Paradoxes

We live in fluid times. What is ‘up’ one year is ‘down’ another. Definitions change. In is out when before out was in. Laws of gravity are adopted by political pundits and then upturned to fit their discussion.

In a public address in San Francisco in September of 1912, then former president Theodore Roosevelt said these enlightened words:

“There once was a time in history when the limitation of governmental power meant increasing liberty for the people. In the present day the limitation of governmental power, of governmental action, means the enslavement of the people by the great corporations, who can only be held in check through the extension of government power.”

Regulations were needed to safeguard workers’ health, pay practices, working hours and much more. Then too, boom and bust cycles continually ripped lives apart. Banking laws were all over the place and ill suited. Corporate shenanigans were a common part of American life. And monopolies ruled many industries until broken up by the federal government.

Yes, regulations are needed on a continuing basis. Think of food safety and drug safety just for starters. Not all regulations are bad; onerous maybe, but what is the objective they are formed to accomplish?  Let us not forget that important detail.

Today, our economy has it problems. But the economy is not without both its high and low spots. As Todd Huffman tells us:

            “America does not have a money problem – it has a priorities problem…

             We give tax cuts to the wealthy and budget cuts to the poor.”

No wonder things are mixed up. Remember: up is down one year, and down is up the next!

That does double with ‘trickle down economic theory’. The theory only works if the wealthy actually spend their funds or invest them into job producing businesses. Buying one yacht, or buying some collaterized debt obligations doesn't do much good for the folks downstream.

In international affairs there is this note from Jon Stewart, who once again nails it:

“If it turns out that President Barack Obama can make a deal with the most intransigent, hardline, unreasonable, totalitarian mullahs in the world, but not with Republicans, maybe he’s not the problem!”

Good point. To illustrate that point, here’s an eye popping statement from fb.me/thereprimandproject:

From Rand Paul: “Why is it that the middle class is still buried in this country? Why is it we have 23 million people out of work? Why is it half our kids coming out of college can’t find good jobs?”

Answer: “Because your party buried the country in massive debt and the biggest fiscal crisis in generations, and then opposed almost every attempt the Democrats made to fix it. That’s why, you ignorant, pandering ass!”

I share these quotes because I thought I was the only person on the planet who observed these things and understood them. Evidently there are others like me who do get it!

And here’s another example of someone who gets it:

“Two-thirds of seniors rely on Social Security for most of their income; one-third rely on it for at least 90% of their income. These people aren't stashing their Social Security checks in the Cayman Islands and buying vacation homes in Aruba – they are hanging on by their fingernails to their place in the middle class.”   ~Elizabeth Warren

That’s a basic fact of life that most of us have lost sight of. Policy makers, however, best not forget it.  Lest they forget, the great recession began in 2007 and its effects have dramatically altered the economic landscape for nearly all citizens of the USA. People who had been well prepared for retirement have watched helplessly as their nest eggs simply disappeared. Any illness on top of that experience most likely wiped out all of their reserves.

One final quote for today, this one anonymous:

            “If you are poor or middle class, no amount of tax cuts can make you richer.”

But for the wealthy, …..

November 29, 2013