- We've all heard that our economy is recovering, and politicians
are patting themselves on the back while at the same time pointing fingers
at each other in blame for the downturn or the slowness of the recovery.
Economic statistics disguise the real truth. Politicians assume that we're
all like their friends... that we can absorb a slowdown... that we can
pay a little more in taxes... that if we lose a job we can just find another.
Some people don't even notice such changes because they have enough disposable
income that such problems are miniscule. Many others can tighten their
budgetary belts without giving up any necessities. Not all of us are so
fortunate.
-
- Every time some political nuance sends the market into
a tizzy,
- Every time Congress spends another load of tax money,
- Every time new regulations further crimp our alternatives,
- Every time a business does layoffs due to taxes or regulations,
- Every time our expensive military is deployed to another
nation,
- Every time a new law tosses still more citizens in prison,
- Every time government does anything...
-
- the finances of some people go straight into the dumper...
beyond their control... beyond rescue. Finally comes the last straw...
the one that "breaks the camel's back". Some will lose their
homes, some won't be able to pay their rent and utilities, some won't be
able to buy food, some won't be able to pay for needed medicine. As a family
budget nears breaking, it often becomes a rapid downward spiral. Interest
on increasing debt, penalties on late payments, buying in smaller, more
expensive quantities, buying cheap stuff that won't last, expensive repairs
on old equipment... all can spiral a poor situation into one that drops
out of control.
-
- What do such people do in desperation? They do what they
can to survive. Some formerly honest people will turn to theft, some will
deal drugs, some will turn to loan sharks, some will become depressed and
virtually catatonic, some will try to drink to oblivion, and some will
just commit suicide. Some will be forced to join the ranks of the homeless.
-
- What astonishes me is how many people believe such things
could never happen to them. It's a great American blind spot. A single
unexpected tragedy can start that downward spiral... a death, a long disability
or illness, a lawsuit, natural disaster, a job layoff, a pension plan that
goes belly-up, a turn in the stock market, and a hundred others.
-
- Our government has been squeezing us for a long time,
putting the majority of us in ever-increasing jeopardy of personal collapse.
I call it our "brittle economy", because there is little "bend"
left. Too many of us have serious debt, too many are in jobs that could
disappear, and too many are working 2 jobs or extra hours to get by. Too
many businesses are hanging by a thread, hoping for an upturn, hoping some
new regulation doesn't put them under. We're writing off ever-increasing
amounts of risk to insurance coverage (often mandated by government), so
that if we lose that coverage, we are immediately at serious risk. Health
services, for example, are outrageously expensive. As long as you have
insurance coverage, you don't worry about it (which is one factor that
has driven the costs upward), but when you lose coverage, you're suddenly
facing backbreaking risk.
-
- We are a "squeezed" nation... a nation in real
danger of breaking economically. It's a house of cards. Pull one card out
and a collapse can occur. Regulations limit our flexibility to adapt. Taxes
restrict our options dramatically. An ever-increasing number of laws can
wipe out a family or a business instantly, causing a ripple, squeezing
effect on many connected people.
-
- What are our elected officials doing to correct this
dangerous scenario?
-
- In Our bloodsucking Congress, part 1 and part 2, I wrote
about the enormous pork spending of this Congress... in spite of the economy
being poor. $23 BILLION on pork projects this year... about $80 per person.
There are a lot of people in our nation who could really use that $80...
people for whom $80 can make a big difference. But our representatives
spent your $80, and mine, on crap projects that are embarrassing just to
read about, and they did it while this is also happening:
-
- More cities have had residents turned away from emergency
food and shelter assistance this year than in any year since 1997, according
to a report released yesterday by the nation's mayors, who said that a
weak though improving economy has made it harder to help the needy.
-
- The report found that the homeless population consists
of 41 percent single men, 40 percent families with children, 14 percent
single women and 5 percent unaccompanied youths. An average of 23 percent
of the homeless population is mentally ill, 30 percent are substance abusers,
17 percent are employed and 10 percent are veterans.
-
- TURNED AWAY FROM EMERGENCY ASSISTANCE. Desperate people
with no last resort available to them, while Congress throws money around
as if it were water... while our government spends billions each month
in Iraq, for reasons that defy comprehension. Organizations that would
normally provide emergency assistance are strapped too, because all of
us are contributing less because our government takes more of our earnings.
In a nation of immense wealth and unflinching charity, our government has
squeezed us so hard that our neighbors most in need are being destroyed.
-
- Where are those compassionate, caring legislators who
pretend to care for us? The simple, unavoidable fact is that our big-party
politicians don't give a damn about individuals. They pretend to be omniscient
and omnipotent... in control of everything, and looking out for our interests...
while every action they take smashes more people off the bottom rung of
the economic ladder and pushes the rest of us closer to that end.
-
- The very people our elected officials pretend to care
about are the ones they consistently destroy, yet they will return home
bragging about the fine projects they supported... completely ignoring
the permanent damage they have caused to so many invisible people. Just
so many broken eggs headed for the big omelet in the political sky.
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- Human fodder sacrificed on the altar of reelection campaigns.
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- http://babelogue.citypages.com:8080/bsmith/2003/12/24
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