Standard & Poor's had the nerve to tell the emperors of D.C. that they have no clothes on. President Obama, the media and Congress all heralded the arrival of the budget deal that allowed them to lift the debt ceiling and to go on vacation, but the truth is, no one has a plan to fix what's really ailing this country.
There are very significant differences in ideology between mainstream Republicans, the Tea Party and Democrats when it comes to deficits and debt ... as well as one glaring similarity:
The Republicans believe in lowering taxes while increasing spending for defense, a Medicare drug benefit and the operating expenses of several wars, while also increasing earmarks for pork for their districts. The Republicans will then borrow money to make up the difference.
The Tea Party wants to eliminate all taxes while continuing the wars and eliminating all social programs. They will then borrow money to make up for any difference between revenues and expenses.
The Democrats want to continue all the wars as long as President Obama is president; they want to expand all social programs and add many new ones, and then raise taxes to pay for all of this. They will then borrow money to make up the difference.
None of the parties nor Obama has put forth a single plan to increase real employment, because of course we have no money (except for endless unemployment benefits for not working). Obama claims that extending jobless benefits while granting amnesty to millions of workers here illegally and increasing legal immigration will create millions of jobs. The president says that he has several trade agreements that, if passed, will increase jobs. However, he also says we need to provide funds in the trade agreement for the people who will become unemployed because of the agreements, so I am confused. The Republicans who claim to love free trade refuse to approve the agreements because they do not want to provide any money for the displaced workers.
The worst actors in all of this are the members of the Tea Party. They claim the voters elected them to do something about the deficits and the debt, but they accomplished a deal that will increase our debt gigantically by 2020 and will increase the debt's percentage of GDP ... all while bragging about how they have been so brave and true to their principles.
While we have no money for our own infrastructure, Obama, the Republicans and the Tea Party have plenty of it for our morass in Afghanistan. The president is committed to nation-building in Afghanistan even though his own administration says al-Qaida is almost extinct and we have killed Osama bin Laden.
Here is a link to a recent article in The Washington Post about how long we have been nation-building in Afghanistan. Would you believe it started in 1951?
If we raise taxes, will we just use the money to continue our military presence overseas while starving our domestic economy of capital investments in roads, airports, bridges, etc., while also cutting Social Security and Medicare for people who have paid into the systems for years ... and still see our debt increase? If we don't raise taxes but continue our massive overseas military presence overseas, will we just slash all domestic spending and Social Security ... while still increasing our debt every year?
Something has to give -- here's hoping it's the emperors in Washington. I'd sure like to see what next fall's fashions will bring, because I'm sick of the clothes on display right now.
