Wednesday
Hats off to my wife: Today marks 20 years with me. She's given me seven wonderful children. I've given her fits. She's given me a cheerful disposition. I've given her a measure of lachrymose. But tonight, I make it up: We're going to the newest Indian casino, and I feel lucky. After I hit big, I'm going to buy her something real nice. Like a duo-bag vacuum cleaner or something. And if I don't win big, I'll confess my love over a few beers at dinner this evening.
Everything is Stimulus!
One in seven Americans is on food stamps. Is that a bad thing? Not according to the Obama administration. Its Secretary of Agriculture says food stamps create jobs and are a direct stimulus to the economy. You think I'm making this up? Check the link yourself. The video is a little less than ninety seconds long.
Rise of the Zombies
Of course, the Secretary doesn't address what happens when you create a huge underclass that can use their federal benefits for Big Gulp Mountain Dews, energy drinks, and even casino gambling chips. What happens is, you get a zombie class and if the zombie class doesn't continue to get the free stuff, they revolt. Bill Bonner has the analysis:
Have the riots reached New York or Boston yet?
As Dear Readers know, we have wondered what this Great Correction really intends to correct. At a minimum, it seems destined to correct the 50+ year build-up of debt. But maybe it will destroy modern social-welfare governments too.
The model is simple enough: citizens give up a portion of their freedom and a portion of their money. In return they get safety”¦protection”¦and something for nothing. The typical voter believes he will get more than he paid for”¦he counts on his government to rob those richer than he is and transfer the loot to him.
The system works ”“ for a while. But as these governments mature they become more expensive, rigid, and zombified. More and more people find ways to get something for nothing. More and more join the underclass, because it is easier to live at someone else's expense, even if you can't live very well. Pretty soon, there are zombies all over the place.
The Cameron government in the UK ”“ like almost all social welfare governments ”“ spends more than it can afford. It realized it had to stop feeding the zombies so much. It announced cut backs. This week, the zombies counterattacked.
“They don't treat me right,” said one zombie quoted in the International Herald Tribune. “They just give me enough money to eat and watch TV.”
When they are not eating at taxpayer expense”¦or watching TV at taxpayer expense”¦in an apartment paid for at taxpayer expense”¦wearing clothes furnished at taxpayer expense, they are likely communicating by cellphone or Blackberry or I-phone, also provided at taxpayer expense. This week, the zombies got in touch with one another and decided to upgrade their lifestyles by breaking into shops and stealing things. That too, was at taxpayer expense. But it wasn't an expense authorized by the peoples' representatives in Parliament. The zombies had declared war.
The British feds were outraged. They had spent so much money on these people. Why were they biting the hands that fed them? Ah”¦you know the answer, Dear Reader. Because the system had turned almost a whole generation of people into zombies. Zombies are used to getting something for nothing. If they get it from the feds ”¦or take it directly, what is the difference?
And what else do they have to do? Watching TV all day is boring. For a brief time this week, zombies were on the march.
It probably won't be the last time. The Zombie Wars have begun.
We could do a lot to mitigate the possibility of street warfare by merely restricting what food stamps can be used for. Limit them to bread, milk, meat, and vegetables. No ice cream, no soda, no energy drinks, no candy. This would be an easy measure to implement and it wouldn't create a hardship on our newly-emerged permanent underclass (yes, I'm aware of the oxymoronic nature of that last phrase, but I'm even more painfully aware that it's accurate). Then when the government's charge card goes dry, we wouldn't be taking away vices. Sure, starving people get angry, but at least we wouldn't be taking away their Froot Loops.
