ManicDDaily

I’m a bit disheartened to do much of a post tonight. As followers of this blog know, I have lots of things weighing me down lately, but right at this very instant, it’s the impasse over the debt ceiling, specifically the speeches tonight by President Obama and Speaker of the House John Boehner.

It’s a hard issue for Obama. He’s not someone who likes to dumb down, to promote a point through manipulative oversimplification. Sometimes, his reticence in this area can make his speeches seem brusque and cold.

John Boehner, on the other hand, goes for the jugular of dumbing down. He carefully omits any/many facts that do not propound his views. He doesn’t seem to mind, for example, characterizing tax increases on the very wealthiest, “taxes on the American People” (as if we all live up there with the top 2%.) He also seems to ignore the massive cuts that Obama has offered, or the fact that the debt ceiling reflects payment for past commitments (as opposed to new ones). Oh, and isn’t it convenient to ignore the fact that the fundamental economic meltdown in the last few years occurred not only before Obama took office, but before he was even elected? And what about that inimitable George W. Bush combination of tax cuts and two wars?

Then there’s the question of how jobs in fact are created? Are they really made through the accumulation of more and more wealth (by oil and gas companies and hedge fund managers) as Republicans seem to assert? Doesn’t demand (that is, money in the pockets of poor and working and middle class people) have anything to do with it?

In the midst of all this turmoil, Reuters reports that LVMH (owns Luis Vuitton/Moet/Hennessy/ Hermes/ Burberry among others), the luxury goods group, is prepared tomorrow to report dazzling first half profits “in the latest indication the luxury sector has been shielded from global economic concerns.”

So many jobs in champagne.