An $8.95 check arrived in the mail the other day, addressed from a credit card issuer.

At first, I thought it came from one of the idiotic multi-level marketing schemes over which I had obsessed this past summer.  Maybe I really had earned my first commission for referring some poor soul to a credit card company.

Since it seemed unlikely, I more closely examined the check.  On the back, it informed me that signing and depositing the check entitled me to the privilege of becoming a member of their rewards program, carrying an annual $129.00 fee.  I read it over several times.  The offer was get $8.00 now; pay $129.00 a little bit later.

Isn't that just like what every legislature promises, from the lowly town council all the way up to Congress?