No Blood from a Stone?

There is no end of disaster prognosis, and no shortages of obfuscation and confusion, including the President's budget, the Republican response, etc. The problems are not new, but denial as national policy is a bit more endemic. I've written earlier about the problems of entitlement attitudes and denial, and these are not restricted to those who depend upon social welfare programs, of course.

What about the CEOs and their families who desperately need bonus packages to maintain life styles which have enormous built-in costs, and lifestyle necessities? And speaking of lifestyle necessities, how are people throughout our society going to be able to maintain their so-called sanity without the cushions of privilege unknown to those on social welfare? There are so many safety valves that need massaging.

What would Thorsten Veblen think of this era, the man who wrote "The Theory of the Leisure Class," in which "the opium of the masses" might seem extreme tame now-a-days? As things tighten down we are going to see those attempting to squeeze blood from stones look to more than Biblical references for solace. Alternative economists will be sought after, eg. the "barefoot" economist from Chile, Manfred Max Neef, rather than allowing those aligned with Wall Street and corporate academia to "blow smoke." Time's a wasting, and so many of us depend on procrastination to get by.