Much of what government does seems unfathomable until you remember one thing: The politicians think the people are morons.Take the latest example: the effort to avert the “fiscal cliff.” If, as the politicians say they believe, the country is in a budgetary deficit and debt crisis combined with an anemic economic recovery, why would they raise taxes on everyone (don’t forget the hike in the payroll tax and the Obamacare taxes) and not reduce spending? The anemic recovery is explainable by the burden of government, and the budget crisis is explainable by runaway spending. So Congress and President Barack Obama have done precisely the opposite of what they needed to do, namely, roll back government dramatically, nay, radically.Former U.S. treasury official David Malpass, writing in the Wall Street Journal, says, “The Congressional Budget Office scores the Senate bill [passed by the House and signed by the president] as adding $4 trillion to the national debt by 2022. That assumes the sequester or equivalent spending cuts are fully implemented in March, which seems unlikely.” This is what the country was on the edge of its seat waiting for? Is Washington full of fools? No. But it’s full of men and women who think we are fools.America is smothered by government, but the news media are too busy to notice. They’re far more interested in picking political winners and losers. That’s to be expected. The Washington media are little more than the propaganda arm of the ruling elite, and most reporters and pundits see things through the eyes of the governing class. Cable TV programs are merely parades of stale establishment types who repeat the same old clichés, while blithely tossing off plans to spend other people’s money. Fed a steady diet of this gruel, most people are lulled into a state of semiconsciousness (at most) or helplessness about government policy.The politicians have a million ways to obscure what they do, and they exploit their options to the hilt. They clearly are more comfortable if they can work their will beyond the scrutiny of outsiders, namely, the people in whose name they act. When spending increases are called cuts — and most of the media help perpetrate the scam — we are in trouble.Washington has amassed a debt that exceeds the dollar value of all the goods and services produced in a year by the American economy. It runs a trillion-dollar-a-year budget deficit, borrowing over 40 cents out of every dollar it spends. Its central bank, the Federal Reserve, creates money every month to buy the government’s debt, enabling Washington to borrow even more. In a few years the federal budget will be consumed by interest on the debt and so-called entitlements. The American empire, all told, costs well over a trillion dollars a year (not to mention that it finances death and mayhem in many countries).This spending, along with subsidies and regulations that interfere with the market process, is the source of our economic woes. Nothing short of a radical reduction can begin to address the coming debacle.The politicians, however, have no incentive to do what’s necessary. Spending keeps them in office because it’s the largess that wins them votes. The sheer size of the debt and deficits, and the burden on future generations, have lately worried the people, but the popular will to see spending drastically cut always fades when it comes down to specifics. Just as most folks want only other people’s taxes raised, so they want only other people’s spending cut. The politicians respond to such incentives. So the government burden grows, but the illusion of austerity is created. That, however, will not fix the problem.Now we prepare for the next set of crises in March. Sequestration, the postponed automatic and largely bogus spending “cuts,” will be back on the table, and the Obama administration will ask that the debt ceiling be raised — again. Panic will return to the airwaves — although these are all Washington-created crises. Those who balk at raising the debt limit will be accused of not wanting the government to pay bills already incurred. For once someone should ask, Why is Congress allowed to spend money it doesn’t have?Sheldon Richman is vice president and editor at The Future of Freedom Foundation (www.fff.org).
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Greg Fricke and James Boehmer, co-owners of Peggy Mercury in Kent, recently launched their first fashion line, “Imaginary Concerts.”
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Fricke and Boehmer are not there to stock their shelves with the same products customers find at standard makeup retailers. They’re there to help customers find what works for them. That usually means asking customers about themselves and learning about their beauty habits, skin, style and the way they like to present themselves. Fricke and Boehmer believe it’s their job to help customers bring out the qualities that suit them and determine what works best for their look.
So much of the Peggy Mercury world is about emboldening people to become more creative, and possibly bolder, versions of themselves. Some of this comes through the store’s creative collaborations with artists, designers and stylists.
It’s part of an ethos that encourages them and their friends to use the shop as a kind of laboratory, trying out new creative experiments without knowing how they might turn out. Whether in fashion, painting, fiber arts or photography, the projects almost always turn out marvelously.
A line of sterling silver charms they sell started as a small project by their friend Nolan Percival. In the beginning, the pieces were for close friends and loved ones. But Boehmer and Fricke encouraged Percival to get a little more serious about the project and create a whole line for the store. Today, it’s one of their top-selling collections.
Classic styles, bold colors, and creative concerts make up the “Imaginary Concerts” line at Peggy Mercury.Provided
“Imaginary Concerts” has the duo taking their own advice.
The project started as a way for Boehmer to connect with his mother, who had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. Taking old concert shirts from his own collection, Boehmer and his mother began cutting out the graphics with the idea that they would make a quilt together. Unfortunately, she died before they could complete the project in 2025. The pieces, which were ready for production, were put on the back burner as Boehmer and Fricke dealt with their loss and the whirlwind of projects that never seemed to cease at Peggy Mercury.
But the harsh winter of 2026 presented an opportunity to take some time and focus on themselves. Part of that meant revisiting and redefining the concert T-shirt project. This time, instead of looking to the warmth and comfort of a quilt, they turned to another passion — fashion.
Taking a page from their own book, they wanted to create something that felt comfortable to them. They took two disparate loves — one rooted in simple preppy style, with clean lines and classic silhouettes, and the other in the nitty gritty worlds of punk rock and pop — and blended them together to create something entirely new. Pulling from the staples of vintage Brooks Brothers and Charvet collections, they applied the graphic elements with bold stitching reminiscent of punk jackets of the ‘70s and ‘80s, but with a much more sophisticated air.
But the remixing isn’t just the pairing of prep and punk. The pieces are not canon. They take liberties with the realities of concert tours, combining one band’s dates with another band’s logos, mixing them all up until the reality is lost and imagination is the only truth.
Shirts from Peggy Mercury’s first fashion line, “Imaginary Concerts,” hang on display.Provided
Adding to the mix is an element of perpetual creativity. Art can be messy, both figuratively and literally, and many of Fricke and Boehmer’s artist friends carry evidence of their work on them at all times. As a nod to these tireless creatives, the duo added haphazard splashes of bright color, giving the line an even more distinctive feel.
For them, “Imaginary Concerts” passes the “Peggy Test.” The mythical Peggy Mercury is a fictional figurehead for the company, a character who thrives on creativity and change. The name, much like the clothing line, is a mixture of interests: Mercury is a planet, a deity and an elusive, transformative element, while Peggy is the wonderfully stylish and boundary-pushing Peggy Guggenheim.
Everything Fricke and Boehmer put in their store has to pass this test: Would Peggy Mercury approve? For their first collection, the answer is a resounding yes.
Peggy Mercury is at 9 Maple St., Unit 2, Kent.
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