Because MONEY is more important than anything else.

"Avarice" (1904), James Ensor

National parks are popular! They actually bring in more money than it costs to run them. Yet the Republican regime wants to kill them. Why? They want to trade the public good for private gain. The plan is to sell our natural resources to ruthless industrialists, to be torn apart, mined for minerals, drilled for oil, and stripped of lumber. Creepy rich guys will pay a lot to be allowed to shoot all the animals. The Grand Canyon is huge. It would be a great place to dump toxic waste.

None of the money generated by destroying our parks and other agencies will be used to benefit Americans in any way. Old people will still be robbed of Social Security and Medicare. Research to cure diseases will not be funded. Disaster relief will not be provided after storms and fires. Laws that protect our food, water, and air will not be enforced. Schools will be closed. Children will not be fed. Medicaid will disappear. Even weather forecasting will be stopped.

Where will all that money go? Will it be refunded to taxpayers? No. Will some helpful programs be re-opened? No. Instead, there will be more ad campaigns praising Dear Leader. An irresponsible billionaire will get more government contracts. Dear Leader and his buddies will spend even more time using government-owned planes to fly off to resort vacations. They will hire more private soldiers to guard them from contact with the public. Wealthy Republican donors will buy more yachts, do more golfing, and have more fancy parties.

The sole purpose of the Republican regime is to create permanent damage in exchange for the temporary gratification of the oligarchs. A billionaire's lifestyle will not be improved or harmed if his net worth goes up or down by hundreds of millions, but seeing it go up on paper makes him feel better for a little while, and that's a good enough reason to make sure our grandchildren never walk in a forest or see an eagle.

• Parks Are Being Dismantled
• Trump Targets National Parks
• Cuts to U.S. National Parks

 

We're Here to Help Ourselves

If you've ever worked in a large (or medium, or small) organization, you probably know that there are always changes that could be made to make operations a bit more efficient, or to reduce unnecessary expenses. In most workplaces, these are not things that would be readily apparent to a stranger who just walked in the door one day.

The potential improvements that would benefit most organizations are usually things that are noticed by people familiar with the current workflow, people who know what is being done and what the outcomes are. In any case, suddenly eliminating half (or three-fourths or a third or a quarter) of the employees would not improve productivity. And, even if removing some employees would increase efficiency, only someone who knows what tasks are being done, and by whom, could correctly decide who to let go.

The same concept applies to reducing the budget. An outsider might arbitrarily declare, as some sort of eccentric guiding principle, that everyone should just stop ordering office supplies, or that nobody should ever spend more than $5.00 on pencils. In many offices, people may be wasting paper or overwatering the plants. Nevertheless, only someone who actually works there can see what is necessary and useful, and what is wasteful.

If I wanted to improve efficiency and economy in an organization, I would take some time to work with the people and help them to identify areas for improvement. If I wanted to completely destroy an organization so that it could not fulfill its purpose, I would send in an angry clown to just fire half the staff for no reason, and I'd take away the operating budget and order a halt to all normal procedures.

 

Death in the Gulf

Yes, I know, this isn't in the Valley. But everyone should see this.