing to have done to one’s body, but it was a wonderfully rebellious act, and damned difficult to undo. Rebellion was my thing, (and you have thought me a conservative all this time, ha). Tattoos were a more or less permanent way of indicating scorn for polite society and its conventions. They were fashionable only among sailors, carnival workers, motorcycle gang members and the like. Until now, that is.
Permalink