The Chris Moeller Archives

Socialism continues to thrive. Right here.

A very happy 75th birthday this weekend to the our nation's extraordinary Social Security program, which was signed into law by President Roosevelt way back on August 14th, 1935.

A report by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities estimates that the entitlement program is currently keeping $20 million Americans out of poverty. Without Social Security, 45% of elderly Americans would have incomes below the poverty line, instead of the current 9.7%. Additionally, a separate think tank has it that the S.S. trust fund will have a $4.3 trillion surplus by 2023. It's time to expand the program-- just think of what we could do for the other 9.7%, and even for younger Americans, if we abandoned our two wars and re-invested in our people.

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The annual Iowa State Fair started yesterday just across town, but I won't be going again this year. I'm still waiting for that apology from Fair officials for their embarrassing and ungrateful slap last year at Michael Jackson, a performer who once appeared at the Iowa State Fair. As a kid, I always possessed the general impression that the Fair was only for rednecks, despite their repeated claims that it was for everybody, and despite my contributions as a taxpayer. Now as I settle into an adulthood of frequent contemplation, I have to believe that my first impressions were correct. It's a pretty pathetic move to defame a guy-- a just-recently-dead guy-- even as you attempt to cash in on his spectacular popularity with a self-promotional "poll." Fuck you, State Fair, that still makes me mad. Besides, from a purely practical standpoint, it's a waste of time for me as a consumer-- an entertainment venue simply can't be considered a cool entertainment venue if it doesn't recognize the brilliant legacy of Michael. He embodied cool. And so I won't go. Vincent Price warned y'all long ago, and you should have paid him some heed: Whoever shall be found/Without the soul for getting down/Must stand and face the hounds of hell/And rot inside a corpse's shell.

posted by CM @ 6:07 PM