CASUALTIES OF WAR ON THE DEBT

Conservatives are waging a war on the nation’s debt. Conservative representatives aim everything they do at cutting the national budget, saving money, or decreasing government spending. The major it of people seems to applaud this. Of course, they fund a few corporate welfare things but this amount to pennies on the dollar. People seem to have an innate or inborn dread having debt. The circumstance surrounding the debt, that is why we have the debt in the first place, and the part it plays in the nation's economy is the most complex problem to understand that we have. However, political manipulation of the debt is what makes is so misunderstood. Hillary Clinton, some years ago and during the George W. Bush administration said in a speech she gave in Florida that the carefree spending by this administration was intentional. Of course, people spend money to buy things they want, but why would they spend money to put themselves in debt? He used the power of his office to start a senseless war and pay for it with borrowed money because the people knew the war was foolishness, and would never want to pay for it. However, rather than raise taxes he cut taxes. Obviously, this would drive the nation deeply in debt. That manipulation of our economy had a purpose that I did not understand, but Hillary Clinton did. It involves some convoluted logic or an understanding of human psychology I did not have. Now, when I see what is happening, I look back I think I understand. First, the war in Iraq had a purpose. It was not just to take over control of oil production, although that was part of it. It had a psychological purpose. I learned from author Naomi Klein in her book, Shock Doctrine (2007) that political operatives are masters at taking advantage of disasters of all kinds. When 9/11 happened, it was a disaster. It was an attack on our “homeland” by a foreign dictator. It could not have been a better scenario for what the Bush team need even it if they had panned it. The only thing they had to manipulate was that it was a rich radical Sunni Arab and not an Iraqi dictator who had planned and carried out the attack on the twin towers. Remember that we had never used the term “homeland” in such phrase as, “we have to protect out homeland”. It had always been nation or country, but homeland has a personalize ring to it, perhaps because of the inclusion of the word “home”, where we live. In addition, it was not just a fight against a band of terrorists it was all out war. It was, we against the world. We have to stand together as a nation united by “the war” or as Bush said, “you are either for us or against us”. From the axis of evil to Condoles Rice’s mushroom cloud, the whole thing lacked an air of authenticity but as they wanted, it united us. Once the debt was real, we were told we all had to get together to pay that debt. The debt was out of control. A horror of all horrors, China owned us. We were doomed to hell if we didn’t pay it and pay and we had to pay it now. The war was not the war on terror but was now an urgent war on the debt. The newspapers editors wrote headlines and filled the papers with stories about the debt. The TV had huge pictures of a ticking debt clock, every second the debt went up more and more, ominously implying some sort of time bomb. We all knew it was a huge debt and we had to pay it. Increasing taxes was not an option. The only way was to cut to cut the size of government, to cut welfare, aid to dependent children caused of the debt, lazy black people who did not want to work but wanted to live off the government, and food stamps were destroying us; thus, liberal and conservatives were united to pay off the debt and cut off welfare. Of course, not all liberals believed this, but enough to make it happen because we as a nation gave control of congress to Republicans. This was what Hillary was warning us about in her Florida speech. The other day on Facebook, there was a two-paneled cartoon depicted. In the first panel was a picture of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, with wreaths and in the second picture was a dirty, unshaven, old destitute veteran labeled as the Known soldier. He held a sign saying, “homeless, suicidal, a suffering from PTSD”. His voice balloon said, Hello? . . . anyone. Comments were invited. He is my comment about that picture; He is a casualty of the war on the debt. In this case, we are the enemy. Many people like you and I fell for their Right wing lies intended to destroy the government and hand it over to Sheldon Adelson, the Koch Brothers, and the 1% so they can drown it in a bathtub and the poor are paying for it. URL: firetreepub.blogspot.com Comments Invited and not moderated