Reports indicate that the Chicago Tribune is preparing to file for bankruptcy.
The Sun-Times is probably next, and after that, what?
The sun itself, I suppose.
For the next 10 days I'll be taking in such news from Ohio, where I'm staying with my ailing dad. It's by turns more alarming and more comforting to take in the steady stream of bad news in the company of an 85-year-old man.
Alarming: To my dad, who worked for General Motors when General Motors was GENERAL MOTORS, it's utterly earth-shattering to see the CEO begging for the company's life and readily agreeing to government oversight of every phase of the company's operations.
Comforting: He was actually around during the Depression, fought in the war that ended it and rode the quarter century of prosperity that followed.
And while he's not sure how or whether this current situation will work itself out, he's entirely open to new ideas and ready to throw out and replace long-held notions about the very purpose and meaning of the United States of America.
His attitude seems to be: Whatever works (with the occasional crusty additional clause, "for all these damn people we've got now").
It's odd taking lessons in intellectual flexibility from an old man, but I'm doing it.
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