Thursday, July 2, 2009

WWWD (*What Would W Do?)

An armed guard poses beside pallets of $100 bills in Baghdad

There's no question that the US economy is hurting. Unemployment is at record levels, retail sales are down, energy prices are heading back up, things are looking more than a little gloomy.

As odd as it sounds, it may be time to look at a tactic used by the Bush Administration at the height of the Iraq war.

I'd like to propose to President Obama that he load $12 billion dollars in cash onto pallets and ships it to the Midwest on Air Force transports. As happened with the $12 billion dollars W shipped off to Iraq, the money would quickly disappear, leaving nothing but a few scraps of wood and a crumpled $20 or two hiding in the weeds.

But that $12 billion would fairly quickly reappear. It would show up in money paid to utility companies for past due accounts, to car dealerships for new or late model pick ups, to fast food restaurants, video game arcades, local bars, gentlemen's clubs (might be best to ship a couple tons of $1 dollar bills in the mix), supermarkets, coffee houses, etc.

W may have had the right idea, just the wrong country.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Would you please advise on how you know Fox "News" is behind the protests? In other words, your source?

Thanks.

Stan Denski said...

Fox News is throwing some serious promotional resources behind its coverage of the conservative-driven, anti-tax "Tea Party" movement. The network is encouraging viewers to participate in protests, which it plans to cover live from at least four locations across the country. Now Media Matters says, the network has gone one teabag too far.

Fox News is making a mockery of its famous slogan, the progressive media watchdog says:

Despite its repeated insistence that its coverage is "fair and balanced" and its invitation to viewers to "say 'no' to biased media," Fox News has frequently aired segments encouraging viewers to get involved with "tea party" protests across the country, which the channel has described as primarily a response to President Obama's fiscal policies.

The Media Matters item goes on to beat up Fox for dozens of recent on-air statements it views as too favorable of the tea party movement, such as Glenn Beck's exhortation to "celebrate with Fox News" on tax day.

Fox's Tea Party cheerleading stands in stark contrast to the studied silence observed by CNBC, whose own Rick Santelli got this whole movement started. Since Santelli's impromptu rant blasting government spending on bank bailouts and mortgage relief, he and his network have kept their distance.