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In his weekly radio address a few weeks ago,
our esteemed president, His Royal Highness George W. Bush (Ruler of the Known Universe, King of Kings, Master of All He Surveys,
Scion of the House of Bush, long-term supporter of the House of Anheuser-Busch) urged Congress to cut taxes by $550 billion.
That tax cut, as everyone with an I.Q. higher
than 75 knows, was designed to further enrich the rich of America, who are also known as "the plutocracy," a term derived
from the Greek word "Pluto," or "god of the underworld."
In order to sell his tax cut to the handful
of Republican voters who are neither rich nor convinced they'll win the lottery next week, Mr. Bush said his tax cut would
create a million jobs.
A million jobs! That's an awful lot of hamburgers
to flip.
The New Yorker magazine was so impressed
by Mr. Bush's proposal that it did the math. And the way the math comes out is one job for every $550,000 of rich-folks tax
cut.
I'm impressed! And humbled! You mean those
rich folks would actually do that for us? For every half million dollars or so we shove into their pockets, they'd create
one whole job?
Such generosity! You rich folks are just
too good to us.
(Those one million jobs would replace the
one and one-half million jobs that went down the drain since Bush's last big tax cut, according to The New Yorker. According
to less optimistic sources, they'd be replacing the seven million jobs lost since Bush took office.)
As everybody with an I.Q. of 76 knows, America's
states, counties and cities are in dire financial straits. They're all spending more than they have, borrowing money and betting
the economy will improve soon.
How would it work out, I wonder, if instead
of providing a tax cut for the rich, Bush's Congress instead continued to tax the people who have used America's economic
system to amass wealth, and then give $550 billion of their tax dollars to the states?
(Rich people who don't like paying taxes
in the country that gave them the opportunity to make their fortunes should be encouraged to move to other countries more
suitable for them. I could suggest a few, but won't.)
If $550 billion of federal dollars were passed
along to the states, the average state would get $11 billion as its share. Do you think states like North Carolina or Minnesota
could use an extra $11 billion? If they had it, they might be able to keep their schools and libraries and hospitals in full
operation.
California's share of that $550 billion,
based on population, would be roughly $55 billion. Do you think California could use an extra $55 billion these days?
Or should that money go to the rich, who
will (heh-heh-heh) "create jobs" with it?
Almost two years ago, on July 23, 2001, when
the Dow Jones Industrial Average hovered around 10,400 and the experts were still two months away from declaring a recession,
a wise man asked what the government was going to do when it found out unemployed people don't pay taxes.
Okay, the writer wasn't a wise man, it was
me, lamenting the economy's free-fall and government's lack of acknowledgment of the obviously failing economy.
Only in recent months have politicians started
to rein in spending. Now, finally, with not nearly enough money coming in, they're starting to lay off employees, cut wages,
and trim services.
And guess what, folks? We have a huge shock
awaiting us. On July 1, 2003, we're going to experience what may be the largest single-day layoff of workers in American history.
July 1 is the day the new fiscal year ends.
It's the day when tons of government employees will be dropped from the payroll.
I don't have any statistics available (I
doubt anyone does), but I'd guess from 5 to 10 percent of all government employees will lose their jobs and start collecting
unemployment insurance on July 1.
That's the bad news. The good news is that
George W. Bush is still president and he has a secret plan to lead us out of the recession and into prosperity, full employment,
lasting peace, and another four years in the White House for him and a bright future for an as-yet-unnamed future Bush president.
I'm not kidding. Much as I dislike Bush,
I have to give him credit for manipulating the public in a way that would bring tears to P.T. Barnum's eyes. This man is good
at what he does.
Here's his secret plan. He will, sooner or
later, continue to crush his Axis of Evil, which, at last report, was Iraq, Iran and North Korea. However, axes being what
they are, Syria may join the club soon . . . and then there's the problem of Lebanon. You get the picture. What needs to be
destroyed will be destroyed. Today Iraq, tomorrow Saudi Arabia? Who knows?
What gets blown up must be rebuilt, so Bush's
success at destroying things will lead to many, many new labor opportunities. Before long, American contractors will have
jobs all over the world, which will mean a fat handful of new jobs for American experts (and millions of new jobs for local
people beaten down by war and willing to work for peanuts).
Finally, Bush will discover -- much to his
surprise -- that all the countries he's pulverized have riches under their soil, most often in the form of petroleum. So some
day he'll come to the stunning realization that the United States controls most of the world's petroleum sources. Goodby,
OPEC. Look out, Norway and Venezuela.
What that'll mean, come election time 2004,
is that the U.S. will control oil prices. That means you and I will be able to fill up our SUVs with fewer dollars. Those
dollars, now going to Arabian countries, will suddenly flow into the American economy.
Creating jobs.
Everybody will be happy. Republicans will
run around saying, "I told you so," and thumbing their noses at Democrats. Joe Lieberman will become an historical asterisk.
Al Sharpton will become an asterisk to the asterisk, and so on. Peace and glory and sunshine will reign, and there will be
dancing in the streets (provided the dancers don't touch; John Ashcroft will still be around).
Of course, I could be wrong.
Harley Sorensenšs columns appear most
Mondays on SFgate.com. To fully enjoy the Harley Sorensen column, you might listen as you read to "Republicans Rule The World," a ditty by Scott Morrison of Petaluma, CA. | 
