Poor Warbucks, he finally passed away from his supreme effort swatting locusts that descended on his home, his city, and his country. But he left his ward, little orphan Annie, a trust fund called “Annie’s Social Security trust” and this story is about what happens when Annie finally opens her piggy bank.

If you haven’t read the first story of Daddy Warbucks, perhaps you should do so now and before continuing here. Don’t worry, it isn’t very long, and it will give you the necessary background to hit the ground running on this tale.

Welcome back.

Shortly after the funeral, the speeches, the ticker-tape parades and the balloons, many family gatherings, farewells, and keep your chin up hugs and kisses, Annie is called to the law offices of Doright & Whiplash for the reading of Daddy’s will, the long awaited opening of her piggy bank.

Once she arrives at their offices, polite niceties are exchanged, and Annie is ensconced in a comfortable high-back leather chair with a cup of coffee, the lawyers get right down to business:

Annie, our beloved Warbucks’ last will and testament reads as follows:

“I bequeath all of my property to my ward Annie who has been the highlight of my life, love, and the only person deserving of these assets. This property includes:

· The land, house, and all its contents that sheltered Annie from childhood. The place where she grew up in comfort and we shared many happy times together. With great effort, I have been able to pay all of the interest on first, second, and even third mortgages which, I am certain Annie will be able to continue and perhaps even begin to reduce the principal. She’s an industrious girl.

· I leave Annie all of my credit cards and lines of credit that took years to establish and were used to feed and clothe Annie throughout her dependent years. Through manipulative skills, I have been able to keep most of these active by making shifts and minimum payments here and there.

· All of the weapons that we used in our battle against the hordes of locusts that pestered and harassed Annie and me for years, plus the names and phone numbers of first responders on call to assist Annie in the event these pests return.

· Finally, I leave Annie the entire contents of the piggy-bank we shared and used to our mutual advantage. I have rolled this over into an annuity. The law offices of Doright and Whiplash are appointed to handle this trust in accordance with Annie’s wishes.

Most importantly, I leave Annie all of the good will I’ve built with the right people in our city, the country, and the world. Good will that I know Annie will be able to use to her advantage since I now and hereby permit her to forever be known as ‘Annie Warbucks.’

Signed:

Daddy Warbucks

President of all that has brought us so far

When the reading was over, Annie gasped but managed to ask; what’s the bottom line here?

Dudley Doright said; Well Annie, all the promissory notes in the piggy bank total more than $1.7 trillion and that’s only a little more than twenty-two percent of  all the other property you’ve inherited. There are a great many people anxious to talk to you about how you intend to settle this, but we’ve managed to put them off for awhile. Why don’t you just go home and relax and we’ll all get together in a few days.

On her way out, staggering and befuddled, Annie managed to say; “I never heard of a trust fund that held nothing but debt.”

Well, you have now; snapped Snidely Whiplash. And frankly Annie, you should have been paying more attention to what was going on.

Annie: Oh yeah, like what?

Whiplash: Like the President of the United States when he said "Trust Fund balances are available to finance future benefits...but only in a bookkeeping sense...they do not consist of real economic assets that can be drawn down in the future to fund benefits. Instead, they are claims on the Treasury that, when redeemed, will have to be financed by raising taxes or borrowing." President Bill Clinton in his Analytical Perspectives section of the 2000 budget.

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