Time for a revolution?

Paul Krugman writes about a “populist rage building in this country” because of the imbalance of corporate bailout versus lacking safety net for private citizens. I hope he is right, not just with regard to health care. But, this is the US and we are dumb and complacent. In France, people are marching in the streets already...

America in Ruins

Let me see if I get it together: “Private is good, public is bad. Private is good, because we care for what we own. Public is bad, because everything gets wasted.” Oh well, a recent report about America’s infrastructure (I heard it on Georgia Public Radio Jan 29, 2009 but was unable to find an online link) gave the nation a D (and Georgia a C). And, as the spokesperson of the surveying engineering association emphasized, this has to be addressed, economic crisis or not. Thank you to all those who have plundered and wasted our public funds for huge tax giveaways and unnecessary wars over the last eight years instead of providing for healthcare and a decent infrastructure! You have done a wonderful job, now please go and hide.

Slapping Obama in the Face

Not that we needed any more proof of Republican hypocrisy, but their refusal to go along, even with a few symbolic votes, with the Democratic stimulus plan belies previously announced intentions of reaching across the isle. The reasons for this refusal, given by Republican leader Boehner, also indicate that Republicans have not realized the utter failure of their mainstream governing philosophy: Privatization, massive tax cuts for the wealthy, and the trickle down effect did not work! In fact, these ideas were never conservative to begin with, at least in the true sense of the term conservative. There’s an interesting op-ed piece in today’s (Jan 29, 2009) Atlanta Journal Constitution by Mickey Edwards, former congressman from Oklahoma and author of “Reclaiming Conservatism”, in which he argues that the current GOP cannot claim the label conservatism nor the mantle of Reaganism. While I have some reservations about his characterization of Reagan as a reformer of government, his piece is, overall, a pretty sober analysis of the ruinous state in which the GOP finds itself.