When the President assumed office 4 years ago, he described the economy as having
been driven off the road and into a ditch. 4 years later we are out of the Ditch and on
the edge of a Cliff. But if you fall off the Cliff and the ground is only 2 feet below...
isn't that more like just tripping on the curb?
With 16 trillion dollars of debt and 70 trillion dollars of unfunded liabilities - fighting
over 1 trillion dollars in tax increases and spending cuts over the next "TEN years" is
like having front row seats at a midget wrestling contest...It's not about who wins
and loses...it's all about the show!!!
And only in Washington is what you call it...more important than what it is!
Call it a Million Man March - and it doesn't matter if it's closer to 2 Priests and a
Rabbi walking into a crowded bar!
Call it Memorial Day - and no one cares that we actually spend much more time making it National Barbeque Day!
If prominent economists such as former Secretary of the Treasury Robert Reich and
Nobel Prize winning Economist Paul Krugman are actually calling for more spending instead of austerity to grow the economy...are we in the ditch - perched on a cliff or in need of those guys on TV who can bust the Myths!
Richard Nixon was one of the first politicians to say that if you want to be a "Hero"... don't let a problem define you...you define the problem. Pick one that you can solve..call it a "crisis" and you will get all the credit for fixing it.
That is why we had a flurry of "Wars" on social problems and only "interventions in actual armed conflicts". We never declared war on North Korea or Vietnam but we have had - The War on Poverty - The War on Drugs - The War on Crime - The War on Terrorism - Wars you can win with a definition instead of with a gun or an obvious casualty.
According to a December 7th article in the NYT...When the Republicans finally relent and allow taxes to be raised on millionaires, the average family earning $300,000 a year will pay an additional $669.00 in taxes due to the complexity of our tax code.
This may not be my idea of heroism but it will be a symbolic victory for the "War on Stupidity".
This war will be defined as the rich were injured and generously sacrificial... the Fiscal Cliff will be avoided...but the real class warfare against education - social security, Medicare and the middle class will be lost again.