Peter Schiff, right-wing scared-rabbit economist, is predicting a financial collapse of epic proportions any day now. It will come as a result of our national debt which is about $17 trillion.
Schiff's feelings of impending doom and the salvation of the world at large can be easily remedied. Rather than slash Social Security and shred the social safety net, as Schiff would recommend, there is an alternative. It has been acknowledged that the wealthy and corporations have parked $34 trillion in offshore accounts. By using only half of the KNOWN idle money to balance our books, we could wipe out the entire bill.
The filthy rich would still be filthy rich, the economy would be booming, and all the Chicken Littles could spend their nights in deep REM sleep and their days strolling the warm beaches of the world while sipping mojitos.
The magic pill for nearly all that ails America: We must return to a progressive tax policy that was wildly successful between FDR and Reagan (yes, Ronnie tipped over the apple cart). Nirvana could be within view. Corporations formerly paid nearly a third of all taxes but now pay about eight percent. The oligarchs once paid as high as 91 percent, yet Romney paid 14 percent in 2013.
If Schiff had an ounce of credibility, his Armageddon scream would be, "Tax the shit out of the rich."