The rhetoric is killing me. There are so many misleading statements out there over the current and most recent debt ceiling change I simply cannot avoid blabbing about it. The intentionally misleading information out there is what is driving a wedge between all of us and it has to stop. I do not think there are many Americans who relish being at odds with their neighbors, me included, but as long as we allow ourselves to be bamboozled the wedge will remain and our country will falter.
I heard a Republican congressmen say the other night something to the effect of “the senate has proposed nothing!” Well no kidding, the original “Bill” came from the House therefore the Senate was reacting which is the procedure of the governmental bodies. The house proposed the debt ceiling debate so the Senate has to react. It certainly isn’t that they have not participated as some would have you believe. For a simple but informative illustration on how government legislation works use the link. http://www.genome.gov/12513982
Our tax system has many parts and many problems; among them the tax structure is outdated in some ways and needs serious revamping. The system is open for all kinds of modern fraud because of the hundreds of loopholes that have sneaked into it over time and they are killing us. On the flip side, it is designed to be a floating revenue source, ever changing and often unstable. Taxes go up and down with the tide of government spending. In war it is called upon to make up the differences, it is used as a tool of stability in turbulent times such as these, and taxes go down typically in quieter times or are invested in our growth. Conversely, the debt ceiling fluctuates with the changing tax revenues. This is hardly the first time the debt ceiling has been raised since its’ inception during WWI, in fact it has been raised something like 179 times by both Democrats and Republicans. Reagan holds the record at 17 times in one Presidency and mirroring the effects of that were his tax hikes during that same 8 years where he raised taxes some 7 times to quell a turbulent time. He also saw massive interest rates under his watch which this administration has miraculously escaped. Obama has been walking a tight rope successfully avoiding inflation, but it can come at any time if we falter on our growth. I have heard a few folks talking about inflation at this time because of the gas prices and inflation is not in play there, the rise at the pump is simply the whim of the oil industry and supply and demand.
There is nothing new about government spending, it has been going on for years and if you want to know the truth it is leaner now and in the last several years than it has ever been save for war. Nothing that this President has done is in anyway unusual save for the fact that he and Bush did not raise taxes for the two wars; for first time in history we have gone off to war unfunded. “Obamacare” did use some money and it was really bad timing for sure, but had it been allowed to unfold as designed two years ago we would not be talking about “entitlements” now because Medicare and medical costs would already be on the road to repair. The administration has by and large reacted to an economic situation and for a variety of reasons they have had only limited success. Contrary to what some would tell you, the incredible debt that we face has been building since the minute we landed in Afghanistan and it grew by leaps and bounds when we went on to Iraq. The two “stimulus” packages added to it of course, but without them we would be in really bad shape according to most of the economists; you cannot grow an economy without investment. Of course the success of the injection of the stimulus’s is hard to prove to the American people, and the Republican party and the Tea party are certainly not going to admit that it had to happen because they stand to gain from the fallout of failure.
By and large the overall debt is a result of two unfunded wars and shrinking revenue in tax cuts at a time when the amount going out is incredible. They have cost us directly over a trillion dollars and that does not include the miscellaneous costs surrounding them or the thousands of lives. Those lives by the way were given over 60% of the time while protecting fuel convoys; they were not lost in static battle.
The debt will be hard to get under control no matter what until we get out of the wars and get back to discussing jobs instead of this ridiculous debate of whether to pay our bills or not. There is only one other country in the world with a debt ceiling and that is Denmark I believe, and the debt ceiling there is set so incredibly high not even two wars would touch it. Borrowing takes place worldwide and for better or worse it keeps the economy running around the globe much like it does when we borrow bank money for our cars. Like it or not, we are involved to stay in a world economy although borrowing so heavily is not exactly advisable.
In listening to Dan Akerson the head of GM this morning I learned that they have paid back to Canada and the U.S. a good share of the money used to bail them out and are carrying an 8 million dollar company balance. They are strong and ready to get on with it. He said that the U.S. Government had never interfered with their management team and he is thankful for the financial support saying that without it we would have suffered another million lost jobs. They feel that the only thing (until this ridiculous debt ceiling debate that is) holding this country back is a little confidence which has been severely undermined by all the false statements and rhetoric floated for the sake of winning favor and re-election even though it is tearing this country down. There are many companies holding trillions waiting for the right climate to invest and with those investments will come recovery and a strong America.
It seems ironic to me, but Obama is perhaps too middle of the road for leadership here and now. By being a moderate he cannot get a grip on leading because no one is wholeheartedly behind him for he is neither far left nor right. All I know is that Dan Akerson is right in my thinking, and not getting behind our President is killing this country. It would behoove all of us to pay a little more attention to what we are being told and understand a little better the steps of government so that we are not so quickly fooled when politicians and the media point their fingers. It would behoove us to get behind the guy and his efforts to get this country back on its’ feet. Divided we fall.
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