Thanking Taxpayers; Burning The Rain Forest August 27, 2019August 26, 2019 So it turns out I’m not the only one who’s had the idea of thanking taxpayers. My pal Richard Factor has given it a great deal of thought. Plus, he likes stroopwafels. Robert J. Samuelson writes: “The conspicuous cynicism of a president trying to buy his own reelection with the public’s money, especially when that money is borrowed, is stunning. Of course, self-serving efforts to boost the economy during an election year are hardly unique to Trump, but he has taken the practice to new lows.” If you read the whole column, note, that as the National Debt grows ever larger, Democrats are not blameless; that it’s fine to have it grow larger . . . but that it needs to grow more slowly than the economy as a whole (except during recessions), so that, gradually, over time — as between 1946 and 1980 — it shrinks relative to the ec0nomy as a whole (from 121% of GDP in 1946 to 30% in 1980, when Reagan headed it back up again). Do you know what’s causing “the lungs of the planet” to burn? Not forest fires — government policy. A Brazilian autocrat, Jair Bolsonara, in the mold of his pal Donald Trump. Watch it and weep.