January 29, 2004 by lonbud

Who Are These Guys?

Can you feel the wheels coming off? I mean, really, isn’t the ride getting a little bumpy just about now?

The first cabinet member jettisoned from the ruling junta turns out to have plenty to say about the administration’s “state of mind” going into our humanitarian intervention in the Middle East. That’s what it is, officially, now ­right? We’re there to liberate the Arabs from their several thousand-year history. Or are we still looking for the WMD? I can never keep it straight.

Turns out, too, there’s a donnybrook between the administration and the Intelligence Community, an undercover member of which was famously outed by an unnamed senior administration official, and whose entire apparatus is presently cast as The Fall Guy in Bush’s retreat from his raison d’etre for spending a hundred and some-ungodly-odd billion dollars killing America’s sons and daughters in the name of eradicating terrorism.

Wasting our technologically resplendent defense resources on the very killing fields where much of this Western Culture is thought to have its roots is something no one really wants to talk about, but that’s what’s happening.

And how about that economic recovery? Seems the steam from Bush’s tax cuts lost a little oomph in the 4th quarter of last year and we ended up with a rather pedestrian 4% annual growth rate. I guess the Rich can only tote so much of the load, after all.

Get ready for the other shoe to drop in short order here, too: in addition to the several hundred thousand people who reached the end of their unemployment benefits lifeline during the 4th quarter of last year, another 2 million people are scheduled to receive “No More Served” cards in the first half of this year. Unless Dickie C and His Back Room Boyz can figure out a way to create, say, a million and a half jobs, pronto, this country is going to be awash in people not only unemployed, but with no help on the horizon from the states or the hated Federal government. And we all know where a certain percentage of desperate people are likely to turn in times of fear and need, don’t we? Will they be called common criminals or domestic terrorists? Should make for an interesting Summer and run-up to the elections in November.

Let’s not forget, either, that this President only came into his own as an American icon atop the rubble at ground zero after 9/11, rubbing elbows with the real heroes cleaning up in the aftermath. But take a look at how he’s treated the idea of anyone trying to find out the truth of what happened on that fateful day: first, he stonewalled against calls for a government inquiry. Then, he tried to appoint an “independent” commission headed by that arch-criminal Henry Kissinger to look into the matter. Finally, after buckling to pressure for some kind of investigation, he and his administration refused to turn over documents and provide evidence to the finally established commission. And now that the original deadline for making a report is looming, he wants to deny the 9/11 Commission an extension of time to file one. I’d say that’s taking the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy a bit too literally, wouldn’t you?

Ahh, but look at the stock market. Supposedly a benchmark of future conditions, it’s been on a tear for almost a whole year. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is only about 10% below its all-time highs. That’s gotta mean we’re almost out of the woods, right? Consider this, however: American stocks are priced in dollars. The value of the U.S. dollar has fallen nearly 25% in the past year, while the stock market has risen just under 30%, which means the REAL VALUE of American stocks is only up by about 5%, even after all that robust economic activity stemming from the Bush tax cuts. If you were lucky enough to be buying stocks last Spring, chances are you might consider taking your “profits” now, ladies and germs, because, well, don’t take my word for any of this, I’m just a malcontent member of that 1% of people who thinks Dennis Kucinich has a better idea for how to order our priorities.

Don’t think “liberals” like me are the only ones incredulous over the doings of the Bush administration, either. There are plenty of conservatives who look at the current regime’s out-of-control spending, and fear for the future of this great land. The only thing worse than a tax-and-spend government is a don’t-tax-and-spend government.

And it’s becoming ever more clear that George W. Bush is heading the absolute worst of all possible governments, notwithstanding one’s position as a “liberal” or “conservative.” Yes, the wheels are coming off, and the one-time pep boy’s ride in the cat bird seat is coming to an end.

Hallelujah!