Budget Deficit Disorder

You’ve heard the sobering statistic: the US budget deficit, when it maxes out its new credit line of $9 Trillion next year, will equal $30K for every man, woman, and child. Like the Catholic dogma of Original Sin, the GOP has introduced the doctrine of “Original Debt”. Kinda ironic for the party that preached fiscal responsibility and blasted those who “lived off the system” - somewhere in the afterlife, I hope that RayGun is getting a 2nd lesson on the Beatitudes from the original Great Communicator Himself.

Why am I so perturbed by this ginormous deficit? Afterall, I'm getting more in my measly take home pay than ever, thanks to those tax cuts. It's because we are pledging our future and our future generations' future, without any assurances. When you get a mortgage, at least you know that at the end of 30 years, you own a piece of property. But the whole supply side (aka trickle-down) economic theory behind this deficit is more than troubling: in a perfect economy, you cut taxes expecting that with more disposable income, consumers spend more and in the process trigger growth. In a perfect economy.

But we do not have a perfect economy: We have a war that is costing $195 MM per day - money that is not flowing back to the US economy (unless you're the Republic of Halliburton). We have a corporate welfare program that gives tax breaks to capitalists who take our jobs overseas - again, money not flowing back to the US economy. We have a record-breaking trade deficit (which is not supposed to happen if the supply side theory worked since those foreign workers who get our jobs should spend their disposable income on the goods that we produce, but they aren't). And then there's oil. With the amount of money the oil companies are earning, you'd think some of it would flow back to the US economy, right? Higher income, higher taxes - but NO, we give them a tax break instead. What the &%$#@!??? It's true that more than ever, we have more billionaires in the US - that is a predictable outcome of this supply-side bullshit. But as the world becomes more global and barriers for international competition are eroded - guess where the billionaires' $$$ go? Yup - not back to the US economy. Supply-side economics would only work when combined with social accountability and conscience. Two things the Gay Ol' Party is terribly lacking.
So, right now, more than half of US assets are already owned by foreigners. We buy their cheap products, and with our own money, they buy us. They buy our IOUs. They buy our companies. At $30K per man, woman, and child - they have bought us. If I defaulted on my debt, the creditors would go after my assets. If the US ever defaulted, would our creditors foreclose? Can we give them Iraq instead?

Keywords: Delia Gallagher