A Mad Hatter’s Summer of Events
Written by Audrie Zettick on July 13, 2009
Like Alice at the Mad Hatter’s tea party, taxpayers have recently been assaulted with many wish-it-weren’t-for-real events that make me watch for the white rabbit. It’s been a Wonderland of events and characters. Among them:
Queen of Hearts: Nancy Pelosi. Politico recounts how she “whipped” together the votes for Cap and Trade, replacing “off with their heads” with dogged, in-your-face (and perhaps other body parts) persistence. Worried more about her reputation than the content of the bill, witnesses recounted that she and her sidekicks even surrounded one holdout–Rep. Joe Baca–who then (surprise!) voted in favor of Cap and Trade. No wonder Congressman Ciro Rodriguez sprinted like a rabbit out of the House chamber after surprising Pelosi with a “no” vote.
The Card-Deck Queen’s Men–The eight Republican Congressmen–called jellyfish by Deroy Murdock but who more resemble the cowed cards–who enabled the House to pass Cap and Tax. They fell flat on their faces when the Queen appeared, but these Congressmen plus others in vulnerable districts will be trying to paint the roses red as they attempt to cover up their mistakes.
Tweedle Dee, Tweedle Dum and Even More Dum: Some of my home state Congressmen who voted for Cap and Trade in spite of the fact that PA gets a majority of its electricity from coal (great editorial here). It’s been estimated that Pennsylvanians will see over a $3,000 hike in annual electricity fees. Here’s an estimated impact by Congressional District.
The Caucus Race (click here if you don’t remember this part of the story), represented by the G8 and especially India and China on climate change. In Alice’s story, the animals, led on by the DoDo, have a nonsensical race ending in everyone getting meaningless prizes, with Alice finding her own prize, which she gives to DoDo who presents it back to her. Yeah, we may be a high consumption society, but it’s our economy and innovations that have given much of the world the freedoms and standards of living that have grown from development. Having the U.S. commit to harsher standards while India and China go nearly full speed ahead with development is an absurd gesture. Maybe we should all ride bicycles like they do in China.
Plus, even though Climate Change Happens, even THINKING that anything we do will make any meaningful impact on Global climate change is the absurdest gesture of all. The G8 nations committed to limiting global warming (by reducing carbon emissions) to no more than two degrees. A large volcanic explosion could do just that and more (will they claim success?). A closer look at Climate Change science and models shows that all the pain caused to our economy by legislation like Cap and Trade is much greater than the impact on the environment.
The Dodo: New York Times columnist Paul Krugman. He is emphatic that global warming is a bigger threat to America than terrorism. Enough said.
Cheshire Cat: played by Obama. I considered casting him as the White Rabbit, since you can argue that the American public followed him down the rabbit hole. The Cheshire Cat might be more appropriate, as this character appears to be wise, yet Alice never knows if the cat is really steering her wrong.
Recent White House policy on Iran was every bit as perplexing as anything the Cheshire Cat said to Alice. In spite of the recent election-sparked violence in Iran, Iranian officials were originally invited to our July 4 celebration–first time they’ve been invited since the Iranian Revolution. Then they were disinvited. Of course, this was after it was clear they weren’t intending to show up anyway. In Wonderland, this all makes perfect sense.
And proposed health care reform that claims to allow that we keep private insurance while all but ensuring disappearance of private plans is, well, perfectly sensible too.
Czar of Czars: Obama. Maybe we need a remake of Wonderland, featuring the Czar of Czars instead of the Queen of Hearts. ”With President Obama, the CZAR business has not only picked up.. It has been put on Steroids, Human Growth Hormones, Protein Shakes, Speed, and Epinephrine Shots.” Motley Fool
“Drink Me” potion: Alas, we the American people are at fault, willing to drink whatever comes our way if it looks to benefit us, darn the consequences. Growth of Big Government is the result. As Robert Samuelson recently noted: “Without anyone much noticing, our national government is on the verge of a permanent expansion that would endure long after the present economic crisis has (presumably) passed and that would exceed anything ever experienced in peacetime.”
Time to pull ourselves out of the Rabbit hole with a dose of reality. I wish I’d wake up.
Posted in: Federal Spending, Uncategorized, economy, policy
Obama: Dodging the Tough Issues Through Resignation
Written by Bill Schaller on November 13, 2008
At this time, is Obama more effective as a Senator or as a President-elect?
Posted in: Auto bailout, Obama, policy
