It’s The Economy Stupid
January 24th 2008
Let me start by saying that the rhetoric of “we might be heading into a recession” is a little off base. We are already in a recession. We are heading for a depression!
As it did at the end of George H. Bush’s presidency, the economy has suddenly become a major issue right before the elections of 2008. It seems like both the 41st president and the 43rd president could not feed the war machine and keep the economy running smoothly at the same time. No matter, both times a Clinton is on the ballot for the coming election. Suddenly it becomes a problem. We’ve been in a revolving cycle for 20 years. It’s time for a change. We need to break this cycle and put people in Washington that will find solutions for our country and steer us in the right direction.
As if we all have not been feeling it every way we turn, (to state the obvious), the economy is in the gutter. Unless, that is, you own a corporation in this country. It has been plainly evident to me and to those in our district that the economy has been failing for some time. According to the US Census Bureau, 12.5% of the residence of Alamance County lived in poverty in 2005. Randolph County was at 14.6% and Guilford County was at 14.9%. Circumstances are continuing to get worse. Just ask the people who spent their careers in textiles just to find themselves on the unemployment line, unable to find jobs because they don’t exist. Once vibrant tobacco farmers will also give you insight as they are forced to sell off or worse go bankrupt.
What has caused all this mess? I would start with a war bill that is estimated to hit 2 trillion dollars before its done. Combine that with corporate welfare while they pull in record profits. Add on a housing market that has burst that doesn’t look to recover for 5 to 10 years. Sprinkle on a little outsourcing of jobs and a few billion in Congressional earmarks.Top it with product price inflation due to gas prices, wages that are stagnant, CEOs with huge packages for failing their companies, and you have the mess we are in. There is obviously more than that, but you get the point.
What is the Bush administration’s answer? They want to print more money we don’t have, (due to a huge deficit), and pay you between $800 and $1600 depending on if you are single or married. They also want to let corporations have a bonus depreciation, allowing them to write off 50% of their business investments this year.
The elitist in Washington have only one answer, “Throw money at it”. They also hope you will spend it to stimulate the economy. To them, this fixes the problem. What about the month after? Seems to me that we are applying band-aids to cover up the short-term effects of our economic woes. Wouldn’t it be wiser to fix the things that got us here in the first place?
While not repeal the tax cut to the wealthiest 2% of our population? It is estimated to put about 40 billion back in the till per year. Why not stop the corporate welfare we keep handing out to companies that are reaping record profits? Why not make this companies pay their fair share? They continue to make billions in profits, receive huge tax breaks and the price of consumer products continue to go up, helping them even more, at the cost of the American taxpayer and American consumer.
Here are some real solutions to the problems we are experiencing now. We can start by instituting at least a minimal coverage Universal Health Care plan to cover everyone. Allow the for profit insurance companies to offer add-on coverage for those who want it. According to the National Coalition on Healthcare, in 2005, the estimated cost per person for healthcare was $6700 a year. $6700 back in your pocket to spend, that would help stimulation the economy, not an $800 check.
We can also shut down the corporate welfare machine. We allow companies to outsource jobs, retain tax benefits, and demand economic incentives (bribes) from state governments. All the while, they lay off American workers, expand their profit margins and pilfer the American economy more than any other one factor in this economic mess. When you include the cost of unemployment and social service expenses for those that have been laid off with no jobs available, the cost of this corporate welfare is staggering.
We also need to repair our banking and credit industries. There is personal responsibility when it comes to charging away your future to cover the present. I can not entirely blame those who have been forced into positions where they have to do this. I put equal responsibility on the credit companies and banks. Common practices in the credit industry such as charging a late fee which puts you over the limit of your card then hitting you with an over the limit fee have got to be brought under control. NSF fees from the bank are killing the paycheck to paycheck population. Average interest rates of 1600% on a charge are commonplace. I would like to see a policy instituted that allows the insufficient account to be hit with one fee per business day it is in the rears with no available spending allowed during that time period. This puts a proper balance of maintaining personal responsibility and preventing credit and banking industries from encouraging individuals to dig themselves into even deeper holes.
Of course the very politicians that we need to make these changes reap large campaign donations from these industries and will not vote against their interests. My opponent’s special interests are broad and available to see at opensecrets.org. His ‘08 contributors are surprising. A lot of manufacturing firms who produce their products overseas, big pharma and some transportation. Here is a career profile as well. However, he is not the only one. I have said that I will only take PAC donations from organizations that truly fit the interest of the people. I never want to feel like I have to vote against the people of the 6th District to please a company or industry lobby. I could never take from big pharma or big oil or the banking industry as a small example.
My point is, the problem is larger than cut me a small check to buy me off for a bit. I’d rather you cut my grass. At least something productive would get done. We must fix the larger problem that caused this economic mess or we will be in the middle of the largest depression our country has ever seen. Stop looking in the medicine cabinet for your band-aids and start finding real solutions to prevent a longer term economic downward spiral. We must, for the people of this country, correct the mistakes of this government. Our future depends on it.
