Heads the elite wins, tails you lose! The deficit explained

July 26, 2011
US President Barack Obama and British Prime Mi...

Let's drink to that. Loser pays is what I say. We need more losers

For those interested in the cancer of the voodoo economic rhythm this editorial should be illuminating. But consider this. The US elite that wishes to rule the planet has been putting what it feels is necessary to achieve this goal for at least a century. What has always driven this march to hegemony is that the people invariably pay and where necessary lose their lives in the charge down the highway to the elite Nirvana. So far to the elite the loss of life in this pursuit including two world wars, the vaporisation of two Japanese cities, the war crimes in South East Asia are little more than the occasional road kill on the highway. As far as world population is concerned what the elite seems to realise if that is the correct term is that the goals they require and the cancer of capital can continue with something like 1/2 the present world population. So from an accountants point of view the more deaths the better. Just ask an African starving to death in places like Nigeria while the oil, gas and the very heart of the country is being ripped out, what it feels like to already be a statistic of the drive to hegemony. Or try asking the true hypocrites and traitors, like the true friends from downunder, what they are prepared to donate to the cause of hegemony. Don’t be surprised if the answer is, “whatever is needed or requested. These are the people who yearn for money and false power and value these things more than life itself or the lives of their families. In this light you may appreciate that the true voodoo rhythm is there to ensure that the rich pay for nothing and the rest of the masses will do as they must. For we have received a mega dose via inoculation of the delusion that salvation always comes from above. The struggle may well already be lost for the present generation but at least we can think of educating the next generation to realise that power is in opinion, force and propaganda at best promote a false horizon that once reached reveals itself in all its accoutrements of greed, avarice and consumption. But for now read on to see where you fit in the cancer of the elite, the immorality of the stockholders and the hypocrisy of the politicians.  George Ikners  ikners.com

US default debate: Russian roulette in America

The argument is not about the formula; it is about stopping an elected president from functioning

If you say something often and loudly enough, it can become an accepted truth. And when the target of your wrath is Barack Obama, it can become a righteous one. The record US public deficit is not, as far too many Republicans claim, the result of government spending on foreign aid, education and food safety. And cutting such discretionary spending will not fill the deficit hole. By far the two most significant drivers of the deficit are the Bush-era tax cuts and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, which added $1.8tn and $1.4tn to the debt respectively. Compared to that, the Obama-era stimulus spending, which adds $711bn to the deficit, or his healthcare reforms are small fry. In terms of the deficit, Bush-era policies were nearly five times as damaging as Mr Obama’s.

In a very real sense, the final week of the great budget debate, which will bring America to the brink of default if no agreement is reached on raising the debt ceiling by 2 August, is not about economic facts. It is not even about two rival visions of government. In his eagerness to split differences and to triangulate, Mr Obama has already conceded what most of the Republicans want by offering to divide spending cuts and tax rises 83% and 17% respectively. The White House went even further in offering to cut spending by more than the deficit plan proposed by a bipartisan group which included some of the Senate’s most conservative members. The latest formula, unveiled yesterday by the Senate majority leader Harry Reid, has no new taxes at all. This alone has caused some to conclude that the Republicans have won, but do not yet realise it. But the argument is not about the formula. It is about stopping an elected president, who has every chance of winning a second term, from functioning. The mere fact that Mr Obama embraces a plan, no matter how far right it leans, is enough to kill it in Republican eyes. The bottom line seems to be that they do not accept his legitimacy as president. He is everything the Republican base and the rightwing talk show hosts hate.

These are dangerous, personal and petty games being played out against a background of wobbling economies on either side of the Atlantic. It is not as if Europeans have the luxury of being disinterested spectators of the US debate. The feelgood factor of the bailout package agreed by the eurozone leaders lasted all of one weekend, before the rating agency Moody’s said it was virtually certain that Greece would default. Both the eurozone and the US economies are struggling to overcome the mountain of debt from the housing bubble of the last decade. Unemployment and the crashing need to create jobs and boost tax revenues – modestly addressed by the Obama stimulus plan – has almost disappeared from the debate. But not entirely. While Mr Obama was being dragged into debate with the Tea party right, Mitt Romney, one of the seekers of the Republican nomination, launched a new web video asking: “Where are the jobs?” Mr Obama risks losing sight of the issue that bothers America most.

Americans are enjoying the lowest tax burden in over five decades and they know it. Only one-fifth of those polled want to see a budget deficit deal with spending cuts only, and most favour a deal which would be regarded as a compromise. This is for good reason. The damage created by a US default is real enough – a jump in interest rates, a collapse of the dollar and a return to a global slump. And that is not counting the 70 million cheques for social security, veterans and disabled that go out each month from US federal coffers. These are not only immediate effects of a default but lasting ones. Glorying in the tactical stand of the moment is more important to Republicans than the havoc a default would wreak on the world markets. If this is a sample of the world leadership they intend to offer in government, they are making an excellent case for why they should be considered unelectable.

 

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This entry was posted on July 26, 2011 at 7:39 am and is filed under Capital, Capital Project, Capitalism, Capitalism and debt, Capitalism for Zombies, Democracy, Democracy in Asia, Democracy in the Arab World, Dictators, Dirty Energy, Dissent, economic measures, Economics, Economy, Education, elections, Elites, Environment, Environment and climate, Evolution, Fascism, Food, Foreign Policy, Gillard, Global capitalism and imperialism, Global Food System, Guardian, IMF, Imperial Project, Imperialism, Manufacturing Consent, Media, Middle East, Military, Military madmen, Military Murders, Norway, Obama, Obama warmonger, oil, oil and gas resources, Peace Movement, Peak oil, Pentagon, Political psychopaths, pollution, President of the World, Propaganda, Protests, Psycopaths, Racism, Regulating Democracy, Resource Wars, Right Wing, UK, UK fascism, UK Foreign Policy, UK Monarchy, UN, Unemployment, US economy, US elections, US Foreign Policy, US Politics, US public opinion, US torture; art and science, US war crimes, USA, voodoo rhythm economics, War, War and economics, War Crimes, War criminals all types, War is a crime, War means war, War no reason needed, War on drugs, War on Islam and Muslims, War on terror, Waterboarding, Women abuse and targetting, Women and discrimination, Women and revolution, Women become tragerts, Women in the Middle East, Women's issues, Womens' views and action. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

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