I would like to see democrats making demands for a change. Bernie Saunders is the only (independent) legislator currently looking at the zero tax policy on corporations like GE and BoA and many, many other giant corporations that are enjoying gigantic profits, getting billions of dollars in federal subsidies, putting little or nothing back into the economy, and expect constant subsidies and tax breaks and hand outs while more and more of the general population ends up in poverty. But instead of the republicans taking the entire process way out into the nether land of tax cuts and spending cuts ONLY, with no discussion of how to generate jobs and revive the economy in a time of recession, why don't the democrats start introducing measures for discussion that would generate revenue and spending that would fortify the economy instead of constantly letting the republicans take the lead??? Why are there no democrats who will support Bernie Saunders in his lonely exploration of ways that this country really could go to work on solving it's financial problems? Why is Bernie Saunders the only lonely voice out there saying anything at all about the horrible injustice of obscene subsidies that should not be being doled out and the injustice of large corporations taking, taking, taking, and giving nothing back in return? Why are there no democrats addressing the fact that there are so many tax evaders who are getting away with not contributing to the federal reserve while honest Americans expect to pay at least 28% of what they earn into the general fund? Why should any business be exempt from paying into the general fund? Why should any loopholes exist that allow people to set up foreign bank accounts and live tax free while their businesses enjoy the infrastructure provided by the general fund that they are not contributing to? It seems that where Bernie has balls, none of the other democrats do. They seem to be scared shitless of taking a stand and working for the change that they know we need. That's one of the reasons that democrats are perceived to be weak-kneed wienies by so many people who are independent but who may have previously been democrats. We have been living with trickle-down economics since Ronald Reagan started implementing that policy in the 1980s. We have been living with trickle-down economics for 30, going on 40 years now and we now have more than ample proof that giving tax cuts to "the job providers" has, instead of producing the promised jobs and huge benefit to the economy that has been promised for the last 30, almost 40 years, we have at least 15 million people unemployed now and another 7 million people at least who are underemployed and not really able to participate in the economy.
What would it take for democrats to grow some balls? What would it take for democrats to start making demands and actually work on producing legislation to change the tax code, increase revenue, support governmental spending that not only Americans expect and WANT the government to spend, but on badly neglected infrastructure and social programs that will strengthen and fortify the country by making the economy stronger? In other words, when are the democrats going to start doing the job that Americans expect them to do? Most Americans do pay regularly and faithfully into the general fund and don't question that. Isn't it right for them to have expectations that their government will work for them, on their behalf, to keep them safe, support the economy, and continue to help the country grow and prosper rather than contract?
I know that we are not going to get this type of action from the democrats now, in this time of negotiations with republicans over the 2011 fiscal budget. We'll be lucky enough just to get a budget passed and avoid a shutdown if that should happen. But, after finishing work on the budget, the next item on the republican hit list is not the creation of more jobs, but a full assault on entitlement programs. Are the democrats going to do anything at all to re-steer the discussion to cuts in the military budget, or how to stop and/or redirect subsidies that are going to corporations along with tax exemption? There is a plethora of issues that democrats could bring up for national debate rather than allow republicans to talk incessantly and only of cutting entitlement programs. Cutting entitlement programs is NOT what the American people want to have discussed. It really is true that we have a lot of issues of national importance that the American people want their government to address. But entitlement cuts is not on that list. These are pretty simple ideas. But they need to be embraced by a critical mass of our democratically elected democratic congress people in order to get any traction or go anywhere. Why should democrats continue to let republicans control all negotiations and terms of what will be brought up for discussion? Americans have a sense of what needs to be fixed. I believe that many of our elected democrat representatives know what needs to be fixed. But when will they begin to act on it and do their jobs?
The democratic caucus needs to sit down to discuss how, as a bloc, like the republicans have been so successful in doing with their own caucus, to figure out how they can successfully go to work on rearranging government priorities to support a stonger economy, create a fair tax code, regulate business that need regulation, derivatives and the entire speculative banking industry come first to mind? Democrats made a start in reining in out-of-control health care costs which remains the number one factor in consideration for long-term prosperity or collapse of the economy. But they need to do much more to make sure that instead of increasing exponentially as they have and continue to do so, that health care costs are not only contained, but controlled and there has to be some kind of regulatory network put into place to stop the ever ballooning health care cost bubble.
There is a lot that democrats need to do. Do they have the balls to do it? It remains to be seen if they will do any of this at all even though all of these needs are pressing and they have to work in a system that is also comprised, unfortunately, of a large bloc of republicans who work in lockstep to do what they want, which, generally is the exact opposite of everything in this diary. So, we have a quandry and it lies squarely with the democrats. What are they going to do? Nothing? Or something useful? It's pretty much up to them. It's also up to the voting public to vote for democrats, especially when they express that they want to help the economy recover and build a better America, and not in the phony rhetorical way that the republicans do it. We all know how real and true and virtuous all the republican rhetoric is (NOT) because they have been screaming it at us for going on 40 years and none of it has worked. In fact, it has put us into the great recession and given us the trillions of dollars of debt that we are now having to deal with. No. We need responsible democratic leadership that wants to do the right thing and maybe we do need for our democratic leadership to be a little bit more like their republican counterparts who work so well together and in lockstep. That style might also be beneficial to democrats if they really want to get things done, at least for a while until things really do turn around.
We'll see. Or we won't see.