The Skeeter Daddle Diaries

Just when the unemployment numbers look like they’re heading into Great Depression range, the Republicans are balking on handing out any more stimulus or aid to anyone but the rich. Big Farma just got some money to keep the milk and meat production going, okay by me, but when it comes to, let’s call them the Little People, hell no, they aren’t going to help those who didn’t help themselves. The Big Boyz helped themselves all right, snapping up small business loans like they were rewards for using their TARP money from the first recession to buy their own stocks rather than trickle anything down to their employees.

The latest chutzpah from the GOP is to float the idea that the Little People, the folks who can’t pay the rent, who are behind on their credit cards, who lost their jobs, who probably lost their health insurance too, they can use their retirement money early to help them out of a tough situation. Up to 10,000 bucks would be taken out of their Social Security payments, plus a little interest for Uncle Sam. This is the Republican equivalent of letting them eat cake. Their own cake. But you owe the government some frosting later.

Part of what triggered the Great Recession was refusing to throw money at the problem, just stand back and see how it shakes out. If no one has money to spend, nothing good shakes out, everything grinds to a halt. It’s why we study history, to learn from our mistakes. States are going to bleed money with this Pandemic bringing business to a standstill. Taxes won’t be coming in, rents won’t get paid, landlords will go broke, more homeless, more health care issues, on and on. If deficits were the problem, maybe we wouldn’t have voted in corporate tax breaks a couple years ago under the GOP, but now, oh yeah, deficits are bad once again. Deficits will drag us down. Deficits will cut into profits and CEO salaries. It’s the Deficit, Stupid! Why would we bail out blue states who couldn’t control their budgets? Let them go bankrupt, Mitch McConnell advocated recently, as if any bankruptcy laws cover states going broke.

Compassionate conservatism was a lie back when and it’s a joke now. Compassionate corporatism, you bet. Welfare for the rich, count on it. Trump in 2020? Bring back Marie Antoinette, why don’tcha? Well, actually we got Melania. If it takes a Depression to wake this country up, I say bring back the guillotine too. Heads ought to roll, I don’t care if there’s nothing in em.

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