I don't remember my economics professor's name from that 1962 class, but I sure remember the textbook, even though I traded it for a different one the next semester: Economics: An Introductory Analysis, by Nobel Prize-winning economist, Paul Samuelson. (Economics is necessary when one works full-time and commutes to college full-time.) What I remember most about the text was the lengthy discussions of "guns or butter," the basics of politics from Greek and Roman times. Will we spend our bounty on war, or will we improve the world around us?

When this was written in August, it was hard to guess what Washington would do about the October 1 spending deadline. There are many options, but given our constipated Congress, it is hard to know whether they will do something and get off the pot, or let the opportunity pass and shut down the nation as they have done before. It is a war of wills. [Fortunately, they did not shut down the government again.]

"President Barack Obama has signaled his intention to bust, once and for all, the severe 2011 spending caps known as sequestration," reported Lisa Mascaro of the Tribune News Service on August 1. "He's vowed to reject any GOP-backed appropriations bills that increase government funding for military without also boosting support for domestic programs such as Head Start…." It is the typical ancient "guns vs. butter" game.