Discontent with our Government

I hear way too much complaining about the symptoms of the disease and not near enough discussion about the disease or its cure. The disease is hiding in plain view and anyone who opens his eyes to it will immediately recognize both it and its cure.  The disease is American voter apathy and the cure is to wake up the citizenry, remove their opiates and turn them into informed and involved voters.

Be forewarned.  While the cure may be more painful that the current symptoms, if untreated, the disease is fatal.

Message to Enough is Enough Citizens Rally

My message to you is simple. While it was the people on Wall Street that gambled your money away, it is the people in the Congress that relaxed the rules enabling them to do so. And while it was the corporate executives that exported our technology and jobs to foreign countries, it is the people in the Congress who made the rules that made it profitable for them to do so. It is the people in the Congress that made the rules that enabled the rich to get richer at your expense and deprived you of the opportunity to earn a decent living. They are the enablers.  They are the people to whom you need to direct your anger.

While protests increase public awareness to the economic problems of our nation, protests alone cannot solve our problems.  No amount of protest will change the people in the Congress. They are too dependent on the money from their patrons. And that dependence makes them serve their patrons instead of the constituents who elected them. The only way you can change that is to remove them from office. It's time to change the guard, and that is what you need to do on November 6, 2012. You need to focus your efforts on that date — make that the target date for the rally that will change the direction of our government.

November 6, 2012 — you have approximately 380 days to prepare for that date. To prepare for it you need to focus on getting people educated and to the polls – especially the non-voters, many of whom were hit the hardest.  30% of voting age citizens didn't vote in the last presidential election and 60% didn't vote in 2010.  Failure to vote amounts to a vote for those whom you would defeat.

So the challenge to you in the next 380+ days is to reach out to voters and non-voters alike. Convince them that their vote counts. Convince them that not voting jeopardizes their future and that of their children and grandchildren. Educate them on the issues and what their elected officials are doing for them (or to them) and who is paying for it.  Most of all, make them understand that it's the Congress that makes the rules – not the President.  Help those who are not registered to register to vote.  Help anyone who can't get to the polls in any way you can.  Do whatever it takes to get everyone to vote.
 
Just remember: if you want to change the outcome, you have to change the system - to change the system, you have to change the rules - to change the rules, you have to change the rulemakers.  And in order to that, you have to get out the vote.

The Truth About Social Security

The Republican attacks on Social Security and rants about it being a budget buster are totally disingenuous. To date, Social Security has never had to borrow from the Treasury's general fund to pay out benefits. The truth is, that since it first went into effect in 1937, it has not only balanced its own budget, but has amassed substantial reserves. But let's look at the details.

When Social Security was enacted in 1936, it was specifically set up to be self paying. In so doing, a separate account was established into which separate taxes would be placed for the purpose of paying future benefits. (Like an insurance policy.) And the law specifically forbade using those taxes for any other purpose. That account still exists today and is called the Social Security Trust Fund. From 1937, when Social Security went into effect until 1957, Social Security revenues exceeded benefits payments and the Trust Fund amassed $22 billion in reserves. Since 1957 there have been 14 years in which Social Security benefits payments exceeded revenues, those years being 1957, 58, 59, 61, 62, 65, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81 and 83. In each of those years, the difference was made up from the Trust Fund's reserves without borrowing from the general fund. In all other years, revenues have exceeded benefits payments, and at the end of 2010, the Trust Fund had a positive balance of $2.4 trillion. (For details visit http://www.ssa.gov/oact/STATS/table4a1.html.)

You may have heard that Social Security benefits exceeded tax revenues by $49 billion in 2010 and will continue to do so for some time. That is true, but it discounts interest revenues that, by law, are supposed to be paid on loans made from the Trust Fund. The interest revenue on $2.4 trillion at 3% (approximate yield on 10 year and longer Treasury notes) amounts to $68 billion which is substantially more than the $49 billion shortfall in tax revenues. So what we are being told is only half truth.

It is true that Social Security will have future problems meeting its obligations, but that's in the future; and claims that is now or ever has been a budget buster are not true. In the past, Social Security has had to make adjustments for the same reasons that it must in the future. The three main reasons are 1) an aging population 2) increasing life expectancy and 3) recessions and unemployment. Today, unemployment is the biggest problem because it directly affects tax revenues. But even without unemployment the first two factors would deplete the Trust Fund in the next decade. However, that's no reason to abandon or overhaul Social Security. Small adjustments can be made to Social Security just as we have done in the past -- adjustments that we can all live with.

Now the real problem is that, while it has large reserves, the Social Security Trust funds have been loaned to the Treasury to pay the government's bills. But the government has squandered the money and can't pay its own bills much less pay back money borrowed from the Social Security Trust fund. So that begs the question, why did the Treasury have to borrow so much money from the Social Security Trust Fund? Who allowed the government to spend so much more than its income and where did the money go? It clearly did not go to Social Security and claims that Social Security is a budget buster are outright lies.

Election Reform

There are numerous issues to write about, e.g., the economy, the dieing middle class, our eroding infrastructure, our declining quality of life, health care, environment, education and on and on and on. But if you think about it, all these issues revolve around one central axis, namely our government and the policies of those who hold public office. We have gotten where we are because those who are elected to public office have chosen to cater to those who have paid the most for their elections. And those who are elected, and their political clones, will continue to get re-elected year after year after year until we reform the system that enables them.

Reform, you say? Is that possible? How can we change the system? Let me tell you first how we can't reform the system and why. First, letters to our elected officials don't work. Second, rallies don't work. Why? Because the politicians know that their livelihood depends on raising money for the next election; and in order to do so, they must curry favor with the big spenders who are frequently not citizens of their districts. Finally, third parties, write-ins and failure to vote don't work for obvious reasons. So, if we want to reform the system, we must first rid ourselves of the paid, professional politicians that currently occupy government. And that we can do – at the polls.

Reforming the system can only be accomplished by voters at the polls. Americans must divorce themselves from party politics and reject the propaganda. The first step would be to defeat all incumbent politicians and bring in an entirely new crowd. A good second step would be to impose single term limits which would eliminate the need for re-election campaign financing. A good third step would be to eliminate most of the perks that go with public office. And a good fourth step would be to eliminate the seniority system. But politicians are unlikely to impose those conditions on themselves because for most, public office is a good life and no one wants to give it up. But voters can make it happen – at the polls. It simply means that all of us must vote for the candidates most likely to defeat the incumbents at each election.

Some argue that their politicians must be kept in office because of the seniority system which brings favors to their districts. But in my last blog, I pointed to a one term senator who accomplished much with no seniority. Furthermore, the seniority system is a bane to good government. There is no good reason why one district should be favored over others. This country was, after all, established on the basis that all are created equal. So if all elected officials are freshmen, that will level the playing field so that all have equal say in governing and equal opportunity at the feeding trough.

A Truly Sad Story

    We all hear how corrupt our politicians are and how our confidence in our Congress is at an all time low. But here's a situation where you have someone in Congress who has truly kept his word and has truly voted his conscience, not his party ticket, and now we are about to lose him. Why? Because he is keeping his word. That person is Senator Jim Webb from Virginia. Senator Webb is not a professional politician. He is a retired Marine who ran for the U.S. Senate, won, and is now planning to go back to private life. He promised Virginians that if he were elected to the Senate he would serve one term only; and he is keeping his word. That is a true mark of integrety; that a man will do what he says he will do. How many times do we see that in the politicians who are voted into office?

    As much as I would like to see Senator Webb re-elected, my heart tells me he is doing the right thing. Think about it for a moment. Without the need for money for a re-election campaign, he can clearly vote his conscience and tell the party, the lobbyists and all the others who would buy his votes to go to hell. That is a monumental advantage he has over all the professional politicians. Furthermore, with six years in office, Senator Webb accomplished much. And his biggest accomplishment is proof that you don't have to have umpteen years seniority to accomplish things for your constituency. That alone is as big an accomplishment as all the other politicians put together.

    Yes, I worry a lot about who will replace Jim Webb. It will probably be another corrupt, cynical, run-of-the-mill politician whose campaign promises will be like almost all the others – disingenuous; and whose votes will be like almost all of the others – for sale to the highest bidder. But I'm afraid it must be so. At least until Americans pull their collective heads out of the sand and quit drinking the “Kool-Aid” we will be saddled with status quo: “the best politicians money can buy”.

Where do we begin?

This blog is going to be a random collection of thoughts about our current politico/economic situation, how we got here and what, if anything, can be done to improve it.  Clearly, over the past thirty years, the living standards of the average American have declined and the prospects for the futures of our children and grandchildren are looking bleak.  Two generations back, it was normal for parents to believe that their children and grandchildren would be better off than they were.  Such is no longer the case and except for a few privileged families, coming generations are likely to be worse off than we are.

The middle class has been eroding continuously over the past 30 years while the privileged class garners an ever increasing share of the national wealth.  As of 2007, the top 1% of households owned 34.6% of all privately held wealth and the top 20% owned 85%, leaving only 15% of the wealth for the bottom 80% (wage and salary workers).  Prior to the latest economic crisis, the U.S. had the greatest inequality of wealth in the industrialized world; and the effect of the recession has only worsened the wealth inequality.  There is presently no equalizing force to counteract the increasing inequality of wealth.  Left alone, we will ultimately become a "banana republic", a two class society consisting only of the very few rich and the remaining poor.  

So how did this happen; and what, if anything, can we do about it?