So going back over much of the history of this Depression (let’s call a spade a spade here) we can see that many of the ideas we had on the economy were just not right.
We let the banks go to Vegas with trillions of derivatives contracts and when they lost big, we the tax payer covered the tab. Now we are seeing the horrific effects of this “stimulus for the rich” solution — unemployment is going up, many Americans are struggling, the debt is bigger than ever and people are freaking out about it, inflation is high for raw materials but not for finished goods, the rest of the World is catching up to us as a superpower, and people in America are generally suffering.
Meanwhile, Bernanke went on 60 minutes to discuss why we have to save the banking system or we will not have an economy but he did nothing to fix the root of the problem which was the repeal of Glass Steagall. I could get in to why derivatives are the root cause of the financial depression, but I think it’s a waste of time to rehash the obvious facts here.
What can we do to fix the problem going forward? For one, we have to address the root cause of the problem which is financial innovation and the move towards a technocratic, automated society. By reinstating Glass Steagall and taxing companies based on employment levels via either a VAT tax or a graduated income tax rate we can punish companies that automate and suck jobs out of the system and reward companies that hire human workers.
I want to see a debt ceiling hike passed, but I can’t stand to think that we will be handing the mega-corporations more money out of the pockets of the poor — which is essentially what every bailout to date has done. We need to agree to fix the financial system by throwing out Dodd Frank and simply reinstating Glass Steagall. Additionally, we need our Federal Reserve to buy Gold and Silver and not more overvalued bonds. We can’t get through this malaise by simply pumping and dumping stocks either — the stock market must be allowed to trade on fundamentals, not a devalued currency.
By devaluing our currency, all we are doing is making the situation worse for the poorest Americans. We also need to cut “Big Brother” spending on things like the military, the CIA, the NSA, surveillance, Homeland Security, FEMA, etc… That money needs to be spent creating minimum wage jobs, not cushy 100K per year G men posts. We also need salary reform across all segments of the public sector, as we can’t afford to continue the waste and red tape that we have in place today.
More and more we are heading to a system that resembles Europe, but the problem is that this type of socialistic view (and it’s socialism for the rich for the most part right now) is a failed economic policy over the longer term. I agree with Obama that taxes should be raised on the rich and think that we should go further and raise taxes on large cap corporations via a VAT tax. I also think the more we become like the “Eurocrats” the worse off our economy becomes over time. The One currency model in Europe is not working, and America has always done well by sticking to itself as much as possible as far as politics and economics are concerned. In other words, let’s stop bailing out foreign banks and foreign countries right now, because pretty soon they will all come running for a handout the way things are going.
We need to stay independent of their mess and fix our own problems at home — that goes for the multiple wars we are fighting that we can’t afford as well. Let’s end the pretend “war on terror” and focus on the politics and the economic “war on ignorance” that needs to be waged in Washington DC. Democrats who blame Tea Party people need to understand that spending is completely out of control and resembles that of fascist South American nations right now and Tea Party candidates must realize that taxes have to be raised on the ultra rich and the mega-monopolies if we are to remain solvent. The idea that we all have to get everything we want is just silly — we need to balance the books and that should be our nation’s main priority, not cutting taxes for the super wealthy. In any event, that’s my rant and my opinion and I’m sticking to it… Hopefully, we can line up all of these idiot politicians and egg them or at least get a chance to throw rotten fruit at them in the near future.
