I've touched on this before but I think it's time to try another round. Most Dems HERE, at least, seem to get it.
The Republican/Conservative ideology when it comes to economics is morally and intellectually bankrupt. They try to tell us that giving tax breaks to the capitalists somehow stimulates the economy when it's plain to any clear-thinking person that it doesn't.
Why not? Simply put, the richest Americans tend to hoard wealth. They don't spend it. They don't put it back into the economy by creating more jobs. "Trickle down" is a hoax. Always has been.
The ONLY way to stimulate the economy is by putting more spending power into the hands of those who NEED to spend money. People that NEED to buy a new washing machine, or NEED to buy more clothes for the kids than the two pairs of pants and three tee-shirts they can currently afford.
By giving more money to those who will spend it, it sends that money back into the economy. By raising the minimum wage, it provides an opportunity for these folks to go out and buy things they need, or that luxury item they've been eyeing for the past few years. As more people go out and buy things, more employees are needed by the manufactures to keep up with demand. More salespeople are needed in the stores that sell these items. Simply put--the more people buy, the more jobs that are created.
The Republicans have been shoving their broken ideology down our throat for the past several years, aided by a corrupt and complicit corporate media. We need to get this message out there, to shatter the myth they've built around it--the myth that promotes the idea that their tax breaks are good for the economy. They do next to nothing for the economy.
The People have already said they want to see a hike in the minimum wage. The people know they're not able to keep up with the rate of inflation and they're hurting.
It's simply not right that executives make millions of dollars a year in salaries, and stuff their pension funds with even more millions, when people who make it all possible have to struggle to feed and clothe their families. But not only is it not right, it's not sustainable. To allow this sort of dichotomy is harmful to this nation and its future. It deprives talented young people of a chance to make a meaningful impact on society because it limits their options.
It's time we banished Voodoo Economics to the dustbin of history. We need reality-based economics. And we need a spokesperson capable of explaining it to the People in a way that they'll understand. The Republicans/Conservatives are wrong. It's just another example of how they're wrong.
We will no longer swallow the lie of Voodoo Economics. We demand truth, justice, and real-world solutions. Not pie-in-the-sky sleight-of-hand.
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Comments: 7
To be taken seriously, try finding facts to back your words. I can find several facts to disolve your arguments into dust my friend.
I don't think Keynes was altogether correct in all of his assumptions, but I do believe that an active economy is better than an inactive one. Giving more money to people who NEED to spend money is preferable to giving it to people who already spend as much as they want to.
One key to improving the economy, in my opinion, is by making higher education affordable to anyone who wants it. Boost education and you boost median incomes. Raise minimum wage to make it easier for those on the bottom to actually contribute to the economy, and initiate tax breaks for small businesses and those pursuing new technologies such as those that might lead to energy independence, medical breakthroughs, and enhancing the quality of life for everyone.
http://sites.wiwiss.fu-berlin.de/collier/krugman/rede.html
Related:
http://www.alternet.org/workplace/41192/
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/10/3/9115/30169
i'm not worried though. we could always sell the washington monument.
We need to regain some of our innovative edge. Certainly the last twelve years haven't been as much of a boon in that department as they might have been, considering the way the Republicans have blocked innovation in certain areas.
I think we really need to promote higher education as well. And innovative, out-of-the-box thinking. We need to stifle cover-thy-ass bureaucracy and allow for some mistakes to be made in the search for new advances.
And we definitely need to put an end to this rampant outsourcing of American jobs. It might be good for the corporations (in the short term) but it sure as heck isn't good for America.
The time our economy was strongest was during the time between WWII and the time St. Ronnie of the Raygun (sorry--I honestly can't stand the muppet) came into office. A time when business was heavily regulated, taxes on capital were the highest in our history, and wages grew as the economy did. The middle class expanded rapidly during this time and, if not for ANOTHER war of stupidity, we probably would have done even better.
For some reason big business seems to think it's entitled to use labor in order to give its highest officers outrageous salaries, perks, and bonuses and yet give as little back to its employees and the community as a whole as possible. It fosters environments where small business has to strive against impossible odds to succeed, and where the average employee is lucky to be able to get by with one job with a number of hours spent working that allows them some measure of a personal life. Forcing parents to work overtime just to get by doesn't really strike me as "family values."
I honestly can't think of a single justification for someone to own several homes they neither live in nor rent out, just to be able to fly to some other place and take up residence temporarily when children are starving in this country, much less the rest of the world. It smacks of what used to be called "conspicuous consumption" and makes me sick to even think about it. Even were I to someday become rich and reasonably famous (as famous as any author can be) I'd own one home and only as many vehicles as I needed.
It seems to me that the current Republican motto, in general, seems to be "Mine!" as if they are entitled to wear the mantle of aristocracy in a land that has no legitimate use for one.
There was a time when the highest paid CEO only made 500 times, at most, the salary of the lowest paid employee. Now the number is somewhere around 2000 times.
I'm not sure there's any moral justification for this, especially in a political environment which reduces the opportunity for children of low-income families to seek higher education or puts them in debt for several years to accomplish it, and continues to support a system in which a person can be driven to bankruptcy (assuming he or she can even GET it) or a lifetime of debt because of a medical emergency.
But please don't take this as an attack on you or your comment, Paul. In general I find your response reasonable and well-considered, and I thank you for contributing it.