Readers of a certain age [which is to say, eighty or so] may
recall, as I do, the original showing of Disney's great animated feature-length
film Fantasia. One of the eight segments is described this
way by Wikipedia: "The Sorcerer's
Apprentice. Based on Goethe's 1797 poem "Der Zauberlehrling". Mickey
Mouse, the young apprentice of the sorcerer Yen Sid, attempts some of his
master's magic tricks but doesn't know how to control them."
I thought of that
film classic today as I contemplated the latest disarray of the Republican
Party. The Koch Brothers and their
fellow sorcerers set loose the Tea Party apprentices, and now find themselves
unable to tame their creation, which has gotten away from them. The Koch Brothers make their money from oil,
especially from expensive production techniques like the extraction of oil from
oil sands. The price of oil is extremely
sensitive to fluctuations in the world economy, and any serious downturn
weakens demand, rapidly dropping the price of crude and thereby taking enormous
sums of money from the pockets of the Kochs.
It is hardly surprising therefore that they are now trying to back away
as fast as they can from the reckless talk of their Apprentices, who are quite
unconcerned by the prospect of a default by the U.S. Treasury.
The Disney film
was intended for young audiences, what with ballet dancing hippos dressed in
tiny tutus. So the Mickey Mouse episode
turns out well in the end when the Sorcerer returns and puts things to
rights. Unfortunately for all of us,
Walt Disney is not directing the present fiasco.
When business interests support their local brown shirts things can get out of hand. I'm not sure the Kochs are regretting it yet. The high-wage (relatively), consumption economy businesses (gadgets, drugs, information) loathe all this, of course. But Kochs, Art Pope, the Walmart, not so much. They want a low wage employees, low-wage consumers and they're good to go. Not all the interests of the ruling business class align here.
ReplyDeleteI think that is true for Walmart et al, but surely not for the Kochs, who depend on the world price of oil, no?
ReplyDeleteI have more Gothic tastes. The story reminds me of Frankenstein.
ReplyDelete"When business interests support their local brown shirts things can get out of hand."
It has happened before (quite literally, too).
Then, of course, there is another fantastical Tea Party precedent, the brainchild of a distinguished British mathematician-logician. I like Tweedledum and Tweedledee as the Koch Bros., and Ted Cruz as the Red Queen.
ReplyDelete