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Hey! Supercommittee! Here's the Smart Plan to Save $7 Trillion, Create Jobs, Save Social Security
America is not broke. But America does have broken priorities.
Americans are waking up to this reality. That’s why they are occupying Wall Street, that’s why they are protesting in Madison, Columbus, Lansing and other state capitals, that’s why thousands marched Saturday in Washington and other cities on behalf of “Jobs and Justice.”
“We are in the midst of a major economic crisis. Millions of Americans are jobless, our schools and infrastructure are under-resourced, our kids are being denied real educational opportunities and their futures are at risk. It’s no wonder that people are frustrated,” says American Federation of Teachers president Randi Weingarten, a featured speaker at the Washington rally that honored the social and economic justice legacy of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. while highlighting the ongoing nature of the civil rights icon’s struggle. “The march and rally are about hitting the streets and taking concrete action to change our nation to once again become the place where everyone has a shot at the American dream.”
The people get it, and unions and activist groups such as Progressive Democrats of America have been stepping up this weekend with dozens of events to the highlight the the issues from coast to coast.
But will Congress?
The answer will come, at least in part from the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction, which in coming weeks will have to decide whether to maintain the broken priorities that created the current mess—or to reject them and get the country on track toward fiscal stabiliy and economic renewal.
If the bipartisan committee perpetuates the austerity agenda that is being demanded by the Republcans and conservative Democrats—and too frequently references as a touchstone by President Obama—the United States will find itself in a worst-case scenatio that combines burdensome debts and stalled growth.
That does not have to be the case.
The Congressional Progressive Caucus is proposing a comprehensive plan to get the nation’s fiscal house in order while as the same time stabilizing the circumstance of social programs and spurring job growth. The CPC plan outlines $7 trillion in savings for the federal government and, just as critically, is proposes a new set of priorities that creates jobs, stabilizes communities and strengthens the social-safety net.
“It’s way past time to talk big or think big— it’s time to govern big and do what needs doing,” says CPC co-chair Raúl M. Grijalva, D-Arizona. “The American people are sick and tired of feeling too few in the government are responsive to their needs. While Republicans dither about cutting corporate taxes and dismantling Medicare, people are losing their homes, losing their jobs and losing their savings through no fault of their own. As a government, we need to look at ourselves and offer the country solutions that match the scope of the problems we face. Anything less is a waste of time.”
The CPC plan combines smart economics with a sound set of priorities.
How so?
It starts by finding the money the United States needs now—not just to balance budgets but to make the right investments for the future:
Step One: Allow the Bush-era tax cuts to expire and scrap irresponsible estate tax changes, saving $3.95 trillion over the next decade.
Step One: Engineer a responsible end to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, saving $1.6 trillion.
Step Two: Enact a “Fairness in Taxation Act,” creating a millionaire tax that generates $872.5 billion.
Step Three: Allow Medicare to negotiate drug prices with pharmaceutical companies, saving $157.9 billion.
The CPC plan outlines numerous other proposals for raising revenues—including a financial transactions tax on speculators dealing in “exotic financial products”—and for using the savigs to assure the long-term stability of Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.
Perhaps most importantly, however, the CPC plan recognizes the importance of job creation as a deficit-reduction tool. “While Republican politicians are busy slashing good paying American jobs from our economy, the Progressive Caucus continues to put job creation first with serious proposals to rebuild America,” says CPC Co-Chair Keith Ellison, D-Minnesota. “The most effective way to reduce the deficit is to put America back to work. Creating good jobs, making sure that everyone pays their fair share and protecting Social Security Medicare and Medicaid, are the best ways to ensure that all Americans are put on the path to prosperity, not just the wealthiest one percent.”
To that end, the caucus suggests that the supercommittee should include a job-creation component in its recommendations. To do that, the CPC recommends focusing on five initiatives:
1. Make it in America Again
“We must begin with a strategy to revive manufacturing in the United States. This requires developing something every other industrial nation has—a national plan for manufacturing. When people see the words ‘Made in America’ they know that they are getting the highest quality manufactured goods money can buy. We need a policy that reopens our factories and lets Americans do what they do best: produce the highest quality products in the world.”
2. Rebuild America
“With the cost of borrowing near zero, the construction industry flat on its back, and America’s decrepit infrastructure not only a competitive burden, but a threat to lives and safety, there is no better time to launch a major initiative to rebuild America. Create a national investment bank to leverage private capital and ensure that major projects are determined by merit, not by political muscle. Rebuild our half century old roads, bridges, locks and dams, while spurring creation of the roads of the future by connecting and empowering our country with fiber optic cable.”
3. Jobs for the Next Generation
“There is no shortage of work to be done in America and no shortage of workers to do it. One in four teenagers are officially unemployed, including nearly half of young African Americans and Latinos. We are witnessing a generation of crushed hopes, and we are squandering the talent of young Americans. Destructive cuts in public education threaten America’s economic success and we are now falling behind. We must increase federal support for hiring teachers as a catalyst for job creation and immediate and future economic development. We must invest in the finest public education and job training in the world, education is no longer a guarantee of work. Let us make the guarantee of a good American job real for every young person. We should provide direct employment in the public sector and incentives for hiring in the non-profit sector and private sector. In addition, the caucus supports a ‘Train me and pay me’ program which would give stipends to workers and young people who are enrolled in job training programs.”
4. Lead the Green Industrial Revolution
A centerpiece of our economic strategy must be to create good jobs now by capturing the lead in the industrial revolution that is sweeping the world—starting with clean energy, electric cars, and efficient appliances. We need to invest in research and innovation so that America remains on the cutting edge of global technologies. Provide investment incentives to companies to create jobs here at home. Build a modern smart grid that can deliver efficiency and clean energy.”
5. Not Just Jobs— Good Jobs
“American workers want good American jobs, not poverty level wages without benefits that make it impossible to support a family or save for the future. We can start by making sure that middle-class Americans are free to organize and have a voice and a seat at the table again. If corporations can join together to hire an army of lobbyists, working Americans must come together and use their strength in numbers to protect the rights of middle class Americans. We must ensure that businesses obey our labor laws and reward those that create good paying American jobs that protect our rights to equal opportunity and equal pay. Programs like TANF ECF have been proven to put people to work. While, we work on building these good jobs, we must ensure the long-term unemployed receive the full assistance and services they need so they can continue contributing to the economy.”
The supercommittee will, undoubtedly explore, and potentially embrace, a lot of bad ideas.
The Congressional Progressive Caucus has come up with the right response to all of them: America is not broke. But it does need to fix some broken priorities.
“With the supercommittee, the Republicans have manufactured yet another budget crisis,” says CPC Budget Task Force Chair Michael Honda, D-California. “We can ‘go big’ and address our budget deficits by allowing the unpaid-for Bush tax cuts to expire and ending our unpaid-for wars on schedule. Anyone who says we need to cut education, cut the social safety net, cut Social Security, Medicaid, Medicare or provide more tax cuts to the rich, is pushing a political agenda, not sound fiscal policy.”
Comments
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51 Comments so far
Show AllGood article. Good points. Good ideas. Stay IN THE STREETS to implement this.
But you might want to open secret.org the people on the supercommittee. They all get large donations from some of the worst corporate and investment offenders.
Not only do the 12 members of the super secret catfood commission get boatloads of corporate cash, none of them need to worry about reprisals at the polls since they will not stand for re-election any time soon or will be retiring when their term ends.
The committe isn't "exploring" anything, Mr. Nichols, they know what their real mission is. The only cuts the committee will make that affect the military industrial complex will be the further reduction of their already low corporate tax rates. The committee's mission is to cut Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, including further perversion of the consumer price index to assume that when working class Americans can't afford groceries, they will eat catfood.
raydelcamino,
Exactly right! The point that Nichols always fails to make is that, until power is returned to the 99%, NOBODY IN CONGRESS is doing to do anything to respect the wishes of the 99%, PERIOD.
Nichols is WRONGLY legitimizing the power of the super turds masquerading as public servants.
The WHOLE POINT of OWS is that 300 million Americans NO LONGER HAVE A SAY in the direction of America.
We have to return our country to the 99% through VOTER REPRESENTATION.
I suggest that OWS make this demand. All other demands flow logically from this demand. I'm sure that 99% of those 300 million Americans will support it enthusiastically. The 1% will scream bloody murder but so what? It's time the 1% running this corrupt status quo was returned to 1% of voting power instead the 70% or greater power they now enjoy.
Here's my suggestion:
Power for the 99% cannot come about when the population to representative ratio is one to 700,000. Since the Constitution was shit canned in 1913 with a cork on the max number of reps in the House, corporate control of ANYONE in the House was guaranteed.
Only by returning to the Constitution's original one rep per 30,000 (that gives us a House of Representatives of about 11,000 - too many for the corporations to buy or threaten) AND a Representative to Senator ratio of 3 to one as in 1789 will we be provided with ANY insurance that the 1% won't coopt any new political party.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:US_population_per_representative.jpg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_United_States_House_of_Representatives#Number_of_Representatives
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_congressional_apportionment#Constitutional_text
Naomi Klein said this cannot be settled at the ballot box.
If any citizen was allowed to get on the ballot and our representative to population ratio was one to 30,000 making an electronic House and Senate with TOTAL voter access to their reps and ALL monetary lobbying BANNED while verbal lobbying is required by law to be posted on the web site of each rep and senator, she might change her mind.
Also there should be no more election campaigns, PERIOD. A US Government web site would list all the candidates in all the states from dog catcher to president and the platforms (no more party affiliation bullshit stories) of said candidates and links to their web sites.
For those who still believe that elections for Representatives matter and Corporations have not totally destroyed our republic, I have this to say: If, in 1789, we had the same level of "representation" that we have today, the first Congress wouldn not have had 65 Representatives. THE FIRST CONGRESS WOULD HAVE HAD THREE REPRESENTATIVES!
Wake up! The corporate elite STOLE our democracy. With modern technology, we CAN go back to 30,000 per rep. That would be Constitutional. That would be too many reps for corporations to buy or threaten. That would keep the oligarchy from regrouping to attack social safety nets again.
"Anyone who says we need to cut education, cut the social safety net, cut Social Security, Medicaid, Medicare or provide more tax cuts to the rich, is pushing a political agenda, not sound fiscal policy.”
In fact, any time we are faced with "either-or" choices we are being hornswaggled. Either we clear-cut national forests or destroy the logging industry; either we cut Social Security benefits or destroy the economy; either we lower taxes on the rich or jose more jobs; the list could go on and on.
In every case, the "choice" is structured by someone with an agenda. George Lakoff notes things like this from time to time, but people on CD don't seem to be impressed. Perhaps that is because of something Hans Magnus Enzensberger noted once, that pointing out that a problem exists does not solve the problem. It takes more, and that is what the OWS people recognize.
sheepherder
"Anyone who says we need to cut education, cut the social safety net, cut Social Security, Medicaid, Medicare or provide more tax cuts to the rich, is pushing a political agenda, not sound fiscal policy.”
Absolutely correct. Social Security, Medicaid, Medicare all obviously need to be restructured and revised. Only a fool doesn't know that. But that does not mean cutting any of them. And the wealty have had all the tax cuts they need.
By the way, if "tax cuts" generate job's, where are they? If trade deals like NAFTA and Korea create all these jobs, where are they. You don't suspect them of not quite telling us the truth do you?
Heaven forbid that I should be accused of claiming that the rich and the politicians are not completely candid when they construct the choices we are asked to make, or when they make grandiose statements about trade deals.
On the other hand, I was educated by the Jesuits, so I am quite familiar with arguments which are nothing but "smoke and mirrors."
Progressive Democrats? The folks that in conjunction with Republicans just shipped another million jobs or so overseas. These are certainly people I want on my side. NOT!
I've had enough of Democrats. They have done nothing but the same thing Republicans have done. When will people figure that out.
He starts with #1 being "develop a national plan" when Nationalism is being rejected by the left at every level. And then a rant to "spend more" We have spent plenty. What do we have to show for it? Not much.
I am sick of people telling me I am seeing one thing when the evidence of what I am seeing is right before my eyes. Democratic propaganda is just as corrupt and dishonest as that being shoveled by the Republicans.
Yes, we need change, so when exactly do we begin the discussion of real change, not business as usual?
When do we start insisting on changing the laws, rules and regulation of financial, trade and tax policies to reflect a benefit to the workers? Not that hard to figure out, we have had the situation before.
Allow the destruction of the middle class and you allow more of what we have now. Employ the fantasy that the middle class isn't the most important part of our economy and there is no need to stop the attacks on them and you simply aid the elites that are intent on destroying it.
"I am sick of people telling me I am seeing one thing when the evidence of what I am seeing is right before my eyes. Democratic propaganda is just as corrupt and dishonest as that being shoveled by the Republicans."
In effect, you are saying that all politicians are asking: " Do you believe us or your lying eyes?" The choice is easy.
I don't find it at all reassuring that everyone's "cure" involves MORE STUFF. Making more possessions, owning more possessions, getting possessions in the hands of people who don't have them, reshuffling the ownership of possessions.
Isn't this just more of the same materialism that got us in this mess in the first place? As the saying goes, you can only shit in your nest for so long before you're nesting in your shit. We are way beyond that point already.
You have pointed out the major inconsistency in our culture. We worship at the altar of commodities. We buy whatever crap shows up on the shelves at WalMart, and we depend on the production and transportation of the crap for jobs.
Marx called this set of associations, a contradiction inherent in a capitalist society which will ultimately doom it.
But I like the metaphor of the nest better than Marx's terminology.
Here is a sentence from the Communist Manifesto.
"The development of Modern Industry, therefore, cuts from under its feet the very foundation on which the bourgeoisie produces and appropriates products"
I don't think my paraphrase was too distorted. And I still like the nest metaphor.
This article is way too weak. "...Engineer an end to the wars..." That leaves all kinds of loop holes for continuing/expanding the wars. It also ignors the fact that the USA is responsible for mass destruction abroad and therfore is morally responsible for paying reparations to Iraq, Iran, Afghn, Pakistan, etc...
"...Allow Medicare to negotiate drug prices..." You have to be kidding. It should be a mandate that drug prices are controlled across the board - not only for Medicare.
Sorry, but Nichols sounds just like a typical Democrat and that is why dems are often more dangerous than the repubs..
The Congressional Progressive Caucus isn't progressive. It is in effect a marketing tool of the Democratic Party. It's not like even the Democratic leadership listens to the CDC, yet alone the Republicans or the Super Committee. The Super Committee of 3 Repubs and 3 Dems is setup to fail (Americans). Obama, the Democrats and the Republicans were all part of its creation. Nichols, once again, does the Corporate Media's part in marketing the Democratic Party with their overused theme (blame the other Party).
We obviously have the WRONG PEOPLE in Congress!!!!!
Stop the deception. Capitalism can not be "humanized."
The Democratic party can not be "reformed."
Some grand and noble "America" of your imagination can not be "restored."
Congress can not be "made to work."
Not long ago on NPR they compared the super committee's job to a game of chicken where if nobody flinched a family, children and all, would drive off a cliff.
During a budget debate before the committee was formed I argued on these threads that progressives could protect SS and probably stop the wars by arguing for exactly the compromise on the table: across the board cuts in discretionary spending.
Half the cuts would be to the military (none from SS). I would argue that even if your starving on the street, as a decent American you should support this course. Even if you think it will hurt rather than help the economy. We must reign in the military-industrial complex who kill in our name.
Sure, cut the military and tax the rich to make up the rest. That's a more progressive solution, however I'm not sure it's realpolitik. Of course the Democrats will find a compromise far to the right of the default cuts and convince the sheep to go back to work.
It's no wonder that Progressives achieve little, when articles like this are written:
- Step One: Engineer a responsible end to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan -
Has the author not noticed this?
"The Associated Press is reporting that its sources in the Obama administration are admitting that all US troops will have to leave Iraq by 31 December".
The Iraq OCCUPATION will end on schedule. Why waste time on this?
As for the 'war in Afghanistan', once again this is twaddle. Afghanistan is merely one battleground in the insane and DAFT war to prevent future terrorism by whichever enemies the President has named (publicly or privately).
Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia, and targeted assassinations of American citizens, are all the same war.
We need to end the state of war that the USA is now in. That cannot be done piecemeal. I suggest yet again that this be the big issue, now and in next year's election.
End the state of war, officially and in writing, in order to bring America back to being a 'nation at peace'. Then and not before will other Progressive wishes be obtainable.
Public Law 107-40 must be dealt with. The law that started this insanity must be dealt with. I point out again that it's been 10 years since this law was enacted. And what Progress have we made since then?
No Progress is possible while the USA is a nation at war. National Security trumps all social concerns. The National Security State will eat up all resources, and leave none for the commonweal.
None. None for jobs, none for social security, none for us.
End Public Law 107-40. At the very least stop ignoring it. We can't afford another 10 years of this, especially since this law will eventually lead to war with Iran and who knows who else.
Our future is bright! The question is whether that future involves ending the war, or whether the war will end us when the bright future is mushroom clouds.
A Rubbish article trying to sell people on the idea that the Democrats will save the day.
It a whole lot of Jingoism and appeals to patriotism sold as a solution to problems that extend far beyond the borders of the United States of America.
Just as example, why on earth by the virtue of being stamped "Made in America" would the world know said product of high quality? The US Auto Industry collapsed because the better quality vehicles were being made elsewhere.
The United States of America CREATED the mantra of cheap disposable crap. Henry Ford used to build Model T Fords that would last decades and that anyone could repair. Chevrolet introduced the concept of building crap disposable cars so that people always had to buy new ones. China is better at producing cheap disposable crap.
Moving the manufacture of cheap disposable crap hardly means high paying jobs lost nor does it mean bringing those jobs back will save the economy. Who will they sell these goods to? Africans? The Chinese? The Europeans? Will they too not want good paying jobs and Industry ?
Who will buy those "High Quality" goods. Will Germany close down its own factories so that they could buy the stuff stamped "Made in America". The reason Germany and Japan industrialized so rapidly after the wars was so they could manufacture those goods and stamp them Made In Germany and made in Japan.
What the world needs is the ability to manufacture goods that last a lifetime and do not end up in dumps. What the world needs is an ending of Capitalism and consumption and all this so called "Vision" of progressive democrats does is promote more of the same. Countries competing with one another for resources so as to pump out those goods from the factories is the PROBLEM it is not the solution.
It is why the USA under Jimmy Carter insisted on the Carter Doctrine wherein the Oil Of the Middle East was of "National Interest" and would remain under the ultimate control of the US Military.
And more cell phones built from resources found in the Congo will fix this? This is not visionary.
GwNorth... About disposable crap...I am old enough to remember Vance Packard's book about the waste makers and planned obsolecence. Anybody out there remember that one. What we need is a cheap computer, that is reliable, easy to repair, and that doesn't become obsolete every time some tech company wants to increase its bottom line.
I was walking through a mall the other day before most of the stores were opened. Hundreds of people were lined up outside "The Apple Store" most of them chatting on their cell phones.
I asked what they were waiting in line for and was told Apple was releasing its latest cell phone that day.
This is how our economies are designed to work. If there was not the "latest and greatest" cell phone being sold all of those people standing in line who work at some job every day would not spend their wages on that latest and greatest Cell phone.
Waste and consumption creates "wealth and jobs". This is not sustainable and must go the way of the Dinosaur and the fate of the dinosaur is an apt metaphor for that of Capitalism.
The book is called The Waste Makers, published in 1960 and I just found it a used book sale. I'm about 2/3's thru it and it is bringing up the introduction of and problems with credit card purchasing. The book is full of insider quotes on how to bend public opinion and create false wants. It is stunning in its seeing where the US was heading; I have to keep reminding myself this book was written when it was. Packard nailed it.
Joe...Thanks... I read THE WASTE MAKERS when it was published in 1960. It STILL is amazing. Everyone needs to read it NOW.
"The United States of America CREATED the mantra of cheap disposable crap. Henry Ford used to build Model T Fords that would last decades and that anyone could repair"
Amen. Somewhere in a drawer, I have the fountain pen I used in college in the 1960s. My father used it when he was in college (he graduated in 1932). I don't use it anymore because the rubber ink well has dried out and cracked, and I doubt that anyone makes them anymore. \
Today, a marketing professional would laugh at the thought of making something which will last two generations. Things are made to be used, thrown out, and replaced by another, identical item. Things are not made to be used - they are made to be sold.
+ 1
Nichols sez: "Allow the Bush-era tax cuts to expire ..."
Michael Honda, D-California, sez: “We can ‘go big’ and address our budget deficits by allowing the unpaid-for Bush tax cuts to expire ..."
***
Then you'll be happy to learn those tax cuts have already expired.
The rest of us would appreciate it if you would now go after the New! Improved! Obama-Dem tax cuts for billionaires -- Now with added Payroll Tax Holiday! -- that replaced the Bush version.
Patty Murray, Max Baucus, John Kerry, and Kris Van Hollen are four Dems on the Super Committee. Does anyone think this cast of characters won't bend when confronted by the Republican Yahoos on the Committee? Kerry wouldn't even fight in Ohio when he was cheated out of the presidency. The Republicans send Simon Legree, the Democrats Caspar Milquetoast.
Max Baucus doesn't bend. He knows exactly where he stands - working for the corporations. He didn't bend when he hired an insurance executive (Liz Fowler) to write the majority of Obamacare.
You give Mr. Baucus too much credit, Eric.
He didn't hire Fowler. The insurance lobby hired her, and $ugge$ted Baucus rubber stamp what she provided to him.
stop spending money taking lives.
end the wars.
leave the troops where they are.
let them get on with it.
hey - they volunteered.
What you mean leave US troops wherever they currently are at and they have to figure out how to get home?
The undoing of OWS continues. It'll have a donkey for a mascot before you know it. :(
Fine ideas, but part of the "We must..." fantasy. WE have no say in what the congressional Junta does to promote their perceived interests. We are the serfs. The next level must be boycotts, moving money out of banks, creation of co-ops outside the corporate model, non-cooperation with their plans for us.
It seems that to be a member (or is it meme-ber) of the Congressional Progressive Caucus and the Progressive Democrats of America, a person must exhibit an inability to see the whole truth.
Ask them where the problem comes from and they have one answer;
Grijalva - "the republicans",
Ellison - "republican politicians",
Michael Honda - "The republicans".
While it is certainly true that the republicans are the loudest pushers of the agenda, none of what these people appear to be criticizing would be possible without the help of the democrat's "leadership".
Honda even goes so far as to make it sound as if this corrupt "supercommittee" was the creation of the republicans alone.
What a load of bunkum laced with claptraps.
There is no one who has done more to sabotage progress in the past three years than Barack Obama and these people ALL support his re-election.
Frauds.
the 99% are 99% done with the 2 party 2% Top People's Health club farm
Our leaders will come from those with the strength to rebuild
"The people get it, and unions and activist groups such as Progressive Democrats of America have been stepping up this weekend with dozens of events to the highlight the the issues from coast to coast.
But will Congress?"
Should the 99% even care what politicians get or not?
Direct democracy
"Step One: Engineer a responsible end to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, saving $1.6 trillion."
-- Don't stop there, Mr Nichols. How about in addition to this the US starts dismantling and liquidating the Empire. Do we really need over 780 military bases, located in over 160 countries?
You know a 'journalist' is an apologist for the Establishment when they don't ever mention the word Empire when speaking of how the US could save money.
What I think we really need to prepare for are the millions/billions of sick in the world who have been poisoned by the Japanese nuclear disaster.
Cancer is a slow death but it won't be too long. My guess is maybe 30-50 years. Treatment will mainly consist of pain management for the majority. This will be good for the opium industry.
Maybe those US troops could stay in Afghanistan to help with the production and distribution.
Any who survive this disaster can create the new world order on their own terms. At my age and circumstance, likely I'm toast. However, I would like to leave this world passing on a little compassion.
All this minutiae is fruitless. but it keeps us occupied.
Progressive Democrats only vote 'progressive' when they know that the vote will lose. They have voted for every military appropriations bill to keep the empire going. Not a word about assassinating Americans either. Please do not yell 'Democrat' in a crowded theatre.
Yes! Mr. Pennies is right on target and in the moment. This global uprising is all about saving capitalism for the american liberals. Everybody got that?
More liberal bullshit. Where's the left? You certainly won't find it at The Nation.
Thank you, Mr. Nichols, for some positive thinking in a good direction. Now let's see if anything of it is absorbed by the so-called supercommittee.
But, once again, comments here denigrate Mr. Nichols as though he should put everyone's favorite issue into every article, and of course, he must curse the Democrats every fourth sentence, even though that is NOT what this article of his is about.
And then there are the proto-libertarians, with comments like, "(Nichols) starts with #1 being 'develop a national plan' when Nationalism is being rejected by the left at every level. (WRONG) And then a rant to 'spend more'. We have spent plenty. (WRONG) What do we have to show for it? Not much." (WRONG) This crap sounds like Teabagger stuff.
WIthout a nationwide plan, the country is back to cutting each other's throats, such as the current example of the corrupting state government of South Carolina promising "right-to-work" conditions (i.e. non-unionized, will-work-for-food wage-slaves), and outrageous tax cuts and subsidies to get the Boeing Company to move there from Seattle. And to get this totally-wasteful and wholly-unnecessary move of a giant factory, South Carolina will gladly cut the throats of the perfectly-good unionized workers of Seattle.
But South Carolina, apparently unknowingly, still is dependent upon the Federal government even in this scam, for if the friggin' "executives" of Boeing were allowed to do so by the Feds, they would most certainly move the factory, not to South Carolina, but to China.
As far as spending, only the Federal government can spend more that it takes in. Oh, that's right, the private, bankster-run Federal Reserve can spend more, too. In fact, it doesn't have to borrow AT ALL, because it creates the money... unlike the actual Federal government which is FORCED to borrow from the Rich instead, just as does every single other government entity of We the People, and then taxes go to paying back the Rich, with interest, instead of to something useful.
And most other political entities must balance the books each year. Which is the current problem with most political entities in the country today. But it would be far more catastrophic if the Federal nationwide government did not help. Millions of perfectly-good government workers could be let go, thereby exacerbating all of today's problems.
But that is the Teabaggers and Joe Plumbers for you. They are Patsies for the Lies of the Demagogues of the Right, those minions who serve the Rich, and are made Rich for doing so.
For an example, I guess $40 Billion in personal wealth isn't enough for the Koch Brothers and other of their Rich ilk. They want this what they call,"'mean-old-Socialist-people's-government" OUT OF THEIR WAY ENTIRELY, so they can grab infinitely more money, at any cost to other people or other life on this planet.
Actually, the government needs to spend far-more on more people, not less, and it may as well spend it for useful and good things, instead of allowing it to flow into the financial shenanigans of private business, corporations and the Rich; shenanigans which caused the current giant economic mess and current catastrophe of wars in the first place.
And why is it when the Rich 'Create Jobs' (even though they are actually the Job Destroyers), they arrogantly call themselves the 'Job Creators'... but when the government Creates Jobs, the Right calls it, "Job Destroying needless and excessive spending"? Just what kind of hypocritical, forked-tongue bullshit is that?
Currently, the Federal government sends out 77 million checks a MONTH... but I guess that 'creates no jobs'. I guess the Federal government is doing TOO MUCH, not too little, according to some people... mostly people either deluded or far-Right or both... who apparently don't want any of 'their' tax money used on anyone else but themselves.
In actuality, the Federal government is THE BIGGEST JOB CREATOR on the planet. And IT SHOULD BE EVEN BIGGER, for we have plenty of gigantic problems to solve that only big government can solve.
It is only that, in these sad Limbaugh-Rove-Boner-dominated days, GOOD government is UNDER ATTACK by the Right, and that attack is mainly coming from rabid-rightwing Republicans, who, like the Teabaggers, want to actually DESTROY the government they themselves run. Because BAD government is personally and privately Profitable to them, as GOOD government is NOT.
Of course, money-corruption of all levels of government by the Rich is the major problem of the current political scene (with a special nod to the malevolent contributions of rulings from the Republican-dominated SCOTUS.) Which is something Mr. Nichols DID mention in his fine article, along with noting many other very good things.
As long as you depend on some far away centralized government to solve all your problems , you will suffer!
Oh yes, and audit the Fed, and make sure that the Pentagon in forced to submit a yearly audit too. The day before 9/11 did't Rumsfeld tell the press that they had "misplaced" or "could not account for" or "lost" 2.3 trillion dollars? Carelessness like that adds up over time:-) The money might even get into the wrong hands and finance some "dark" government programs. Do you think?
Why isn't it mentioned that we need to actually prosecute, and break up, banks which are involved in money laundering for criminal cartels (which are engaged in terrorist financing, drugs, weapons, and human trafficking) and financial fraud?
Why isn't it mentioned that the Federal Reserve system is the cause of the debt now faced by the U.S.A. - and that the authority for the creation of currency is the property of the people of the U.S.A., proven by the fact that no matter who inflates it, the result is a tax on the people? Why should our government be allowed to borrow from a private cartel of bankers chartered to loan us our own money at interest - including that used to bail out only the 'too big to fail' - which was used, not to keep credit flowing, but instead used by those 'too big to..' to buy out the competition that didn't qualify for a bailout?
Why isn't it mentioned that it is illegal to be both a person and property at the same time? A corporate charter is a privilege granted on the basis of public service, granted by democratically elected representatives - and can be revoked at any time, for any reason. Corporations are not people. They are property, responsible to the people who allow their existence, and who provide their profits.
I choked on "engineer a responsible end to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan". First of all there are at least 5 more "wars". Uganda was just added. And they are not really wars, but invasions, occupations and the slaugtering of civilians. Our allies are various local sociopaths, kleptocrats and Quislings. .
These actions serve a few purposes including establishing beachheads for corporations to extract resources from various regions, enriching contractors, drumming up faux patriotism and distracting us from the pillage of our national wealth and its concentration in the hands of the 1%. It is the same thing, whether the spolesmodel is a Republican or Democrat.
We have already lost so much. Not even speaking about respect for truth, life and law, do we wait for another $60 billion to "go missing" in Iraq? That alone, not to speak of the bloated "legitimate" contracts, would make a dent in the budget deficit.
The word "responsible" is a weasel word that justifies continuing these war crimes indefinitely looking for some illusory good result. To me, "responsible" means getting the hell out NOW and concentrating on life, not death.
Simpler still: Re-instatate Glass-Steagall (Hey, it's already written. You don't even need to think how to word it.) AND, remove the anti-trust exemption that the insurance industry enjoys. Let the Republicans' precious capitalism work -- free the market.