The theme of this year’s election seems to be focused mostly on economic issues. I actually welcome the shift in focus for a change because I’ve come to believe that social issues really are a waste of time. The Obama administration has made several attempts to ‘fix’ the broken economy he inherited from George W. Bush and Henry ‘Hack’ Paulson, both of whom decided to set the precedent of abandoning capitalism in order to save it. President Obama seems to have taken the Max Power way in fixing things based upon that principle.
This, naturally, has many voters outraged. They are watching as their savings dwindle, the dollar becoming more and more worthless, and nobody on Wall St. being punished for the fraud perpetrated on Main St. They are well-informed enough to know that Obama and his cronies are in bed with the cronies on Wall St. and they are upset that the Democrats focused on uprooting and over-hauling the health care industry rather than focus on deregulation. The stimulus money went to a lot of Obama’s friends as well, like ACORN, which didn’t really help the situation.
And while these are wonderful things to focus on, it appears that many pundits are forgetting one of the major factors that cripples the Federal government in what it can and can’t do: the perpetual welfare state that seeks to plunder the productive in favor of the lazy. Both parties have shown no interest in reforming, revamping, or completely abandoning this destructive welfare system that has been established in our nation.
Would you like to know what my definition of a middle class citizen is? It is a citizen who does not qualify for any kind of welfare benefit, including Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, yet is not wealthy enough to stop working altogether. In other words, someone who is working hard, but at a point of financial retirement.
These days, the middle class is dwindling rapidly. Already there are record numbers of people on food stamps, and I would venture to guess that many of these people can afford the food they need if they gave up other luxury items they have like cell phones, cable television service, etc. But the government only checks their income levels and even then they may glance over it. There is probably no upkeep.
Government inefficiency aside, if we are to believe that such a number is the absolute truth, then we must assume that the middle class is quickly disappearing, both in government terms and in my own terms described above. And while the rich do pay a lot of the taxes, they are rich because there are plenty of middle class workers who make them money. In other words, the tax revenues are going to drop and many tax programs are going to be defunded as a result.
And while Federal welfare accounts for at least 1/3 of the overall Federal budget, both parties have refused to a damn thing about it. Neither side wants to change the status quo when it comes to welfare, no talk radio show host wants to discuss it, so I guess everyone is perfectly happy with the leeches who are slowly, but surely bankrupting our country.
You can throw out all the emotionalism you want. You can tell me that the downtrodden need our help, that private charity isn’t enough, or that they paid into the ‘system’ all their lives and are simply getting back what they had no choice in giving in the first place. But the truth is that until we make the conscience effort to cut welfare spending by at least 3/4 over the next decade, we will be bankrupt as a nation. And while I have no problem with the Federal government declaring bankruptcy, I have a sneaking suspicion that every who receives some form of payout or another from the Federal government will be upset that the checks aren’t coming anymore.
Remember: some money is better than none at all. You can choose to take the cuts, to change your lifestyle to fit your new income, or you can keep on demanding the status quo and get nothing down the road. Be warned, however, that if you choose the latter, you will not find a sympathetic member of the middle class to help you as you are starving in a ditch.