FISCAL BUNK

The news media has a current story that dominates every channel and every newspaper. It's the "fiscal cliff" that the country will tumble over at the end of the year, unless... Unless there is "grand bargain" between the Republicans who tried to hold up the government over the debt limit and the Administration that is trying to put the economy on a recovery track. Watching this political theater, with a "super committee" of Congress that failed to make the grand bargain, and the looming disaster intended to force the bargain, would be hugely entertaining, if it wasn't proof that the present Congress is hopeless. Republicans believe that ending Bush's income tax cuts on millionaires (returning them to the tax rates from the Clinton years) is going to somehow keep these rich guys from hiring more workers. Bunk. Workers get jobs when there is more demand for products and services. We've got a Jobs Problem not a Debt Problem. And we've got a broken infrastructure problem. Trains derailing. Bridges collapsing. Pipelines leaking. A shortage of affordable housing. We can put people to work, not by giving rich guys tax breaks, but by giving governments the funds to rebuild roads, bridges, rail lines, and air traffic control. We can convert spending for unneeded weapons into rebuilding this nation's structures, school systems, and public services. We need to learn again how to talk about people in this economy. Folks are rich, and they are poor. Some are in the middle. We have the elite, and we have the down- trodden. Yes, in America. The 99 per cent are not "Middle Class." There is an upper-, upper-middle-, middle-, lower-middle-, and a lower class. Everybody except the upper-class has not been getting ahead for a long time. It's no secret. In the recession that began in 2007 millions have fallen down from their place on this scale. Some losing jobs, many losing their homes, and too many losing hope in a system that has failed them. Now we hear the absurd and cruel suggestion that taking away some of the earned social security payments and some of the Medicare benefits from the elderly is the best way to avoid that made-up fiscal tumble off a cliff. We voted down the presidential candidate with these ideas. Getting the country back to work and out of debt will take some sacrifices. "Shared sacrifice" - from corporate elites, from wealthy heirs, and from ordinary citizens. Let's get on with the job and cut out the silly theater from Congress.

WHERE THE MONEY WENT & WHERE IT IS NOW

At the start of 2011, with a glance back at 2010, the national news is abuzz with talk of debt, of deficit, and.... more Tax Cuts! One economics professor tells us we are down in a deep hole and we'd better stop digging. The Republican Party announces that their Top Priority for the new Congress in this time of economic crisis is "Cut Government Spending," shrink the size of government.

OK, I hear that. And an op-ed column I just read from the Boston Globe tells me where the spending is that needs to be cut. Listen to James Carroll, from "The Rich Get Richer Quicker" -

"... with current annual military expenditures now exceeding $1 trillion - the most ever. Ironically, nothing undermines American security like the cuts in public spending (infrastructure, schools, libraries, etc.) made necessary by exploding budgets for outmoded weapons. Not guns over mere butter now, but over bread - and books and bridges. This monetary calculus leaves aside the most corrupting dynamic of the war economy, how the nation is driven into unnecessary wars simply by the unleashed momentum of hyper-war-readiness. Over-investment in arms leads to their use, period."

Famous bank robber Willie Sutton answered the question "Why rob banks?" directly. "That's where the money is!" Americans know the answer in 2011. The money is at the Pentagon. One trillion dollars worth.

Since President Bush's inauguration in 2001, a decade ago, the annual outlay for the military has climbed from one third of a trillion (roughly) to over $1 trillion. We have borrowed to finance two wars, new weapons systems, and the medical care of thousands of our crippled troops far into the future, all this in a decade of lost opportunity for a society.

So let's climb out of this pit together. Bring down our lavish spending on wars and weapons until it meets the needs of our vital national DEFENSE.

Hands off my health care! Build back a strong infrastructure of pipelines, bridges to somewhere, rail lines that don't derail, modernized air traffic systems that can manage safe air travel. Viable airlines regulated so that maintenance is no longer sent to foreign shops where it is under-inspected.

You readers know what we need. I think I just found where the money comes from to get it done.