In the Land of the Blind....

There is a notion about that all of America's problems are more than self-inflicted, they are purposeful. The question is the motive.

Michael Moore, proving the democratic principle that any man may speak, stated that Wisconsin was not going broke--despite its increasingly negative balance sheet--because there was wealth in the state that could be confiscated. Confiscated, like some foundationless third world soundtruck democracy. E.J. Dionne wrote in the Washington Post that the "We're broke" phrase that has been used recently is simply false. Interest rates are low so we can borrow and there are a number of "tools" that can be used like "taxes, layoffs, spending cuts, debt shifting". But who is willing to bell the cat with these tools? Romer has already said there is a direct correlation between raising taxes and decline in both GDP and employment. ( http://steeleydock.blogspot.com/2011/03/obamas-rock-and-hard-place.html) And who gets laid off? And whose projects are cut with the spending cuts? With the deficit in the trillions, the current Congress, both parties, can't seem to cut much. And of course there is the promise of the mysterious government "investment." We'll be able to see "government investment" in action soon in Japan, rapidly becoming the world's largest imaginable application of the "broken window theory."

According to Dionne, the motive for this "We're broke" talk is to decrease taxes for the rich. This seems pretty thin, especially with so much at stake. One would expect much more evil than tax breaks for friends if the economy is going to be crippled by nefarious manipulation. But maybe it is true. Maybe these people are easy to compromise, even over big topics. Maybe even as crooks they have a small vision.

The other side of the aisle sees the left's behavior over the last years more simply: It's treason. The idea is to overload the system with debt until it collapses so they can rebuild it to their liking. While this sounds totally insane it has had some traction because of the left's persisting association with old people with homicidal revolutionary pasts, like Ayers, who continue to float about the periphery like Polansky at a film event, staining everyone in sight.

Recently Glenn Beck set aside part of his show to attack the conservative darling James O'Keefe and his NPR "sting" operation because he thought it was dishonest. In the national debate with these other people, he sounds like Lincoln.