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Danny |
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January 19, 2003 Axis of Evel Knievel Here we go again being asked to make a leap of Snake River Canyon proportions in order to believe that the new “Economic Stimulus Package” proposed by President Bush will actually do you and me any good. We’re about to fight one or two wars and he wants to give well-to-do folks some money back. Where is the logic in this? “Say, friends, ah know y’all just itchin’ to blow that Saddam Dude into the middle of next week, and y’all been supportin’ me with your campaign contributions for 2004, so ah’ll tell ya what I’m-a-gonna do- -I’m-a gonna send y’all back some gov’ment money.” Back in the days when we were one nation, under God, if we had a real threat to our way of life we all got involved. Not just the military and the defense industry, but kids, old folks, everybody. We haven’t had that kind of threat in fifty or sixty years. That’s longer ago than most people remember first-hand. Half the population is, what?, under eighteen? Under twenty-five? Whatever. Judging from the movies down at the mall, it might even be way younger than that. So this is new territory for most of us. During World War II people on the home front collected old rubber tires and scrap metal- -all kinds of things to be recycled for the war effort. There was rationing of all kinds of commodities because they were either unavailable, or needed elsewhere. Now we have a two-pronged war staring us in the face, Iraq on one front, North Korea on the other, and what are we doing on the home front? Giving tax breaks to those who already make over $100,000 a year. Yeah, that’ll scare the North Koreans back into their corner, and by golly, won’t Saddam be impressed. I heard an NPR interview with a 73-year-old retiree who had been hand-picked to be in a group that actually met the president in Chicago on Economic Stimulus Day. He said he was doing well enough, and that the $1500 he would stand to gain by this tax break would be better used in the war effort. He didn’t need the money, but he did want to retain his way of life for himself, his kids and grandchildren. Don’t worry, sir, we can have it all. No president- -no politician- -ever lost an election by lowering taxes. In case you haven’t noticed, the 2004 rëelection campaign is in full swing. This tax break is so in keeping with studying Poppy’s playbook and doing just the opposite, whether it makes any sense or not. “Read my lips, no new taxes. In fact I’m going to lower your taxes.” This policy will create a budget deficit for years to come. But it’s okay, we’ll just print more money. There’s a new ad campaign, have you seen it? It points out that if you drive an SUV or other gas guzzling dinosaur, you are actually helping the terrorists. Think of how much money you spend to fill up, then remember who is getting a ton of that money. Maybe I’ll print up bumper stickers that say “Support terrorism. Drive an SUV.” We’re not cutting back on anything in order to support our probable war(s). This is a recipe for disaster. Iraq has the second largest oil deposits after Saudi Arabia. True, we get a lot of our oil from Mexico and South America, but our allies in Europe and the Far East depend on Middle East oil. If we have a war that doesn’t go so well from the git-go, we could have worse lines and shortages than we ever did in the 70s. Oh, right. You probably don’t remember the 1973 Arab Oil Embargo, or the one in 1978. That was twenty-five and thirty years ago. And even if you’re 40, you were only a kid at the time and probably don’t remember how it was. Ask your local geezer. It sucked big-time. The talk show generals expect us to be in Baghdad within five days of the start of the war. I guess we’ll know soon enough. The Baghdadians or Baghdadites or whatever they’re called better get their dry cleaning done “same day” service, because it’s not likely to be there at the end of the week the magic carpet bombing begins. And how ’bout those North Koreans. Funniest little twerp on the planet thinks he’s going to call the shots on the nuclear deal- -they’re in, they’re out. Right. The guy gets his hair done with an egg-beater and thinks he’s cool. “Hey, I’ve got missiles and everything. Watch me hit Seattle and Malibu.” And Evel Knievel will finally make it over the Snake River. We’re in for some fun on TV in the next few weeks. First the Super Bowl. Then the fireworks afterwards. Stay tuned.
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