Saturday, January 8, 2011

Straight Lines


This week we found out (what some of us already knew) that Obamacare will explode the Federal budget rather than save money (as we were told); that repealing it would cost us even more; that all the money in the world would fail to pay for it (along with all the other government programs already grinding our nation to a halt). So, the next step in the puzzle will quite naturally center on raising the debt ceiling once again.

I have a solution: Let’s just set the debt ceiling to quadrillions and get it over and done with. Or, let’s set it to a number that hasn’t even been invented yet; or, let’s set it to infinity and never have to undergo the unpleasantness of budgeting ever again (for as long as we live).

Why not? We now know that Obamacare was never about health; and neither was it (as has now become apparent) about saving money. We’ve been down this road before and have become quite comfortable with it. Tax policy, for instance, also does not seem to be about having sufficient funds to run governments (Federal and state). We’ve long ago managed to crush the life out of the proverbial golden goose. In any number of our states - you know the ones - taxes are so high already that people a fleeing to other states and taking their money with them, much less opening businesses in those afflicted areas most in need of inflating an ever-expanding tax base.

Similarly, science has been elevated to a new level (as some would say “it’s proper place“). The coldest winter anyone can remember is now put down to ‘global warming’ - a virtual treasure trove of carbon credits - and liberally (rhetorically) promoted as such in every college and university of (free) academic standing.

Similarly, it was reported last week that, California ushered in in excess of 700 new laws with the start of the new year. It was suggested that Californians themselves are not even aware of what all these might portend. It may all come to the same end: laws or no laws. Existing laws not enforceable or not enforced. New laws applied selectively and certainly adding to a climate of uncertainty; again, causing a flight to greener pastures particularly by those wishing to escape the choking grip of government regulation which (as has become evident) is out to destroy every last vestige of spontaneity.

We no longer trust each other. Above all, we no longer trust our government; the representatives of which - those young tykes we ourselves put through law school - who have come back telling us that it’s quite alright for us to say that two plus two equals five or any number (as long as it’s bigger than four).

Words too have taken a beating. There’s a whole bunch of them that now pose a personal risk to ourselves (like Limbaugh, Beck and Injun); and, even in private (industry), there are some now charged with exorcizing ‘politically sensitive’ material from books that were once deemed classics.

The word ’enemy’, for example, has taken on a new, much more benign nuance to apply only to ourselves; a nod, perhaps, to a notion that is gaining popularity by leaps and bounds: jihad, popularly defined as the process of self-examination and cleansing - a constant solitary struggle (we are told).

And so it goes. The only ones standing in the way of progress are those fuddy-duddy tea party types who still cling to their religion, guns, and the now thoroughly discarded notion of straight lines.

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

1 comment:

  1. One thing that worries me is the Treasury printing more money. I understand that it's going to buying bonds, but still, the idea of printing tons of money doesn't seem like a reasonable thing to do - as they found out in Germany some whiles back.

    "The word ’enemy’, for example, has taken on a new, much more benign nuance to apply only to ourselves; ..."

    Some highly-placed government people have referred to Tea Party &c as "terrorists".

    That's an old leftist tactic. In China, we were called "enemies of the people".

    ReplyDelete