Pay No Attention to…

The blogging opposition to the Newest World Order has found an apt description of the tactics used by the powerful: misdirection.

In the US, hatred for AIG employees dominated headlines for a couple weeks while trillion dollar takeovers and trillion-dollar deficits were treated as asides. The current President issues an endless parade of strawmen, “I reject the notion that blah blah blah.” That which he rejects is not embraced by anyone. It’s empty rhetoric. Vocal smoke to obscure the true implications of his policies.

At the G20 economic summit, deep and unresolved disagreements about how to feed the government beast were swept aside. Instead, the spotlight was aimed at an agreement to ensnare a thimbleful of wealthy people trying to escape the maw of the entitlement beast. As their own countries decline, these G20 buffoons are setting tax policy in Bermuda.

Politicians are illusionists, not magicians. They cannot solve anything. Because, as Thomas Sowell reaosned, there are no solutions, only trade-offs. Government is not endowed with any supernatural power to make costs disappear or to pull wealth from thin air. As the electeds wave their arms around and make grand statements, behind the curtain or just offstage someone’s interest is being sacrificed.