Back to business

As President Bush's approval ratings continue to plummet, the administration has only ramped up its effort to hand the levers of power in this country over to big business. In recent days, it has:

• Spared tobacco companies $120 billion in damages for misleading smokers about the dangers of tobacco;
• Canned William Donaldson, the head of the Securities & Exchange Commission, who had pursued an aggressive corporate reform agenda in lieu of a more business-friendly director;
• Called for quick enactment of an energy bill that does little to promote conservation, but encourages drilling in everyone's backyard; and,
• Continued to mislead the world about global warming.

This administration may take Social Security over a cliff, drive our economy into a ditch, send the federal deficit rocketing into the atmosphere, but it won't ever stop gratifying Wall Street, the oil companies, the drug companies, and the other industries that brought it to power.