America is just a small economic hiccup from bankruptcy. The share of the national debt for every man woman and child in America exceeds the median income for America. That means over half of America owes more debt than they make per year. Spending cuts alone will not solve the problem. Income has to be raised and that comes from raising taxes unfortunately. Having been through a bankruptcy during which I spent four months living in a Ford Econoline van with everything I owned. Having had to migrate south for the winter for both work and to keep from freezing to death. I understand the impact of losing it all. It is something you eventually get over and get back to work but it takes sacrifices. A male, single and middle aged has no chance of getting help from the system. The winter in Florida taught me why so many divorced males lived there. Florida at that time did not garnish wages for child support. One of the few states that did not force the single male to live on bologna sandwiches.
The recent unemployment and housing market collapse are mirroring the financial slowdown of the early eighties. The problem is that the government no longer has the means or the will to solve the problems facing America. While I agree with the Republicans that program and spending cuts equal to the amount that the debt ceiling is raised. I disagree that taxes should not be raised. Someone has to pay for the excessive spending that has gone on over the years and the present two party system is not willing to do that. The only solution is a viable third party that not only demands an amendment to the Constitution making a balanced budget mandatory but also freezes spending and seriously looks at cutting government spending and waste.
Cutting the budget in essence will perpetuate the unemployment problem. The people who are making the products the government buys may be laid off and that only adds to the problem. While the banking industry needs to be reined in and regulated as does Wall Street, so does government. The credit default programs that forced the collapse were the equivalent of, as I heard one commentator say, "Selling cars with no brakes and then insuring against your having an accident." The Federal governments allowing the medical bill to pass and retricting the Federal Government from using its buying power to get a discount is absurd and a major cost to the tax payers of America and the only ones who benefit are the drug and legal industries. My prescriptions through the VA cost more than buying the drugs through my own health insurance program.
Another example of incompetence is the United States Postal Service. They should be dilivering mail and not packages. Junk mail, catalogs and flyers should be distributed by private carriers. The fact the Post Office "gives" their customers packing materials and then gives a major discount on shipping is an example of the pure business incompetence that is running that system. For almost a hundred years from the 1860's to the late 1950's the cost of mailing a letter was 3 cents. It only got on a runaway train when the government agreed to allow the Postal Service employees to unionize. At the same time the government decided to take America off the Gold standard and the living standard in America for the average American has been on a down hill slide every since. Yet the wealthy and big business have grown more and more wealthy buy paying politicians to pass tax breaks for their business that stick it to the taxpayer.
Lobbying needs to be banned on capitol hill and the committee system in Congress needs to be done away with and all spending needs to be above board and voted on by all members of Congress the present system of committees allows the members of Congress to submit, pass and push through legislation in their area of specialization. It is how lobbyist use the sytem to push legislation they want. It is time to go back to passing all bills on the floor and in the open. The only way that will happen is with a viable third party to block the manipulation and nonaccountability that is now going on.
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