How Did the US Blow It?

[Ben Huh]

[Philly]

[Professor]

[Winchester]

[exploited]

Kill whitey. It's the only way.

[uebermann]

Rules not followed for starting a new thread in the General Discussion forum. Moved to the Soap Box.

[Ben Huh]

[Indy]

Let's see. I'd say it began with starting two wars and putting them on the credit card. Then, in a time of war, enacting tax cuts that exploded even further the income disparity we see now. Then, adding a Medicare part D--where the U.S. gov't had no negotiating power with pharmas--and putting that on the credit card.

Also, a shift in the Republican party to a stance where gov't is the enemy and must be eliminated/underfunded and we'll let the "free market" run the world, which we saw the results of in 2008 with the Great Recession, from which we still haven't recovered. To be fair, plenty of Dems were pro-deregulation as well including Clinton.

So that threw the country down a financial mine shaft--add to that the disappearing middle class which means people aren't buying stuff which means less tax revenue for the gov't. Also, people who don't make enough money are only spending it on necessities, further exacerbating the problem. Meanwhile we have a 1% that with all their millions and billions either sit on it or offshore it, or pay an effective tax rate of 15% compared to twice that for regular citizens, further depriving the gov't of revenue to pay its debts.

Finally, trillions have been transferred out of this country to finance failed nation-building projects in Afghanistan and Iraq, which means little money spent on infrastructure (which would create jobs) and education (which would create more people able to get better jobs).

As this has all gone on in plain sight, you've got half the electorate indoctrinated into the idea that see? Gov't spending is why we're in all this debt! Because the gov't is taking away the money you do make to give to lazy black people who don't want to work. That's the ruse used to slash gov't programs/safety nets that would give somebody born into poverty a chance at upward mobility, or somebody who had fallen into it a way back out.

And as the wealth is sucked up like a vacuum into the 1% that same half is told this is capitalism and we dare not question what share they are paying because they are "job creators." Who don't create jobs.

So that half is amazingly going to literally vote against its own interests (or everybody's really, unless you're rich) because they've been sold an ideology that says the way to prosperity is to dismantle the gov't role in helping its citizens and to regulate its own economy.

But yet will spend trillions in failed attempts to build other Americas in the middle east under the guise of "defense," while spending like that here is now "socialism."

Keep 'em misinformed, keep 'em uneducated, keep em' poor and anybody who starts to look behind the curtain--that's when you pull out the dog whistle.

This is how we do it...

[Philly]

Well the fact that the debt became a big concern shortly after the economy went into the tank is a big part of why things are still so bad. I think Obama made a huge miscalculation in thinking the stimulus would be a sufficient boost in the face of our economic situation and that he could then move on it other things like healthcare. He should have been more ambitious at the start and then kept going from there. The amount of effort and sacrifice he made trying to find common ground with republicans in his first two years were very costly to both his presidency and the country.

[Philly]

Analogy:

The president is your team's quarterback. The circumstances he inherits are his defense.

Peace and prosperity = good defense
Turmoil and recession = bad defense

If your quarterback has a good defense, he just needs to be a game manager. Keep things moving but no need to go for a big play and risk a costly mistake. If the defense is bad, he needs to be a big play maker and act more aggressively.

Clinton was a game manager with a good defense. It worked out splendidly.

Bush was a playmaker with a bad defense, but he threw pick after pick, so it just got worse. Disaster.

Now the defense is even worse and we're down by several scores, but Obama is in game manager mode. He's not a turning over the ball or going three-and-out, but he's not moving the ball nearly fast enough to counteract the terrible situation we're in.

Thoughts?