48% of the people in the country think that another great depression is coming soon.
http://hotair.com/archives/2011/06/08/cn...In a related poll 70% of Republicans oppose extending the debt ceiling.
http://visiontoamerica.org/658/gallup-po...In that poll about a third of the people in the country have no idea what the result of defaulting on our debt will be, but among economists and the professionals there is little doubt that a default would be an economic catastrophe.
http://www.businessinsider.com/jamie-dim...Why are Republicans so opposed to paying for the debt that they are in most part responsible for? Two thirds of the National Debt was caused by Republicans because they made massive increases in military spending, yet slashed revenue by giving tax cuts to the rich and the corporations, so they just put their spending on the credit card.
Now they are trying to balance the budget by slashing social spending (only 14% of the budget) but they refuse to acknowledge that half of the deficit is from the military spending and the wars they created, and the tax cuts that they forced on Obama with terrorist tactics. About half of the remainder is because of the economic recession that Bush and the Republican policies and deregulation caused.
https://www.kitcomm.com/showthread.php?t...It is obvious that if we are to tackle the deficit problem that we should first eliminate the things that caused the deficit. To climb out of a hole first stop digging. We need to end the tax cuts to the rich and we need to cut the military spending.
But the Republicans have taken those two items off the table. It has become clear that the Republicans have declared open war against the middle class and are only interested in protecting the tax cuts to their rich and corporate sponsors.
http://www.seeingtheforest.com/archives/...Are they doing what the people want? No. 81% of the people think taxes should be raised on millionaires to help pay off the deficit. Nope Off the Table. 85% of people think we should end subsidies to the big oil companies who are making record profits. Nope Off the table. Two thirds of the people think we should slash military spending and end our wars. Nope Off the Table.
There has been much hoopla about the Republican budget plan which would end Medicare, cost 700,000 jobs and slow down the economy, and give the rich another trillion we can't afford, but there has been NO discussion from the media about the People's Budget Plan which actually does what the majority of the people want. Why is THAT off the Table.
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/06...So given that the Republicans are in favor of a default which would lead to a major worldwide depression, because it will make it harder to get Obama elected, We are probably headed for another depression.
Much of the economy is driven by consumer confidence. If people are afraid of a depression, they stop spending, which causes an economic slowdown, which combined with a default, would lead to a depression. The pessimism and negativity of the Republican Propaganda Machine is causing the crisis in confidence, and their austerity policies are slowing the economy and eliminating jobs. This lethal combination will destroy our economic standing and will cause the depression. It is a self fulfilling prophesy pushed by extreme ideology.
We know from history what caused the great depression and we know from history what ended it. We know which economic policies don't work (supply side) and we know which economic policies do work (Demand side economics).
The same supply side policies, which throws money at the rich, deregulation, and anti government policies, pursued by the Republicans, caused the great depression.
The Demand side policies, which had 90% top tax rates on the rich, which allowed more money to the poor and created the middle class, and the WPA, CCC and job creation of big government spending from WWII, got us out of the depression. Investments in education and the creation of a social safety net which was paid for by high taxes on the rich, led to the longest period of peaceful prosperity in our history.
Do we really need to fall off the cliff and get mired in another great depression, to re-learn the lessons of history? We can have both fiscal austerity, by cutting the military spending, and we can have economic stimulus if we can just generate some revenue, and that combination would avoid a depression. We need to invest in education and in innovation and the technologies of the future or we will be unable to compete with the other economic powers who are investing more than us. We need to rebuild our crumbling infrastructure, and that will create jobs, which will make the deficit shrink.
The easiest and most painless way to generate revenue is with a transaction tax on the risky types of financial speculation that caused the Bush Economic collapse. This is a "Good Tax" which will have will have the dual purpose of raising revenue and discouraging harmful behavior.
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/06...During the war everyone pulled together and sacrificed. It was that spirit of shared sacrifice and working for a common goal, which ended the great depression. Today the Republicans are spreading divisiveness instead of unity, and only the middle class is being asked to sacrifice, while the obscenely rich are being showered with millions more.
If this type of trickle down supply side voodoo economics worked, it would have created jobs during the last 12 years. It didn't. Supply side trickle down economics doesn't work because the corporations are already sitting on piles of cash. The corporations won't expand or hire until people start buying more, which means we need to get money to the middle class, not the rich. We need Demand side economics for job creation, and that takes stimulus spending, innovation, and investments in the technologies of the future.
The rich and the corporations are paying less than they have for 50 years, and our country is paying lower taxes than most other developed nations. Why should the victims pay? They didn't cause the problem.s? Let the rich crooks, the bankers, the Hedge Fund Managers, the derivative traders, that are rolling in dough and and only paying 17% in taxes pay a bit of restitution. They created the economic meltdown, let them be a part in solving the problem.
It is time to ask those who can most afford it, to pay back the country that allowed them to get rich. It is time for them to sacrifice just a little bit. It is time for the rich and the corporations to pay their fair share.