Everything sublime is as difficult as it is rare. Baruch Spinoza

Monday, August 1, 2011

That Giant Sucking Sound

.....is a trillion dollars immediately pulled from an economy which has fallen flat on its' face and cannot get up.
We are, I fear, in for a bumpy ride. Many of us will not survive the trip. I believe it would be in our own best interest if we stopped falling for the "how large do we want government to be" false argument and instead focus on the real question at hand: what type of society do we want to live in? Forget the misleading rhetoric and get down to brass tacks. Are we ready to enter into a system of government which is designed to support an oligarchy? Because this is where we are swiftly heading.

We should be discussing an infusion of a trillion dollars into our economy; funding infrastructure which is crumbling, updating an outdated rail system, funding clean energy development. We should be discussing tariffs and tax law changes which would bring manufacturing back. There is much we should be doing, but instead we are watching as the bandits prepare to take the last of what we have to give before they kick us over the precipice. 

6 comments:

Mel said...

I agree with you completely on what we should be doing. I keep thinking about the quote attributed to Churchill, Ghandi, Truman and the Bible, that the measure of a society is how it treats its weakest members. I fear that the unemployed, the elderly and working poor will suffer and education will continue to degrade. I'm convinced that we are becoming an embarrassingly ignorant and narrow minded nation, especially after following the "discourse" on the debt ceiling online. There are some seriously scary bigots hiding behind religion and false patriotism who in their fervor to "fix" America will do her the most harm in the long run.
Gaaak. I can barely stand to think about it. Glad to see you posting though, and putting such an apt illustration to the occasion.

will said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
will said...

Agreed. Because of proppoganda, Americans, in general, have bought into the Republican lie/myth that government must be run as a business (complete with a bottom line).

With this thinking, the first things to be axed are public services simply because they show no profit. Next comes the use by businesses and corporations of public property ... hence the Republican obcession with timber, mineral and land usage in and around National Forests and Parks.

If you're a working class person, expect higher fees, surcharges, tolls, more usage charges and no tax breaks. "Free" is now just a word in the dictionary ... right after "Dodo", i.e., the dumb people who've been for teabaggers and Republicans.

Elizabeth said...

Yes, and I'm so glad that you're posting these powerful words. I hope you'll keep doing so. Let's keep our fingers crossed that maybe, just maybe, the world will evolve into a different sort of world and that those like us will release ourselves from these others and find another way --

Lori Skoog said...

We shall see. Not an easy time.... Thanks for sharing your thoughts. The photo is perfect.

Sandra said...

Well, they did it. Now we watch and probably weep.