Here we go again!

I refuse to subscribe to conspiracy theories, but, goddamn, it’s hard sometimes, especially when the Beltway is trying to pull a fast one on the public, such as Iraq’s WMDs or Iran’s nuclear weapons. Such a scam is dribbled out bit by bit in little dollops of media coverage that infer, suggest, imply, hint, allude, insinuate, all of which are peppered with sound bites that say much by saying nothing, such as, “We can’t wait until the smoking gun becomes a mushroom cloud,” that was so instrumental in justifying our Iraq invasion.

Now we find the same pattern with our oligarchs’ ongoing campaign to privatize Social Security. The latest song and dance took place last week when Ben “Swamp-em-with-Wampum” Bernanke appeared before a congressional committee and rent his garments as he bewailed our out-of-control budget.

Naturally, the first thing that came tripping off his tongue was to emphasize the need for a “plan that eases market worries by laying out how Congress will address the long-term insolvency of Social Security, Medicare and other entitlement programs…”

You said it, Ben! Let’s start cutting those deficits by privatizing Social Security, ramping up the war in Afghanistan and invading Iran, because the important thing isn’t deficit reduction. If it we’re we would have been out of Iraq and Afghanistan a long time ago. No Sir! All we need do is lose Social Security and all will be well in the land of the free. Hell, how can we afford all those wars with all those old farts draining us dry by cashing their Social Security checks?

Thank God Ben had a new red herring to wave, Greece. If we’re not careful, Ben warned, we’ll end up just like Greece. (Not really, Ben. The American sheep would never consider rioting in the streets like the citizens of Greece are. That would be irresponsible.)

Ben condensed the problem into a simple either/or dilemma---either we raise taxes or we cut spending, not that we raise taxes and cut spending. Since raising taxes would constitute socialism, we know which way that one will go.

The subtext of this entire deficit song and dance is all about the total disassembly of the New Deal and the final snipping away of the remnants that are all that remain of our social safety net.

It is feral corporatism’s swan song as it tries to fill its final balloon with the lead shot that will drag us down to the depths.