Rolling Stone Rocks the Facts on the Economy

© Rolling Stone

"From the outset of the Obama presidency, in fact, Republicans have engaged in a calculated, across-the-board campaign to protect the tax privileges of the wealthiest Americans." ~ Rolling Stone

It's possible that I'm just a sucker for a good political piece published in Rolling Stone (I'm old enough to remember when being on the cover of the Rolling Stone was everything it was cracked up to be -- maybe it makes the mag I loved back in the day seem legit, and thus lends legitimacy to my personal sex, drugs and rock and roll phase). It's more likely, though, that I love this grittily good piece of hard news and investigative journalism delivered with just the right edge of eff you flair because it's good.

Whatever. At any rate, I'm recommending that you give this a read: "How the GOP Became the Party of the Rich ~ The inside story of how the Republicans abandoned the poor and the middle class to pursue their relentless agenda of tax cuts for the wealthiest one percent" in the November issue of Rolling Stone (see it online here). What happened to our economy and who did what when is laid out clearly and with only a hint of malice but a heaping helping of incredulity.

The story itself doesn't defy credence -- what's incredible is that today's GOP leaders can pretend, with straight faces, that what they are currently advocating ("No taxes, no way, especially not for rich people") is good for the American public and our nation's financial health. Not to mention that the current state of our financial health is so dreadful that people are marching on Wall Street and ordinary soccer moms are standing around with signs, demanding the ouster of corporations from politics. The American people -- some of us -- get it. We know we've been screwed. The GOP leaders don't get it that we get it. They're like frat boys pretending there's no keg in the back room when the dean shows up at the frat door.

The article's worth reading for, if nothing else, seeing the statements about today's GOP made by old school Republican stalwarts like former senator Alan Simpson, the Wyoming grouch who once seemed about as conservative as it was possible to be while still being in office (that's Wyoming for you -- and I lived there, so I know what I'm talking). For instance:

"You can look up my record: On conservatism and taxes I was better than Jesse Helms... I can say to you with deepest sincerity: If this country and this legislature are in thrall to Grover Norquist, we haven't got a prayer." ~ Alan Simpson to Rolling Stone