Cybrpnk's Rantings

Recently Federal Reserve Chair Alan Greenspan continued his campaign to destroy every last shred of his personal credibility by endorsing the idea of shifting the United States taxation paradigm to a consumption-based, rather than income-based, system. With typically cryptic mumblings about broadening the tax base Greenspan seems to have abandoned all semblance of rationality. The argument, if such a term from the logician's toolkit may be employed here, is that forcing people to internalize the cost of consumption will encourage American's to boost their savings. In a vacuum, this may very well be a reasonable proposition. Regrettably, Mr. Greenspan does not have the luxury of overseeing a vacuum, he is supposed to be overseeing our economy. And within that context his idea may generously be described as irresponsible and unrealistic, if not actually reckless and dangerous.

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In yesterday's New York Times there was an op-ed piece by one Michael Scheuer. In this screed Mr. Scheuer argues in favor of extreme rendition, the practice of handing prisoners in the so-called war on terrorism over to nation that we know will torture them. Here is the text of a letter I have sent in to the times in response:

To The Editor:

In his op-ed piece Michael Scheuer eschews morality and legality in the name of results. He makes clear that all parties were aware that they were in clear violation of US laws, and conspired to concoct a cover story to provide the illusion of legitimacy. The complicity of the president himself, whether Bill Clinton of George W. Bush, makes these extra-legal renditions more disgraceful. Both men should be tried for these crimes.

Apparently Mr. Scheuer and various high-ranking government officials have lost sight of the fact that they are sworn to protect not just the people and territory of the United States, but the Constitution and the values embodied in that document as well. The behavior Mr. Scheuer praises bears more resemblance to the tyranny we are supposedly opposing than it does to our own democratic tradition.

Osama bin Laden and his followers may have killed thousands of innocent Americans, but tortured reasoning such as Mr. Scheuer's is killing America.

Many conservatives claim that America's economic model is vastly superior to Europe's, and cite poor economic growth and higher unemployment in Europe to back their claim. This usually leads to a whole line of argument about how business-friendly the American system is. Then there is the line about the need to continue cutting taxes and pushing deregulation to keep our economy humming along. All a very interesting story, which would potentially be salient if it were not built on sand. A closer look at the numbers shows that it is not so much that the US economy is growing faster than Europe's economy, but that our population is growing faster. Hardly an encouraging trend given the crumbling state of our infrastructure, and our continuing inability to manage sustainable population growth. As to unemployment, I have yet to see any solid methodology to allow for comparisons between American and European unemployment rates, but many economists believe that our unemployment is close to the 10-12% we belittle the Europeans for maintaining. That's right, despite the higher taxation, government funded safety net, regulation, etc., European economies are actually just as healthy as ours. And it is hard to imagine that anyone would choose long-term unemployment in the US over long-term unemployment in Europe. Or, for that matter, bottom-of-the-wage-scale employment.

If the conservatives are correct, and our economy would tank if we had European levels of taxation and regulation, Then we are doing something really wrong. If our economy would continue to chug along with that higher taxation and regulation, then it is reprehensible that we are slashing government services to the poor and middle class and trashing our environment just to enrich our richest citizens. So which is it: our economic model sucks and it is only low taxation and deregulation that allows us to be in the same league as the Europeans; or is it the case that all of those tax cuts and deregulation efforts really are just screwing regular citizens to make the rich richer?

I believe that we are reaching a critical juncture in the conservative anti-tax, anti-government campaign. For years the conservatives have been subjecting the citizenry to a 'cut of a thousand deaths' campaign. Small indignities, largely unnoticed at the time, but continuously mounting. Fewer postal deliveries, cutbacks in schools, shorter hours at public libraries, longer lines at airport security, etc. And most of these cuts have been waged within a class warfare strategy: poor schools have suffered more than middle-class schools, as just one example. But we are nearing the end of this game. We are at the point where the reckless deficit spending of our so-called president, and the anti-tax zeal of conservatives in congress, leave nothing but fiscal brutality as a way out. The question is, however, what flavor will the people demand: slashing of popular programs, or tax increases?

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I have been trying for weeks to make sense out of what our so-called president is proposing to do with Social Security. No luck so far, unless I look at it as a ploy to completely destroy the notion of liberalism in America. First off, we have this line about social security being in crisis, and there being a pressing need to do something about it now. In addition to the eerie similarity to the warnings of Saddam and mushroom clouds, there is a complete disregard for other crises which seem to be larger in magnitude and/or of greater urgency. Then there is the incomprehensible fact that the only concrete suggestion that Bush has made, his private accounts, do nothing for the fiscal state of the program, yet blow a massive hole in the federal budget. Finally, all of the proposals, hints, statements, etc. coming out of the White House and conservative Republicans seem to be pushing for changing Social Security, yet sticking with the paradigm of government compelling people to save and invest, and even telling people how to invest. This monumental piece of hypocrisy coming from people who think that government telling you to buckle up your seatbelt is unacceptable meddling in your personal life should be ringing alarm bells across this country.

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