Small Change: My Two Cents on Cleaning Up

Spare Change | 21 January 2009 | David J Aland

[Natty Bumppo@frontier.net]

I cleaned my desk last week, an annual New Year ritual, and something I invariably put off until absolutely necessary. Who wants to deal with all the odd bits that bubble up from the clutter? This column is also a cleaning-out of sorts. In this era of impending Hope and Change, it’s a good time to clear out old column ideas and make space for the new. So, in no particular order:

- Morning after: With the electoral frenzy finally fading, some media outlets are feeling pangs about the hype. The Washington Post Ombudsman recently concluded that her paper was slanted in its coverage, but still decided the bias was harmless. Howard Kurtz cited an inherent “creepiness” in the media excesses over Obama, his family, and even his once and future dog. Recent polls indicate that the majority of Americans believe the media is overtly biased, has an agenda, and acts on it. Democracy depends, in part, on a free, independent and unbiased press, but the media mavens seem to think that two out of three is good enough. In short, there is little hope of change here.

- Clinton III: President Obama’s wafer-thin resume has left him with almost no inner-circle of his own, necessitating the resurrection of a lot of Clinton-era apparatchiks. Obama has Hillary to do for diplomacy what she once did for health care, and Holder for Attorney General, whose role in securing pre-paid pardons speaks volumes about his approach to law enforcement. Senator Tom Daschle will move his health-care lobbying from K Street to Pennsylvania Ave. Monetary policy will come from a man whose prior job performance contributed directly to the financial melt-down, and couldn’t competently pay his own taxes. Small change we can believe in…

- Government we deserve: Senator John Murtha spent the last year libeling Marines and calling his constituents rednecks. Now being sued for defamation by one of the many Marines since exonerated in court, Murtha claims legislative privilege, a not-unexpected move for a man who is re-elected despite his utter contempt for those who elect him. A little pork goes a long way to cover the sins of the arrogant. No change here, move along citizens.

- Redistribution of Wealth: The top 20% of wage-earners pay over 86% of the taxes. The top 40% pay over 98%. The bottom 40% pay no taxes, in the aggregate, but take home credits and rebates – a negative tax rate. The middle 20%, the true “middle class,” contributes to the tax base at a rate less than one-third of the proportion of wages they earn. That, friends, is what is called “redistribution of wealth.” Our new President proposes to increase all of those imbalances – further unburdening the 60% of taxpayers who contribute the least while socking it to the 40% who contribute the most. Change we can cringe from.

- BDS: If nothing else, the inauguration of a new president will spare us any more of the embarrassing outbreaks of Bush Derangement Syndrome (BDS). The Dixie Chicks, Rosanne Barr, Bruce Springsteen, Arianna Huffington, Kanye West, Chris Matthews, Keith Olbermann, Robert Redford, Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, and those other towering intellects will now have to find someone else to hate, or will at least have to learn a few manners. Hint: joking about assassination is in poor taste. (There was even once a time when it could get you arrested.)

- CPD: The roads around DC are not likely to get any safer, as the instances of Cell Phone Dementia (CPD) are bound to increase with the influx of all the new “best and brightest.” This issue could, in fact, be the first major bellwether of the new administration: will the government choose to hold people responsible for poor driving skills, or merely outlaw their potential distractions by coming up with more nanny-state prohibitions on cell phones? Call me if you hear anything, but don’t call from the road, OK?

- Bailouts: Speaking of holding people responsible for their mistakes, when will we let Darwin back into our financial markets? (About the same time we allow prayer back in our schools?) It’s about time survival of the fittest replaced subsidizing the stupid. This rash of bailouts is logically no different than self-esteem awards in elementary schools – they feel good, but do nothing to encourage good behavior or discourage bad decisions. When did taking money out of the economy ever stimulate the economy, anyway?

OK – my desk is clean again. Happy New Year. Let the new games begin.

[Ciexyz]

That was an enjoyable read. Is this from a blog that you visit often - it is new to me.

[randog]

President Obama’s wafer-thin resume has left him with almost no inner-circle of his own...

Well, no inner circle he could publicly acknowledge: Ayers, Farrakhan, Jackson, Jackson Jr., Wright, and other yet-to-be-uncovered Chicago cockroaches.