Tax rebate?

So, our leaders are thinking of giving us all a tax rebate, adding to the federal deficit. We might as well be getting it from Beijing, since the Chinese are rapidly buying up our debt with their trade surplus. And what will we do with the money? Many of us, myself included, would use it to repay credit card debt. In that case the money will pass from one lender to another. Can anyone tell me how this will help our economy?

President McCain?

There are many things to like about John McCain. He is trying to be honest about his beliefs, even in the face of hostility from his own party. He is avuncular. He is a war hero. He has a low-key, down home delivery.

But, oh, some of his ideas! They sound hare-brained to me, even dangerous. Like using ex-Chair Greenspan as a principal financial advisor. That devotee of Milton Friedman and Ayn Rand wants to do away with most government regulation. The ghosts of Jay Gould, William Frick and Diamond Jim Brady must be stirring in whatever special hell they reside thinking of the fun their present-day counterparts would have. We've already seen a taste of it, with the attitudes of the FCC, the CPSC, and the FDA toward industry.

And then there are his ideas about health care. One was to pay physicians to keep people well instead of caring for their illnesses. How many of them would switch out of cancer therapy, AIDS treatment, diabetes care etc. into running gyms and fat farms? John, John! Perhaps his critics are right. Perhaps the Cong did a bit of damage.

I still like and admire him, though.