Cato vs CATO

If you are familiar with the Pink Panther movies starring Peter Sellers you will know Clouseau’s (Sellers) Chinese manservant Cato (Burt Kwouk). Part of Cato’s job was sneak up on Clouseau and attack him to keep the inspector alert and skilled in the martial arts. It was a great gag. Furniture is destroyed, Cato strikes when Clouseau is in bed with Maria (Shot in the Dark) and a huge pillow fight ensues. Funny stuff.

 Now to an unfunny CATO, the CATO Institute a conservative think tank (is that an oxymoron?) that busily cranks out so-called studies that back up their ideologies. Lots of these studies picture the low-income folk in this country living in the lap of luxury due to the lavish handouts of our government for the poor. Of course, these studies are total hogwash if anyone really checks out how they construct their studies conveniently using misleading numbers to make a point. For instance they do not really acknowledge that many folk who are eligible for programs such as food stamps, don’t take advantage of these programs or that the working poor such as employees at Walmart receiving food stamps is a means of using the government to supplement the wealth of the Waltons.

These studies aim to convey the idea that the typical poor family are just lazy, good-for-nothings, who don’t want to work; while there may be some such folk abusing the system, they are not typical of the working poor as anyone with first hand experience and solid research knows.

Today 1 in 7 Americans are unemployed or underemployed, and we have sequester making things worse for the poor.

A good note: the Kock brothers, David and Charles are not taking over the institute as once planned but will be government by a 16 member board which includes David Kock and three members of his choosing. At least I think that is good news.

Come to think about it, there are great similarities between Cato and CATO.