Alternate Current — How”s that voodoo workin” for ya?
America has been in a constant tax cut mode for 30 years now, maybe it”s time to take stock of how we”re doing. Our national debt, which alarmed Reagan when he ran for office, was slightly more than $.5 trillion at the time. It”s now more than $12 trillion and climbing fast. By far the main beneficiaries of this series of tax cuts have been those in the top 5 percent of all American earners, the rest of us have gotten only a pittance in savings. We have, by all accounts, witnessed the largest transfer of wealth from the middle class to the ruling class during this time. We began to pay down the debt in the final year of Clinton”s term. The surpluses were quickly disposed of by Bush”s two huge tax cuts, passed with 51 votes via reconciliation. They added another $2 trillion to the deficit. Aside from the huge new deficits, what has been the effect of voodoo economics (G.H.W. Bush”s own term for it) and what have we gotten in exchange?
Our infrastructure, the veins and arteries of our nation that allow for raw materials and finished goods to be transported efficiently, so vital to our manufacturing sector, has been allowed to decompose. During Ike”s term in office we invested 12.5 percent of our GDP for this purpose, now it”s around 2 percent. The bridge collapse in Minnesota in 2007 won”t be the last. It”s estimated that we need to invest $2 trillion just to rebuild the already dangerous bridges in America. That does not include repairing the crumbling highways or rails. In Lake County our roads now get a rating of 38 out of 100, one of the lowest scores in California.
Public schools, once a model for the world, likely the single greatest reason we excelled during the middle part of the 20th century, are now below mid pack on a worldwide basis. Our young people will simply not be able to compete with better educated populations elsewhere in a world where information is the most valuable commodity. Sports and music will soon be history. Much of the blame lies with soft-headed thinking about discipline and failing to track students by ability, but we have failed to invest in schools to a shameful extent. Schools became trailers parked in the mud. Given the amount of education and training required, teachers are grossly underpaid, so many who might have gone into the field look elsewhere.
Virtually all facets of services that only the government can provide have been similarly neglected. Air traffic control systems are antiquated and now dangerous to the flying public. Our borders are the laughing stock of the world. What other nation allows 12 million people to invade it by simply walking in? Imported goods are rarely inspected, pirated knock-offs common; so much for our intellectual property rights. Imported foods are rarely inspected or tested for banned pesticides.
Tea Partiers, apparently outraged by the 30 years of constant tax cuts which have resulted in one of the lowest tax rates of any major democracy in the world, demand more tax cuts! Too much is not enough, they want more and they seem upset that we have not had a tax cut since last year, when Obama caved in on the stimulus package and agreed to another $280 billion in tax cuts, this time for the middle class. Since the wealthy didn”t share in this largesse, they are of course leading the charge for Obama”s head.
My questions are simply, how are you going to fix the urgent needs of our country that have been neglected for 30 years by cutting taxes? How are you planning to stimulate the economy and create jobs with more tax cuts when that clearly has not worked for the past 30 years? Why will it be different this time? Slogans, smears and demonization only go so far; how”d you do when you had your chance?
Lowell Grant is a weekly columnist for the Record-Bee. E-mail him at c21vintage@aol.com.
