Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Bubbles

If you live in a bubble it’s easy to play the blame game. Everything wrong with America is because of something other people are doing. It’s not my fault. I pay my taxes and tote that barge and take care of my kids and blah, blah, blah. It’s those people that are ruining everything.  But I’d like to point out that it’s likely that very indifference that is what’s really wrong. Too many people on government programs you think? Well, tell Grandma to give back that Medicare/Medicaid and Social Security then. She doesn’t really need it I guess. Cut all that education spending, ok, I guess people are already dumb enough, can’t get any dumber.

I’ve always said the best way to get America back to its former glory days is to focus on our infrastructure. There are roads, bridges, monuments, landmarks, parks, and buildings, underground services like water and power that are all in dire need of attention. We are headed for a terrible crash if we keep ignoring these things or keep putting band-aids on them.  It would seem the American people aren’t motivated to fix any of these things.

They would rather continue to squabble between the parties and play politics than get to the business of America. Right now American government is faced with a very serious issue, The Debt Ceiling. “If Congress fails to raise the current $14.3 trillion debt limit by August 2, Americans could face rising interest rates and a declining dollar, among other problems. As the cost of borrowing rises, individual mortgages, car loans and student loans could become significantly more expensive.”[1]

The Democrats want a plan that would save $2.2 TRILLION over the next decade and raise the debt ceiling by $2.7 TRILLION and everybody has to get their hands dirty, rich and poor through taxation. Mind you they would prefer to increase the tax on those people making more than $250,000 a year but the Republicans refuse to agree to any tax increase.

The Republican position and that of John Boehner appears to be that the plan submitted by Harry Reid doesn’t cut enough, “entitlement programs”. That they want to cut spending more than they increase the debt limit with no tax hikes. Basically they want to keep the rich, rich and the poor mired in the thick of it because, "Hey, they didn't work hard enough".

So it’s at an impasse. How did America get into this kind of trouble anyway? By not looking for solutions within its own infrastructure is the only thing I can think of. We did not invest in ourselves and now have to pay the price. Imagine if jobs were plentiful because we were working on our crumbling infrastructure. Those employed people would be making a good wage and spending that money back here in America. It would increase our GDP and keep interest rates and all those other related financial woes manageable.

But what do I know; I’m just a guy looking for a wedding date (still. Any takers…..?) and what can I really do about it? Well, I think this time I will have to take the vicious figurative pen of mine and get involved. It’s time to get involved everybody and take control of our elected officials and make sure they understand what is best for us, the American people.  It’s simple, education, jobs, homes, health and security. But we can’t let government do it for us. We have to get involved and pop our little bubbles and remember we’re all in this together.

Okay, enough politics. So… wedding plans anyone?



[1] http://www.cnn.com/2011/POLITICS/07/27/debt.talks/index.html?hpt=hp_t1

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