It’s a hole in the water, but auction delights boat buyers

Published 11:48 pm Wednesday, September 23, 2009

The second-happiest day in a boat owner’s life is the day he (it’s nearly always a he), buys a boat. There were a bunch of happy folks at the Everett Marina on Wednesday, where the Port of Everett auctioned off vessels that had been abandoned at the marina by their previous owners.

They’re about to experience the No. 2 least-happiest day in a boat owner’s life: When he discovers the quadruple (or greater) cost-multiplier on all products labeled “marine.”

And the No. 1 least-happiest day in a boat owner’s life? That’s when his spouse finds out he bought a boat.

At least he can look forward to the happiest day in a boat owner’s life: the day he sells his boat.

Fries with that? A program backed by $1.2 billion in federal stimulus money to help teenagers find jobs was a failure, critics claim.

Turns out the kids lost out to out-of-work adults willing to take crummy food-service jobs.

With so many folks flipping burgers and pulling espresso, perhaps the Obama administration, which loves to tout the new-economy job-creation benefits of windmill and solar panel factories, should be talking about hair-net factories instead.

— Mark Carlson, Herald staff