What To Buy Now? October 17, 2013 They’re reopening the government (over the objections of 18 Republican Senators and 144 Republican Representatives who voted to keep it shut down). Borealis is up to $14.50. And I just watched a Mexican drug dealer’s head ride a large turtle across the desert. “Breaking Bad” aficionados will not soon forget that scene from Season Two. In short, I am in a good mood. But I have questions. Among them: When did it become patriotic to cripple the United States government? What does the supposed fiscally responsible party say about wasting $24 billion? What does the supposed “party of small business” say to the woman in this short video, whose small business they just destroyed? When did it become acceptable for the wealthy — who are not the job creators — to moan about paying taxes to help the poor or rebuild the nation? (Not crazy-high tax rates like the ones that prevailed for 35 years after World War II, but rates like those that served us well during Clinton Gore.) ELIZABETH WARREN’S TAKE Yes, we prevented an economic catastrophe that would have put a huge hole in our fragile economic recovery. But the reason we were in this mess in the first place is that a reckless faction in Congress took the government and the economy hostage for no good purpose and to no productive end. According to the S&P index, the government shutdown had delivered a powerful blow to the U.S. economy. By their estimates, $24 billion has been flushed down the drain for a completely unnecessary political stunt. $24 billion dollars. How many children could have been back in Head Start classes? How many seniors could have had a hot lunch through Meals on Wheels? How many scientists could have gotten their research funded? How many bridges could have been repaired and trains upgraded? The Republicans keep saying, “Leave the sequester in place and cut all those budgets.” They keep trying to cut funding for the things that would help us build a future. But they are ready to flush away $24 billion on a political stunt. So I’m relieved, but I’m also pretty angry. We have serious problems that need to be fixed, and we have hard choices to make about taxes and spending. I hope we never see our country flush money away like this again. Not ever. WHAT TO BUY NOW Land in the currently frigid north. It could be hot property sooner than you think. Click here. WHERE TO BUY IT Certainly not in one of those awful places like New York or California, where the taxes you pay get exported to help folks in other states. The New York Times has prepared a little map. And notes: . . . Support for Republican candidates, who generally promise to cut government spending, has increased since 1980 in states where the federal government spends more than it collects. The greater the [state’s dependence on the feds], the greater the support for Republican candidates . . . Those red Southern states are, in short, “the takers.” READ IT IN ROMANIAN An e-book edition of The Best Little boy In The World has just been released — for free — in Romanian. Here’s the announcement. Click the link in the first paragraph to get it (“poate fi citită făcând click aici“). Don’t say I never gave you anything.