Ants and Grasshoppers

I've always liked the moral of the "The Ant and the Grasshopper." Those of us ants who try to work hard and be responsible while the grasshoppers frivol away their futures. When hooey meets fan, boy, will they be in trouble, we ants like to laugh knowingly, while we work, of course. But, in fact, I've always wondered a bit about that would actually go down. Shouldn't we ants be well-trained in firearms usage as the hooey hits, or the grasshoppers will come beat the crap out of us and take what we've built up? What if there are too many of them for our ammo? Isn't it very possible that the grasshoppers will take everyone down with them?

It's very easy to fear this as you watch state after state follow the lead of the feds and pass debt after debt, encumbrance after encumbrance off on future generations, partying like grasshoppers until hooey reaches tpping points in one area after another--global warming, terrorist antagonizing, national debt, trade debt, infrastructure decay . . . had enough? Here's one more--public retiree benefits. Legislatures in practically every state have bought votes and retained employee peace by promising benefits into the future that will either require massive crunches to live up to or massive defaults and betrayals. If ants were in charge, we might go with the former. But this country and its leadership have been grasshopper for a long time now. So what's the safe bet this time?

(But would ants like us really bet?)