Monday, August 1, 2011

I'm the other guy and I'm madder than hell!

by Ellis Baxter

Ouch, my leg is caught in a shark's mouth.  The issue is how to get my leg out of the shark's mouth or at least to get him to lighten up.  It should be obvious to any intelligent individual that he should be concerned with the whole shark and not just his pearly whites.  The basic reality is the shark takes two bites with a little tenderizing in between and down you go! The solution to the current debt crisis as presented by the President is to do it in two bites with a little tenderizing in between (that being "the committee") but in the end, down the economy goes.

The national debt should really be called the treasury debt for it is singularly only the debt outstanding to the US Treasury.  It does not cover the account balances of dollars outside the country ($10 trillion) nor the debts owed by the US agencies such as Ginnie Mae, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and Sallie Mae estimated to be something on the order $15 trillion.  Nor does the so-called national debt include the balance sheet from the Federal Reserve.  While not trying to be esoteric, it does not include the deficit spending for the next 12 months let alone as it should the next 10 years.  So approximately-- in a real form debt analysis-- the Government is in debt some $52 trillion.  If for perspective we include all non-federal government debt that would place the entire country--all 311 million people---in debt to the tune of $80 trillion.

Dealing with 15% of that number as if it were significant without any leadership whatsoever to address the total is in fact senseless. Until the country is willing to address the entire issue including the single most massive transfer of wealth from the public to Wall Street, nothing will be accomplished.  To put it in perspective, we have been witnesses to the neoliberal presidencies of Carter, Bush I and II, Clinton and Obama....all in a head long charge to transfer the bulk of the wealth of the country to a handful of Wall street bankers, managers and crooks.

With my ears I heard Barack Obama say he did not run for president to bail out a bunch of Wall Street bankers, when in fact that is just what he did.  Until these issues are addressed, comment on a minor debate such as that which stands before Congress today in an attempt to confuse the public about the debt crisis is nothing more than redundant. I would be remiss if I did not raise my cup to salute the 22 valiant members of the Tea Party Caucus that voted "no" in the House.  As I see it, there are only a few winners in this debacle:  those brave 22 patriots standing as if they were at Lexington and Concord in the people's House and Marco Rubio and Rand Paul. As these two patriots stood firm and unflappable on the Senate floor, I was reminded of James Madison and George Washington.

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