“All’s Well That Ends...”

Well, sometimes yes and sometimes no. It ended well for Goldman Sachs’ CEO Lloyd Blankfein, who just got a big raise, $3.6 million, along with stock valued at $12.6 million.

Aren’t we glad now that the taxpayers bailed out his company and, for good measure, extended the tax cuts for the rich? To compensate for all this high-end compensation, the Republicans in Congress and various state houses are sharpening their axes with the idea of pruning Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, and other forms of “wasteful” government spending. Not oil and gas subsidies, mind you, or expensive military weapons like tanks that are designed for fighting the Cold War. You remember what the Cold War was, don’t you? Or maybe not.

This week’s Economist, a long-time booster of the U.S., and our form of capitalism, has reached a tipping point. Its editors think we are so badly divided politically that we will be unable to effectively deal with the real problems in our economy. Consider how quickly President Obama's vision for the future last week was quickly drowned out by the Babel from the right. Call them Babelians.

Our Congress is about to prove that sometimes things don’t end well.