I used to watch 60 Minutes on a fairly regular basis in the BC (Before Couric) era, many days gone by. When the late Ed Bradley and Mike Wallace were holding court, the show was guaranteed to have one exchange with an interview subject that was unforgettable.
Many years ago, they had an interview with noted millionaire Paul Peterson (I hope I’m spelling his name right). The story he appeared on was a story about Social Security, and how to stabilize the program for future generations. A few contingencies were discussed, such as means testing, alternate funding and abolition. He made mention of Grover Norquist, Newt Gingrich and their many acolytes who wish to abolish Social Security as a program. I’ll never forget what he said:
"To them, I would say ‘Careful what you wish for in removing the social safety net’".
It’s now the middle of 2008, and I look back on that interview and wonder how Social Security got all the attention without substantive change, while at the same time wealth has become more concentrated in this country.
Social Security is now the least of our problems, due to 14 years of Republican economic mismanagement and kleptocratic largesse. Thanks to the large population of cranky old people in the United States who vote en masse, Social Security is neither going to be adjusted nor eliminated. And yet, we can look at the current state of the American economy and wonder if it will even make a difference.
Over 18 million houses now stand empty in our country, slowly losing value and occupants thanks in large part to the subprime mortgage crisis. Gas prices are stratospheric with no end in sight. Food prices, tied to fuel costs due to transportation expenditures for diesel, are quickly joining the inflationary party. Jobless claims have been consistently in a danger zone above 300,000 a week, with a higher percentage of those collecting benefits for a longer period of time than in the past.
And what is the Republican solution? "Make the Bush tax cuts permanent and write everyone a check". This is the same trickle-down, throw-crumbs-to-the-peasants thinking that George H. W. Bush once called "voodoo economics" when he ran against Ronald Reagan in 1980. To be honest, that’s insulting to voodoo. At least every once in a while, strictly by chance, someone feels a twinge in his or her leg at the same time that someone sinks a pin into a doll. Reaganomics ran up deficits and never worked in the ‘80’s, and the "updated" 21st Century model is simply the original version on a cocktail of steroids, HGH and crystal meth.
It was always assumed that Republicans were good on economics simply because more rich people were Republicans. What the world never realized is that for many of them, it wasn’t a case of hard work and sound financial planning, but a case of Old Boys Club handshake deals and many times outright theft. If we are to credit the presidency of George W. Bush with anything, we must admit that he has shown us the true Republican economic model in broad daylight, which is the use of the federal bank vault (now populated with IOU’s written in Chinese) as venture capital for all of his cronies.
If the theft of our country’s treasury was the only act of larceny, the solutions would be simple. Privacy (The Patriot Act), self-determination (Terri Schiavo), the rule of law (A Bible-waving, pro-business Supreme Court; Guantanamo, rendition), the freedom to travel (TSA, passports restrictions) and the stifling of dissent from the main stream media have all been taken from our hands.
The French Revolution was fought by peasants with pitchforks against the arrogance of one criminal family in power for too long a time. Since then, save for 6 years in the 20th Century, France has survived fairly well.
There’s a Home Depot less than 2 miles from my home where pitchforks are sold. Is there one in your neighborhood?