Political Deadbeats

What a shame that we start the first blog of September with a short essay on Political deadbeats. I refer you to the Snopes rebuttal of the Joe Biden deadbeat problem at http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/bidendebt.asp that "kind sorta" clears his name. But, in so doing, it reveals the following deadbeats and the amounts:

Sen Joe Biden, D-DL, $1,200,000
Sen Christopher Dodd, D-CT, $380
Gov Bill Richardson, D-NM, $317,000
Senator Hillary Clinton, $13,000,000
Senator Carol Moseley Braun, D-IL, $262,358
Al Sharpton, $300,000
Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-OH, $459,000
Rep. Dennis Jucinich, D-OH, $1,100,000 (2nd Time)
Dist Atty Jeanine Pirro, D-NY
(fmr) Sen John Glenn, D-OH, $3,000,000
Mayor Rudy Giuliani, R-NY, $3,600,000
(fmr) Gov Mitt Romney, R-MA, $44,000,000

In fairness, most of what Mitt Romney owes is to himself and he had no intention of paying it back. Something to do with bookkeeping. [BTW, did you know that Bookkeeper an bookkeeping is the only word in English that has three consecutive double letters? That alone makes it a mysterious trade. :-) ]

So? Bottom line: Never "loan" money to politicians. Just GIVE it to them. Better yet, from the Bard, Plolnius speaking to his son Laertes:

"Neither a borrower nor a lender be;
For loan oft loses both itself and friend,
And borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry."

Most of those "skipping out" on debts are not congressmen but deceitful businessmen and businesswomen who gain your trust and then declare bankruptcy. Personally, I can remember only one debt that I never repaid; a $50 loan from a friend in New Orleans to help me get back to my base before I was declared AWOL - and that has eaten on me for going on 35 years now. But I could never find him when I HAD the money. So, if you're out there Ted, and you read this, send me an email with your address and I'll send you the $50.

SDG
jco