I have several items today...they are linked in various ways, but I will skip the transitions and just list them.

1. China. I have been watching Ted Koppel’s very interesting series on China on Discovery. It's hard to imagine 1.3 billion people, but Koppel is thought-provoking and insightful. Separately, I have heard that more people in China speak English than in the US. What will the US do when there are a few hundred million educated, English-speaking Chinese folks who will do our jobs for less pay than us? I have long been an admirer of the US economy and its resiliency and its innovation capabilities, but this will be a real challenge.

2. Oil Speculation. Have you seen the pathetic public letter from US airlines excoriating oil speculators? Epic hypocrisy, since, as pointed out on NPR, the airlines themselves are among the biggest oil speculators. Finding scapegoats may make people feel better, but it doesn't solve problems; maybe speculators have helped drive oil prices up, but supply-demand fundamentals are driving the current situation. What can we learn from onions about all this? A lot, it turns out. Due to lobbying power of onion growers, onion futures trading was outlawed in 1958 to reduce volatility of prices. Turns out that onion prices became MORE volatile, and for that reason, some onion growers now want to repeal the ban. I guarantee you that more than few people who are screaming and whining about oil speculators are driving large SUV's without a hint of irony.

3. Fannie and Freddie. On the front pages recently, these crummy companies may yet cause the downfall of our economy. The politicians who perpetrate these fiascos should at least be impeached. I had this to say about Fannie Mae about two years ago, in the summer of 2006.

4. Teachers. Obama recently spoke to teachers attending a National Education Association convention. Obama mentioned his ideas about merit pay for teachers, and was booed. The teachers who booed were essentially admitting that they care more about preserving pay for underperforming teachers than about improving education for children. Since when has it become okay to say that pay should be totally divorced from performance in the US? That's been tried (USSR, for example) and guess what...it doesn't work! I still find it very interesting to see what our society values and how that is reflected in pay.

My high school English teacher and journalism advisor, Mr. Farrell, very much changed the course of my life and was the best and most motivational teacher I ever had when I was growing up. And many people taught by Mr. Farrell over his long career have similar things to say about him. So, from a value standpoint, does a first year associate at a large law firm deserve to be paid a multiple (probably at least 2X, if not 3X) of the maximum annual salary Mr. Farrell ever made? And why pick on the law? It's really most of us who probably add less value than the Mr. Farrells of the world. Same story for our friend Janet, an outstanding teacher and debate coach at a high school in Northern California. I would say the incredible positive impact Janet has on her students is worth probably at least 5X her salary. But that's capitalism, I know. The worst system in the world except for every other system.

Okay, stepping down from soap box. I have exceeded the time I allocated for ranting today and I have other things to do, like practice the piano. Trying to learn a musical instrument at age 38 is not easy, especially for those us who are musically challenged. My teacher points out that as her only "adult learner" (that phrase alone screams "I just stepped off the short bus!") I have progressed in about six months to where her five-year-olds get in three years of lessons. Well, halle-freakin'-lujah! I am beating the five year-olds. I want a Scooby-snack.