Scarciest Thing I've Read All Week

 Rule of thumb, when a piece of journalism opens with an Escher analogy, you know it is not going to end with "The Sound of Music."  So this week's Buttonwood, and the spectacle of water running uphill and downhill st the same time.  The particular subject is pensions; in two unvarnished sentences:

• Sovereign default cripples pension funds.

• Pension shortfall triggers sovereign default.

There now, we can't put it any more bluntly than that, can we?    Fun followup: maybe this just reflects on my abilities as a teacher, but I've tried this one on a couple of folks who, though not particularly hip on finance, are functionng adults, entirely capable of tying their shoes in the morning.   The summary response is--wha?  How can water run uphill and downhill at the same time?  Actually, the real point is that it runs uphill both ways.