failed economics, failed war-machine, failed justice and hummingbirds...

david ranson wrote a piece in the wall street journal today with the implication that the tax rates on the richest should be dropped even lower. in support he cites a study which found that government resources from tax follow GDP regardless of tax rates...thus - we should drop the tax rates even more on the richest of the rich. you have to hand it to the "economists" out there who have bought into such wonderfully failed policies of history like "free" trade and regressive taxation and "trickle down" economics - with a subtle slight of hand they distract you and forget to mention that just because overall resources remain the same, does not mean that the economy remains strong, and has actually proven to mean that equality becomes nothing more than a meaningless word championed by those that seek to crush it. they love to tell you that when huge tax breaks for the uber-wealthy go into effect the government takes in more revenue (forgetting to mention that it is due to the uber-rich taking advantage of the newly formed loopholes and cashing in everything while the rates are low and that revenue eventually does level off and drop). they want to tell you that since revenue remains the same everything remains constant...except they forget to mention that stratification of wealth explodes and that severe stratification of wealth always, always, always leads to an economic implosion...it happened to romans, it happened to the spanish, it happened to the dutch, it happened to the british...hell, it happened to us a lifetime ago (although if you use our current disaster of a health care system it is beyond a lifetime ago). the united states enjoyed a ridiculous economic run...and it was fueled by "oppressive" tax rates on the richest of the rich and on Big Business - it was fueled by a strong manufacturing infranstructure which solidified the middle class - it was fueled by government regulation of the economy. and it was dismantled by the same schmucks that are robbing you blind and telling you nothing is different because the government takes in the same amount of money it used to...never mind that in the process the richest of the rich are taking in hundreds of times what they used to while you take in less...and pay more. an economy cannot last this way...they are lying to you...and we are about to learn it the hard way...again.

which leads to my second point...there was a time when FDR turned this country into a breathtaking military machine in a few short years. he did it on the backs of the american working class and he did it by exploiting a strong manufacturing base. now...we do it by outsourcing everything. the parts for every machine needed to kill and maim....made elsewhere by foreigners being paid peanuts. and the same people that have brought us to this point are the ones that claim they are "strong on homeland defense." the proposition is ludicrous...strong defense requires a strong economy (which they have destroyed) and a thriving manufacturing infrastructure in case it is needed (which they have dismantled). when the shit really hits the fan, what happens when it is the chinese and indians on the other side and they stop sending us parts? where are we going to make them when all our factories are gone? and yes, your weekly trip to walmart is partly to blame. but then you can't be blamed much for going to walmart when these fuckheads shipped your decent job overseas and have used the same agencies which are meant to protect the worker to crush the worker.

a couple people sent me a link to a story yesterday, a story about how incredibly fucked up the lives of those that are wrongly convicted are after release. it dealt with one man in particular who has disappeared after spending years homeless - a condition which he noted was "not so bad" considering the hellish 15 years he spent in prison before DNA evidence exonerated him of the sexual assault he was serving time for (and yes, you guessed it, he was a black man in texas). if you have never been to a prison or spoken to someone who has spent time there you cannot possibly understand the dehumanizing conditions and the horror which becomes a part of daily life. you cannot possibly understand that it is impossible to successfully reenter society afterwards. and so I will remind you all again - if you are ever on a jury, hold out for not guilty...make someone else do the dirty work. don't be the one with a man's life on your conscience...

and through all the disgusting absurdity of the world as of late, I still found a reason to smile yesterday. a hummingbird was dancing above the street outside my window yesterday evening. it was a beautiful sight and a reminder that perhaps, in the end, it will all even out. in the end those hummingbirds will be dancing long after you and I are gone...and that is the way it should be.

we'll inherit the world, but we don't want it...