The average (not all) Black politically oriented prognosticator is more focused upon:
- More "Fair" (their word) Distribution of wealth and resources in America
- How the Tax system should be used to achieve (their version) of Progressive outcomes in America
- How corporations wield too much power and the people (meaning unions) don't have enough power to check them
At the time of the "Fiscal Wakeup Tour" there was no presidential election campaign to speak of. Still Mr Walker told the crowd (mostly made up of graduate students) that "the job #1 of the next president of the United States is to level with the American people about our financial future. He or she is going to have to tell Americans that the government is not going to be able to afford to spend at the levels that they have come used to. Also he is going to have to pay more taxes in order to sustain this nation despite being at a lowered standard of living"Mr Walker said these words even before the present financial meltdown took place - it should be noted.
The key point in applying these sage words to what we are seeing today is that we are seeing tremendous cut backs in services at the municipal and state levels. All of them are required to submit a balanced budget since they don't have currency printing powers. The federal government is in far worse economic shape on a proportional basis than are these municipalities and states but their ability to sell large amounts of debt (as well as accounting gimmickry) allows them to escape the fate endured by these others.
The Strategic Flaw Of The Black Establishment
I am not "picking on" Black people. This blog is focused upon the Black Community and all of the forces that bear down upon it.
Clearly one of these forces is the strategy as carried forth by the prevailing powers that have most influence on our people. They happen to be left of center. They happen to be Democrats or Democratic-party-loyalists.
The key flaw as I see is it that they have been pursuing a strategy of "Social Justice RIGHTS" as their primary means of providing our community with the accouterments necessary to live at a certain STANDARD OF LIVING. Since these "rights" trump all consideration of what an individual person might have done to fall short of the productivity necessary to enjoy life at this particular standard of living - there will always been a large measure of "redistribution" of resources by the government to make this progressive system work. The progressive calls this "smoothing out the rough edges of capitalism". I call it - abstracting the link between one's standard of living and the inputs that are necessary to achieve it. Here resides the essence of our ideological differences.
I don't proclaim to be any more of a visionary than the next man. Still I find it difficult to understand how the same people who's political end game is to provide "fairness" by making the central government authority the main distribution switch for resources don't see that as this central source becomes more debt-laden - their dreams are more threatened as a result. This blog entry about Romania should be a foreshadow event for all to see.
It is my belief that the most significant flaw of my ideological adversaries is that they see the control over the local institutions of government as a mere stepping stone on their way to snatching national power. In as much they fail to fully leverage the power of these institutions and thus support a more DISTRIBUTIVE model for building up the standard of living that we both claim as our mission. Their vision can be summed up by considering "Single Payer Health Care". They are fundamentally committed to the notion that everyone in America has a RIGHT to health care with the SOCIETY paying the bills. In theory this creates equality with the society expressing the value of everyone by providing as such.
The key flaw in this assessment is that they violate the two way street that EQUALITY is. Indeed there is one way which says "a society proves the EQUAL worth of all within based on its willingness to provide resources in equal measure without any regard to discrimination or stratification". I get it folks. What they fail to address is that other side which completes the loop. This turns to the "EQUAL CITIZEN" and looks for him to contribute to the general fund that which he is capable of contributing in a proportional manner.
Ironically the famous statement by Karl Marx which says "From each according to his means, to each according to his needs" has been perverted in its pure meaning. It has traditionally been used to justify the progressive taxation system. I argue that by reducing the expectations from those who have been INFERIORIZED as "The Least Of These" we can't avoid a ballooning national debt because the people will receive services at a certain level that America has adopted, regardless of the resources on hand to supply them. Ironically the same system of capitalism that is scorned by some is the very same system who's "credit score" allows it to seek out a higher "credit card balance" so that the illusion that we can be all to everyone can continue.
"Oh - but what about Defense Spending and 'Tax cuts for the rich'?". Fear not, my friend. Shortly the greatest single line item in the federal budget will be Debt Service. The money paid to pay interest on the outstanding debt. The combined costs of the big three entitlement programs of Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid are the biggest aggregate expenditure. Their ability to live up to their promises hinges upon the overall fiscal state of the nation and the debt status.
If you are comforted that "Bush raised the debt from $5T to $11T" fine. I will not argue with you. Please note that in 10 years the debt will be $20T and this time your will to find a goat to tack this upon is going to be subordinated by the material impact that this situation has upon you this time.
1 comments:
There's absolutely no question that the US is on an unsustainable fiscal and monetary course. Up to now, the fiscal situation has been papered over with money printing by the fed which creates a stealth tax that's actually worst than a straight up income tax increase. These money printing policies have been pursued largely as a way to continue spending painlessly without raising taxes. Those days are coming to an end. There's only so much money printing that one can do before the currency itself is so debased that you'd be better off using it as wall paper.
Right now, we're operating in a low interest rate environment due to the perceived safety and creditworthiness of US treasuries. Any change in perceptions about the risk of holding treasuries or even just a market driven increase in rates will dramatically increase the slice of budget devoted to debt service.
The entitlement promises are going to be very difficult to keep, but that's not the only problem. Everyone who's at the government trough needs to be cut off and that includes the military as well.
I'm of the Ron Paul school on that. We simply can't afford far flung bases everywhere protecting Europe and Japan. We can't afford all subsidizing of the r&d for weapons development which effectively shifts the cost of weapons development to the taxpayer while the profits from arm sales are private. We're going to have to cut back on everything. Everyone needs to get off the government tit.
Basically, someone does need to level with the people, but that's thought to be the political third rail in American politics. I really don't know why that is because I believe that while most people prefer not to hear bad news, we're adults enough to deal with it and do what we need to do in response.
But, I'm not especially hopeful on someone just telling it like it is because our political system is really in a crisis right in front of our face. California is representive of whats going to happen when the crap hits the fan nationally. Everyone is at loggerheads while that state goes to hell in a handbasket. I'm convinced that it will find itself in bankruptcy at some point just as the federal government will.
To be perfectly honest, I've just simply lost what little faith I had in our political system. It really doesn't matter what persuasion any of these guys are. Pretty much all of them disgust me.
As to black folks seeking to draw blood out a dying corpse, I think you're spot on. We've got justice confused with power. When you go for power first, you can always buy justice if you need to. What the fiscal and economic conditions should draw our attention to is the need to develop our communities. That is where power can be drawn from but that requires real work and accountability, which most aren't up for, so it's easier to try to draw the last bit of blood from the corpse instead.
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