It's time to begin spreading the wealth, Robin Hood style. Take from the rich and give to the poor.
If that sounds like communism to you, it isn't, it's capitalism.
As one who reads the business press seven days a week, I cannot begin to count the number of articles published recently supporting the government stimulus checks -- not because business people like government giveaways generally (except in the form of no-bid contracts) but because it doesn't take an MBA to know what people are going to do with those checks.
They're going to buy stuff.
That's how our system works. The hapless consumer is merely a passthrough as the $1400 makes its way from Uncle Sam to Wall Street.
We are just temporary hosts to the newly-minted dollars, much like our bodies are temporary hosts to the SARS-CoV-2. Back during the brief moment that the term "corporate welfare" was in vogue, this might have been controversial, but not now.
If more check recipients would use the money to pay down debts, they'd be doing something more constructive than acquiring more goods.
In fact, a policy that would actually affect people in a meaningful way would be debt relief, especially college loan forgiveness. It's in our collective interest to produce well-educated young adults who can move into the economy as productive workers free of a sharecropper's burden, but no one's had the political will to do that yet.
Bernie Sanders is right -- college should be free to anyone from a family earning under $125,000/year. You can quibble with the price point, but the principle is valid. Even if his ideas become reality, we'll need to do something for the generations now carrying debt -- they must be grandfathered in.
I like that phrase -- grandfathered -- it has a nice ring to it. I'm especially embracing my decision to turn that noun into a verb these days any chance I get. The entire advance of human civilization took a quantum leap once we figured out how to treat the diseases that previously confined most lifespans to 40 years or so because that allowed grandparents to enter the picture.
But you don't reach the point where you can actually advise people honestly until the decisions they face are similar to those you made far enough in the past that you won't be passing that way again yourself.
Now I know I specialize in ridiculously long sentences, but please read that one again. I'll help:
You don't reach the point where you can actually advise people honestly until the decisions they face are similar to those you made far enough in the past that you won't be passing that way again yourself -- this time around.
I think I've probably made my point now.
Within our extended family, we have a member who is the head of one of Europe's soccer teams. He has Covid, as do 28 of the 29 players on his roster. While we hope he recovers completely and soon, we also are asking -- Le seul gars qui reste libre de Covid peut-il jouer les 11 positions?
Finally, and amazingly, the only film I saw this past year among the Oscar nominees,"My Octopus Teacher," won last night. Congratulations on a lovely documentary that reminds us that all life -- and all love -- is sacred.
***
The headlines:
* Bolstered by popular support, U.S. President Joe Biden plans to take from the rich to give to the poor, aided by advisers keen to address economic disparities and stop companies from avoiding paying taxes. Biden on the campaign trail in 2019 first signaled that he hoped to hike taxes on investment gains paid by the wealthy as a way to fund social programs, in that case healthcare.The then-candidate relied on research from economists with roots in academia and at think tanks. As president, he brought these advocates of progressive taxation, or a system where tax rates increase as income goes up, into the White House. (Reuters)
* Americans give Biden mostly positive marks for first 100 days, Post-ABC poll finds (WaPo)
* Michigan became hotspot as variants rose and vigilance fell (AP)
* As Covid-19 Devastates India, Deaths Go Undercounted -- Fatalities have been overlooked or downplayed, understating the human toll of the country’s outbreak, which accounts for nearly half of all new cases in a global surge. (NYT)
* India ‘shaken’ by new coronavirus surge, says prime minister, urging everyone to get vaccinated (WaPo)
* U.S. Is Under Pressure to Release Vaccine Supplies as India Faces Deadly Surge -- The Biden administration is blocking the export of supplies that Indian vaccine makers say they need to expand production. (NYT)
* The Latest: Fauci says US considering virus aid to India (AP)
* The Post-Pandemic Office Is Already Here—in Australia -- Australia, where Covid-19 cases are low, is at the vanguard of world-wide efforts to reopen offices. The country provides a window into what office life might look like elsewhere in the coming months. (WSJ)
* Biden’s Bet on a Climate Transition Carries Big Risks -- The president’s plans to cut emissions in half by 2030 relies heavily on a government effort to steer the development of new industries, but business leaders are fretting over the rapid timeline. (NYT)
* A churning Golden State on the eve of new population numbers (WaPo)
* Tower Of Babble: Nonnative Speakers Navigate The World Of 'Good' And 'Bad' English (NPR)
* The big Pentagon internet mystery now partially solved -- A very strange thing happened on the internet the day President Joe Biden was sworn in. A shadowy company residing at a shared workspace above a Florida bank announced to the world’s computer networks that it was now managing a colossal, previously idle chunk of the internet owned by the U.S. Department of Defense. That real estate has since more than quadrupled to 175 million addresses — about 1/25th the size of the current internet. (AP)
* Maxine Waters’s Long History of Reckless Rhetoric (Opinion/WSJ)
* In Poland, an L.G.B.T.Q. Migration As Homophobia Deepens -- An escalation in verbal attacks by the Polish government, with the support of the Roman Catholic Church, as well as the threat of physical violence on the streets of many cities, has triggered an exodus of gay people. (NYT)
* Indonesia says 53 crew of lost sub are dead, wreckage found (AP)
* Fire from oxygen tank blast in Baghdad COVID-19 hospital kills 82 (Reuters)
* Terrorism Fears Feed the Rise of France’s Extreme Right -- The far-right leader Marine Le Pen called for “hundreds of thousands of illegals” to be deported. Her message resonates after the fatal stabbing of a police officer on Friday. (NYT)
* Elon Musk to Add ‘Saturday Night Live’ Host to His Résumé -- The CEO of Tesla and SpaceX is scheduled to headline the long-running NBC late-night comedy show on May 8. (WSJ)
* Report: U.S. Still Leads World With Highest Density Of Kevins (The Onion)
***
"The One I Loved Back Then (The Corvette Song)," written by G Gentry, sung by George Jones
For some beer and cigarettes
The old man took my money
As he stared at my Corvette
He said, I had one just like her son,
A 1963
'Til the man down at the
Bank took her from me
[Chorus:]
Oh, She was hotter than a two dollar pistol
She was the fastest thing around
Long and lean, every young man's dream
She turned every head in town
She was built and fun to handles, son
I'm glad that you dropped in
She reminds me of the one I loved back then.
Then, I handed him my keys and said,
Here take her for a spin
The old man scratched his head, and said
Then he looked at me and grinned
He said son you just don't understand
It ain't the car I want
It's the brunette in your 'vette that turns me on.
[Chorus:]
I had one that was hotter than a two dollar pistol
She was the fastest thing around
Long and lean, every young man's dream
She turned every head in town
She was built and fun to handles, son
I'm glad that you dropped in
She reminds me of the one I loved back then.
[Chorus:]
Lord, she was hotter than a two dollar pistol
She was the fastest thing around
Long and lean, every young man's dream
She turned every head in town
She was built and fun to handles, son
I'm glad that you dropped in
She reminds me of the one I loved back then.
She reminds me of the one I loved back then...
-30-
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