Sometimes Christmas comes early.
That was the sentiment as my sweetheart and I swept into Tombstone, Arizona for Helldorado Days. The weather was sweet, the town was packed, and we truly had nothing better to do.
It sure adds up, though. Four pairs of jeans out of the Shady Lady. Cigars at the Smoke Shop. Fudge and fishnet stockings from Madame Moustache (right next to Big Nose Kate's Saloon). A period-piece silk dress from Trash-E Tricia's, complete with gloves, bustle and feathered hair clip.
That's just the money we spent on the lady. Never mind the barbecue beef sandwiches and beers at the Silver Nugget. Or more beers at the Crystal Palace. Or the tee-shirts that you can only get at the Tombstone Epitaph. Or that nickel-plated double-barrel shotgun. I'm sure I'll find a use for it.
Yeah, this trip set us back a little bit, but Tombstone is always worth it. So is our economy. There are two false axioms at play in our current economic climate, two things that you hear people saying, to our nation's collective detriment.
The first thing: "The economy is bad; I don't want to spend any money." The absolute lack of logic in that statement is stunning. It makes just as much sense to say, "I'm dying of thirst. I'd better not drink any water."
The second thing is more pernicious. I use that word because it is a thing most often said by pernicious people. They say that they can't do any spending, or any hiring, or any investing, or any lending, because of uncertainty of it all. What are they uncertain about? They're not sure...
What they're really talking about is the unlikelihood of the Bush tax cuts being extended beyond next year. It's nothing more than an excuse to pinch those pennies that have never really trickled down the way we were promised they would.
How can there be any uncertainty in that? Simply assume the worst - from the wealthy side of the ledger - and deal with it accordingly. I know it must be daunting to stare those Clinton-era tax rates in the face again, but is that the reason for sewing shut the corporate sow's ear? Or is it something else?
The fact is that corporations have trillions of dollars in cash stuffed under their mattresses right now. Banks have long since rediscovered their liquidity and their footing in the stock market. Productivity in the workplace is at an all-time high, so there is indeed work to be done.
So where are the jobs? Where are the loans? Why is Big Business shirking its responsibility to every American out there who wants to play in this rigged game we call the American economy?
Because they're Republicans, stupid. They support the Republican Party and Republican candidates. The Republicans, you may have noticed, have been on the downslope of the political landscape just lately, on account of their policies wrecked our national finances in the first place.
Had anything remotely resembling a normal economic outlook emerged during Barack Obama's first two years in office, it would have been the death knell for the GOP, and rightly so. They knew this. That's why we all witnessed the incessant foot-dragging in Congress over the past two years.
Tax breaks to incentivize hiring? Can't have that. Money for loans to small businesses? No way. Infrastructure spending? Forget about it. Every good idea that the Democrats came up with flew through the House of Representatives, and then was sucked out of the womb by conservative Senate abortionists. This happened time and time again.
Having effectively thwarted a full-scale recovery in this manner, they now expect the voters to return them to office, since the Democrats couldn't (ahem) fix the economy. By the way, watch how much corporate cash gets poured into TV ads trashing Democratic candidates, as opposed to hiring, investing and lending.
That, too, is an expensive gift from Republicans. Five of them. They sit on the Supreme Court. They have a track record, a history, a file as thick as a phone book. They all do.
Conservatives have routinely made our lives a living Hell for their own gain, using our misery to shape their upside-down worldview, which has yet to actually work for anyone except for themselves. And they'll do it again if given half the chance.
Like I said, Christmas comes early this year. What are you hoping to receive?
pH 1o.18.1o
No comments:
Post a Comment