And then there’s this:Okay, I admit that the United States is not perfect, but we're still fabulous, okay?Secretary Clinton said yesterday that one of her pet peeves is poor countries that don’t tax their elite and then expect the United States to come in and save their people.
Clinton made the remark in a round-table discussion on the U.S. administration’s new global development policy. Her complete remark was:
“It’s one of my pet peeves: Countries that will not tax their elite, who expect us to come in and help them serve their people, are just not going to get the kind of help from us that historically they may have.”
Not one to shy away from naming names, Madame Secretary singled out Pakistan, saying in essence that the US was unlikely to go big on rescuing drowning Pakistanis so long as the government of that country refused to raise taxes on the rich. The writer, Foreign Policy Magazine’s P.J. Aroon, notes the incongruity of bitch-slapping Pakistan about taxes on rich people when US politicians refuse to do that very thing here, and points out that what Clinton means is not that the US will cease showering $billions upon Pakistan’s rulers; just that the money won’t go to poor people.
Dognitive Kissonance
Fortunately my head is case-hardened against all explosives up to a tactical nuclear device, or it would detonate right now. From BTC News: