September 2005

September 07, 2005

Monopoly Money

From Fortune magazine's "Street Life" column for September 7:

Did you know that with everything that it has been through, Halliburton is now hitting all-time highs? Amazing. Up over $2.50 today to almost $65.

Don't know what Halliburton has "been through", or why it should be "amazing" that its stock is hitting all-time highs, as columnist Andy Server seems to acknowledge in his next sentence:

And why not, with all the work it has in front of it. Dick and Lynne must be happy!

What does it have in front of it, apart from providing "services" to the "Multinational Force" in Iraq for god-knows how long? Yes, of course: it's already secured one contract to clean up after Hurricane Katrina; and now "[President] Bush is asking lawmakers to approve another $51.8 billion to cover the costs of federal recovery efforts," "which is in addition to $10.5 billion already approved".

The reader may determine which is the more vile: Cheney's profiting from a war of agression conservatively estimated to have claimed 100,000 Iraqi lives while poisoning the environment with all manner of toxic substances, or Cheney's profiting from a natural disaster -- made immeasurably worse by the vacationing Administration's inaction -- estimated to have claimed up to 40,000 American lives while poisoning the environment with all manner of toxic substances.

According to Scottie McClellan, "The President's most important responsibility is the safety and security of the American people. He talks about that often. That is his most important responsibility." What happens when his Administration repeatedly fails, miserably, at its most important responsibility? Why, he hands out medals to those "responsible", then gets back to work on slashing taxes for the rich.

And the rest of us are expected to not only pay the salaries of the incompetent fucks running the country, but to shoulder the massive debt incurred by their fiscal policies. To add insult to injury, relief supplies from political enemies are not allowed into the country.

This blogger has advocated War Tax Resistance on innumerable occasions. But even those who gladly shovel 50% of each tax dollar into the military's insatiable maw must (or so one would think) be getting close to wondering why that hole in the ground seems to be getting deeper and deeper.

Will we soon see municipalities, states, or regions refusing to pay federal tax dollars, on the grounds that they're not getting their money's worth? There's no time like the present.

Start up a Tax Revolt organisation in your own community, won't you?