The economy would recover if everyone started spending again. But who goes first?
The American Hallucination
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A wag in the New York Times pointed out that the current ARM mortgage crisis owes at least as much to predatory borrowing as it does to predatory lending (which is admittedly a huge problem). I own a home now, but I can’t help wondering why renters–people who can’t afford to buy a home–should pay higher taxes to support those who own? It’s already pretty crazy that the Army Corps of Engineers spends millions to shore up beaches to save homes owned by multimillionaires.
Support the Ex-Troops
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A growing number of Iraq War veterans are turning up homeless. Originally I was just going to republish the cartoon I did predicting that this would happen, which I drew at the height of the Yoo-Ess-Ay-Rocks hype in 2003, but I couldn’t find it in time for my deadline. Besides, this point is one I wanted to make in more than as an “I told you so.” “Support the troops,” always a meaningless phrase, has been rendered obsolete by Iraq vet homelessness.
