weblog/wEssays	home
	The Great Karmic Unraveling   (October 24, 2005) "The divine wrath is slow indeed in vengeance, but it makes up for its tardiness by the severity of the punishment." As a non-partisan voter, I note without any partisan schadenfreude that second terms are not kind to U.S. presidents. Those few who've earned another four years (Reagan and Clinton) have seen their ships of state run aground on the shoals of over-reach or scandal: the absurd entanglements of the Iran-Contra Affair for Reagan and the Monica farce for Clinton. Both were entirely needless; if Reagan wanted to bypass Congressional spending limits to fund the Contras, he could have called upon all his wealthy pals rather than embroil the nation in a tawdry (and illegal) scheme involving the loathesome Iranian regime. As for Clinton, if he couldn't keep his zipper up, then he could have had the good sense and strength of character to admit it openly and show some contrition rather than grimly stonewall the consequences of his adolescent insecurities. Now we are witnessing what can only be described as the Great Karmic Unraveling of the Bush Administration. Chief aides of both the President and Vice-President may be indicted this week, and with good reason: imagine their outrage had it been a Democrat who exposed a C.I.A. agent and her husband to possible targeting by the nation's enemies. Clearly, someone leaked Plame's identity to the press, and they should go to jail for that. If someone tries to mislead the investigation or lie about their role, then they too should spend time in the Federal Pen. Then there's the war in Iraq, which is obviously going badly because Bush and his team rushed to war without adequate planning for the aftermath. Expertise was available for such planning, but the ideologues would have nothing to do with mere expertise. There are any number of sources confirming this appalling lack of planning; check out this one in the L.A. Times ( free online registration required; it's worth it). Then there's the great unraveling of an economy utterly dependent on a spendthrift Federal government and consumer, voraciously borrowing 80% of the entire planet's savings each and every year just to sustain the debt monster which is the U.S. economy. With debt spiraling into the trillions and the current account deficit exploding to $800 billion per year, this is the very picture of unsustainable debt and trade imbalances. It's worth repeating: "The divine wrath is slow indeed in vengeance, but it makes up for its tardiness by the severity of the punishment." * * * copyright © 2005 Charles Hugh Smith. All rights reserved in all media. I would be honored if you linked this wEssay to your site, or printed a copy for your own use. * * *
	weblog/wEssays	home