– Not long ago, a group of 12 top airline CEOs wrote an open letter to the American public saying that energy speculation needs to be curbed because it is distorting energy prices and will, eventually, destroy the airline business.
– Now, I read that the U.S. Senate proposal to curb speculation and increase transparency in energy markets has been blocked by Republican legislators.
– And then I saw a chart in USA Today showing the U.S. deficit or surplus since 1981 and which presidents and parties they occurred under.
– And finally I reflect on the Republican’s oft repeated mantra that the Democrats will ruin the country’s economy with their “Tax and Spend” habits and that they, the Republicans, are the ones who best husband the country’s wealth.
– Need I connect the dots for you, dear reader?
A hearty “Amen!”
The problems of the airline industry aside (economic reality may simply cause it to contract, transforming airline travel into a niche luxury, like owning a Hummer), it’s very pertinent that it has been under Republican presidencies and their policies that the country has dug deepest into its trade deficit hole.
I am currently reading Peter Schiff’s Crash Proof. He spends an entire chapter trying to explain the old school, nuts-and-bolts economic reasons why our epically gi-normous trade deficit will likely cause the dollar to implode.
Although I’m a political independent (none of the current parties truly reflect my perspective), I’ve voted mostly “liberal” since I came of age. And I am sick and tired of hearing “tax-and-spend liberal”. Hey, should the new mantra be “no-tax-but-spend-anyway conservative”? I thought Republicans were supposed to be fiscal conservatives? What happened? Oh right — that war in Iraq. The one that is supposedly about beating the terrorists on their home turf (nevermind that the 9/11 terrorists were mostly from Saudi Arabia), but which is really a historically large transfer of taxpayer money to the coffers of Halliburton, Bechtel, etc.
The Bush tax stimulus of last year was a joke. For those who got money back, it all went into their gas tanks or grocery bills.
As those legendary songsters the Temptations would say,
Eve of destruction, tax deduction,
city inspectors, bill collectors,
Mod clothes in demand, population out of hand,
suicide, too many bills,
Hippies moving to the hills.
People all over the world are shouting, ‘End the war.’
…And the band played on.