Spending habits

Adam Smith once wrote that "what's considered prudence for a small family cannot be considered folly for a great kingdom". I often think about that when I pay my skyrocketing property taxes, fight bogus unemployment claims or read about the Dept. of Interior under Clinton losing 2 billion dollars worth of our money. I used to lose change around my house, but then I came up with a system that works pretty well. When I come home from work I throw all my coins in a drawer by the front hall closet. That way I can pool my resources to get 55 cent refills of Starbucks coffee (which anyone can do, so long as you save your cup for next time). Before stumbling on this frugal system of mine, I thought I'd try a more political means of purchasing coffee. I simply knocked on my neighbor's door, told him I'd lost all of my coffee money somewhere so would he please give me a couple bucks to go down to Starbucks. He told me I was crazy and where did I get off asking for his money to feed my wants & needs. I guess I just assumed that as a good liberal he would have been accustomed to the practice of frivolous spending funded by taxation. And anyway, studies show that drinking a cup of coffee each day will make me more alert and less likely to get certain forms of cancer. Clearly, he couldn't care less about my health or well-bing. Glad I didn't ask him for a hundred bucks so I could go get a physical! I suppose it takes a real politician to pull that off...