I read Mr. Tradleners commentary entitled Judgment Day is nigh with considerable interest. I share his concern. I would say that he has diagnosed the condition of our nations economy with considerable skill and accuracy. We do indeed face an enormous national debt. It is true that the middle class continues to struggle ever more intensely to keep its head above water. The unemployment rate is stunning, though beginning to come under control. The gross domestic product growth rate is unacceptable. These are the problems. These point to major difficulties. Such is a useful diagnosis.
It seems useful to inquire as to what has gone wrong. Herein we begin to discover the deeper issue, the cause behind the symptoms. Our societys political system has long been plagued by special interests which have increasingly maneuvered the ship of state in the direction of their desired ports. World War II lasted only four years for America. Even the American Civil war, the most bloody and lethal military conflict up to that time in world history, lasted but four years. Initiated by a Republican president inheriting a national budgetary surplus from President Bill Clinton upon entering office, America has suffered a Ten Years War, the longest war in its history, by far. Tradlener is quite correct as to the cost tallied mostly as a result of this endeavor: $58 trillion. The lions share of this figure reflects military expenditures.
The American people were clearly warned as to the perils of the military-industrial complex by President Dwight D. Eisenhower, himself a five-star general, within his farewell address. Yet, it is not as if special interests were anything new even back in 1960. The following alarm was sounded in fear by a far earlier president and founding father, Thomas Jefferson, exactly 200 years ago as he warned, We must crush in its birth the aristocracy of our moneyed corporations, which dare already to bid defiance to the laws of our country. (1812)
During the presidential debates, Gov. Mitt Romney clearly stated his intention to cut nothing from the defense budget, acknowledging the cost of such negligence to run taxpayers a healthy $2 trillion annually. If America borrows funding for war, it either reimburses in taxes or increases its national debt. The economists continue to cry in warning: You cant have guns and butter. They have not been heeded.
Once the problem is clear, the question is what to do to fix it. We must do something in order to remedy the undesirable situation, Tradleners taxmageddon. In the case of the suffering taxpayer, the question thus stands as to what to do about impending economic travesty, the Judgment Day. Extinguishing fires through the use of gasoline seems ill advised. Thus, the political scenario appears to require investigation.
Americas only hope arises from the fact that these special interest groups which have gained budgetary control must still contend with the heritage of a democratic society rendered to us by our founding fathers. This is to say that the international corporate megastructures must still contend with persuading the American voter to go along with their program, however disguised that agenda may prove to be. This is what is going on in the electoral campaigns currently being conducted. For instance, the Wall Street Journal (Aug. 1, 2012) saw fit to acknowledge that the agenda of the Republican Party would be to lay in place a new $250,000 average tax cut for multi-millionaires such as Gov. Romney. Because large corporate structures are able to maximize profits utilizing foreign labor markets which demand far lower wages and fewer benefits compared to those demanded in the good old U.S.A., they naturally fight, however secretly, for tax breaks for corporations that ship jobs overseas, thus arranging for maximum profits in two critical areas for profit: low labor costs and minimized taxation once again at the expense of the American middle class worker. The New York Times has seen fit to document this policy on the part of the agenda of the Republican Party (Feb. 22, 2012), as has Reuters, the British new agency out of London (Aug. 14, 2012). Further, Gov. Romney himself, however inadvertently, has acknowledged his intent to lay in place further tax subsidies for petroleum interests at a town hall meeting (April 10, 2012).
All of the above exemplify the actions and characteristics of special interest groups who further their economic position at the expense of the mass of Americas citizenry. The greater point here is that a dying American middle class, which is already suffering intense hardship, will be strapped with increased taxes to even maintain things as they are, holding down what Tradlener refers to as government debt, let alone begin to pay down the interest on the loan which he so accurately predicts will continue to compromise our financial condition worldwide. The Wall Street Journal (Aug. 1, 2012) has estimated that Gov. Romneys tax structure, however reluctantly addressed, will create a further tax burden of more than $2,000 per year for the average middle class American family.
The above facts, coupled with the unaddressed reality that enormous corporate giants operating within our boundaries, such as The Bank of America, pay not one dime of federal taxes, only serves to further impact the American economic situation which Tradlener bemoans. As with any other accounting process, if only relatively small deposits are made and massive withdrawals continue, as was continually the case under the Bush Administration, disaster is indeed imminent hardly a toilet bowl viewpoint at all! The question is: What to do about the epidemic lying behind the symptoms?
James A. Mischke is professor emeritus of psychology, sociology, and social work at Dine College. He lives in Cortez.
