Tom the Dancing Bug by Ruben Bolling for October 13, 2023

And it is.

I want to live on Counter Earth…unless I’m rich. Am I rich?

Nope. I’m a cartoonist. So I’m heading to Counter Earth and happiness!!!

Welcome to the Thatcher/Reagan world.

This could work, but I still prefer rounding them up and feeding them into wood chippers, Trillionaires first, then the billionaires. And that will put the fear of god into the millionaires!

Whenever Larry Summers warns about inflation and says unemployment is too low my response is that Harvard should fire him immediately so he can do his part.

A system in which more people earning more money is a bad thing is irretrievably broken.

I remember when Republican philosophy was to ignore poor people. Then came the Reagan years. Now, Republicans believe that poor people should be punished with tax increases and benefit cuts. Because the Republicans are such good Christians.

“Capitalism sucks” and so forth. Now, how can I get to Counter Earth? Is there a star gate or something?

It’s not comforting to know economists are equally hapless on both Earths

I will repeat myself here… Whaaaat?

The only The New Yorker cartoon that ever read (ironically, it was in an ECON 101 textbook that I had back in the early 80’s) had two guys at a cocktail party. One guy says to another, “I just found two economists that agree!”

The rich invented the trickle down fantasy because they knew the poor would never accept being told to go do something-or-other upwards on a rope.

Let’s try trickle up economics for awhile instead of the Hoover it up system we have now.

I simply would like to remind those modern subscribers of the trickle-down economic theory that the eventual downfall of the Roman Empire was a direct result of a very similar economic model where the middle class and poor were over-taxed in order to keep the rich wealthier, and for political control to be retained by a priviledged few.

Ironically, the only reason the Roman Empire was able to sustain itself economically for as long as it did was it was propped up by expansionism, slave labor, and political manupulation and exploitation of the masses. Sound familiar?

Amongst other things, I think ultra low interest rates for so long caused a lot of damage. Double-edged sword. Discuss.

Bizarro Earth.

There is no inflation. There is no lack of supply. There is only hoarding and price gouging. Raising interest rates only makes it more expensive to gain control of a source.

Wonder what Xof News thinks of all of that.

Note that the standard of proof is similar.

Except you don’t fight inflation by increasing unemployment; they have an inverse effect on one another. We fight inflation primarily by manipulation of bank rates. Nonetheless, taxing the rich seems like a good idea, even if it wouldn’t affect inflation.

I view economists in general as worthless. The neo-liberal idea of economics has one purpose and one purpose alone. To make the rich richer and to screw everybody else. The idiot/traitor reagan could have simply looked at Chile, where neo-liberalism had destroyed not only the economy but a democratic government as well. “One of the founders of neo-liberalism stated that ‘capitalism is more important than democracy.’”

“[Neo-liberalisms} Anonymity is both a symptom and cause of its power. It has played a major role in a remarkable variety of crises: the financial meltdown of 2007‑8, the offshoring of wealth and power, of which the Panama Papers offer us merely a glimpse, the slow collapse of public health and education, resurgent child poverty, the epidemic of loneliness, the collapse of ecosystems, the rise of Donald Trump.”

My quote is from George Monbiot

…..10 years later…on Counter-Earth…“Why are the shelves bare in Whole Foods. Why is there only one brand of government-issued bread?”“Why must I drive this government-issued electric buggy? There is no A/C and the only radio station is 24 hr propaganda?”“Why must I wait 10 months for a hip replacement made of wood? I’m in pain now”“Why must I show joyous emotion whenever the supreme Leader speaks, even though he put my brothers in labor camps?”Yes boys & girls. It seems that Counter-World is now in full blown socialist-dictator mode. Enjoy your government-issued potato dinner.

Keep the poor honest. Tax them until they can’t afford to bribe their politicians.

So on Counter Earth they steal from people without consequence in the name of restorative justice. That sounds just like our Earth.

“There’s no shortage of money. It’s just in the wrong hands.”