Pigs with Lipstick

Sure, Barack Obama was “taken out of context”, as he says, buy why on earth is he so defensive and almost apologetic about it. It is time to talk about the context, and not about Sarah Palin. The context he was talking about was and still is ‘THE ECOMONY, STUPID!’ The Pigs are the so-called investment banks in New York, which were made FAT having been fed by “THE FED” and the Washington establishment. The lobbyists put the lipstick on the Pigs to deceive the people into believing that this is good economics and that the common people will benefit. Well, the common people are being screwed and we are all being slaughtered along with the Pigs in New York.

It all started with Ronald Reagan and his “TRICKLE DOWN” theories of economics. Sure, there was a recession and rapid inflation during President Carter’s administration, but it started when OPEC cut the supply of oil and the price of gasoline went from 35 cents/gal. to $1.35. Carter proposed placing a $3.00 tax on each barrel of imported oil, but this was pooh-poohed by the moneyed interests. If that tax had been instituted in the ‘70’s, it would have led to much less dependency on oil and the rapid development of alternative sources of energy and this country would be in far better shape that it is today. Furthermore, the budget deficit of about $60 billion which Carter inherited was steadily falling during his administration and he predicted it would be balanced by January, 198l. In May of 1980, during the primary race for the presidency, Ronald Reagan said he would “CUT TAXES”, and the dance ended. The national debt when Carter was president was about $500 billion and this was from the residual costs of fighting WW II, the Korean War, the war in Viet Nam and the military build-up of the long years of the Cold War.

So what did President Reagan do? He cut taxes and deregulated the financial industries and every Republican administration since than has followed his lead. What has been the result? A severe recession in 1982-83, the Savings and Loan crisis costing American taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars and leading to the recession of 1991-92. President Clinton raised some taxes and made some other reforms, brought the economy into balance and even began showing a surplus by the end of his administration. During the 2000 primary race, George W. Bush took the same cue from Reagan and said he would “CUT TAXES”. The Market immediately began plunging leading to another recession. However, in spite of this, enough people still fell for this line and Bush was elected and then re-elected. All during this time, the U.S. Treasury has churned out the dollars hyper-inflating the economy leading to first the “HIGH TECH BUBBLE”, and then the “HOUSING BUBBLE”, and now, another recession, or maybe even worse this time. Meanwhile, the national debt has multiplied some 20 times, from the $500 billion to nearly TEN TRILLION DOLLARS. This means that every man, woman and child in the United States owes approximately $30,000! Can they ever pay that debt? Of course not! What will happen? Well, I expect no one knows or at least they are not talking about it. But I think we should start talking about it. Falling dollar and rampant inflation? Much of this money is owed to Japan, China and the Arab countries and the only recourse we and they may have to settle debts is by selling off American assets. This is already happening. I hate think where this might end. We may all be working for the Asians and Arabs at minimal wages.