Bread & Circuses

Harry and the Pelosicrats, at the urging of Our Great Benefactor, slipped a few extra gifts into the spendulus bill, according to this very serious WaPo article. I'll ask a few questions, since the dullards in the press are still too busy drooling over our new president:

The final bill, approved by Congress on Friday, includes $8 billion in unplanned spending specifically requested by President Obama for regional high-speed rail projects

How much extra will this $8 billion cost? High speed rail will not pay for itself, it will have to be maintained by money the government takes from you and me, like Amtrack is now. If it were a financially smart idea, entrepreneurs would have already built it.

No pork package would be complete without an additional handout to a bloated failure:

The GM language emerged after the automaker warned that several conditions in its $13.4 billion loan agreement with the federal government could trigger tax liabilities of between $7 billion and $10 billion. As a result, the company argued, it might have to devote a large portion of its loan to paying taxes.

God forbid GM should have to pay taxes like the rest of us. Notice how only the federal government can cause you to incur a $10 billion liability by giving you a handout?

Most disgusting of all is how myriad special interest groups treat the Federal Government as a million-teated hog, a kind of porcine Ishtar, sacred prostitute of the Temple of Irresponsible Self-Indulgence. With just a gesture of the finger, Caesar has directed we throw an additional $8 billion into this bacchanalia.

Bread and Circuses...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/14/AR2009021401724.html