Prairie Recommends: Frank Rich Rides the Tiger

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NYT columnist Frank Rich reminds us we've been here before: bamboozled by our leaders, led into willfully reckless disregard of what's right before our eyes if we'd only pull down our fingers to see.

Oh, he's talking about Tiger Woods, and the Iraq War, and Enron, and Ben Bernanke.

But really, aren't we seeing yet another past is prologue in the healthcare reform?

No public option. No true competition. Trust us, say the leaders. Trust us, say the insurance companies. Trust us, say the big pharma companies. Trust us, say Ben, and Olympia, and Joe and all the rest.

When will they ever learn?

When will we ever learn?
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Enronizing the Rest of Us.

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And in other news this weekend (yes, there was other news than Hillary's speech) ... the price of gas at the pump hit a national average of $4 a gallon. With the outlook for $5 a gallon gas in the not-too-distant future. Words like "stag-flation" starting to be bandied about like music, man.

Remember back in the good ol' days, when it was just California that was getting gouged and, frankly, robbed by Ken Lay, Jeff Skilling and the gang? Yep, the good ol' days, when war was just a conspiracy in the minds of Team BushCo.

Meanwhile, let's give mega-tax-breaks to buyers of gas guzzlers, drive up the demand for product. Then toss in a little War by Lie in eye-raq, and you've got the makin's of an eight-year bonanza for the pirates partyin' in the Big Oil hoo-rah.

And now that the fun's winding down, why not get in just a wee bit extra for ol' times' sake. Shades of Enron economics.

Kinda makes you wish for the attentions of a steely-eyed U.S. attorney with a reputation for goin' after crooks and racketeers and nailin' 'em, bigtime.

Fitz!