Summertime and the Living...

Today I was thinking about summer and how much I love the summer and how much I love summer on Long Island. So, as the financial markets hit hurricane territory with another round of treasury-funded bailouts and billions more in loans to struggling financials, I was going to focus on enjoying the summer. Yet how can I ignore that since March, with the government bailout of Bear Stearns, the treasury has been putting out financial fires and plugging leaks with ever-increasing loans to the financial markets. And can it stop? No. Consider that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac guarantee and/or insure up to $5 trillion dollars in domestic mortgages. They cannot fail, not over the Treasury's dead body anyhow.

I started this week talking about one of my favorite events of the summer on Long Island so I was going to push the financial turmoil aside and not dwell on the doom and gloom, as I am wont to do. Alas, I cannot dismiss the nagging question, "Where is the money coming from? The U.S. is nearly $10 trillion in debt and it has been running on deficit spending for years. Do U.S. residents not realize that we make up the shortfall by borrowing, much of the funds coming from foreign governments and institutions? The treasury technically does not have the money to be the puppet master; propping up the economy with rebate checks, propping up the financial markets with loans, propping up the housing market with tax breaks and lest we forget, the ever escalating tab for the Iraq War. In addition, the Treasury has already borrowed the entire trillion dollar Social Security surplus and needs to repay Social Security when its current funds dwindle beyond sustenance amount. Lastly, all of this occurred amidst enormous tax-cuts but I digress…

Today was a simple meander through eastern Suffolk County within reasonable driving distance. We were looking for closer destinations where we could enjoy ourselves since in previous years we had no economic concern for our far flung destinations. To the tip of the North Fork, the South Fork, the North Shore, the South Shore and the in-between, we simply named it and we went. So we have to set our sights within reason not only to economize but also to conserve gasoline. We decided to check out a few bayside villages/hamlets that we had previously skipped over in our quest to visit the even more glorious. We enjoyed the views of the bay and the biggest bonus for the children, plenty of playgrounds on the water. Top that off with some home-made ice-cream and we thoroughly enjoyed our dollar-wise weather-wise perfect day.