You know, it sometimes amazes me how completely out of touch everyone in Washington really is. I'm not just talking about the politicians either. I'm talking about everyone, including the media. You know who I'm talking about, those inside the beltway reporters who don't have a clue what the ordinary person in this country is going through right now. They are so tied to the even less in touch politicians in Washington, that they are completely missing out on the biggest news story in quite some time.
What is that story you ask? It's the gigantic trap that the Republicans have set for the President and the Democrats with this new "compromise" on taxes that the President negotiated with the Republicans. When did we elect Charlie Brown as our President? And when did the Republican party become Lucy?
Seriously, can't the President see what's coming? It's as clear as a bell to me. First the Republican, who are supposed to be SOOOOOOOO concerned about the deficit, hold everything hostage to getting $700 billion in tax cuts for the wealthy which are unfunded, and so would increase the deficit. With a deadline looming, the President foolishly agrees to a "compromise" where it's only for 2 years. Note that this puts the argument about what to do about this newest round of tax cuts right in the middle of the next Presidential elections.
What that means is that they are going to get extended again, because no one wants to be seen as raising taxes in an election year. So, anyone who thinks that these ridiculously expensive, economically foolish tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires aren't going to get made permanent is a fool. So, there's part one of the trap. These tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires are going to end up permanent.
Part two of the trap is even more ingenious. Now that the Republican have fooled us all into borrowing trillions of dollars from the Chinese over the next 15 or 20 years so that Millionaires and billionaires can have their tax cuts which will do NOTHING for the economy, the second part of the trap springs. The second part of the trap is that we will be running HUGE deficits. So they will start screaming how we are going to have to make "sacrifices" so we can get a balanced budget or economy will get wrecked. Of course what they won't tell you is that it's these tax cuts that will be the biggest part of that same deficits that they are now complaining about.
Guess where they are going to want those "sacrifices" to come from? Yup, you guessed it it's from us in the middle class and the poor. They are going to tell us all how we just can't afford those expensive Social Security and Medicare programs any more so "sacrifices" will have to be made.
What they mean by "sacrifices" is that they will bump up the retirement age, probably to 72 or higher. They will cut Medicare benefits, and force older workers to continue to be robbed blind by their friends in the private health insurance companies until at least age 72 if not older. Of course, what they would really prefer is to eliminate Social Security all together so that old people can go back to just eating cat food until they die like they did before Social Security was passed. Of course we will save a lot of money because they will die sooner, not only from the malnutrition, but because they won't be able to afford the same kind of quality health-care that the millionaires and billionaire that their tax dollers were given to can afford.
Just gutting Social Security and Medicare won't be enough for these folks, they will go after every solcial program we have because it will be the only way that, short of raising taxes, that we will be able to address the huge deficit we have due to the stupid tax cuts we gave to millionaires and billionaires.
So, what should we do, you ask? First of all, the people of this country need to wake up to the fact that class warfare is being waged against them. That the biggest transfer of wealth in history is happening right under our noses. That transfer of wealth is from the middle class and the poor who actually create all of the wealth in this country, to the rich, who do nothing to add to the wealth in this country.
Once the people wake up and realize what is being done to them, then we can get some real change going. Here's a few ideas about what we can do:
1. We need to increase taxes on the wealthy so that they pay their fair share and the middle class and the poor can get their fair share of the wealth that they create.
2. We need to get control over the Corporations in this country so that they stop robbing us all blind. This includes stopping them from shipping our jobs overseas with such great abandon.
3. We need to get an even playing field back when it comes to politics by stopping the rich and the Corporations from buying our elections.
4. We need to revamp our education system so that we can have a truly informed electorate. The absolute ignorance of the ordinary American voter is amazing.
5. We need to get rid of the propaganda machines in the right wing media like Fox News and people like Rush and Beck. This is easy to do if we simply pass FCC regulations against knowingly lying over the airwaves. The amount of misinformation spewed on a daily basis by these people is just unbelievable. Making people pay a price for spreading misinformation by fining the stations every time they say something that isn't true would put a stop to their hate filled propaganda in a big hurry.
6. Start building stuff again! We don't make anything in this country any more. We need to put in place trade agreements and policies that make it more attractive for companies to make stuff in this country again. This doesn't mean cheaper, since there's no way that American workers can compete on pure price (we make $15 per hour, Chinese make $.05). We need to make it more expense to bring foreign goods into the US while at the same time making our goods more competitive overseas. So, for example, we can make deals with the Chinese that say something like as long as our trade balance is neutral, everything is OK (i.e. as long as we are selling as much to them as they are selling to us). The second they get more of the pie, tariffs kick in to bring things back into balance. Finally, we make it financially unattractive for foreign companies to own factories, and companies in general here in the US. We can do this by taxing the heck out of any corporate profits that leave the US.
7. We return the Unions to power in this country so the workers have a balance against the corporate interest. We do this by forming unions in every workplace so that workers have a voice, and by giving a couple of seats on the board of every company to the unions that represent the workers at that company. BTW, I'm not just talking about manufacturing here. I'm talking about unions for every worker including white collar workers.
Now I know that my friends on the right are going to scream how all of my recommendations are "unconstitutional". But there's nothing in our Constitution that says that we have to be Fundamentalist Capitalists. I think a little protection for the ordinary working people of this country is very Constitutional.
But you know what I think is "unconstitutional"? Taking money from the middle class and giving it to the rich so they can buy another Mercedes. Taking jobs from American workers and shipping them over seas. Letting ordinary working people die so that the health-care corporations can make more profits. Forcing old people to eat cat food while the rich just get richer. Destroying the middle class in this country so that the corporations can make bigger and bigger profits. Turning this country into a third world country. THATS what *I* think is "unconstitutional". That's what *I* think is Un-American. That's what *I* think every poor and middle class person in this country should be fighting against. But those are all things that are going to happen to us all of we continue to be fooled by the right-wing propaganda machine into voting against our own best interests and we continue to elect people who aren't interested in helping the ordinary working person in this country. People who are only interested in protecting the rich and corporate profits and don't give a rats ass about the poor and the middle class.
No comments:
Post a Comment