A collection of thoughts on news items from this weekend.

Cain Suspends His Campaign. It is probably appropriate that Cain “suspended” his campaign for the Republican Presidential nomination, at an event that was scheduled – and still promoted as up to his announcement – as the grand opening of his Atlanta campaign headquarters.  We are not sure what the difference is between a suspension and a total withdrawal from the campaign – but in the final analysis we believe it will mean the same – at least in this instance. It is disappointing to see a business person and a leader, who is not a politician, get this far in the campaign – only to be taken out by the press with accusations from a decade ago – and – Cain’s inability to effectively manage the situation. On second thought, if he folded that easy, his suspension might be the right answer.

Geithner Heads to Europe to Help Euro Zone Leaders. Yes, this week our Treasury Secretary will head to Europe to provide advice to Euro-Zone leaders on how they should better manage their individual government’s out of control spending, which has brought their economies to the brink of failure. Maybe when he gets done in Europe he can come back to Washington and meet the President and Congress and spread some of that wisdom around the homeland.

Reid to Propose “Compromise” Bill on Payroll Taxes. It was reported by Fox News on Sunday that Senate Majority Leader, Harry Reid (D-NV) will introduce a bill today which extends the Payroll Tax holiday, increasing the savings of $1,000 per person from the first “holiday”, to $1,500. The bill is reportedly “paid for” and does not contain tax increases on the wealthy.  A top aide for the Republican leadership called it a “Helluva compromise”, since no one heard of it until Sunday and no bipartisan discussions were had in its creation.  We’ll have to wait and see to understand the details – and see if Harry will actually reach his hand across the aisle, or, if this will be more political double talk. We are hoping for the former.

Postal Service Downgrades First Class Mail. Today, the U.S. Postal Service will announce that they are going to “overhaul” the overnight standard for first class mail to not guarantee overnight delivery. The move is reportedly being taken as a means to help save money, as the Postal Service has been looking for ways to avoid insolvency. This seems like a reasonable approach, right? When you are losing customers and business, lower the quality of your service to save money. Only a government-run business would consider lowering the quality of the product or service they offer in an effort to survive. The results will be the same whether taken by a government-run or privately run business.

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