Something needs to be done about our long-term structural deficit. And any feasible political solution is going to be extremely sub-optimal. I get that. I don’t expect a bipartisan commission to issue recommendations that I think are fair, or logical, or even supportable. In the end, I have to weigh the harm caused by their recommendations against the harm of doing nothing. But Eskine Bowles is making me sick, and the co-chairman’s mark-up is so counterproductive that it makes it hard to see any difference between the parties. I mean, seriously, they want to increase income inequality and shovel even more money to the ultrarich? The Democratic chairman signed on for this?
So, so you think you can tell
Heaven from Hell,
Blue skys from pain.
Can you tell a green field
From a cold steel rail?
A smile from a veil?
Do you think you can tell?
When I look at Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson, I don’t think I can tell. And as much as it pains me to say it, Obama is responsible for this travesty. Yeah, I am damn glad he is president, and there’s no one out there right now that I’d want to replace him with. I admire many things about him, and I am comforted that we have someone who is measured, smart, and analytical in the White House for a change. And I know what kind of tiger he is riding. The president is there for, at most, eight years. He or she cannot change the fundamental character of this country or it’s political architecture on a dime. But my patience is getting tried by the ongoing war machine, by the national security state, and by crap like this proposal from the Deficit Commission. In spite of this, I am even more impatient with the opposition and their refusal to acknowledge the threat of climate change.
And did they get you to trade
Your heros for ghosts?
Hot ashes for trees?
Hot air for a cool breeze?
Cold comfort for change?
And did you exchange
A walk on part in the war
For a lead role in a cage?
The country is off is la-la land, and our leaders are failing us. They are over there somewhere in an alternative universe. I wish they were here.
