Bailouts

Afghanistan war cost $1 trillion. Iraq war cost $1.5 to 2 trillion. Tax cuts to corporations and the rich cost over $1 trillion. That’s upwards of $4 trillion by my accounting. Manufactures of war materiel, military industrial complex, rich people, Wall Street and corporations all benefitted from this public largesse.


Now, take a look at what we spend on social programs. Medicare and Social Security do not enter the calculations here; they are paid for completely from tax/premium collections from workers and employers. A huge trust fund has accumulated for both programs. When critics claim these programs are running out of money, that is not true. Cash maybe, but Congress has borrowed heavily from the trust funds for generations. It is where they find ready cash to borrow. And the interest they pay is much lower than what you and I and corporations pay when borrowing money.


So, the so called entitlements are not that; they are instead insurance programs paid for directly by employers and workers in equal part. The abusers are Congress and their rampant borrowing without paying the trust funds back.


Now, most likely, less than 15% of all federal government expenditures are earmarked for social programs. These are the programs that make up the safety net of Medicaid, housing, healthcare, transportation and food for the poor, disabled and impoverished elderly. We take care of our own, right? Or do we?


What is the value of our core values? It seems not much. Democrats fight to shore up social safety net programs when they can, but republicans tear down such programs.


Now that we have a true national emergency – the pandemic – that threatens each and every one of us, then more socialism is demanded by conservatives to save them. They want the corporate bailouts. They want the mortgage and personal loan hiatus programs. Yes, they want the direct checks to them as well. They who need it the least have their hands out for public funds.


Now that, folks, is socialism. Not communism. Not creeping socialism. But socialism in the raw.

When its for them, it’s OK. When it is for others, it is wrong.


I think I get it now. I understand the smug faces of republicans. They have gamed the system for decades and thought we were not paying attention.


Guess again schmoes. We see you clearly. We hear you clearly.


Please get out of our yard!


March 25, 2020