A fine distraction

When, as a small child, I became ill and had to take a pill, my parents would crush it into a powdered form, hide it in the middle of a spoonful of ice cream, and feed it to me. Like skilled magicians, they were thus able to distract my attention from what they were trying to accomplish.

The same legerdemain is being practiced by those seeking to slip yet another taxpayer-subsidized transfer of wealth to corporate interests. The "ice cream," in this instance, takes the form of (a) creating the bogeyman that corporate executives might receive multi-million dollar bonuses from the proposed bailout, and (b) that such possibilities will be specifically precluded by the bailout legislation. "We will take care of that problem right now," the politicos promise. It is thus hoped that Boobus will be sufficiently distracted from a $700 billion act of grand theft, by the assurance that a few million dollars will not be going to CEOs and other execs.

Full essay.