As Andrew Sullivan reminds us, socialism isn't cheap. The cost of the Bush/Paulson form of socialism is lightyears beyond what humane Scandinavian countries (targets of the "socialist" smear from how many Americans every day of the year?) spend on making sure their citizens have smooth roads, good healthcare, and so many other things we are expected to sneer at.
American's own special brand of socialism is costing us, at the latest estimate, $700 billion (not the mere $500 billion reported yesterday). Please sit down before reading the New York Times' latest on what it calls "an ambitious effort to transfer the bad debts of Wall Street into the obligations of American taxpayers."
"The proposal was stunning for its stark simplicity: less than three pages, it would raise the national debt ceiling to $11.3 trillion. And it would place no restrictions on the administration other than requiring semi-annual reports to Congress, allowing the Treasury to buy and resell mortgage debt as it sees fit."
Me? I'm sticking to my hunch that all this is further proof of the administration's scheme to bankrupt the country. What parts of the budget can we cut to pay down this enormous debt? Social Security? Healthcare? Education? All of these enemies of the right, that domestic axis of evil, can now be slain -- snicker-snack! -- with Bush's vorpal blade. See? That was easy! Congress will make its usual retreat into the tulgey wood.