Unfortunately Bernie Sanders doesn't know what he's talking about.
Gov't has no money. Gov't is broke. It has trillions in deficits (it borrowed money, then spent it, and now has no more. Worst, since the gov't has been doing this for so long, it now can't function without this borrowed money)
One of two things will happen:
1) Out-of-control government get reigned in by people who understand that now is the time to act before things get catastrophic (the tea party movement thing)
2) The government will go bankrupt
The consequences of (2) are much more serious than taking Pell Grants away from grad studends
Bernie's leftist arguments sound nice in theory but don't apply to the real world.
Here are some realists:
And if you have time for some real clear thinking
The Amazing Engineering Behind Mount Rushmore
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The colossal sculpture of four presidents on the side of Mount Rushmore in
South Dakota is actually titled *Shrine of Democracy*. Sculptor Gutzon
Borglum...
Alright, even if broad and hard-minded pragmatism is de rigueur in these times, how is what R.P. says in that clip incompatible with the (yes, admittedly more specific) issue of increasing taxation for individual high-earners in America?
ReplyDeleteI know it seems like getting caught up on one drop of the overflowing bucket of the larger budgetary issue, which is always tempting when, like me, you don't understand all the finer points of the econimics of the problem... But even given that, I don't understand where resistance stems from. Why wouldn't RP and Tea-Partiers more broadly be in favour of this along with (and not instead of) spending cuts? (I'm assuming what we're talking about here is the expiration of the Bush Tax Cuts...)
It seems to me to be 1) practically outrageous given the (dire) circumstance; 2) a symbolic F-you to... someone. Everyone. The optics aren't good... ESPECIALLY when those in more vulnerable positions socially are going to be feeling cuts (and that's ok, according to Rand et. al).
In belt-tightening times, why the resistance?
PS: I like Rand's hair. Bring back the hair-gelled curls look... bring it on' back.
I see what you're saying. But here are a few facts:
ReplyDelete- Top 50% of earners pay 97% of income tax in the US
- Top 10% of earners pay 70% of income tax in the US
- Top 1% (people who earn 380k+) pay 40% of income tax in the US
source: http://www.ntu.org/tax-basics/who-pays-income-taxes.html
So people who earn a lot of money are already paying a lot of taxes. In new york, 50% of the money I earn get taken off my pay check and is given to the government - this means that every other day I'm working for the gov't. The bottom 50% of American not only pay no taxes, they are largely dependent on money from the gov't
Now some more facts:
- The gov't does not like taxing its citizens because it is unpopular. So instead, the gov't borrows money from banks, other countries, etc.
- The gov't has borrowed the equivalent of $40,000 for every man, woman and child in the US. This is money that needs to be paid back, eventually.
- Intead of paying it back, the gov't "rolls-over" its debt. Which means that when the $100 it borrowed from Japan needs to get paid back, it borrows $100 from China and gives it to Japan. Now when the gov't will need to pay $100 back to China, it will borrow $100 from a money-market Fund and give it to China, etc. Basically, the $100 is never paid back with money that does not come from debt (ei the debt is never paid back). This is a serious, unsustainable problem.
- The debt has doubled since 2000
- If the gov't spent as much as it did in 2006, the budget would be balanced. Which means the deficit would stop increasing.
- If the gov't spent as much as it did in 2000, the budget would be in surplus and the US could start paying down all the $100 it owes to the world. It would take about 10-20 years to accomplish this.
- Instead, the debt is increasing by $3.8bn a day. Yes, a day.
- Eventually, the gov't will not be able to roll-over its debt anymore (economic and financial/mathematical reasons why this is a fact)
- When that happens, the horrors of the early 20th century will no longer be some abstract passages in history books
SO - that policians are doing something about this is heroic and a major reason why the US is such a great country. Unfortunately, it's really probably too little too late, but let's see.