Silver Linings for Dark Clouds

What's that you say, Bunky? You say you're broke? You say there's no credit to be had? You say you're waiting for the food riots? Well, you're right: things are looking pretty tough. But look on the bright side -- your empire is broke, too!

Why's that good, you ask? Well, it offers at least the possibility that "your" government -- yes, I know you're not a Goldman Sachs big boy, so it's hardly "your" government, but don't try to get technical on me -- your government, I say, may become a little less aggressive with the rest of the world. After all, it will hardly have escaped their notice that they may well be needing The Heroic Troops at home pretty soon, to keep you and I in line. Don't forget that you Support the Troops™! Anyway, check it out:

The Bush administration announced Saturday that it had removed North Korea from a list of state sponsors of terrorism in a bid to salvage a fragile nuclear deal that seemed on the verge of collapse.

Sean McCormack, the State Department spokesman, said that the United States made the decision after North Korea agreed to resume disabling a plutonium plant and to allow some inspections to verify that it had halted its nuclear program as promised months earlier.

The deal, which the Bush administration had portrayed as a major foreign policy achievement, began slipping away in recent weeks in a dispute over the verification program. Just days ago, North Korea barred international inspectors from the plant.

The decision to remove North Korea from the terror list was a dramatic moment for President Bush, who had called the country part of an “axis of evil” and had only reluctantly ordered administration officials to engage in negotiations, saying that the United States had made deals with the nation’s leaders before without winning enough concessions.

Yes, I know it may seem like rather a non sequitur to declare that North Korea has ceased to be a "state sponsor of terrorism" because they've agreed to do something that pleases Goldman Sachs our government. But never mind all that. Anything that makes our supervisors back off their snarling makes sense, whether it makes any sense or not. If our going broke will save a bunch of foreign people from getting blown up, then hey -- I'll see you at the soup kitchen.