Munch work countresy of wikipedia.org
What follows below is a test. Read the italicized statements and identify the speaker. Is it Bernie Sanders, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Jamie Dimon, or Steve Bannon?
*You have to break the mindset that stock buybacks are fine, that crony capitalism is fine, and that tax breaks for corporations are fine.
*You have to make sure people understand their individual agency…
*The elites have had this concept of an empire that has destroyed the country.
*…since 2008 [much] has gone to stock buybacks for shareholders, not to reinvest in plants and equipment and capital to build jobs and robust communities.
The answer: Steve Bannon made those statements, a top advisor to President Donald Trump. His aims are far apart from those of Elon Musk, Trump’s benefactor, a difference that led Bannon to call Musk a parasitic illegal immigrant.
Musk, being awash in money, will probably gain the political upper hand over Bannon, even though his chainsaw strategy to reform government is enraging the public. His colossal ignorance of the federal accounting system is an embarrassment, too. Nonetheless, like Don Quixote, he is undeterred in his quest, determined to root out Social Security fraud with the aid of his Sancho Panza, a man who calls himself Big Balls.
Searching for economies would be laudable if the goal wasn’t so despicable. Musk is in search of money to give tax cuts to the super-rich, and he plans to do it by robbing funds dedicated to children, the poor, the disabled, and the elderly.
Presumably, Musk understands that Social Security, one of his targets, isn’t a charity. The billions of dollars in its reserve come from workers who have paid into the system with the assurance the money would be returned when they retire. Even Bannon knows this, which is why his conclusion that Musk is an evil man seems a fair one.
No doubt, Musk is also a clever one. Nature gives each of us a talent and criminal minds can be as inventive as honest brokers. Psychopaths, for example, are among society’s most successful citizens.
Risk-taking is a key element in success for both evil men and honest ones. The difference between the two is that the latter honors a system of values that the former ignores. Without that guardrail, unbridled greed renders a person stupid. Take, for example, Musk’s efforts to dismantle the Internal Revenue Service. (IRS)
The world’s richest man no doubt understands the concept of a revenue stream. As the owner of Tesla, he’d never work to reduce his car sales. Even so, when he chooses to fire thousands of IRS workers, he decreases the department’s ability to monitor fraud, and, as a consequence, reduces the cash flow. A genius he may be. But, most of us understand there is no economy in failing to collect taxes.
Members of the tax preparation industry understand this basic principle. They spent $1.8 million last year to lobby Congress against Direct Filing. Direct filing is a new IRS service that allows people of medium income to avoid tax preparation costs. The industry has reason to worry. No one wants to pay a middleman simply to discover what’s owed. (“How House Republicans Do the Bidding of Big Tax Prep,” by Mike Tanglis, Public Citizen News, March/April, 2025, pg. 8.)
Even so, tax preparers will exist as long as the federal code remains a conundrum. Musk’s reforms to the department add insult to injury. Only oligarchs will profit from the increased inefficiencies that will result.
The time has come for us to defend our dreaded IRS with the same fervor we reserve for our libraries, our schools, and our health care. Enough of the insanity.
BOYCOTT TESLA
