Happy Hump Day, Everyone. Nice and sunny again and the temps are supposed to go into the high 70s with 80+ tomorrow. Will get the gardening I didn't get done yesterday done today. We are still doing some spring cleaning here.

Here is another entry in the 'capitalism for you, communism for me' file. I still think that any institution that is considered 'too big to fail' should be treated like a public utility and thoroughly regulated. I wonder how much of its profits JP Morgan is allocating to lobby against financial reform? Considerably more than it is planning to devote to renegotiating underwater mortgages. Oh, I forgot--contracts are sacred (except when they are not.)

Is anyone else finding that they are saying "What!!? Another quake?!!" more often of late? I think I have three times in the last 2 weeks. What is with this planet?

I have heard a lot of drivel lately on CNBC about the '47%' of Americans who pay no federal taxes. I am suspicious by nature and my first question asked who exactly those people might be. I never go any direct answer from the hosts but the clear implication (just from the phrasing and tone of the remarks) is that a lot of us at the low end of the economic spectrum are freeloaders hoping to shift the burden to those hard working upper income earners who provide for all of the rest of us. Thanks to David Leonhardt at the New York Times for clarifying the matter. As I thought the picture is not so black and white as the hosts of CNBC made out. It really irritates me that the whole issue of taxes has been characterized as a 'war on wealth' on CNBC.