Government money should not create individual wealth.

Date:   1/9/2009 11:53:25 PM ( 15 y ago)

No more Earmarks? Trickle down is Out? These join the hit parade of popular music that Pres. [elect] Obama is singing these days, leading up to his inauguration.

Obama says that earmarks will not be allowed in the stimulus bill to resurrect the American economy.

I am hopinh he might also mention something like "no one person should be able to make a lot of money from the economic rescue plan". I have not heard it yet, but I AM listening closely. I am sure it is in his heart that this huge amount of money does not go towards creating any billionaires.

It has allways been the case with corporations that get government contracts, or any contract really, that managers and owners will find ways to skim something off for themselves. This is an amount above the 10% or so that is in the contracts for corporate profits, and above any specific bonuses for finishing the job early or doing a good job - it is an amount that is not officially allowed. Sometimes they use inferior materials as compared to what was in the contract, or by hiring workers for less than the contract specified for labour costs - sometimes it shows up as a bridge or building that collapses due to poor concrete that was used in the construction.

No personal profitting from government contracts? I can hear the protests allready - "That is not the American way!! Trickle-Down economics means creating some very wealthy people so that they will invest their money in more projects and the whole economy benefits that way!! "

But no more. "Trickle-Down" did not work, it just invited bubbles that burst, cycles that ended up destroying wealth, and the wealth never did trickle down - Americans on the lower end of the economic scale ended up with even less than they had before "Reaganomics", which was the start of the Trickle Down theory. "Spit-on-the-Poor" is what it was. We know that now.

If Trickle-Down is dead, and earmarks are out, and no one person benefits greatly from a contract, then the taxpayer money that is spent might go a long way, and each dollar in this rescue package is going to have to do a lot. There is no room for waste anymore, it is a delicate balancing act to ressurect the American economy. One of the big advantages, as I have mentioned before in this blog, is that renewable energy will actually make electricity CHEAPER, and the whole nation, from individuals to manufacturing, will greatly benefit from cheaper electricity.

And, once it does get back on it's feet [yes, it will], then we might have learned a thing or two...

For one thing, we might realise that if the poor and middle class are squeezed too hard, they will go broke and stop spending, give up trying to pay their mortgages, and then everything collapses. That is what happened so far.

The other thing I hope we learn is that government DOES have a role to play in the economy - much to the distaste of the right-wing wealthy corporate people - and that role is NOT to shovel money to the wealthy but to help kick-start manufacturing and to look out for the well being of the least amongst us. Public health care will go a long way to doing that too. Education too. Government does those things.

As Family Guy dialogue said - "Republicans believe government should help those who allready don't need help, and that the poor should help them do it". It was sarcasm, by the way ; someone sees the light!!

 

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