Let them eat Gramm crackers
By
Max J. Castro
The
rich, with notable exceptions, always have had a high threshold for
the pain of lesser mortals. Marie Antoniette may not have uttered
those famous words — “Let them eat cake” — but the phrase
nevertheless rang true because it expressed the feelings of a whole
class.
Now
comes the man John McCain has credited with knowing as much as anyone
about the economy, Phil Gramm, who, in saying that there is no
problem with the economy, that it’s all a figment of our
imagination, a “mental recession,” and that we have become a
nation of whiners, nothing more, neatly expresses the attitude of the
whole right-wing Republican ruling elite that for more than a quarter
century has been transforming this country into a plutocracy.
Gramm’s
words come in the face of eight years of Republican misrule during
which only the very rich have gained while the middle class lost
ground and the poor nearly sank.
By
Max J. Castro Read Spanish Version
majcastro@gmail.com
The
rich, with notable exceptions, always have had a high threshold for
the pain of lesser mortals. Marie Antoniette may not have uttered
those famous words — “Let them eat cake” — but the phrase
nevertheless rang true because it expressed the feelings of a whole
class.
Now
comes the man John McCain has credited with knowing as much as anyone
about the economy, Phil Gramm, who, in saying that there is no
problem with the economy, that it’s all a figment of our
imagination, a “mental recession,” and that we have become a
nation of whiners, nothing more, neatly expresses the attitude of the
whole right-wing Republican ruling elite that for more than a quarter
century has been transforming this country into a plutocracy.
Gramm’s
words come in the face of eight years of Republican misrule during
which only the very rich have gained while the middle class lost
ground and the poor nearly sank. This in the face of astronomical gas
prices, rising unemployment, a sinking stock market, a housing
crisis, and the threat of a financial meltdown.
Gramm’s
words are outrageous, but they don’t hurt nearly as much as the
actions of the Bush administration and Republicans in Congress,
including Gramm, over several decades. While in the Senate, Gramm
himself was always the handmaiden of business, and he is as
responsible as anyone for creating the climate of scant oversight
that brought on the Enron scandal and the current financial crisis.
More recently, the administration and Republicans in Congress have
shown their willingness to ignore the health care interests of
Medicare patients and low income children to satisfy the insurance
companies and show fealty to laissez faire ideology.
Despite
McCain’s disavowal of Gramm’s statement, it is clear from
McCain’s own policy positions that he will continue the top-down
class war that Bush has carried out for nearly eight years: generous
tax cuts for the very rich, nothing for people losing their jobs and
their homes.
The
choice between McCain and Obama, on the war and the economy, is
stark. Do Americans really want four more years of piñatas for
plutocrats? If so, this country is not in the throes of a mental
recession. It’s suffering from a total breakdown of reason.
