Of course "something" has to be done...
In the business world we call that "something" new management and new rules. The current regime under the current rules dug us into the current $14 trillion hole, and the old regime under the same rules did the same thing. Indeed changes are necessary. Some occurred on November 2nd, and we must complete the job in 2012.
How did we get here? State and federal politicians used our cash to repay the Fat Cats for the bribes that funded their elections, and now we taxpayers must pay them back.
The Deficit Commission's recommended cuts totally omitted the one change that would have kept us out of trouble in the first place, and by itself would ultimately restore our economy:
Get politicians off the payroll of Goldman Sachs and the billionaires that want in our pockets, and let the politicians make unbiased spending decisions that are in the best interest of the nation!
Read that, implement Public funding of campaigns!!!
Now!!! Stop the looting!!! Eliminate the political bribes.
Understand how this works...CEOs want short-term profits to increase their already massive salaries, and are willing to share those profits with the politicians that make it all happen. Thus NAFTA and CAFTA are passed that enable outsourcing to countries with wages one-tenth ours, and they repeal regulations like the Glass-Steagall bill that protected the public from the white-collar crooks' looting of the system.
The Debt Commission now proposes fixing the problem on the backs of the middle class.
We need changes, but not those recommended...Do you ever get the feeling that the politicians got together and said, "Hey, if we really want the public to cave on this cost cutting, so we have more taxpayer cash for the CEOs who funded our elections, let's make them really, really bleed... and show projections that get them really, really scared!"
We are now in the process of bleeding and being scared. They are looting. We will soon cave.
- First and foremost, install public funding of campaigns.*
- Cut congressional pay and benefits, and put congressmen on a pay-for-performance basis. If the deficit goes up, or SSI and Medicare benefits go down, their personal pay and benefits go down too. No more robbing Peter to pay Paul (where we are Peter and they are Paul!).
- Equalize federal employee pay and benefits with the private sector.
- Ban pork-barrel projects.
- Eliminate Bush's over-1500 contract security firms in the US and replace them with government employees at 1/5th the cost.
- Eliminate the over 50,000 private mercenaries (Halliburton and Blackwater) that cost FIVE times what our US troops cost.
- Leave Social Security alone, retirement at 65, but remove the wage cap and extend it to all income; not just wages.
- Leave Medicare alone, except extend it to all and remove the 65 year age qualification. Medicare-for-all would make the best corporate bailout, for 100% of employers, and help keep jobs in the US.
- Let the Bush tax cuts expire for wages over $300K and eliminate the 15% tax bracket for investment income.
- Eliminate subsidies for offshoring jobs (like to India).
- Repeal NAFTA and CAFTA.
- Audit the FED, maybe even nationalize it and the banks (things are not looking good with QE2 and Goldman Sachs).
- Reverse the 1999 Gramm-"Leach-"Bliley Act that repealed the 1932 Glass-Steagall bill (reinstall the banking regulations).
- Mandate corporate reform, with majority shareholder control over executive wages and political contributions.
- Mandate election reforms like Ranked Choice (IRV) voting to make politicians more accountable to the voters.
* But first and foremost, pass "optional" public funding of campaigns, because nothing will get fixed until you do. Even if all else fails, getting politicians off the billionaire's payroll will untie their hands to make good things happen for the nation.
Our problem is NOT R's or D's, but it *IS* two-fold. It *IS* that the politicians are owned by the multimillionaires that want in our pockets, and it *IS* a public that doesn't yet understand the costs to society.
Live with it; or fix it.
Politicians spend taxpayer dollars because they ARE PAID to spend taxpayer dollars, and robbing the SSI fund (as just one example) gives them the cash needed to attract campaign dollars.
