social darwinism, barak obama and syriana

George Clooney wants Barak Obama to run for President, and, given what the Senator’s been saying lately, I think he’d be my choice too… Here’s a clip from Reuters:

Republicans controlling the federal government practice Social Darwinism, a discredited philosophy that in economics and politics calls for survival of the fittest, according to a Democratic U.S. senator.

Sen. Barak Obama of Illinois, a fast-rising Democratic star, told Florida party members that only a philosophy among Republicans of sink or swim explains why some Hurricane Katrina victims in New Orleans still live in cars while Republicans in Washington prepare next week to enact $70 billion in tax breaks…

On the subject of those new tax breaks for the wealthy, here’s a clip from a report by the Center of Budget and Policy Priorities:

The House is expected to consider the Ways and Means Committee tax-cut reconciliation bill this week. The bill would cost $56 billion over five years and provide a two-year extension of the capital gains and dividend tax cuts, starting in 2009. But three additional tax-cut proposals have also been added to this week’s House schedule: a one-year extension of relief from the Alternative Minimum Tax, costing $31billion; tax incentives for Gulf Coast states affected by Hurricane Katrina, expected to cost about $7 billion; and a package of five small tax provisions that were not included in the reconciliation tax bill.

Together, these four tax-cut bills would likely cost a total of at least $90 billion over the next five years. Because the capital gains and dividend tax cuts continue to lose revenues outside the five-year window covered by reconciliation, the cost of these tax-cut measures would likely exceed $115 billion over ten years.

These tax cuts would significantly benefit upper-income households. More than three-quarters of the overall tax-cut benefits from these different measures — some $70 billion over five years — would go to households with incomes above $100,000, a group that makes up 14 percent of all U.S. households. And households with incomes over $1 million would receive an average tax cut of $32,000 in 2009 from the capital gains and dividend tax cut alone…

Obama’s absolutely right, and I think we all know it. We’re all sitting idly by, scared to death of what might happen to our own families, while the administration bankrupts our nation and then uses that fact to justify their wholesale obliteration of the social services Americans have worked so hard to establish over the course of the past hundred years… The New Deal is in jeopardy. The 40 hour work week is in jeopardy. Social Security is jeopardy. This is not an issue of Republicans vs. Democrats. This is about the future of our nation, and someone credible needs to step forward and say the obvious — an American aristocracy is being formed while the rights of the majority are being trampled. And, guess what? Hillary Clinton, who voted with the President to send our sons and daughters into Iraq, isn’t going to be that person… We need someone that not only speaks the truth, but inspires us to make America a great nation once again, and that person may very well be Barak Obama.

As much as I’d like to keep writing about this, I just realized that today’s New York Times magazine is the “Year in Ideas” issue, and that’s like a national holiday around here at MM.com… It’s upstairs waiting for me right now, and I need to go to it.

Oh, speaking of Clooney, would anyone like to go see “Syriana” with me after the zombie attack Friday night? I’ll be painted grey and covered in bits of gore, but otherwise good company.