Let’s see if the third restart for writing this column works. This nasty cold from the depth of Hades is hanging on like an everlasting headache, although slowly the symptoms are easing. I am not one to run to the doctor for every little ache and pain but if our government looks like it’s going to do something like what just happened in Cyprus, I will be running to our bank. Before I explain, I was not surprised that other European countries were more or less in agreement with what took place, which was nothing less than robbery of the citizens of Cyprus.

The government of Cyprus recently asked the European Union (EU) for a bailout of its banks. The EU then required Cyprus to have some matching funds for that bailout and, lo and behold, there was only one source of money left. Want to guess what that was? It was the money in the account holders of some of Cyprus’s largest banks who were in or close to default. In case you can’t guess what happened, I’ll just say that the money in those accounts was converted to assets for the banks. Now the government of Cyprus is telling how much money account holders can have and when they can have it. Those account holders could lose up to 60 percent of their money in those banks. Will it stop there? Don’t bank on it.

Thank God something like that could never happen in the United States. Oops, during the hard times of the Great Depression, it did. As one watches our national debt climb one should also wonder when we as a nation have borrowed far more than we are worth. We as a nation continue to spend more than we have and Congress has no problem raising the debt limit. We as private citizens would eventually have to declare bankruptcy if we did something similar. When will it stop? Obviously it didn’t stop when our government ran out of money. The best scenario I see happening is there will come a day when the United States government asks for more loans and no one bites. At that point I have to believe that our bank accounts will become government assets, whether we like it or not. If you think the U.S. Congress is about to reform itself on spending, don’t bank on it.

I haven’t had to time to sit down and really dive into the RSU-14 school budget and today I just received an email containing a link to the Windham town manager’s proposed budget for the next fiscal year, so ditto there. What I see as a problem with both of those proposed budgets is no one knows what the state budget will be like and how much, if any, the State of Maine will subsidize the school and municipal budgets. Heck, at this point no one even knows what the recent cuts in federal spending will have on the state’s budget or even local budgets. I must add that I have no doubt that some special interest groups of one nature or another will come forward to press for increasing spending. Of course, all we have heard is nothing but doom and gloom but I don’t bank on all of that.

Finally, there’s something else that I can’t bank on and that’s if Windham can ever get it together as far as what the citizens want for themselves and their families. I have never lived in town anywhere, whether in Maine, other states (including New Hampshire, Vermont, New Jersey, Louisiana, Colorado, Virginia and even Alabama) and other countries in Asia and Europe, where the town appears to be operating in reverse instead of going forward. Oh, you can easily detect some of the lies of town councilors that claim Windham’s taxes are low. No transfer station, no bulky waste and no clue at town hall. If you want more sports fields, then it’s time for some serious impact fees. But don’t bank on it.

Lane Hiltunen, of Windham, is happy the Boston Red Sox won their opening game. World Series, don’t bank on it.