So, this debate isn't going to be any higher quality than 'austerity doesn't work' and 'spending money like a drunken sailor doesn't work', is it? Useless. Ideology again.
Why don't we just go back to only land-owning white males can vote, repeal every law in the last century, increase poverty and starvation and call it utopia? No drunk sailor there.
To have a discussion you can't just say 'Greece sucks therefore we should adopt the Ryan budget' to make the rich richer. That's clueless and harmful.
Let's see, the last time we had such a bad economy, we had the New Deal, which build massive Dams (the biggest things the world had ever built), the Golden Gate Bridge, energy, infrastructure, sidewalks, all kinds of things that paced the way for prosperity - that we 'couldnt afford' and should have just not spent the money and left the country in dire straits, hungry, sick. So, let's try THAT approach this time. Good plan. Greece sucks!
This is a good example of when democracy is limited by ignorant, gullible citizens who are vulnerable to the propaganda of the wealthy interests, to prefer bad policy.
People don't understand that the wealthy always want to shift more wealth from the people to themselves.
If the US were a third world country, the rich would still be singing the same song about those greedy citizens asking for a bit of rice to eat, the selfish pigs.
Problem is, the wealthy are able to MISSPEND the money we spend by controlling the government and elections with their money - so people say 'government sucks'.
Plays right into the hands of the wealthy who don't want the people to have any power against them.
How has austerity worked historically? Well, it's a decades-long policy the IMF and World Bank used on countries - that they now admit was very destructive. Hmm.
I can point you at countries who spend a hundred times on their interest to foreign lenders as their education budget - money borrowed under pressure from the powerful countries to hire those countries for needless projects to enrich politically powerful companies and industries, such as Bechtel. Done them a lot of good! But hey, better than spending the money on the people of the country. Austerity, good idea!
You know what I can't remember from one right-wing poster here in a long time? One single post saying 'hey, this trend we're on benefiting the wealthy is a bad one, let's change it'.
All you have to do is show a right-winger a picture of a poor black buying a steak on food stamps, and they'll scream for more right-wing policies. SCREW THOSE PEOPLE!!
One of the news channels pointed out how the $800,000 GSA scandal - and it is a scandal - was awfully tiny compared to the literally billions stolen by Halliburton/KBR.
Which is the public hearing more about, which are they being told to be worried about? So they'll scream 'I hate the government' instead of 'I hate corrupt interests controlling the government'? Because the people behind the Halliburton/KBR billions ARE the right-wing policies that are put in power when they hold up the poor person buying the steak.
And call for austerity - by the people. No need to invest in the people - just give the money to the corrupt interests. The job creators hoarding record-setting wealth.
But you can't talk to so many of these right-wingers. They think 'Greece Sucks' is a valid position to our economy. Put the wealthy in charge!
Reminds me a little again of how street gangs turn these members into little more than people obsessed with hating and killing the other gang, who is very much like them.
No talking sense to such people, and no talking sense to the 'austerity' crowd who hate other citizens and don't want them getting 'any free money'. Irrational.
$800,000 or billions, which is larger? They sure think the $800,000 is larger. It seems to have had a lot more press and Congressional hearings. Who resigned over the billions?
I'm not defending the $800,000 waste, I'm pointing out how public opinion is so absurdly misguided when it ignores the billions - and supports austerity for the people over good investments in the country. During the Great Depression, the explosion of infrastructure; in the 1960's, we created Medicare, Medicaid, permanently lowered the poverty level by a third in the War on Poverty, had a major tax cut fought for by the Democrats as good Keynesian economics (propsed by Kennedy, passed by Johnson), increased education and much more, all while spending up to 5% of the budget on the Moon project and Vietnam - with a roughly balanced budget.
Which party has brought us the prosperity and balanced budgts, and which has brought us economic crashes, massive shifts of wealth to the wealthy and huge debt?
Save234