We are being conned by the conservative movement into believe that in an economic crisis the government needs as John McCain would say " an across the board freeze on government spending", Well except for the Pentagon, of course, because God knows we always get a good bang for our buck in that enterprise. If in an economic down turn you have businesses cutting jobs and reducing spending why would you want to add the government cutting jobs and reducing spending into the mix?
They would have the American People believe giving $25 billion to a failing business or industry to sure up it's balance sheets and stock value or cutting corporate taxes across the board will some how spur the economy into growth and prompt a CEO to start creating jobs when all their customers are hurting too.
Sometimes you have to wonder if Conservative think that the American People, either have a memory span in the nano seconds or American are too stupid to connect the dots. Although when I heard that 25% of Texans, in the run up to the election, thought Barack Obama was a Muslim, I have to confess Those same thoughts ran across my mind too.
Now let bump that $25 Billion up to a Trillion. The conservatives would have the American People go out and borrow that trillion dollars and give it to failing businesses who into today's economy are very likely to fail anyway or be bought up by the competition for cents on the dollar. getting us nothing or very little for our investment.
But instead let's say the We went out and borrowed a trillion dollars and decided we need to invest in our economic infrastructure. We need to fix all the decaying bridges or roads in this country and upgrade our power grid for a future to include alternative fuels. The list of things that this country needs to keep us competitive goes on and on.
Any first year college student who has had the most basic Economics classes knows the Mutiplyer Effect. The idea is that if the government goes out and rebuild some roads and bridges. A company will hire employees and pay wages to get that done. Those employees in turn spend or even borrow against those earnings to buy stuff, which the place they bought that stuff uses it's profits to invest in growing their business and creating new jobs and on and on. So what we've done, that trillion dollars just kick started the economy.
Our trillion dollar investment has just bought us some nice new shiny bridges, more stable employment and a more productive tax base.
Although to be fair this model will at some point in the future, fail. There will, with every likelihood, come a time when those few who have the power to game the system will come up with an idea that will explodes in every body's faces, bringing the whole thing crashing down.
I think what is the most stunning in all this is that conservative continue to use the exact same language that got us into this mess. They sit there and argue that smaller government, and less taxes and regulation will save the whole system, because everyone knows that they know best.
In the early years of the Bush Administration, I had the feeling, that the massive tax cutting being proposed was an attempt by conservatives to starve the beast, to force the government to cut spending in those programs that they dislike, which just by coincidence, happen to be those programs that help people. things like Medicaid or Social Security.
Although the Republican have done a bang up job in this pursuit, even adding two wars, just for good measure. We the people have to decide what investment is likely to pay off for the greater good for all of us. Things that make America a better place to live and more competitive for the future, investments into raising the quality of life for all Americans.
Or, do we throw a trillion dollars in to a black hole and hope that something positive comes out the other end?