E. J. Dionne, Jr. : What if we're not broke?

[flpoljunkie]

What if we’re not broke?

By E.J. Dionne Jr.
Sunday, March 13

“We’re broke.”

You can practically break a search engine if you start looking around the Internet for those words. They’re used repeatedly with reference to our local, state and federal governments, almost always to make a case for slashing programs — and, lately, to go after public-employee unions. The phrase is designed to create a sense of crisis that justifies rapid and radical actions before citizens have a chance to debate the consequences.

Just one problem: We’re not broke. Yes, nearly all levels of government face fiscal problems because of the economic downturn. But there is no crisis. There are many different paths open to fixing public budgets. And we will come up with wiser and more sustainable solutions if we approach fiscal problems calmly, realizing that we’re still a very rich country and that the wealthiest among us are doing exceptionally well.

Consider two of the most prominent we’re-brokers, House Speaker John Boehner and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker.

“We’re broke, broke going on bankrupt,” Boehner said in a Feb. 28 Nashville speech. For Boehner, this “fact” justifies the $61 billion in domestic spending cuts House Republicans passed (cuts that would have a negligible impact on the long-term deficit). Boehner’s GOP colleagues want reductions in Head Start, student loans and scores of other programs voters like, and the only way to sell them is to cry catastrophe.

more...

[xchrom]

1. end the wars, break 'free trade', impose tarrifs, tax the rich, cut DoD, end corporate welfare. nt

[madmax]

2. Didn't Michael Moore

say as much in Wisconsin last week.

[liberal N proud]

3. The phrase is designed "were broke"

Designed to sell the budget cuts, designed to bring the government to its knees, designed to allow for mass privatization of everything from floor sweeping to Social Security.

Designed to make some son-of B@#^ a shit load of cash off the taxpayer.

[JuniperLea]

4. We may be broken...

But we're not broke.

[Iris]

5. Yep. And they want to make us feel broken so they can tear down government even more.

[OwnedByFerrets]

Until it comes down to THEIR jobs, then those jobs are crucial

[JuniperLea]

12. And make everyone scramble for those sub-minimum wage jobs too...

I feel very manipulated... but I'm not falling for it.

[calimary]

10. Was it Michael Moore who not only said this but offered - "let's go where the money is"?

There's LOTS of money. TONS of it. TSUNAMIS of it. Concentrated in a few hands. Maybe we should go where that money is and get a whole bunch of it back.

Funny, though. I thought these capitalism guys and free-market guys and freedom guys and the teabaggers who love them - all hate the whole idea of "redistribution of income," PARTICULARLY if the dreaded "guvmnt" is involved in making it so.

Perhaps they actually DO like the whole idea of "redistribution of income" - only flushing up, not trickling down.

:eyes:

[JuniperLea]

13. No business leader worth his/her salt would hire people just because they have the money to do so...

Job growth only happens when there is an increase in demand for goods and services, so when the masses have no money, there is no demand.

They have fleeced us and they are forcing us to fight over crumbs... pathetic.

[Botany]

6. All part of the plan laid out by G. Norquist

Run up the debt on the state and national levels ..... thanx to W on the national level and outsourcing
of jobs on the state level and then you have an excuse for:

Grover Norquist, "I don't want to abolish government. I simply want to reduce it to the size where I can drag it into the bathroom and drown it in the bathtub."

[DCKit]

7. Shock Doctrine + Disaster Capitalism nt

[rfranklin]

8. I want to do the same thing to the Republican party...

including Grover "the Pantywaist" Norquist.

[gkhouston]

9. And THIS is the war the President can and should be fighting. Many say it would

be an unproductive distraction for him to go to Wisconsin but he could tackle that situation indirectly and more effectively, from the other end, by going after the phony budget crises that are cropping up. It's a national issue as well as a local one in many states, and Republicans (backed by corporations) are using it to further their own greed and destroy the middle class.

[unblock]

11. in fact our economy shows symptoms of too much money!

the problem, of course, is that the excess capital is in the hands of people who:
a) have no sense of civic duty or moral compass and
b) have a dearth of constructive places available for them to invest their excess wealth, at least in this country.

[Armstead]

14. K&R....Thank goodness some are willing to buck the conventional wisdom

nt

[felix_numinous]

15. "We're" broke=

We have control over most money, and can define what money actually means. You all are screwn.

This is the Big Lie, that the trillions of dollars that pop up magically to pay for war are not available to help the American infrastructure. Bullshit.

[_ed_]

16. It's Bullshit spread by corporate propaganda on cable news

If America is "broke," then anyone who owns a house that is bank-financed or a car that is bank-financed is "broke." It's so stupid.

[uponit7771]

17. If we're REALLY going broke they'd cut defense spending in half...