Republican damage to the middle class

I started to think about this post and what do we see in the news but a tragedy of the earths making in Florida. Here is hoping and praying for those in Central Florida effected by the Tornado.

The Republican chant of no new taxes has damaged the very bed rock of our society but not from just the fear of paying taxes but from the struggle of trying to meet the costs of providing for our families day in and day out. Two shocking news stories have been reported in the last 24 hours that are prime examples of this. The first one is that Americans spent more then they earned for the year 2006 it is the first time this has happened since the Depression. The second story is the cut in logging subsidies in the north west that have resulted in a lack of revenue by those communities and in response they are implementing cuts in basic services to compensate.

On the surface the latter appears sound fiscally until you look at more of the facts in the report. One fact that maybe overlooked is that the communities involved pay lower taxes then surrounding communities, that did not have subsides from the government. So instead of the community leadership suggesting we raise revenue to pay for the same services, we cut services instead. Certainly the decisions have some merit until you look at the services lost. They close the Library, reduce police to 1 officer, etc. So services which go to helping the middle class remain safe and competitive, are now sacrificed in the cuts.

I believed in the past, that it was just a lack of political will, to explain these circumstances, but I think the problem goes deeper. The middle class as you may or may not know has been losing financial ground since the early 1960. The buying power of the average American Family has been slowly slipping away, it's also reflected in the Savings rate here in the US. If your 45 and above you can remember paying for college by working the summer job and a part time job during the year those days are long gone, you can also remember the days of road trips with your friends in your car that cost you all a couple of Bucks to 'filler up' . Not so anymore and maybe with global warming we need to move away from the road trip mentality, but that is another issue. What it does say is for the middle class with both parents working to pay the day today bills is; of course a new bill, an increased bill is devastating there is no reserve there is no pay raise to meet the new increase the pressure mounts. So what do we do? Well look at another news story Exxon Mobile reports 30 Billion dollars in Profits for 2006. Look at gasoline and oil prices in 2006 and look again at Americans spending everything they earned and 1.5% of savings to boot and guess what? You see an ever increasing concentration of wealth in the few and a continued slide of the majority. Wow that is a powerful example don't you think.

So what is the will power needed to correct this? I think the lessons I learned from the early years in school was governments tax and spend policy was there to kind of even everything out. We had programs that benefited the average family, things like Polio clinics to immunize everyone with no co pay, we saw more libraries opening up with better resources to educate even the very young and we saw higher minimum wages, most of all we saw investment in the infrastructure by government like our Highways. How many construction companies today got there start in Post WWII construction projects? Many!

So what needs to happen? We need a tax structure that says, ok, you can made a profit but you need to spread some of that wealth back to the nation that helped you to earn it. Every man women and child contributed to your profit by there going to work and school and using the resources you made money on. They did this in the attempt to contribute to the society that we are all a part of and that you benefited from. No we are not going to take it all just some but maybe more then you think because a lot of people contributed. Not every year are the oil companies on top it is another sector and some years they is more parity then others windfall profits can provide the only tax dollars to invest in the United States. You will wind up like that county in the Northwest that got the subsidies and when shut off Economic disaster is occurring. You need to make investments that will help keep the tax base strong when your balancing it out partly is taxing across the board to some extent as we do know. Once we use to have I believe 30 levels in the tax code today I think we have 3 or 4 simpler but also easier to hid the in balance. And you can do other things like raise the minimum wage to a dollar value that was equal to what a dollar bought back in the early 60's something around 10-12 dollars an hour that is 400-440 dollars per week or 20-24000 per year not allot of money in a year when you look at house prices and apartment costs and even educational costs. But what do you get then? Lets look at taxes: you pay taxes on that 20,000-24000 twice as much as the 10,000 you earn in minimum wages today so when you look to government to pick up the slack on programs that help our economy grow and create jobs for everyone they can. Also when you see an increase in the cost of a service you can afford it. Simple the math is there. It should be pointed out that Exxon Mobile paid taxes on their profits certainly they sheltered some of it but they would pay less if they earned less but then again we all would pay a few dollars more and revenues would balance out. Certainly we do not want to get to a point where the rewards for success are not there so no one is willing to work and reach for that next level. That was not the case in the 50's and60's and a careful balance would be needed.

Back to the title though Republican policy has been for 40 years that private industry can do the same job and do it better then government, They have corrupted the T word and used it to tarnish Liberals who do not want to Pick your pocket. Liberals, no all Democrats want to give Americans opportunity and make business more competitive and share the success with everyone. Well guess what their policies have made sure there is nothing in your pocket to pick and if someone tried to Pick the Pocket of Exxon Mobile they would be rotting in jail and the rest of us are left to try existing just a paycheck or two from thinking the criminal has a great life style.

Tax policy combined with economic opportunity, with basic services and with economic investment was the cry of the post WWII era. The same generation who got kicked in the teeth by the money barons of the pre-Depression era. We have missed this fact, it was lost by the spreading of false Fear. Fear that government has stepped into the shoes of big business that it is a have and have not society and then most of all that we are a class society. That you have more control over business then government. Wow can you believe that, it is true look at yourself does it work NO! It does not. Can you vote on your who is your boss NO! Can you vote for your company to give you a raise NO! So that's simple the republican model for business can do it better then government doesn't work. Yet in my house as a kid many complained the government was little better it failed to work as well for the same reasons.
So this is what needs to be over come and this can be done. We need to get politicians that do not rely on the donations of corporate America to run for election. We need to force them to count on the day to day American middle class for there success. I mean we have the numbers to do it we just need to focus on the principles. We need to VOTE! Then we need to return to those three principles; that the government shares equally the success of our country with everyone, that we need a fair and living wage and last we need economic investment. Research and development , innovation is what has made America Strong, Interstate Highways under Dwight Eisenhower were a military solution to the lack of transportation he saw in Europe in the war, but has it energized our Economy YES it has , the space race produced more new products, technologies and Jobs then any other investment by the government in our history.

So are taxes bad yes then can be are taxes good yes they can be it is how they are assessed and used not just because they are taxes. Returning to focus on that will improve the middle class help our economy grow and create the kind of strong America we all want. Lets not wait for another Depression and a global struggle to give us the will to change.