For Those In Northern Climes

Have no fear, winter is soon to end.   Spring is just around the corner...

 

A Simple Proposal

Terry Newell, Founder, Leadership for a Responsible Society, recently made what he called a "simple proposal" to address two problems with the current public appetite with budget cutting.  The first problem:  Americans have very inaccurate understandings of what their government currently spends money on.

For example, almost three-fourths of Americans in a 2010 Zogby Poll think we spend 6% or more of the federal budget on foreign aid. More than a third think we spend 11% or more. We actually spend about 1%. Needless to say, cutting foreign aid -- often the most popular choice of Americans to fix the budget, wouldn't make the dent in the deficit we might think.

The second problem is that a depressing number of Americans don't understand how they personally benefit from Federal spending and tax policies.   A simple example:

... 60% of those who claim the mortgage-interest deduction report that they "have not used a government social program." Percentages for student loans (53.3%), social security (44.1%) and Medicare (39.8%), to cite three other examples, highlight the fact that those who attack "social spending" are attacking their own benefits in many cases.

Newell proposes a "simple solution."   He suggests that the government issue an annual report to each citizen which sets out in two pages how Federal money was spent in the past year and how those funds applied to that citizen.   Much of the data can be culled from everyone's tax return, and other data is already in government computers.   His idea is very similar to the one proposed last year by the The Third Way, a think tank, about which I blogged last October.  It also relates to another post from April of 2010 which contained a long list of government programs and benefits which many people use, but don't often think about when demanding cuts to all those "socialist entitlements" that other people get.

Either proposal would go a long way to counter the current uninformed budget cutting fever, which is based on ignorance, rather than intelligent debate.

Democracy For All! Except...

The ability of a people to control their own destiny, generally includes the right to band together for mutual support and assistance.   Like forming a union to bargain for employment rights.  Or demanding a dictator leave the country.  The 'crisis du jour' among the Republicants this year seems to be blaming the current economic disaster on the middle class and public employee unions, rather than the riverboat gambler bankers of Wall Street.

So it's interesting to view what's going on in the Middle East side by side with what's going on in a number of States  (Wisconsin, Indiana, Ohio) around this country regarding the efforts to strip collective bargaining rights from public employees.  This effort purports to be for the purpose of needing to "balance the State budget."   In fact, union contracts for public employees have nothing to do with State budget imbalances, which are mostly caused by the current economy and the collapse of tax revenues.

It's ironic that the nation is hand-wringing over the poor demonstrators across the middle East who are oppressed by those nasty dictators, while the democratic process is being defiled around this country by zealots bent on destroying the ability of employees to band together for their benefit and protection.   Hypocritical to say the least.

Cartoon by Clay Bennett of the Chattanooga Times

 

Whose Cookie Is That?

So it's been suggested to me that I should lighten up my blog posts a bit, despite the fact that they my blog was intended to be curmudgeonly from the outset.   However, I will try to lighten things up with....a joke.

A CEO, a Tea Party member, and a union representative sit at a table. 

There is a plate with 12 cookies. 

The CEO takes 11, turns to the Tea Party member, and says, 'Look out! That union guy wants your cookie!'

What?   You're not laughing?  OK, so it's not a major side-splitter, but it is a joke. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.