0613 - Looting

Do not despair, Studious Readers, the promised OO on Taxes will indeed appear next week. Our Revered Investment Guru (the R.I.G.) is assigned to the duty, but was too busy profiting from the Gulf hurricane disasters to complete work this week. Meanwhile, we consider the topic of Looting, in its twin aspects of high-class political looting and ordinary low-class New Orleans looting. If we offend any in this pure scientific quest, that’s tough. We start with the popular quiz, and ask, what (and why) is the Ketchikan- Gravina Island bridge? The what you may know, for it is the now famous U.S. Congressional pork project costing $223 million connecting Ketchikan Alaska to Gravina Island across the Tongass Narrows (Tongass Narrows is geographical, not an Administration thinking affliction). It is true, as you have read, that Gravina has a minimal population of 50 or so families, and that makes the bridge sound wasteful. In fact, though, the island is where the Ketchikan airport is. The official State website makes clear the critical need.

Of course the bridge is urgently needed, says the State, because “Access to the airport is inconvenient ... The airport ferry operates 8 to 10 hours a day with departures every 15 to 30 minutes ... a schedule that requires travelers to consider the ferry schedule when making plans to meet a flight ...” Is that not truly heartbreaking, Readers? Well, here on Anguilla, you know that some $18 or $20 million has been spent on an airport runway upgrade, with the result that kindly American Airlines now has no service that permits one to leave Anguilla and get anywhere in the States the same day. So, one takes the ferry to St. Martin, which runs when the captains darn well please, and which doesn’t run in the dark, when the French are afraid to work.

The media have concluded that the Ketchikan Bridge is the worst hunk of pork this year, beating out the $30 million or so for a tropical rain forest project in Iowa. With the huge costs of repairing hurricane devastation in the Gulf, some have suggested cancelling Ketchikan and some $25 billion of other Congressional porky loot. The House Pork Committee Chairman (Don Young) called this idea “moronic”. Hmm.

We were also struck with the scenes on CNN of the brave New Orleans crooks looting stores. Now, looting is common after hurricanes (as we know in Anguilla), and there are no doubt ethical distinctions between breaking in to get water for your children and breaking in to take wide screen TVs. Yet, the latest CNN shots showed people claiming they have just seen the New Orleans Police, of all people, breaking in and looting. Many New Orleans Police seem to have scurried off before Katrina struck, so maybe those are the ones who returned to loot. We have a feeling that before spending $200 Billion for Katrina repair (and more for Rita), the N.O. Police behavior should be looked into quite closely. If there is any way to dispose of the Mayor with the rest of the rubble, that sounds good, too. He can go judge Arabian horses with the departed FEMA Director.

Congressional looting is strikingly similar to snatch and grab looting because the Pols do not want to pay. The President is promising unlimited spending, but declares there will be no taxes for the cost. So, the money is to be borrowed, although apparently never repaid. Is that Kosher? The very idea of taxing and thus paying is so abhorrent to the present Administration that it begins to show a strong similarity to the well-known Argentine model. We have, as noted, assigned our R.I.G. to a non-partisan explanation of the current U.S. tax system. He will not, however, comment on the Anguilla tax system, because. Just because.

Next time: Taxes [OO #614]

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