The education of the president-elect

The great thing about being young and stupid is that you have no idea what can happen.

President-elect Barack Obama is not stupid, but he is young. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid are not young, but, well, we'll leave it at that.

It was easy to stand in front of cameras during the Bush administration and complain that the "Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest" were preventing the rest of us from enjoying free and unlimited access to the world's finest health care, good educations, and high-paying jobs building something to name after Robert Byrd.

It's not so easy now, when the impending reality of tax hikes on dividends, capital gains, inheritances, incomes and business profits, not to mention punitive new regulations, has sent capital fleeing from financial markets, leaving Wall Street with sellers and no buyers.

It was easy to stand in front of cameras during the Bush administration and whine about the president's indifference to global warming. It was easy to preach the gospel of cap-and-trade schemes and higher taxes on fossil fuels, and to speak brainlessly of saving the planet by boosting energy costs high enough to discourage consumption.

It's not so easy now, with the scars from four-dollar-a-gallon gasoline still red and welted over the national carotid artery.

So here's something to cheer you up, when you're feeling suicidal over what the energy spikes and financial collapse have cost you.

Think of how much they may ultimately save you.


Copyright 2008

Editor's note: You might be interested in the earlier posts, "The almost pointless fear of global warming" and "Obama's séance."

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