Tom Toles cartoon pegs ecoRomics


Tom Toles Cartoon

Tom Toles, for the Washington Post, May 18, 2012

This entry was posted on Sunday, May 20th, 2012 at 1:02 am and is filed under 2012 Campaigns, Campaigns, Cartoons, Economics, Mitt Romney, Political cartoons, Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

3 Responses to Tom Toles cartoon pegs ecoRomics

  1. jsojourner's avatar jsojourner says:
    May 22, 2012 at 3:11 pm

    I’m trying to calculate how many times we’ve tried trickle down, anarchistic, look-out-for-number-one austerity before. We definitely did it in the 80’s. How did that work out? I know we did it in the 20’s? That was a real winner, yes? I think we tried it before that, too, but I would need an economic historian to confirm that and expand on it a bit.

    Of course, we could also try the remedy given in Jeremiah 22. That was an edict issued not just to private citizens, priests and levites but to “rulers, officials and the king”.

    Thus says the Lord: Act with justice and righteousness, and deliver from the hand of the oppressor anyone who has been robbed. And do no wrong or violence to the alien, the orphan, and the widow, nor shed innocent blood in this place. 4For if you will indeed obey this word, then through the gates of this house shall enter kings who sit on the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, they, and their servants, and their people. 5But if you will not heed these words, I swear by myself, says the Lord, that this house shall become a desolation.

    Woe to him who builds his house by unrighteousness,
    and his upper rooms by injustice;
    who makes his neighbours work for nothing,
    and does not give them their wages;
    who says, ‘I will build myself a spacious house
    with large upper rooms’,
    and who cuts out windows for it,
    panelling it with cedar,
    and painting it with vermilion.
    Are you a king
    because you compete in cedar?
    Did not your father eat and drink
    and do justice and righteousness?
    Then it was well with him.
    He judged the cause of the poor and needy;
    then it was well.
    Is not this to know me?
    says the Lord.
    But your eyes and heart
    are only on your dishonest gain,
    for shedding innocent blood,
    and for practising oppression and violence.     vv. 3-6 and 13-17

    Hmm. Interesting. And particularly telling that God, speaking through the prophet, seems to be holding rulers and officials at least as accountable as private citizens.

    King Josiah ruled Israel justly — making the poor, the alien and the oppressed a priority. And Israel reached heights of prosperity, success and wealth that it had never known before and hasn’t known since. No, not even under Solomon.

    His son then ruled with injustice and the country declined.

    So what are we to make of this? Well, if one is not believer, then there may well be other arguments to make in favor of inisisting upon a significant role for government. For the Christian or the Jew, it is hard to imagine any other course. Yet Christians, conservative ones anyway, have largely embraced the viewpoint of Ayn Rand and, ironically, Charles Darwin.

    Sink or swim. Bootstraps! Blah, blah, blah…

    What a shame.

    Jim

    Like

  2. Ed Darrell's avatar Ed Darrell says:
    May 22, 2012 at 1:27 pm

    I see some people referring to “Romney-conomics.” What do we call it, people?

    Like

  3. James Kessler's avatar James Kessler says:
    May 20, 2012 at 9:42 am

    What was that definition of insanity? Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result?

    Because if that’s it then yes the Republicans are clearly insane.

    Like

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