Help is on the Way

This week is economy week for John McCain, so it's worth giving some more scrutiny to McCain's economic policy proposals. For example, suppose that you, like so many Americans in these topys-turvey times, are a large and hugely profitable oil company. Your coffers are groaning under the weight of record profits driven by sky-high commodities prices. And you earn your living by poisoning the planet, all the while plowing a share of your profits back into bribes to ensure that the policy environment leaves most people with few viable alternatives to purchasing your product. You've got a tough life, and John McCain has a plan for you, a reduction in the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 25 percent.

The five largest oil companies in America would collectively save $3.8 billion per year under this plan, offering some change you can believe in if you're an ExxonMobil executive. But don't worry, it's not as if he only has plans for oil executives. No. Suppose you're in your late fifties or early sixties and looking to retire soon, but worried you won't be able to since so much of your wealth was tied up in your house and now the market's gone soft. Well never fear, John McCain has a plan to cut your Social Security benefits in an unknown manner and by an unknown amount in order to balance the budget in the face of his huge corporate tax cut.

After all, who needs Social Security when you can retire on a Senator's pension plus live off your heiress wife's vast fortune? In a world where the typical family owns eleven houses and lets their dependent kids spend $50,000 per month on mommy's credit card, there's no real role for the government in providing retirement security.