Written by Don Washington   

You don’t have to be an expert in economics, mathematics, sociology or politics to know that what is happening right now in our country cannot continue. It is unsustainable in a way that preys on the present, transmutes the future into despair and ignores the past in a way that puts in grave peril. Either we will wake up and start doing the hard work it will take to save our little country and slip further into a nightmare that has made us a torture state that is trying to decide when it will descend on its own people. We are at the time before the barricades, when words can still be heard, when laws can still be passed, when the reformation can happen within the framework of the world we know.

Since the last economic crisis, which by the way was not as severe as this one; the Great Depression our country has seen three trends that even without fraud and avarice on a scale that would shame the Devil could destroy it. One, the shifting of the tax burden from corporations to individual citizens, two the shifting of that burden from wealthy individuals to the middle class and three borrowing money from the wealthy to make up for the money that is not being taxed from them. Think on this for a moment. At one point for every dollar of taxes a human being paid corporations paid a dollar fifty cents. Now for every dollar a person with a heartbeat and soul pays an immortal creature that feeds on them, a corporation pays a quarter… twenty-five cents. The wealthy once paid a top marginal rate of 94% which has fallen all the way to a minimum of 10% and a maximum of 35% as of right now. In a sane world we would restore the tax burden to something approaching a solution set, but our political and economic system is discussing how it will best abandon the public at its time of greatest need. We at the time before the barricades where the principles of the social contract, the ties that bind the beggar to the economic elite are tested and can still be called upon to bring us together and not choke us to death in a nasty descent into a police state, anarchy and dissolution.

Now ponder the fact that society’s needs have not lessened and to make up the difference in revenue not collected from the wealthy and corporations the government has had borrow money from them and then pay them back at interest. This would be the primary source of the national debt we face. That it is really nothing more than a large-scale swindle that transfers wealth from those most in need of governmental assistance to those who benefit the most from society not crumbling into revolution is an embarrassing reality that no one seems to want to face. We don’t have a revenue problem we have a moral one with an obvious solution. Take the money in taxes instead of loans. That we’ve even come to this pass is an indictment of our entire economic system and our political health. We are at the time before the barricades where the distance between reality and policy can still be bridged by men in suits not bloodied streets and all the uncertainty that violence and fear carry with them like loose change in the pockets of the broken souls they leave behind.

As millions of Americans take to the streets out of desperation, rage, hope and clarity that something is wrong with a system that will not act in the interest of its citizens but will do everything in its power to aid the forces of finance that are devouring the lives of those citizens we find ourselves at another crossroads in history. Understand that one in six Americans is either out of work, can’t find full-time work or have stopped looking for work and that’s a severe undercount. Know that we live a system where there are over 25 million people in need of work and 30% of our economic capacity laying fallow, gathering dust and rusting and we can’t come up with a political solution to bring these two numbers together to transform our reality into something better. We are at a time before the barricades when good policy and better politics might still save the day.

How anemic and disingenuous are our government’s efforts? Here are some hints. The Obama Administration asked for 800 billion dollars in stimulus and it was far too little and all it did was make Wall Street stronger, which is exactly what we don’t need but didn’t transform our economic trajectory. Now he’s suggesting 450 billion. Do the math and know it won’t change what’s happening. The disingenuous thing is that the President and everyone else making public policy understand the real scale of the problem. We know this because when it came time to rescue those they actually care about they found $21 trillion dollars and counting. We are at a time before the barricades and are watching, with various degrees of horror, rage and urgency a government that won’t do what it knows it should do.

Consider this, at a time when the social contract, we obey the law because it creates a government that will protect us in hard times, should be enforced with spending on social programs we are cutting them. As unemployment grows cities and states are cutting jobs and losing revenues. It is a recipe for disaster. A government that cannot meet the needs of its people is one not long for this world. In a time when people lack the ability to spend money if the government cuts its spending the downward spiral can only accelerate. Our politicians are not even having the right conversation in terms of the crisis we actually face. We are at the time before the barricades where action can tip the arc of the universe toward justice and away from the horror of Nietzsche’s abyss but only if it is the right action.

Don Washington is an AP-Award winning writer, political expediter and problem-solver, proprietor of the agitational, informational, interactive website and show the Mayoraltutorial.com. You can follow him as drobsidian on Twitter and he is the keeper of two large and mischievous cats.