September 30, 2007


IMPEACH BUSH


IMPEACH CHENEY

BUSH'S BIG TOBACCO CONNECTION

George W. Bush is suddenly in high dudgeon about spending when it involves funding children's health care. The funding for the program would come from an increase in tobacco taxes. Bush's administration has criminally wasted taxpayer money on the immoral war in Iraq and on a variety of expenditures to his fat cat buddies. This commentary is at www.welcome-to-pottersville.com:

Congress "failed" because Democrats wanted to add $23 billion for domestic spending that Bush considers wasteful. So, because Bush threatened to veto the bill, the Democrats enlisted the aid of one Graeme Frost, age 12, who begged Bush to sign the bill so four million of the nation's nine million uninsured children can benefit from the Schip expansion (which would be paid for by an increase in tobacco taxes).

This seems to be the real reason for his opposition to the whole bill. Bush is foaming at the mouth over this modest increase in spending on domestic programs and even though the Schip expansion will still provide health coverage for less than half of the nation's uninsured children, Bush's own sleazy connection with Big Tobacco seems to be at the black little heart of his righteous indignation. Said Robert Dreyfus in The Nation in October of 1999 (emphasis mine),

Bush's record on tobacco certainly doesn't displease the industry: opposition to the federal lawsuit against Big Tobacco and to increased taxes on cigarettes, plus vigorous support for tort reform that limits consumers' rights to sue makers of dangerous products--like tobacco. In Texas, Bush refused to support a lawsuit against Big Tobacco that eventually won $17 billion for the state's treasury. Taken together, Bush's friendships and his stance on tobacco-related issues are causing cigarette makers to salivate over the possibility of a Bush victory next year. "The prospect of Bill Clinton gone and a George Bush presidency makes the industry almost giddy," said Martin Feldman, a tobacco industry analyst at Salomon Smith Barney, in September.

AYN RAND -- SOCIAL DARWINISM IN NEW CLOTHES

Alan Greenspan, former Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board, is a disciple of Objectivist philosopher Ayn Rand. Her philosophy can be summed up as "greed is good." Supposedly, the pursuit of personal self interest ultimately benefits society as a whole. It's really just social Darwinism dressed up as something else. It comes down to survival of the fittest. As a country and as a species we could do better with the rich having somewhat less and the poor having enough for a decent life. This article by Naomi Klein is at www.opednews.com:

Rand's ideas about the "utopia of greed" allowed Greenspan to keep doing what he was doing but infused his corporate service with a powerful new sense of mission: making money wasn't just good for him, it was good for society as a whole. Of course, the flip side of this is the cruel disregard for those left behind. "Undeviating purpose and rationality achieve joy and fulfilment," Greenspan wrote as a zealous new convert. "Parasites who persistently avoid either purpose or reason perish as they should." Was it this mindset that served him well as he supported shock therapy in Russia (72 million impoverished) and east Asia after the 1997 economic crisis (24 million pushed into unemployment)?

Rand has played this role of greed-enabler for countless disciples. According to the New York Times, Atlas Shrugged - Rand's novel that ends with the hero tracing a dollar sign in the air like a benediction - stands as "one of the most influential business books ever written". Since Rand is simply pulped-up Adam Smith, her influence on men such as Greenspan suggests an interesting possibility. Perhaps the true purpose of the entire literature of trickle-down theory is to liberate entrepreneurs to pursue their narrowest advantage while claiming global altruistic motives - not so much an economic philosophy as an elaborate, retroactive rationale.

What Greenspan teaches us is that trickle-down isn't really an ideology after all. It's more like the friend we call after some embarrassing excess who will tell us, "Don't beat yourself up: You deserve it."