I think it was my third grade teacher who first taught me about America’s economic policy. She sat me down and gently told me that our economy works much like a carnival. And that carnival, she said, is sometimes run by alcoholic carnival workers who pour hot tar in the gears and aren’t really concerned if the place is actually running. She said the only thing the carnies are interested in is the appearance of looking busy.

Then she whispered other tales of apocalyptic aliens that I can’t really discuss here?but the recent gridlock of the federal budget reminded me of those incompetent carnies she told me about. Congress recently voted on a budget that was $22 billion more than what the president requested, so naturally Bush threatens to veto. I say naturally because Bush naturally does whatever he wants to do. He says he will veto any appropriations bill that extends beyond what he’s requesting, even though he’s had absolutely no problems with billion of dollars in overages in the past.

The $22-billion overage, which is just 2 percent of what Bush is requesting, was put into the appropriations bill to help restore various wetlands around the country. Most notably, 20 percent of that is supposed to be used to restore the wetlands destroyed by Hurricanes Rita and Katrina.

The question is, why is investing in other countries considered national interests, but investing in out own country considered special interests? The president had no qualms about requesting an additional $100 billion for Iraq, or the fact that we are just giving $80 million to Palestine for security purposes. Not to mention the fact that we lost $9 billion in Iraq, and I don’t mean in a bad business deal. I mean we physically lost $9 billion that was loaded on the back of a truck.

So you’ll have to excuse the gut laugh when the president threatens to veto a bill that would bring more money to a state insurance program for children, and he says he’s doing this because of fiscal responsibility. Somewhere in the distance we can hear the cry of the ghosts of the forgotten $100 checks that Bush sent out when he first came into office. I can’t remember what I did with my $118 check, but I’m sure glad it didn’t go to some silly old insurance plan for children.

Talk of recession is constantly in the air, and whenever the market gets in trouble the Federal Reserve just pumps in billions more into the system, making the dollar worth about half of the Euro. Business conservatives like to whine about the government being too big, but every time car companies, oil companies or even Wal-Mart needs help, the government is happy to give out billions in subsidies. If we are facing a recession, it won’t be because of all the money spent on health care, or people on welfare, or social security or even money spent on restoring wetlands. It’ll be because our government has become the Siamese twin to the corporations that love to control how we live and die.