The past few weeks I've been thinking about China and forest fires.

You know those stories about China? Something bad happens in a factory and eventually the Chinese government decides to punish someone. They round of the factory managers - and they shoot them.

I dont know if it prevents future problems but it is a simple and has high political entertainment value.

When President Bush took office, budgets were close to balanced and we had more tax income than government expense - for practically the first time in my 40 year lifetime. Seven years later, our country is broke and doing a Thema & Louise off a cliff in a $450 GM gas-guzzler.

A few shootings would feel pretty good about now. Even a few prison suicides would be nice. Maybe Karl Rove could be a new cellmate on Oz...

And then there is fire.

A few weeks ago there were some news stories about how the Forest Service misunderstood fire. In the 1970's we decided fire was a bad thing and we set about preventing it. Brush built up over the years and eventually we had HUGE fires. Moreover, the areas of previous fires recovered and we learned that nature uses fire to rebirth and rejuvenate forests.

Morale of the story? 1) Nature is much bigger than we are and laughs at our attempts to control it; 2) Cycles are natural and unavoidable.

Cancer is uncontrollable growth. Imagine what you would look like if you never stopped growing after high school? Or if no one ever died?

We need ups and downs. Cycles are natural.

So why do we expect the economy to always go up with never a drop? We talk about "business cycles" but we do anything we can to avoid them.

This past week I heard a senator say that we need to support the bailout because if we don't the "stock market could drop". That was it. Suddenly the government's most important sacred duty is keep stock prices high? When did that happen? Crazy stuff.