I assume that you all remember what key issues were debated
in the 2012 Presidential election held on November 6th. Both parties
had completely different views on both the causes of our dilemma and the policies
to rectify the problems. But on Election day, the American people (you know, the
ones that live and breathe and have a pulse) spoke by electing President Barack Obama for another term. They agreed with his vision of letting the tax-cuts
expire. Hell, although Pres. Obama had 51% of the popular vote, exit polling
showed that 60% of all voters thought that the tax-rates for the wealthy should
revert to the old levels.
Here we sit, almost one month later, watching politicians wrangle
over an issue that we, the people, have already expressed our opinions on. Ignoring
nonpartisan studies that show a lowing of income-tax rates does not spur
economic growth they press on with their effort to "protect the job creators". The argument that higher taxes would choke off investments was
lampooned by legendary investor Warren Buffett. Appearing on the “Daily Show
with Jon Stewart” Buffet asked if he (Stewart) would care about his tax rate
if Buffett came to him with an investment idea… Who would say, “I don’t want
that $1,000,000 gain if my tax rate is z% instead of y%”? A gain, is a gain, is a gain. Period.
By now it should be apparent to everyone that players like Rove,
Norquist, Boehner, McConnell, Cantor et al are acting as shills for a number of
ultra-wealthy people who aren’t very civic-minded. This cabal of Henry F. Potter
types (see “It’s a Wonderful Life’) want
control of everything. You know, shrink government down “to the size where we
can drown it in the bathtub”, let the “free market” take care of things and
don’t tax the job creators. All they care about is boosting the bottom-line. Advances
in automation, computerization and robotics have increased profitability but
has done nothing to help the employment outlook.
Unfortunately there is a more pressing future burden that has
far more dire consequences than the fiat currency problem we face with our
government debt. The victims of Katrina
know about it… Hurricane victims in Vermont
know about it. (I mean really, hurricane damage in Vt?) New York City flooded (I mean really?) Record
heat waves and droughts (I mean really …)About the same time we were all
laughing at the images of Carl Rove trying to cope with Fox News calling Obama
the winner in Ohio the rest of the world was reading about dire climate predictions
from the World Bank and the UN…
Hello GLOBAL WARMING
IS REAL
The US
should go from being a reluctant player to a key driver on this problem…
The US
government could devise a modern day set of initiatives along the lines of the
Have it become a combined effort to improve the efficiency
of renewable energy sources but also include work on infrastructure projects of not only schools & roads, but coastal protection work as well.
There is a upfront price tag but the benefits will far outweigh the costs.
A Midwest Research Institute report from 1971 detailed the positive impact the NASA program had economically, technologically
and socially.
Using his best George Bailey impression, President Obama should go on his stump tour to lay out his plan to help tackle the climate change issue and be accompanied by Warren Buffet as Clarence sell his tax policy
