Rebates and Bush's Pyramid Scheme: What's gonna happen to us poor folk?

Rebates, Econo-history, And The Awakening Of The Rich


If this picture of a
hand giving money to
another hand doesn't
convince you then
nothing will.

Don't buy weed with your rebate or you'll be supporting terrorism. If you're marginally interested in the economy, i.e., how much scratch you gots, then you may be interested in learning that President Bush is going to pay your rent in May. Pretty cool huh? Wada-guy! Remember in 2001 when he bought you that xbox for voting for him? That was pretty sweet. Then you found out that you had to give the money back and by then the fan on your xbox had stopped working even though you were only half way through Grand Theft Auto: San Antonio. Well...deja-friggin-vu.

All kidding aside, even the economists don't like the idea and they have "econom" IN their job titles!


Slip on some adult diapers because I'm about to make you poop with knowledge.
Economists are reactionary, consciously ignore history, and like to lie for profit. Economists with the peoples' best interests at heart usually don't work as economists, they do bookkeeping for nonprofit organizations. One big lie they've been telling us is that the country isn't already in recession when the hard numbers, cross sectioned with the commonly defined recession indicators, actually tells us that the country has been in recession for a few months now. You knew that though. Why? Because it's not your job to lie about the economy. It's your job to be unemployed.

Michael Niemira, the guy with the quote up there in that little box, is the economist for shopping centers everywhere. Shopping centers are the ugliest things to litter the planet since the Japanese started breeding dogs. If a representative of soulless retail institutions that turn a blind eye to child and prisoner labor to increase their profits can speak out about the emptiness of rebates and actually choke out the words "tax relief", then you know that President Bush's plan looks like the "Hey, Koolaid" guy has been crashing through it like a practice wall.

History...or what Bush likes to call, "A bunch of stuff that happened."
The Bush administration is afraid of history. Plus, George W. Bush really likes to talk. So they came up with a solution. Why are they afraid of history? Because:
1) Reaganomics was a horrid failure as early as 1982 and no republican is willing to admit it.
2) George Bush Sr. was facing the same dilemma in 1992 because of the same old crapola, was (wisely) advised to do nothing and allow the economy to right itself, and that was one of the reasons he lost the election to Bubba. The W administration is afraid they may come out of this looking just as bad so they're doing something. It's "Okay! Everyone look busy!" economics.
3) Supply-side economics is a mathematical impossibility. It cannot work. Kittens are fuzzy, math isn't. At least math doesn't fuck up your furniture.
4) War only stimulates the economy if it creates jobs. The Iraq War has only created new terrorists. I suppose terrorism is a job of sorts, but how the hell do you tax it?
5) Rebates didn't work before. It is said that a telling sign of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again expecting different results. As if you need convincing that the country is being run by insane people.
6) Many republican economic intellectuals like to use Ancient Rome, FDR, and the Nazi Party as economic examples so to uphold their free-market rhetoric and make themselves look smart. The problem is that society never does what they want. Though the republicans were successful in convincing people to vote against their own economic interest and will probably be able to do it in the future, that doesn't mean they will not consistently end up with egg on their faces. Voters have short memories, yes, but their stomachs have long memories.


Stack of money
or stack of
starter logs...
you decide.

Rebates, like pyramid (ponzi) schemes, end up in the same place; the pockets of those who started them. Now, there is no quick fix and I have offered solutions to the economy before (see my journal), but here I'm talking about rebates specifically. Many have said that the rebates are not high enough for those who will plop it back into the economy quickly, i.e., the poor and middle class. That is true, but that argument doesn't address the fact that any rebates are a horrible idea. Cash advances on credit make situations worse. Sure, some economists can give me examples of instances when it doesn't. "This corporation did this and made this much." Those stories are the 1% of the time when things work out. Even the dumbest gambling junkie wouldn't take those odds. When you spend money, that money moves up the chain. The poor don't make enough to save. The rich live off of the large surplus of cash, stocks, and bonds they have. Why do they have these large surpluses that seem to get bigger? Is money magnetic? No. Money moves up the economic pyramid, but it isn't like an oil well. Once it gets to the top it doesn't pop and spray over the dancing masses. It stays at the top and might fund a children's hospital, but most likely will keep a few generations of their family members from having to cook or drive for themselves. Don't save the rebate. Put the money in your gas tank and watch where it ends up.

Rebates aren't about you...they're about War.
As much as the economists and talking heads on CNBC will divert your attention away from the policies of the Bush administration, the recession and economic woes lay directly at the feet of the War in Iraq. Rebates will only pad Bush's numbers as he slides out of office so that he can say, "Look, it only got REALLY bad AFTER I left office...hehe."

The tipping point has come. America's cocaine habit is about to land it in jail. Not because of the cocaine, but because it's not paying it's bills and doesn't have any friends left. America has been too much of a freeloading douche-bag for too long. The markets around the world are falling and the NYSE is about to be forced to become truly conservative, no longer republican. This last windfall, the last cash advance on America's credit card, this last consumer binge will leave the corporations with a choice. Either they choose plummeting stock and a dollar as weak as a toy poodle or finally admit to themselves that "conservative" now means "liberal".

**Check out my journal for more commentary and funny pictures**