BETTING ON BODY COUNTS....?

When the Music Man sang, "We've got problems right here in River City," he was worrying about small-town stuff. Now comes a free-wheeling gang called CME which worries me about their big-city stuff. Their plans to make money on human disasters (Sun Times, Nov 1).

That's right -- not trying to manage them, trying to make money on them. CME is run by the same free- wheeling gang that owns the Chicago & New York Mercantile Exchanges. As the story reports, "CME has been a pioneer in weather-related trading" for years.Translated: Wall Street mentality now helps you bet on blizzards, hurricanes, and heat waves. Pretty soon, maybe on body counts too!

Am I crazy or does this have a familiar Yankee ring? For generations, we've been betting on everything from stock and commodity prices, to sport and election results. But now we're going to start putting money on human disasters...? Halloween is over, but to me this sounds permanently ghoulish.

Still, I'm betting the betters will come. And do you know why? Because we've been a gambling kind of people ever since our forefathers gambled their lives by picking up and moving to a whole New World. Just maybe that's why so many zealots from Sarah Palin to Glenn Beck hate what they call "big government." Like the cop on the beat, government just might try to re-channel this national gambling streak inside us into some higher purposes.

You know -- like organizing for better banking, safer streets, finer highways, renewed educational opportunities, nationwide flu shots, and a green revolution before our make-a-buck bravado lets other nations pass up our economy.

Here's a thought for the gang at CME. Instead of shooting craps with human disasters, get a real job and join something like the Peace Corps...!