The World Gone Mad?

What strange times we are living through, old certainties seem upended and logic thrown to the wind. I give you two examples to illustrate this contention. Example one: a few weeks ago, in the wake of the US having its credit rating downgraded by one of those unelected and unaccountable agencies, we were treated to the spectacle of China, Communist China, lecturing the US on how to run a capitalist economy. Incredibly, we had Beijing telling Washington that it needed to cut back on government spending and reduce its deficit. Damn it! It wasn't so long that the Chinese would have been rejoicing in such a crisis capitalism and denouncing the US for failing to spend money on its citizens by guaranteeing employment, health care and so on. But no, now the Communists appear to be better capitalists than the capitalists!

Example two - we have our very own Chancellor of the Exchequer, 'Gorgeous' George Osborne, pondering over whether it is worth keeping the fifty per cent tax bracket because - and this is the mind-boggling bit - too many people are evading it. So, basically he is saying that if people can evade, (or 'break' as I prefer to describe it), a law, then we should simply throw up our hands, declare that it's all too difficult, and abolish the law. Now, bear in mind that, simultaneous with his public musings, the government was busy insisting that anyone arrested in connection with the recent riots, no matter how minor their offence, should be prosecuted and given disproportionately harsh sentences. Who says there isn't one law for the rich and another for the rest of us? No wonder people are rioting in the streets...