It is said that democracies contain within themselves the seeds of their own destruction. Which means that in striving to curry favor with voters, elected officials habitually spend more and more of our government's money (OUR money) for more and more projects that appeal to more and more constituents, all with the aim of gathering in more and more votes for the officials' re-elections. Or they cut taxes far below spending levels. In the case of the USA, this has led so far to 10 consecutive years of record-breaking budget deficits and ballooning Federal debt -- a sure recipe for eventual financial ruin.
This budget-busting process has nowhere been seen more clearly than in the recent passage of the Obama-GOP tax-cut/spending bill, which will add hundreds of billion$ to our national debt. All in the name of stimulating our sick economy. Instead of rubbing their hands over this new flow of money from Washington, however, recipients should be counting each dollar as another nail in the nation's coffin.
Ironically, Washington politicians and pundits are now hailing this bill as a standout example of cooperation between the two parties. Which you might say it is, BUT more like two gangs that, in order to get everything each wants, combine forces to rob the public treasury.
One of the chief beneficiaries of this government largesse is the SuperRich, who need no stimulant whatever but who will now be cashing in handsomely on continuation of the Bush tax cuts of 2001-3 -- which have disproportionately enriched the wealthy. Not surprisingly, many of these just happen to be major contributors to our political leaders' re-election campaign funds.
Another group applauding Washington's idiotic economic policies must surely be the leaders of China, who are not only a major source of loans to cover our horrendous budget deficits but who also are driving relentlessy to displace the USA as the world's No. 1 economic power.
And after that, what?
