Apparently the reference to history is somewhat narrow. I am a student of history so forgive my lack of tolerance for the whining that is still being done about the furlough years as my historically-informed lens is correspondingly wider. Do you know what my grandfather would have given to have a job to get furloughed from in the first place back in 1935? My goodness how he would curse at people complaining about being laid off from their jobs in 2008. Every generation falsely seems to think its own suffering is uniquely unparalleled and unprecedented and that anyone who didnt live through that suffering is somehow unworthy of uttering a complaint.

To be honest, most of us probably care about the lingering furlough quips about as much as those who proffer them care about someone's grandfather skinning rats to feed the family in the mid-western dust bowl of the 1930s.

I for one take pride in the fact that we in the west have a unique ability to continuously provide a better standard of living for each subsequent generation and I'm glad that my kids don't have to suffer through some of the crap that I did.