The Dow finished under 8,000, the big three automakers want a bailout, and the R-word is bandied about in the press. Never have the words of Everett Dirksen seemed so apropos: “A billion here, and a billion there, and pretty soon you’re talking about real money.”
Everyone, it seems, is talking about money. You know: the filthy lucre, the simoleons, the coin. But it wasn’t always so. There was a time when talking about money was as embarrassing and fraught with peril as talking about sex or religion. In more refined circles, it was something that simply wasn’t done. O tempora, O mores! How times have changed. Why? Linton Weeks of NPR cites the 60s counter-culture revolution, Louis Rukeyser, USA Today, the new affluence, Congress, and the 401(k). Take your pick. But feel free to talk about the you-know-what.
