Back in the days of the Soviet Union, two Russian economists who had never lived in a country with a free market economy understood something about market economies that many others who have lived in such economies all their lives have never understood.

College education is a costly proposition with tuition, room and board at some colleges topping $50,000 a year. Is it worth it?

Will a young, healthy, childless individual or couple buy health insurance costing 7.5 percent of their income as required by Obama’s health legislation?

Plutarch tells us that, back in the fifth-century B.C., when the citizens of Athens were voting on whether to ostracize — i.e., throw out — Aristides the Just, one sourpuss explained his emphatic yes vote: “I am tired of hearing him called ‘the Just.’”

Who do you call when life throws you a curve? We are fortunate if we have a couple, maybe a few, people in our life who are so solid we know we could count on them in a crisis or to watch our back. Just a few. Earning that trust takes some time, and it takes a lot of character.

Let’s get specific regarding the upcoming election, starting with community participation on issues of importance.

Historically, Cyndi Plunkett has been involved in the community and was on the Peachtree City Recreation Commission prior to her council service.

The preparations for flu season are here. Some local schools, with parental sign-offs, are set to begin administering FluMist. The first shipments of vaccine for the “novel H1N1 flu” are coming in for higher risk people, with more on the way for much of the remainder of the population.

Poet and I were having one of our hour-long conversations. I was driving somewhere, with a wireless piece tucked into my ear, catching up on Poet’s stories and sharing a few of mine.

Mary accompanied us by train to Sarrebourg, France, the closest town before we set out by taxi to Niderviller where we were renting a small barge for a two-week self-driven canal cruise.

On Sunday, Nov. 15, here at Prince of Peace Lutheran Church in Fayetteville, we will celebrate our 25th Anniversary and Homecoming with worship at 10 a.m. followed by a luncheon for all our members, former members, and guests. We invite all our former members and any of our friends in the community to attend and celebrate and reminisce with us.

“So where are you from?” the lady asked as she was cleaning my hotel room in Florida.

“I’m from near Atlanta,” I responded. “And where are you from?” I inquired.

Gas can kill! Trust me. I know. After Twin Brother Mark ate broccoli at dinner, by bedtime he was deadly.

When I was young, I thought that was the worst gas one could possible smell, but as a firefighter, I know that’s not the case. There’s one gas even more deadly than what was produced by Mom’s broccoli cheese casserole and Mark at bedtime. A gas you can’t even smell: Carbon monoxide.

Recent videos of American children in school singing songs of praise for Barack Obama were a little much, especially for those of us old enough to remember pictures of children singing the praises of dictators like Hitler, Stalin and Mao.

“Neither a borrower nor a lender be.” — William Shakespeare, “Hamlet”

Why won’t we listen to what used to be called sage advice before the Internet made too many of us think we are re-inventing the world and nothing we think or try has ever been thought or tried before?

Rep. Diane Watson said, in praising Cuba’s health care system, “You can think whatever you want to about Fidel Castro, but he was one of the brightest leaders I have ever met.”

Hubris and diesel fuel don’t mix.

No surprise here. Some of our readers share our fondness for rivers, canals, locks and barges, and for them I write of life on the water. It’s not for everyone.

If you think only boys step on a ball diamond with a steely glint in their eye prepared for fierce but friendly battle, while girls try to look pretty and smell nice, then you haven’t been to a middle school fast-pitch softball game lately.

Among the $500 billion in Medicare cuts that will provide the bulk of the financing for Obama’s healthcare plan is a $160 billion to $180 billion cut in the Medicare Advantage program, which offers a range of benefits not available to beneficiaries under basic Medicare.

Optimist that I am, I have high hopes that this economic down-turn will make people kinder.

It could happen.

When folks experience set-backs, it’s humbling. Humility, in turn, makes the heart kinder and the spirit gentler. Too many people have become mean. Downright, spirit-crushing mean. It sickens my soul.

It happens every year: emails and phone calls asking for my advice on whom to vote for in the upcoming election. I do not mind the queries, but it really is an indication that people are not keeping up with local current events.

Pastors get some of the most interesting questions from people they meet and people in their congregations. Here are some that I’ve gotten over the years and for this column.

When I was a sophomore in high school, I dated a young lady named Pam. She and I were attending a youth party sponsored by my Methodist church and, at some time during the evening, I wandered over to the piano and began playing, “Louie, Louie,” the only song then, or now, that I could play.

George W. Bush got banged up badly for his foreign policy choices: Iraq, Guantanamo, “torture,” a certain tonal disdain for critics foreign and domestic. It will be interesting to see, in a matter of weeks or possibly days, how his successor, Barack Obama, fares with the critics.

Having passed the half century mark, it is safe to say that there are a few things I’ve picked up along the way. For example, when the dog barks at night, he ain’t just saying hello. He needs to be walked. That’s why he’s barking.

Many people, including some conservatives, have been very impressed with how brainy the president and his advisers are. But that is not quite as reassuring as it might seem.

Former president Jimmy Carter said, “I think an overwhelming portion of the intensely demonstrated animosity toward President Barack Obama is based on the fact that he is a black man.”

Well, wouldn’t you know, we went off to see some new (to us) corners of the world, and came home in love again.

With what city or garden or sculpture, you may ask? The Parthenon? St. Peter’s Basilica? The winding rivers and canals of France?

I’m no expert on Afghanistan, but I’ll give you something to ponder as you watch the news unfold.

Last week’s big story was the confidential report from President Obama’s appointed commander in Afghanistan, General Stanley McChrystal, candidly warning of possible failure in Afghanistan if we don’t switch now from a counter-terrorism strategy to a counter-insurgency strategy, and that substantially more troops are needed immediately to carry out that new strategy.

There we were, my daughter at my side, sitting in the pickup truck at 7:30 a.m., watching the rain come down. It was the Dog Park Work Day on Saturday when we stain the gazebos, clear the weeds from the fence, trim the tree limbs and any other thing that needs doing.

Now that the various health care plans are being reduced to print, the financial details are emerging and with them a fundamental conclusion is becoming evident: The Obama plan is a giant tax increase for much of the American people (not just the rich).