As the last shuttle mission is grounded today, I feel a rant.
The economy is fucked, royally fucked, and the media is downplaying the full disaster looming up on us all.
Cutting back on government spending should happen regardless, but it will not fix anything. Saving money does not pay bills, generating money pays bills, and the two are not the same thing. Equally, raising the debt ceiling will not contribute anything positive. It did not work the past dozen or so times raised in as many years. Where was the Republican outcry the eight times Bush raised the debt ceiling? Trimming away the unfair tax breaks from the top 2 or 3 percent of the population is not socialistic redistribution of wealth, it is acting morally. They would still be the richest 2 or 3 percent of the population. But still, it will not be anywhere near enough to settle the trillions we owe. And we do owe trillions and trillions, making us far far from being the richest nation. American ego is one hundred percent misplaced. And anybody who is not offended at the downplayed national unemployment numbers is sickly sheltered. Get out and feel the massive sigh of exhausted discontent.
The Republicans and Democrats are equally mistaken, criminally mistaken, as they try to use same old flawed techniques to fix problems that are only growing and growing. Nuts to both parties for not considering any third alternative.
Withdrawing troops is not the same as cutting military expenditures, either, as this is another option tossed around. Make no mistake- we are slowly pulling the troops back for two reasons. Firstly, because we cannot afford to maintain their global presence anymore. And lastly, because waiting any longer to settle our debts (which is what raising the debt ceiling is) will eventually lead to some very upset bill collectors. I'm not paranoid enough to think the troops will be needed on the homefront when rioting breaks out though. I think this country's citizens would never riot, as there have already been more than enough just cause thus far in recent years. But we may well be on the military defensive in the next year, and by god will you and your elected officials deserve the bitchslap. Laziness and ignorance brought us here, but laziness and ignorance will not free us from these circumstances. It was you who insisted on living beyond your means, too ignorant to balance your damned checkbooks like real adults.
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1 comments:
You wrote, "And we do owe trillions and trillions, making us far far from being the richest nation."
One very important factor to remember in this, especially since the media refuses to cover it, is WHO the money is owed to. Who lends the government money? The rich (typically in the form of Treasury Bonds) and foreign countries. It amuses the hell out of me that the largest creditor to the United States is "communist" China.
Deficits are incredibly good things for the rich. Why? Because instead of paying more in taxes, the government borrows from the rich instead. Which it then has to repay - with interest! If that's not a fucking genius move I don't know what is.
It's a remarkable system and what's amazing is how few people really understand it. The tea party is a great example. One of their big mantras is "no to more taxes." That carefully avoids the key point that taxes are not equal. Ordinary people should pay less taxes and the rich should pay more. If America would go back to the income tax rates they had in the 1950s and 60s, much of the deficit would disappear. But it won't happen until Americans are in the streets like the Greeks, the French, and others. Instead, we are seeing a return to the 1920s gilded age - an age that massive deprivations for ordinary people.
It shouldn't surprise anyone: if, when you regulate (like under Roosevelt's New Deal), you leave in power those who have every incentive to defeat the regulations you brought in, the results are predictable: the regulations will slowly be mitigated or outright defeated. It may take decades, but it will happen. The history of Income Tax is a great example of this: when it was brought in, it was meant to be a tax on the rich that would not effect the vast majority of people. The rich lost that fight - and then spent the last 100 years constantly tweaking it so that instead of being a tax on them it was a tax on everyone. They shared the burden. When a rich person says they have to pay more than anyone else, the proper response (to borrow from an economics professor I like) is, "You shithead! You were supposed to pay it all!"
Unemployment: There is a massive attack underway on the standards of living of non-rich people. My suspicion is that we're going to see regular unemployment levels much higher than they are now. Right now about 1 in 6 people do not have good jobs (this is the Bureau of Labour's U-6 which factors in the unemployment rate, people who are working part-time but would prefer full-time work, and those "discouraged" workers who've given up entirely). That might eventually become 1 in 4.
I do disagree with one thing you wrote: you mentioned that it was laziness (in part) that brought Americans to this point. I don't think so. There have been stagnant real wages (wages adjusted for inflation) since the mid-70s. To maintain standards of living, Americans had to work longer hours or pick up another job. And/or send others into the work force (typically women, but also teenagers and retirees). This was done in an era where there were less jobs (due to computerization, more labour competition due to more people in the workforce, and less jobs due to overseas relocation). People responded by borrowing more to make up the shortfall. It's a vicious circle but I don't believe it's because people were lazy. I think people have withdrawn from politics because they are exhausted. Tapped out. And, as a result of all this, is it a surprise that they disengage with the world around them and lose themselves in celluloid dreams?
People need to make politicians afraid of them. Until that happens, politics will be a game of money and politicians will answer to those who have it rather than those who don't.
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