George Lucas Plays Mind Tricks With the Economy

On a night when President Barack Obama spoke of more difficult economic times, is there anyone Americans can turn to for sound economic advice?

They could try George Lucas in this CNS interview. The Star Wars poobah is officially against capping CEO salaries, and says raising taxes on the rich won't help the economy.

Lucas insists only fixing the poor housing market will solve the current economic downturn. His idea for getting rid of foreclosed properties? An armored space station with enough firepower to wipe out an entire second mortgage.

Of course, readers can dismiss this as more unwanted advice from Hollywood. After all, what does Lucas know about making money?

Update: A Lucasfilm representative sent Wired.com the following statement to clarify Lucas' position on the stimulus package:

Recently several web sites carried stories in which George Lucas was misquoted or quoted out of context with regard to the president's stimulus package. George Lucas fully supports President Obama's approach to the current economic problem. He feels that there should be caps on the salaries of bank executives who are accepting government bailout monies and he feels that the rich should be taxed at higher rates than those with lesser incomes. When Mr. Lucas said that it is up to the stockholders to regulate salaries, he was answering a question about Hollywood studios that are not involved in a government bailout.

Image courtesy Lucasfilm

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