by El Zorro Viejo (aka; Jim)

Fred Clark over at slacktivist: Moral bankruptcy (cont'd.) points with horror at what our elected leadership is about to do to us. With little fanfare, the White House pushed through a bill which will significantly strengthen the ability of creditors to suck every possible penny from debtors. The Senate declined to limit lenders to even 30% interest. I don't know about the rest of you, but I call anyone who charges even 25% interest a loanshark. All I can say about this bill is that we are seeing the true nature of the so-called neo-conservative right.

It turns out that the Mafia Dons and the nabobs of the right have more in common than either of them have with the rest of us ordinary mortals. In fact, it would appear to me that the major reason the current administration is at war with "organized crime" is more about the division of spoils rather than any moral or ethical principle. What the "have's" in our society want is an ever bigger and bigger slice of the economic pie, which would(will) leave less and less for the rest of us to divvy up amongst ourselves.

This trend was put into even clearer focus by this editorial from the New York Times today. (Free Registration with the Times is required to read this editorial.) Seems that all those tax cuts Mr. Bush has rammed through really only benefit the very rich. It seems that the Alternative Minimum Tax will take back all of the gains and thensome for millions of taxpayers who make less than $100,000/year. The AMT, it seems, was not adjusted when Mr. Bush's tax cuts (or, as I like to call them, Welfare for the Wealthy) were enacted. The essence of the Times editorial states:

"Here's why: The alternative tax applies to people whose income tax bills are low relative to their income. So as tax cuts reduce the liability on a filer's Form 1040, the alternative tax kicks in. In effect, it claws back all or part of the supposed savings from the Bush tax cuts. By 2010, the Bush tax cuts alone will cause an additional 17 million taxpayers to owe the alternative tax. By 2014, assuming the Bush tax cuts are made permanent, 40 million taxpayers will owe the alternative tax, nearly half of whom would never have faced it but for the tax cuts."

Let's face it folks, the agenda Bush and the people he works for are following has nothing to do with the welfare of 98% of our fellow citizens. What it has to do with is the creation of a hereditary, permanent aristocracy who will preside over a country populated by an urban proletariat and a rural peasantry. And, they are accomplishing this goal by appealing to our natural greed. "Keep your money. You know how to spend it best." Yeah, except that they give with one hand and take away (more) with the other.

Next year, 2006, we have an opportunity to begin to stop this blatant grab for absolute economic and political power. By electing opposition candidates who will stop Bush, and even begin to roll back some of his wrecking-ball legislation, we can set the stage for a resurgence of the true America in 2008. However, to accomplish even the goal of taking back control of Congress, we need to begin articulating our goals and our ideals now. If we don't; if we allow the right to trammel our liberties and the ideals held by our enlightened founders, I truly fear for what my granddaughter will have to live with.

'Nuff said...

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License. ©El Zorro Viejo 2002-2005