STORY HAS IT

 

Story has it the Greek philosopher Diogenes one day picked up his lantern and went traipsing around the countryside looking of an honest soul.

And somewhere along the way he grabbed a space on a  vessel, sailed across the Atlantic, landing in New York where, after quickly wolfing down two Nathan hotdogs at Coney Island, he hitched a ride on a Greyhound bus to Washington, D.C.

After about two weeks of dogged searching, and we only have this on hear-say, so a little slack might be indicated, he pulled up weary and worn near the Washington Monument where he reportedly said: "Screw it!" And tossed his lantern away.

In a recent Wall Street Journal/NBC News/Annenberg survey 49% of Americans said Washington has no responsibility to assist the Iraqi government in protecting it from insurgents attempting to overthrow the government there.

Want to guess why Republicans are in such poor stead these days?  We aren't sure you do, but here's one of the reasons anyway. Pennsylvania Republican Governor Ton Corbett, facing a $1.5 billion budget gap and an re-election bid he's trailing in, is considering slapping on a severance tax drillers would pay for gas gathered from wells.

Pennsylvania is one of several drill-boom states profiting form the shale boom where in 2012 gas production grew by 72% over 2011. So reckless politicians, past and present, are salivating like a big dog watching someone eat a juicy steak dinner.

Pennsylvania drillers already pay a hefty politically-correct levy called an impact tax that in 2013 totaled $225 million, some of which gets spread to counties where most of the drilling takes place. Now for your next guess, where do you think they want to waste some of the funds if the bill passes? It's a difficult seven letter word but we'll give you a hint, schools.

It looks like we Americans are getting about as happy as a bunch of hog in a huge slop pen. According to one report, consumer confidence just hit a six-year high, the highest level since 2008. So the report states consumer confidence in June registered 85.2, up from 82.2 in May. Consumers apparently are also more upbeat about jobs with those positive about jobs prospects in June registering in at 14.7 versus 14.2 in May.

Until the next time, that's the way the story has it.