| Bankrupting the Welfare State |
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| Written by Jim and Diane Hunter | |
| Friday, 25 April 2008 14:00 | |
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Diane hates the word epiphany, but during a restless night, Jim thinks he just had one. We know a lot of folks who have been wondering for years about which village in Texas had lost their idiot. But this epiphany suggests maybe they didn't, and let me tell you, G.W. as mastermind is a lot more frightening than as idiot. The epiphany is this. What if all of the Shrub's reckless spending has been intentional? What if the strategy all along has been to bankrupt the Welfare State. If big government doesn't have any money, it must of necessity shrink itself, regardless of the philosophy of the party in power. I recall how crazy we all thought Ronald Reagen was with his "Star Wars" missile defense schemes, and the brinkmanship he and Al Haig played with the Soviets. Years later, we see PBS specials about how this brinksmanship was really aimed at pushing the Soviets into a defense spending war that eventually brought down their government. There is no question that the globalization of the economy has taken a quantum leap while we were distracted by the war in Iraq. In a truly free enterprise global economy, capital is free to combine with labor in the most "efficient" combinations regardless of borders. In such an economy, the government regulation that assures labor equity and a clean environment become a competitive disadvantage. Wake up and smell the imported coffee, North America, our "birth right" has been sold. Welcome to George Senior's "New World Order", or should it be Aldous Huxley's "Brave New World". Don't take the soma! We see only one solution. Forget the federal government, the presidential election and the global economy, and set to work building a more self sufficient, sustainable and just local community. Thirty years ago Jim saw a presentation by an economist who likened the local economy to a leaky barrel. If more water is leaking out, than comes in, we will decline. We need to start plugging the leaks by spending our dollars locally. The better we plug them the more water there will be in our barrel, and if we keep recirculating our local dollars, some day our barrel will runneth over.
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| Last Updated on Friday, 25 April 2008 14:30 |