Short-sighted class warfare
It’s becoming more and more apparent (in case it was ever in doubt) that Bush’s vision is all about making the rich even richer, while doing nothing to fix any of the fundamental problems that have put the economy into such a sorry state. As economist James K. Galbraith pointed out in a speech last week:
There is irony here for America’s wealthy. While Bush may leave them untaxed, he will not leave them rich as they were. Already their stocks are off by trillions. Soon it will be their houses (and ours). And finally, as the dollar declines, it will be their cash holdings. An economy that fails for working Americans cannot work, in the long run, for the wealthy.
The irony is even more pronounced, of course, because the rich are the ones moving themselves closer to this disaster. They are the ones who have managed to tighten their grip on the American “democracy,” and yet they are apparently too short-sighted to be able to see that the decisions that they make today won’t work for them in the long-term.
Upon reading this, something in the back of my brain immediately responded with the apocryphal comment, “Let them eat cake!” This then led me down the dark path of surfing online through various essays written during the days leading up to and following after the storming of The Bastille. According to what I read, one of the reasons the National Assembly was formed in 1789 was because the people wanted an end to tax exemptions and special privileges extended to the nobility. A disturbing thought (and a more jarring parallel) that we have an increasingly greater and more noticeable lack of balance between the classes in a country supposedly democratic. Something, perhaps, that the current government should really take into account before it is too late. On the other hand, Bastille Day also led to the Terror and the reign of Robespierre – a cautionary note which hopefully will help people consider carefully how they respond to the actions of the government.
Comment made by Jennifer on June 10, 2003 @ 12:56 pm