Insanity revisited

Insanity revisited

He’s doing it again. Remember Einstein’s definition of insanity was doing the same thing over and over and expecting to get different results. McCain/Palin tried roviating Obama over and over until it became obvious it wasn’t working and they had to give it up (sort of). Now McCain has come out with his financial plan for the economy. And guess what, it’s just more Reagan economics all over again. Aside from a couple of very minor sops to older Americans it basically is another attempt at the failed trickle-down economy that has helped to lead us into this mess in the first place. Namely, give more tax breaks to corporations and millionaires who will supposedly create jobs with it (but in fact just buy more expensive yachts and other toys like $5000 shower curtains and such. You might think that this terrible economic meltdown might have made them aware of the fact that trickle-down just doesn’t work, but apparently not (they seem unable to learn, perhaps even incapable of it). All this plan does is allow the filthy rich to become filthier rich. The Brafia/Republicans just never give up in their attempt to amass all the money that exists (and they have almost succeeded). We barely avoided giving them a 700 billion dollar gift outright, so it appears that at long last the public is on to their scams. The polls seem to reflect this recognition, along with the dismal performances by McCain/Palin.

I confess I can sort of understand greed up to a point. But I cannot understand the greed that has been practiced of late by so many of our wealthy citizens. It seems we are able to tolerate greed of such monumental proportions it must be a kind of pathology. What do these people need with so much money? Take professional athletes, for example. Someone like Michael Jordan, who made millions upon millions of dollars but still does commercials. Or someone like the guy who won an enormous 100 million dollar lottery and announced that he wanted to become a billionaire. Or someone who already has a 45,000 square foot home in Arizona and wants to build a 27,000 square foot home elsewhere, and who also owns one of the largest yachts on earth. Or someone who owns seven or more houses and doesn’t even seem to know how many he owns. Or the hundred thousand dollar birthday parties for their kids, or….but you get the picture. I swear that if I already had more money than I could realistically spend in my lifetime I would stop accumulating and let someone else have a better chance. Obama’s proposal to ask these people to pay slightly more in taxes seems perfectly reasonable to me, but you would think from their reaction he is literally ripping out their hearts. Obama wants to “spread some of the wealth around.” McCain apparently thinks this is an idea so horrible it shouldn’t even be mentioned. I go back to a suggestion I made previously: once you have enough money (let’s say a billion, for the sake of the argument), anything more goes into the national “kitty” and instead of the additional money you get a gold star (just like you got in kindergarten for brushing your teeth). I cannot see how this would hurt anyone and it would certainly benefit society at large. And why should anyone, ANYONE, be paid 100 million dollars a year or more? This is simply obscene and why it has been tolerated I absolutely cannot understand. It is true that some billionaires and multi-billionaires set up foundations and finance research, education, and such, but they can only do so because they have more money than they know how to spend (and they receive tax breaks).

I can’t wait for the final (thank heaven) debate tomorrow night. McCain is so far behind in the polls he would have to pull off some kind of miracle performance. He says he will bring up the Ayers accusation to Obama (I doubt it, it would be very risky). If he really tries to talk economics Obama will slice and dice him. It could prove very embarrassing. McCain is in a very tight spot. Tomorrow may well spell his doom (if his doom isn’t already spelled). He claims to be a fighter. I think he’s just a bully. We’ll see. Somewhere I read today that one of his associates said McCain knew he was putting the country at risk when he picked Palin. So much for country first.

LKBIQ:
Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former.
Albert Einstein