Day of the Bird

Turkey Day is upon, where we take the American tradition of gorging ourselves to excess to a whole new level.  I, for one, am damn glad of it, but that is me.  The snow is not something I am a fan of, but we will survive, somehow. 

I am reading Nevins' The Emergence of Lincoln, and it contained a chapter on the Panic of 1857.  I was of course bemused by some of its descriptions -- New York as the cause of it, bankers holding too much sway over our economic fortunes, poor and middle class people unable to obtain credit save for exorbitant rates, only the wealthy prospering -- because, as always, the past does repeat itself. 

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-11-25/drill-baby-drill-u-s-keeps-as-opec-power-wanes.html

I don't think this is a bad thing; I mean, I don't think we will ever get rid of the OPEC cartel, but...the fact of the matter is, a group of countries -- many of which do not have our, or any, global interests in mind controlling a leading global commodity is simply a bad idea, and anything that can be done to minimize the role of OPEC is a smart play.