Tea Party

Tea Party

You know the Tea Party is right about our federal finances. It is sad but we are spending ourselves into a big hole. However their reasons, to my understanding is to make it so the rich do not have to pay taxes, you know the talking point is that then the rich can invest in American enterprise. I mean they do not want to stop wars for the security of our energy supplies nor the business friendly tax supported incentives no matter what. I am thinking of oil companies getting tax credits for drilling and exploration. I do not see these positions as being consistent with the notion that the federal government has to reign in it's spending. In fact I saw a graph showing various choices for reducing the deficit and the vast majority did not want to cut spending in any significant department and fifty-seven (57) per cent did not have any idea of how to reduce the deficit.

We are in a depression muh like the one of the 1930's, only there we had fewer social safety nets thtt we have developed since, like Unemployment Compensation and Supplemental Security Income..

I figure that, in my simplistic head, the problem comes from borrowing to support our present lifestyle, you know, UC, SSI, roads, hospitals, snow plowing, etc, as well as the foreign policies that keep us secure and safe. Back in the Great Depression, the unemployed sold apples on street corners to keep body and soul together. Now they are given Unemployment Compensation. The obvious difference is that in the unemployed were at least doing something to be productive, now there is no reason for them do any of that. Even less if they do something to earn money, they are off the dole. If it is not substantial, they will be doing their families harm. The point being that we are paying for it by borrowing from the future earnings of our citizens. We do mot want people who can pay their way on the dole so there are strict rules for earning money while on Unemployment Compensation. It is a 'darned if you do, and darned if you do not' situation.

But back to the issue of the federal deficit: I do not think that he tea party folks are serious about doing anything about it, short of making all the middle and poor people pay more taxes. I mean do they want to stop having wars? Developing new weapons? Subsidizing business research and development or whatever for business growth? Nor do they want to stop paying for Unemployment Compensation or building roads. I figure that if you want to pay a debt, you focus on paying it, denying yourself some stuff so you have the where with all to pay down the debt, and I do not see the tea party suggesting to do any of that. I know it would be political suicide to do so, but that just makes me think they are not serious. Hard decisions demand guts to make because if you are wrong, you will be vilified forever and all politician wants to be up on Mount Rushmore rather than wherever Benedict Arnold is.

As for Rep. Ryan's proposal to change Medicare, I figure that it is a good way for insurance execs to make more money, and that has to be good for the country, right? Oh, I guess that it will also relieve some of the federal debt, but would that amount be significant? I suppose that soon he will want to make the Social Security system into a big 401(k) investment fund, and, of course, all of us middle and poor people will be able to invest wisely, and all that investing will be profitable to Wall Street execs, and that has to be good for the country, right? Again, Oh, I guess that it will also relieve some of the federal debt, but would that amount be significant?

The wild and crazy part is that it seems we have a lot of needs that we borrow from the future to pay for: road construction, mass transit, Center for Disease Control, National Institute of Health, Veteran's Administration, etc.; and that is only what we do for ourselves, nothing about what we spend for the European Union, Israel, Saudi Arabia, etc. None of these will be touched by the tea party. They are sacred or something.

But to bring it to something small and understandable I would like to discuss Unemployment Compensation. We do not need all the people there are to work to have a productive and healthy society. The problem is what to do with those who are not employed productively? How do you pay for them to be alive, happy and productive as possible? There is also the problem of the chronic unemployable, whether on Supplemental Security Income or welfare of some sort, they are unproductive to hire. Yet still, the bigger problem is that we have to borrow from the future to pay for any of it. The rich are just not going to give to them money to buy food and housing. Why should they? The rich have worked hard, gambled and won, to get the money they have, why should they give it to those who have not done anything to earn it? There is some talk of the unemployed who have given up on getting a job. I do not know how they keep body and soul together, but they must be on some dole or other, and our taxes are paying for it, or at least we are borrowing from the future to do so. The tea party figures that that is why this country is in such a mess: we have to pay for all those ne'er-do-wells. I figure that they would just as soon see all those poor people off themselves or something, you know, if you do not work, you do not eat. But still this is a drop in the bucket of the federal deficit, compared to the military or business development pieces. What are we to do to reign in the federal deficit? I know I do not have a good answer and I do not think the tea party has any answer, either, despite their claims.

I would like to see them call a spade a spade and fess up they just do not want to be paying for those who do not pull their own weight and they do not want to have the rich pay taxes (after all, who is paying for the tea party ads and protests and what not?)