Overpaid, Overrated, And Over Here

Going unreported by most of the print and broadcast media in the UK – not even the Beeb appears to have picked up on it – has been the arrival in the country yesterday of a number of lobbyists aligned with the so-called Tea Party movement in the USA. This grouping, which has foisted a number of candidates on the GOP, is of course also intermittently promoted by our old friends at Fox News Channel (fair and balanced my arse).

The usual suspects are in the van: the Cato Institute, the Heritage Foundation, and the Americans for Prosperity Foundation. All are, more or less, vehicles for the well off to push for lower taxes on themselves personally now. Ordinary US citizens are, when required, brought on board in support, although they are the expendable cannon fodder of this particular war.

The title for this convocation of the wealthy and selfish is the European Resource Bank conference. It’s another example of ad-man’s claptrap used to gloss over the real purpose of the event: the “resource bank” of the title will involve, mainly, discussing and promoting ways for a small number of rich people to keep more resources in their chosen bank.

Fortunately, the Guardian at least is now calling the so-called Taxpayers’ Alliance (representing less than one tenth of one per cent of all taxpayers, and still no accounts or list of donors published), which is organising the conference, for what it is. The article puts it directly: “aggressively promotes an anti-tax, anti-state, anti-Europe agenda”.

It’s good to see that the TPA, an organisation which majors in demonising Government – any Government – being called for what it is.