Our Crumbling Infrastructure

The collapse of the bridge last week that connected the twin cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul should be taken as an omen of sorts; a sign of things to come. The fact of the matter is that the infrastructure of the United States of America is coming apart. This is a direct result of the so-called Reagan Revolution and the sermon that the right wing has been preaching all these years: that taxes are inherently evil (or to put it more succinctly) taxing the rich is inherently evil. The theory was that if those who controlled the bulk of this country's wealth were just left alone and allowed to make their fortunes without being bothered by that nasty ol' Tax Man, the money would eventually "trickle down" to the rest of us. Think about that the next time you're taking Fido for his morning walk. It's sort of the same principle.

That was the mantra of a feeble minded, failed "B" movie actor named Ronald Reagan and the army of neanderthal morons he brought with him to Washington DC in the late winter of 1981. Government, they told us, wasn't the solution. Government was the problem! It was a stupid argument to begin with. To put it simply, the theory of Trickle Down Economics is unworkable. During his battle against the Gipper during the 1980 primaries, George Bush the elder, in a rare moment of honesty (maybe his only moment of honesty) labeled the entire scam, "Voodoo Economics". That's a little closer to the truth. As has been proven time and again, the uber rich are not going to share the wealth - they're simply going to hoard it. It has virtually nothing to do with economic theory and everything to do with human nature: The rich tend to be greedy. That's why they're rich! HELLO??

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As is becoming clearer every day, this imbalance in our corrupt system of taxation is starting to have a noticeable effect on this country's infrastructure. And the Supreme Court's selection of George W. Bush as president seven and a half years ago has only compounded the problem. For the first time in world history, a leader has actually lowered taxes during a time of war. As if that wasn't bad enough, at least fifteen billion in taxpayer dollars that had been earmarked to fund that war has gone unaccounted for - looted. Now consider this question: Who the hell do you think has the clout to steal fifteen billion dollars? Think about it..

The effect of the Bush Mob's criminal mismanagement of the American economy became obvious two years ago in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. As the city of New Orleans drowned, the government, it seemed, became paralyzed. It wasn't simply the fact that this administration was too incompetent to deal effectively with the catastrophe, the sad truth is that much of the money that should have dealt with the disaster just wasn't there. It had been diverted to fund the obscene, illegal war in Iraq that the United States is destined to lose. It has also been wasted on a bloated Military Industrial Complex that is quickly turning this planet into a powder keg.

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In an excellent piece that appeared this week on the website, CommonDreams.org, Air America Radio host, Thom Hartmann (what's with the "h", Thom?) made the following disturbing observation:**********
Since Bush has been president:
* over 5 million people have slipped into poverty;
* nearly 7 million Americans have lost their health insurance;
* median household income has gone down by nearly $1300;
* three million manufacturing jobs have been lost;
* three million American workers have lost their pensions;
* home foreclosures are now the highest on record;
* the personal savings rate is below zero [emphasis added] - which hasn't happened since the great depression;
* the real earnings of college graduates has gone down by about 5% in the last few years;
* entry level wages for male and female high school graduates have fallen by over 3%;
* wages and salaries are now at the lowest share of the GDP since 1929
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Those are the facts, people - not the usual, cooked up propaganda you're accustomed to getting from the FOX Noise machine and Rupert Murdoch's corporate media empire. (Please read "The Rant" by Tom Degan instead. It'll probably do ya some good!) I think it should be mentioned that at three different times in our nation's history, the plutocracy has seized control of all three branches of the government and in every single instance they ran this country into the dirt. How many times are we going to repeat that mistake before we finally learn a lesson that should have been learned almost a century and a half ago? Conservative philosophy of governance does not work. Period! It never has and it never will. It might be a fine and dandy little scheme for the richest two or three percent, but everyone else winds up getting the shaft - BIG TIME!

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This country is broken and desperately needs to be fixed. The last repairman to come our way was a son of privilege from Hyde Park, NY (right across the river from where I now sit) named Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Although the wealthy of his day referred to him as "a traitor to his class" or "That man in the White House", he and his administration (very few of whom were mere political appointees) put together a system of social safety nets that worked beautifully for almost fifty years - that is until a dingbat, cowboy wannabe named Ronald Reagan began to dismantle them twenty-six years ago. No doubt about it: The New Deal needs to be resuscitated NOW.

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What the far right half wits in this country have never been able to figure out is the laughably obvious and simple fact that it is taxation that makes for a functioning, orderly society in harmony with itself. Take Norway, for example, a country where the crime rate is barely perceptible: Sure they are probably the most taxed people on the planet Earth - but do you want to know something? - They seem to be the happiest people on the planet. (True, they don't smile a lot but that's just a cultural thing - you wouldn't understand). From cradle to the grave, their basic social needs are provided for by the government - education (including college), medical, retirement - and their Gross National Product isn't even a fifth of what ours is! The Norwegians (God bless the little darlin's) figured out a long time ago that only when a people are secure, are they truly at peace with themselves.

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Are we a nation at peace with ourselves? It really is a silly question when you think about it, isn't it?
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Pray for peace.
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Tom Degan
Goshen, NY
tomdegan@frontiernet.net
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Special word of thanks to John D'Andrea, AKA: Johnny Bongo, for sending me the link to the Thom Hartmann piece. Dude! You Rock!