Latest Budget Means Deeper Crisis

Every Federal Budget reads like a history lesson on what is going wrong with America nowadays. Not only do we see enormous budget deficits, because we live beyond our means, we also see misplaced priorities. Though the budget deficit has come down in recent years, the long-term trend is disheartening. All in all, it is a sad testament to the idiocy of our political class, and proof, if more were needed, that they are firmly in the grip of rich corporate interests.

The latest budget compromise between the House and the Senate, the first we have seen for years, shows little positive progress. We are still spending far more than we take in, thus mortgaging our children’s future, and what we do spend money on is largely unhelpful. All changes from previous budgets are minor.

We continue to spend more on the military, when all military spending is considered, than the rest of the world combined. There is no Nazi threat, no Soviet menace from which we need to protect the world. All the money we are wasting chasing goat herders in the Middle East would be more appropriately directed back here at home, where it can do some good for Americans. Schools are closing and bridges are crumbling, and still we station tens of thousands of troops in South Korea and Germany, where there has not been a threat to our security for generations!

The money saved from reducing our military presence in the world could also go towards closing the budget deficit. This money, largely spotted to us by foreigners, represents the extent to which we are giving our country away. Each year the debt grows, and we borrow more and more money. While the FDA cannot get the funds it needs to inspect our food imports, and thus keep us safe while we eat our meals, we spend over our limit on things that are not helping us. It just doesn’t make any sense.

No discussion of the budget would be complete without noting how little the government receives in tax inlays. This is because our Free Trade policies have off-shored our manufacturing, our jobs, and the tax base and GDP these would produce.  According to shadowstats.com, almost a quarter of the workforce is jobless, and most of our wealth-producers – American-grown businesses – have relocated their operations, and our jobs, overseas. This provides foreign countries with the tax revenue they need to lend us money to buy up more of America!

These problems have been plaguing us for decades now, and they only seem to be getting worse, not better. The most recent budget proposal does very little to turn things around. At the end of the day, politicians owe favors to their major campaign donors and these donors are happy with the situation as it is.

This article adapted from "The Latest Budget Proposal Shows Little Progress for America" by Patrick Kellen, originally published December 16, 2013 at Economy In Crisis:

http://economyincrisis.org/content/the-latest-budget-proposal-shows-little-progress-for-america