Parrot Cage

Eat the Super Rich, There's Plenty to Go Around

Michael Kinsley brilliantly deconstructs the motivation of billionaires--a burgeoning class in Bush America.  They have more money than they could possibly spend, so why the drive for more?  Although Kinsley only politely tap dances around the issue, there is no reality-based downside to taxing billionaires at a decidedly higher rate than every other income status.  The Adam Smithish arguments that these billionaires have acquired their wealth at a benefit to society isn't exactly borne out by the specifics.  We certainly would still be a computer-driven society without Bill Gates' sleazy plagiarism of other people's ingenuity or without the Microsoft monopoly; most likely, Microsoft has stilted far more innovation that it has created.  Then again, Gates did give us Slate... which could explain why Kinsley doesn't go for the jugular on the dubious merit of billionairness.

Fiscal Neocons--Bringing Their Global Success to Domestic Policy

Conservatives and libertarians are fond of hassling liberals on "wanting to spend other people's money."  After five years of not a single ounce of liberal influence in government, our nation's solvency is in peril.  The fiscal irresponsibility of the liberal-free government is now forced to make "tough decisions"--meaning it's time to cut back on whatever is left of the social safety net.

Fluffy conservative Andrew Sullivan is jumping on the fiscal responsibility bandwagon.  We've known since Reagan that the Republican strategy of "shrinking government" is to run up irresponsible debts to the point where the only answer is to gut the very FDR-legacy programs that have been a thorn in the sides of conservatives forever.

We've got a much better solution: tax conservatives.  Andrew Sullivan staked his credibility to the Iraqi War, we think that motherfucker should pay for it.  Those who were absolutely giddy to send somebody else's sons and daughters off to die for whatever geopolitical shell game they had in mind, need to pony up the cash for it.  It takes monumental gall to even hint that now is the time to start rolling back government programs designed to assist poor Americans at a time when the Iraq war has cost a quarter trillion, and is well on track to double that cost in the next couple of years.  Congress has even had to raise the debt ceiling in order to accommodate the avalanche of war spending.  The irony of financing wars abroad for national security by indebting our future to the most dangerous totalitarian regime in history (WMD-giant China) should frighten even the most craven neocon.

Keep in mind that these conservative critics of Bush's fiscal mismanagement aren't mad at him for not balancing the books.  And they're not even mad at him for financing wars abroad.  No, they are furious with Bush for underfunding social programs when he could be demolishing them altogether.

Many progressives are cheering the Cato Institute crowd for their critiques of Bush.  Progressives would do better to listen to what these bastards are actually saying.  They don't want fiscal responsibility.  They are perfectly happy with Imperial America.  They just don't want to be taxed.