Cartoon dialogue: Maple: I heard things are so bad Congress had to lay off 25 EXXON lobbyist. Elmer: Wow, that bad! Caption: Now Washington really feels our pain.

Today’s cartoon puts me in mind of a whimsical little French story that happened long, long ago – about 1680 actually. Way back then, through some accidental twist of fate, the French government lost focus on trying to control everything.  I’m not sure why – could be they were all on a multi-year holiday, or [...]