Season 3 Podcast 199 The Inflation Reduction Act for Dummies Pt II The Land of Laputa

“The Land of Laputa.” Okay, assuming you have listened to Podcast 197, “The Inflation Reduction Act for Dummies,” “How Taxpayers view inflation reduction” in which I explained inflation from the common person’s point of view, I shall now turn my thoughts to Congress and look at things from Congress’s point of view. In this podcast, I should like to show a precedent for Congress by comparing our government to the government of a country that existed 300 years ago as describe by Lemuel Gulliver and recorded in Gulliver’s Travels.  The reason I think it is necessary to compare Congress to the governors of the land of Laputa is so you will not think that our Congress is without precedent. I thought if you saw that the rulers of other sovereign nations acted just like our Congress you would have more compassion. Probability dictates that two such governments could not act with the same mindless irresponsibility that some disaffected citizens are charging against our high leaders. If two countries act exactly alike, there is the greater possibility that there is some intelligence behind their behavior. It is a historical fact that highly intelligent people often appear odd. They may stumble over words or forget where they are or repeat phrases infinitely without apparent purpose and cannot always explain their behavior in ordinary terms.  I think it may give you peace to know our government leaders have a great deal in common with the people of Laputa; and instill in you a desire, perhaps, to show more compassion for apparent aberrations.  COMPARISON NUMBER ONEJust as members of our congress live on the moon that floats above the earth, The King lives on an Island that floats above the mainland. And although, like our Congressmen, the Aristocracy have mansions below, they spend the majority of their time on the floating Island.  And just as the moon is held into orbit by the gravitational pull of the earth, the floating island is held into orbit by the gravitational pull of the land of Laputa. In addition, just as our congress lives in luxury and do not have to worry about the economic woes of the inferior taxpayers below, so do the King and Aristocracy live in luxury and do not have to worry about the economic woes of the inferior taxpayers below.  In fact, just as Congress comingles with commoners only by necessity once in a while, so do the King and Aristocracy of the land of Laputa comingle with commoners only by necessity once in a while.  But at the same time the reader can hardly conceive my astonishment, to behold an island in the air, inhabited by men, who were able (as it should seem) to raise or sink, or put it into progressive motion, as they pleased. But not being at that time in a disposition to philosophize upon this phenomenon, I rather chose to observe what course the island would take, because it seemed for a while to stand still. Yet soon after, it advanced nearer, and I could see the sides of it encompassed with several gradations of galleries, and stairs, at certain intervals, to descend from one to the other. …The number of people increased, and, in less than half an hour, the island was moved and raised in such a manner, that the lowest gallery appeared in a parallel of less than a hundred yards distance from the height where I stood.