Congeries of cross connected concepts
I haven’t been writing much lately because it’s all such a depressing subject. The ongoing farce of the Obama Administration and the current economic problems are bad enough. But what’s actually depressing me is that there doesn’t seem to be any light at the end of the tunnel.
As I noted elsewhere, Obama is the problem, he’s the symptom. And the aspect of that strikes me most is the incredible amount of deference I see toward government and its actions. Our own Mr. Eagar, when confronted with the abomination that was the “stimulus” bill, basically responded with “Bush sucks!”. Well, perhaps, but that’s hardly a defense of the legislation in question. It came down to Eagar condemning (rightly) a CEO who looted a company just before bankruptcy. But House Speaker Nancy Pelosi looting hundreds of millions of dollars to spend on her pet causes in the name of “stimulus” raises not a hair of an eyebrow of concern.
If it were just Eagar, it would be merely amusing. But he’s actually far more rational and knowledgeable than most, which makes the situation rather a bit more concerning. I am completely lost as to how to get people to think “stealing $100M is bad” rather than “a private interest stealing $100M is bad”. You’ll never convince someone of the benefits of privitization and limited government if the cost of government never registers.
So we plunge on in to the abyss, our Congress spending money like drunken monkeys fling poop and there’s very little outrage or even disapproval. For example, here’s Representative Charlie Rangel explaining in crude terms how it’s not a citizen’s business to be concerned with a Representative’s corruption. But he’ll be re-elected, just like Representative John Murtha was after calling his constituents rednecks and racists. If voters will do that, why shouldn’t they consider themselves a ruling class?
P.S. I have a bunch of clippings for this, I’ll add them as I encounter them again.
Hot Air on the PMA scandal. Here we have a lobbying group “buying” money from the government, literally hundreds of millions of dollars worth. The House has already voted down any investigation and I predic that will suffice to keep the scandal effectively unknown and unpunished.
| Harry Eagar Thursday, 12 March 2009 at 22:54 |  |
It’s a free country. Run your solution up the flagpole and see who salutes.
Anyhow, we know one thing for certain. The first giant stimulus bill is a freebie. It will cost no more than — in fact, much less than — the Iraq adventure, and we were assured that that was such a small fraction of the national wealth that we did not need to consider the cost.
If the first stimulus doesn’t work, I will object to the second. As of now, I’m an agnostic.
| joe shropshire Friday, 13 March 2009 at 09:24 | |
Setting the bar for this administration is Harry’s shovel-ready project.
| Annoying Old Guy Friday, 13 March 2009 at 09:52 | |
Mr. Eagar;
I have. I write my Congress Critters regularly. But my Senators are Durbin and Burris — ‘nuff said. I post on the InterTubes, although cetain other people say “that’s a GOP idea, therefore it’s bad”. But just in case you missed it, here’s a plan I endorse.
I don’t remember ever assuring you that the Iraq Adventure “was such a small fraction of the national wealth that we did not need to consider the cost”. You are perhaps confusing me with a certain other weblogger. My position has always been that the long term benefits of that expense justify it. I find the current stimulus bill to have negative long term effects, so it would not be justified regardless of how little it cost. It is certainly not a “freebie” and taxpayer money is not the only expense.
| Harry Eagar Friday, 13 March 2009 at 11:53 | |
Well, now I really, really want to know your ideas about AIG. All regulations were suspended there.
| Harry Eagar Friday, 13 March 2009 at 23:29 | |
I note that Pournelle gets it wrong. The German miracle started with a stimulus package which was bigger, proportionately, than the Obama package.
If the model is West Germany in the ‘50s, then the conclusion would be that the second stimulus package is the way to go.
