"a kinder, gentler, more
compassionate newsletter.
Well... a less arrogant and
self indulgent one than last
week... Come on, let`s have
a little fun anyway!"

2/10/2001

Original text and editing by:
A G Kaiser
email to
agkaiser1@gmail,com
"A good slave works for food alone."

Q of the week:
Q:How soon will the Wall Street Sheep be sheared?
A:Harvests took place in 1929, 1987 and during other mishaps of abstract economy. When can the middle class expect to be despoiled for the first time in the new millennium?

Week three:

Economy:
Support for the Bush Tax Cut is growing as reports of industry lay offs and NASDAQ decline permeate the news. But, as noted, the money from tax cuts (or loans from the FED) will not get to the people who need to spend it in order to turn the economy up. Feigned strength of will, or willfulness, or even token tax concessions cannot change reality.

Wake up George, the conservative lines are played out. You've already got all the money. You must give some back to the people from whom you took it.

You must George! If you want to continue to trick the fish into biting, you'll need to feed them until they are strong enough to take your hook. This time it won`t work to just throw around a little chum to attract them.

And you know, it doesn't really matter whose statistics are "honest". What`s eternally true is: the wealth of the rich is produced by the rest of us. A tax cut for capitalists might stimulate supply? Theoretically the jobs they create could get money to workers. The jobs won't be created unless capitalists foresee a demand for the goods produced. Tax cuts to the middle class aren't enough. The lower class doesn't make enough money to pay enough taxes for a tax cut to be meaningful. (It doesn`t matter what the fraction of the percentage is.) Higher wages for low and middle classes and stable prices are the only real solution.

Bush's plan simply won't work.

The current problem is that growth is slowing due to low demand. The money must go first to "consumers" (and those who won't need to use it to service debt) not "producers". Bush's plan will exacerbate the problem. The middle class should come to their own conclusions about what more credit card and home equity debt will do to their futures. Bush's words will not feed, clothe or house anyone. They won`t pay for anyone`s retirement.

Sales taxes take a much larger percentage of the monies of the poor and elderly than does income tax. Why not give the 1.6 trillion to the states so they can eliminate sales taxes: at least for necessities. Local autonomy and responsibility are perennial conservative issues. Would relief for the poor. or more than token tax cuts for the middle class, fit the agenda?


Law and order:
News media have chosen to increase the frequency of reporting spectacular acts and potential acts of violence this week. We are apparently not fearful enough to be thankful that we have John Ashcroft to protect us.

The conservatives are still trying to focus on Clinton. The diversion is cover for their anti-Robin Hood agenda. The House Government Reform Committee needs to be investigated for the misappropriation of tax money for investigations designed to distract the American People from the ongoing rape of the economy.

The scale of the conservatives's anticipated crime makes the Clinton pardons insignificant in comparison. The House is not only wasting time and money; they are using it to lie to us by dissembling their true purpose in carrying on this farce.


Energy:
After the West, Georgia might be the next to have plug pulled by the deregulatory fiasco. The solution: more deregulation. D`oh! Why didn't I think of that? We all know the economy is in danger of becoming less top heavy. We must do everything we can to funnel more money to our rich benefactors. George, we congratulate you on your economy of thoughtful and effective policy.


Foreign Policy:
While we contemplate the arrest and trial of terrorists, crimes are being committed by the economic terrorists who create policy. That is the root of our problems.

George grows out of principles that preclude genuinely thoughtful responses to anything. His remedies were all prescribed centuries ago. Is George's brand of feudalism the solution to the twenty-first century's problems?

They aren't even his own ideas. We can expect him to mightily defend the territory of his biggest supporters against incursions by decent people. One of the tactics in that war is to distract eyes that stray too close to home. That is the real function of conservative foreign policy.

Are you beginning to get the idea that I don't believe George is sincere about what he says. Don't worry, I know he is sincere about what he wishes to accomplish. The further impoverishment of the majority of the population is imminent. I wish he would come right out and say it. If honestly portrayed, I have no fear that the American people would fail to whole heartedly reject George and all his presumption.


Editorial Column:
What will conservatives say when the American People get tired of Clinton bashing. For eight years the Republicans obstructed every decent thing that Clinton wanted to do. They didn't argue the issues. They diverted attention to irrelevant personal behavior. Is that the only strategy the right can create to distract us from their real principles: selfishness and greed?

The Bush tax cut will not have the desired effect. The rich already have almost all the money. Giving them more with the Tax Cut will exacerbate the problem. No amount of fast talk or reference to skewed statistics and show piece principles will change the truth.

Maybe an analogy will get through. Think of it as a parable, George. Imagine you have an oil well and a machine to take oil from underground and place it in a reservoir at the top. Now imagine that your well goes dry and there is no place to drill a new one. Keep in mind that this is only an analogy and loopholes in the words will not likely be reflected in the reality it represents.

Now imagine that you don't need all that oil but you really like pumping oil into your reservoir. It makes you feel powerful and superior. So what are you to do? All the oil is in the reservoir. Well, if you could find a way to pump it back into the ground, you could start all over again. The machinery that pumps it up to you would react automatically to the increased demand and you would refill your reservoir at the top very quickly.

I think you may have guessed by now that I'm really talking about the economy. So what mechanism could we build to get money back down to the bottom so that the wealth machinery would have something to do and the rich could continue having the fun of stealing the money from us, while feeling smugly powerful and genetically superior as well?

How about, instead of eliminating the estate tax, we make two million dollars deductible and 100% is taken after the sheltered portion. That wealth could be distributed to the poor on a graduated scale based on income. Or it could provide high paying jobs to those who don't already have them and we could add many new management positions into the bargain.

If we efficiently redistribute the money, it will be spent. Then the machinery that harvests money will have something to do. The heirs of the rich may have to build their own machines but with a 2 million dollar start up they'll still have a much greater opportunity than the rest of us. And each generation will have the chance to prove their worthiness. Plus they'll have the fun of playing the game for themselves. This is a win win proposition.

But unfortunately the rich have a real union. They are a gang who will threaten us with an economic bludgeoning if we fail to give up our money on demand. They don't wish to complicate the fulfilment of their lust by paying us to produce real goods to sell to us.

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Greg Kaiser