Money Trees

First, sorry for such slow posting today--more personal stuff, and work, have cut into my time.

However, I've now seen some of the preliminaries to tonight's Jackson Square speech (I guess it's fitting that the dauphin address us there--maybe he can also spray on some silver or copper paint and do a frozen man act).
UPDATE: In comments, Murph suggests he carry a sign: "Will Dance for Money."
And Billmon is right: the era of big government, far from being over, has roared back to life with a vengence.

Shrub, according to this article (hat tip to Jeffrey), won't mention a price. I assume the reason is that, when all is said and done, any decent effort to rebuild (i.e., nation, or at least region-building) will by necessity make The Great Society seem almost miserly in comparison. Reasonable estimates of the cost come to Iraq-like numbers--$200 billion dollars or more, which can't sit well with small-government affecionados...although the same haven't done much eye-batting with the costs in Mesopotamia thus far. Still...it's pretty obvious to most sentient beings that the effort will have to be massive.

Which perhaps explains the lack of complaint by erstwhile small-government types who've realized, or at least become comfortable with, the idea that government need not be small when THEY'RE on the receiving end of chow doled from the federal chuck wagon. After all, it's hard to imagine any source of wealth in this country that DIDN'T begin, or thrive, with large subsidies from the gubmit.

So, despite the lack of numbers in tonight's media event (with the media conspicuous by their absence--evidently we're going to see a solo act, although I expect in the wings there will be security out the wazoo)--this speech, IF it's even modestly successful--not a given--will be as much a call to the gravy train (minus numbers) as anything. Harry Reid has already gone on record (no permanent link available--scroll down) with his concerns about this. He also noted the GOP's LACK of cooperation in setting up an independent commission to determine what went wrong with the disaster response.

And consider that it's now Karl Rove who's "in charge" of the "reconstruction effort." That alone makes me wince--shouldn't someone just a little less overtly political be in the catbird seat? The last thing this country needs for $200 billion dollars is fat contractors (paying less than the prevailing wage) constructing Potemkin Parishes for the benefit of a media I still don't fully trust.

Perhaps, though, the reconstruction effort will do one thing: wake people up to the idea that, like it or not, government, particularly at the federal level, has a role to play in the lives and welfare of the citizenry. And, while I doubt the gang running the show will see things this way, the fact is that a good bit of the reconstruction effort can be financed without additional tax burdens on the poor and middle class. Yep, that's right: rich people and corporations can--and should--accept that they may have to hold off on purchasing even more luxury items, or preferred shares of their favorite stock, and consider an investment far more worthy--their country. No, it won't pay six-figure dividends. But what price can you put on national stability...or, for that matter, a vital economic engine like the port, which, as so many have noted (so many times) helps supply, among other things, the gasoline to run their Hummers?

Over the next few months we'll get a clearer idea of just how the reconstruction effort is going--my own theory is that the success of the effort will be in inverse proportion to the number of contracts Halliburton gets their grubby fingers on. And the success of "the mission" will be critical: if it fails, well...I'd prefer not to really think about that, given that I've never considered 50 gallon drums of various petroleum distillates to be all that aesthetically pleasing.