The path to recovery: appoint tax cheats

A sense of hopelessness seems to have taken root in Washington, where a pathway out of the recession has opened and no one seems to have noticed.

The first clue was economist Timothy Geithner's payment of taxes he had failed to pay on a timely basis because his confirmation as U.S. treasury secretary required it. After all, he was about to take charge of the Internal Revenue Service.

Then Tom Daschle, a former senator from South Dakota and subsequent lobbyist, stepped up to pay his back taxes to gain confirmation as secretary of Health and Human Services. Who wants a tax cheat in charge of the system that oversees treatment of Americans made sick and suicidal by the IRS?

Taken together, these contributions are small potatos. President Obama should now go after bigger game.

Sen. John Kerry, D-MA, is extremely rich, having married an heiress to the Heinz ketchup fortune. Appoint him ambassador to France, where he would be comfortable. He may have been as careless with his tax returns as he was with his military record in Vietnam. Moreover, his seat would be safe since Massachusetts does not allow Republicans to live there.

How about George Soros? He already owns and runs the Democrat Party, and is so rich that no computer can count his assets. Assign the entire Internal Revenue Service to check his filings and fly-speck his dealings. He undoubtedly owes a few hundred billion dollars because of an oversight or two.

Appoint Soros to anything he wants, but require Senate confirmation so he has to pay up to get it.

Al Gore has grown rich by inspiring hysteria about global warming. Put him in charge of the world thermometer, but require confirmation.

Other potential targets, er prospects:

Mayor Michael Bloomberg of New York City, America's premier advocate of nanny government. Empower him to regulate hairlines, permissable foods and fingernail clippers, but only if he pays up.

Rep. Barney Frank, aka The Banking Queen. Empower him to reset the interest rate of every mortgage in America, but only if he rats out other Democrats who enriched themsleves while pretending to work for Fannie Mae and Freddi Mac.

Ambition built this country. If we harness ambition to the demands of recovery, we can tax our way back to prosperity. It's the Democrat Party's way.