Ants and Grasshoppers

The fable tells us that the industrious ant weathered the winter because he worked hard and prepared for it, while the funloving grasshopper perished when the cold came. This is not quite the case in the insect world, but the moral is well understood. It's not quite the case in the human world either, if we read the headlines about the global financial crisis. The grasshoppers are being rescued and the ants will pay the price.

It is hard to see what was accomplished at the G-20 meeting in Washington this past weekend, other than brave words. Congress is divided on rescue legislation and people are furious that the culprits should get away with the folly that brought about this whole disaster. The banks, the auto and oil companies are the objects, deservedly, of public anger and hatred. There are mutterings of riots in the streets. There is the odd hint of revolution.

Let's hope not. Revolutions are violent, bloody and counter-productive. Does anyone have any ideas about getting us out of this mess? There's a Nobel Prize waiting for that person.