Modern Malefactors

I was going to decry the folly of John Boehner (R, Ohio), who occupies the Speaker’s chair and appears to think of himself as co-president, even though his party could not even carry Ohio. But behind Boehner – and often in opposition to him – stands the implacable right wing of the Republican Party. And behind them stand the vested interests of finance, whose pockets are stuffed with money and politicians – people like the Koch Brothers, the most venal twosome in America, and their lackeys like Sarah Palin, the most ludicrous. These people simply want to do away with government, which is the one thing that stands between them and a return to the robber-baron era of the 19^th century, when the country was dominated by those whom Teddy Roosevelt called “the malefactors of great wealth." How else can we explain their insistence that any additional budget revenues must come from a source other than taxes? Taxes are the way governments raise money. And right now the government needs money, not just to rein in the national debt, but more importantly, to rebuild the nation’s crumbling infrastructure. With corporations sitting on historic amounts of cash, the economy in a shambles because of the criminal behavior of the private financial system, and the world facing a grueling recession, it is time for our government to restore our highways and bridges, our public schools and universities, our national parks and transport systems.

This will cost money, but it will put people to work now creating an investment that will benefit the entire country for years to come.