This is exactly why I have the "all things unintentionally hilarious" category. Dick Cheney--need I say what has put him in the news most lately--is now lecturing the American public on how we should be saving more for retirement.
You know, Dick, that would be much easier for me to do if I had left politics to work at Halliburton and then returned to politics to line Halliburton's stockholders' pockets. Funny how just having a normal day job doesn't rake in the $15.8 million that it's possible to earn when one becomes chairman and CEO of an "oilfield service" company.
The rest of us might have a harder time, what with health insurance, student loans (now, with extra interest!), rising housing, heating, and transportation costs, credit card debt (all of it self-inflicted, naturally),and, to top it all off, fricking organic milk price hikes. I enjoy paying $4.99 a half gallon to ensure that my baby isn't dosed with the extra hormones and pesticides that Dick Cheney has fought so hard to allow Big Ag to use.
Are there Americans out there who are failing to save for retirement because they are buying collectibles from Thomas Kinkade, painter of schlock? Or because they are blowing their paychecks on Home Shopping Network or bigger flat-screen TVs or razors with five blades? I'm sure there are some people out there who do just that.
But you know what? I think for the vast majority of people, saving can occur only after you've paid for such luxury goods as heat and diapers and car insurance. Americans are "living paycheck to paycheck"--a phrase used derisively in the article--not because they want to but because they have to. I'm not saving as much as I'd like to because the money is not there, and I know I'm not alone.
So, Dick Cheney, you can lecture me about saving for retirement--something that has obviously not been an issue for you, since your retirement brought you right into the Veep's office--right about the time I get to lecture you about hunter's safety.
Have we got a deal?