History lessons from a Mexican immigrant's child

It was time for a history lesson in the fourth-grade class. The teacher opened her session with the first in a series of questions she had lined up: "Who said give me liberty or give me death?" Only one of the children raised a hand: Pedro Gonzalez, the son of a Mexican immigrant. "Patrick Henry, 1775," Pedro said when acknowledged. "Very good!" the teacher exclaimed. "Now, who said this government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth?" Again there was no response from anyone but Pedro, who replied: "Abraham Lincoln, 1863." The teacher snapped at the class: "Class, you should be ashamed! Pedro, who is new to our country, knows more about its history than you do."

One of the pupils said, just loud enough to be heard by the teacher: "Screw the Mexicans!" "Who said that?" the teacher demanded to know. Pedro waved his hand and responded: "Sam Houston, 1836." Another pupil said, "I'm gonna puke." The teacher glared at the class. "All right! Now, who said that?" Pedro shouted: "George Herbert Walker Bush to the Japanese Prime Minister, 1991!" Another pupil yelled: "Oh, yeah? Suck on this!" Pedro jumped out of his chair, waving his hand and shouting at the teacher: "Bill Clinton to Monica Lewinsky, 1997! Now beside herself, the teacher screamed: "You Judas! If you say anything more to create a scandal, I'll kill you!" Waving his hand frantically, Pedro yelled: "Ted Kennedy to Mary Jo Kopechne en route to the bridge at Chappaquiddick, 1969!' The teacher fainted, and as the class gathered around her body on the floor, someone exclaimed: "Oh oh, we're in BIG trouble now!" Pedro shouted louder than ever: "George W. Bush, 2006!"

Wealthy investors will gain from the 'crisis'

Here we go again. Every time a financial "crisis" is created and small investors panic, wealthy investors reap a fortune by buying the shares that are dumped onto the market by everyone who is not rich and is fearful of losing too much money by holding on.The wealthy can afford to take the chance that the market will be rebound and the shares they bought at bargain basement prices eventually will be worth much more.

If you are thinking to yourself that it is not a chance that the wealthy take, but rather a situation which they generated for the purpose of being able to buy cheap stock, know that your thinking is shared by many individuals on the basis of past history. I reached the same conclusion as to past financial downturns, but not as to this one. In any event, it makes no difference whether or not the present "crisis" was deliberately generated. The end result will be the same: the rich will get richer, and the less than rich will become still less rich. That is the dance.