we've tried nothing and we're all out of ideas

This headline, tho: Reuters: Trump's tax-exempt diesel draws skepticism from farmers, eludes others Click for details if you like, but I'm not actually here to discuss those.(FN1) I'm thinking about all plans that fall under the heading "exempt diesel fuel from taxes for a short period to deal with current economic pressures." Specifically, I'm thinking: This is what we get when we are only allowed to think in terms of our current political and economic system. This is what we get when any hint of "thinking outside the box" gets slapped down as socialism/communism/anti-business/un-American, generally. Our current economic squeeze is the result of a lot of little decisions compounding over the years, plus a few big recent decisions. It is both chronic and acute. Incremental changes won't fix either a chronic disease or an acute catastrophic injury. We are slapping a Band-Aid on an MS patient who just got hit by a truck. Because we live in a political and economic system that not only…