john maddente | midwestern clarity

W hen I was first learning to write essays, our teacher stressed the importance of grabbing your readers' attention early on in your work, like a compelling "lead" to a news story. Consider columnist Jessie Eisinger's recent piece in the latest edition of Port f olio magazine in which his very first sentence will punish the reader harboring any sense of financial security... "The worst Wall Street turmoil in a generation is going to wipe every other issue off the table for the next president." You'll want to read on, but be warned, it gets worse. Eisinger describes potential for so many financial calamities that one might arrive at a conclusion some have long feared, but few vocalize.  He put it thus: "There will be blood." Common sense dictates that one can only cop a dangerously free ride for so long. At the end of that ride (and there always is an end) there is an inexorable crash, and that brings great pain to the free-rider. ...