The droppings don't fall far from the asshole.....

from the Nation:



Merrittocracy
By Dave Zirin

October 22, 2008



In the United States, politicians drill into our heads that there is no money for healthcare, no money for infrastructure and no money for schools. But thanks to Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, we now know that there is cash aplenty for bailing out his brethren on Wall Street.

It's bizarro-world Marxism, where the workers own the banks until they are restored to profitability. Socialize debt and privatize profit: call it the Paulson doctrine.

Like father, like son. Meet Merritt Paulson, the offspring of Henry Paulson. I suppose naming his child "Legacy" would have been too blunt.

The 35-year-old Merritt owns the Portland Beavers, a minor-league baseball team, and the Portland Timbers, a USL First Division soccer squad. While his father is demanding $700 billion of our money to bail out the banks, Merritt wants his own little piece of our hide. He is insisting upon $85 million in public funds from the city of Portland to build a new sports complex for the Beavers and an upgrade on the Timbers' stadium.

Merritt is not the sole owner of the Beavers and Timbers; he has only an 80 percent stake. The man with the 20 percent stake is his father, Hammerin' Hank. If you can keep the bile out of your throat for a moment, you have got to give the Paulson family credit for cheek. You can almost imagine the scene: the Paulsons sitting around the dinner table, munching on bald eagle pate, ruminating on their $700 billion credit line and saying, "What's $85 million more?" .......(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.thenation.com/doc/20081103/zirin