Union is in a state of emergency
Okay, so in response to President Obama's State of the Union address last night, I do have to say it was a great speech. Full of promise and positivity. Full of applause from the "date night" atmosphere dog and pony show that was put on by Democrats and Republicans as they sat, staggered together, as a show of "civility" towards one another.
President Obama touched on the subjects of job creation, corporate tax reform, government reform, reducing the national deficit, utilizing technology to modernize rural America, creating infrastructure projects, the importance of education and teachers and competing in a global economy through science and innovation, investment (aka, spending), terrorism (yep, terrorists still hate us), unity in Congress, gays in the military and the withdrawal of troops from Iraq and Afghanistan.
Yeah, it was a lot to update us on in just over an hour. But, for some reason it seemed that we had heard this speech before. Oh, yes, it was last years State of the Union. Same message with a little added subject matter.
Politicians are great. They say great things. They dress great. They're the first to vocalize their achievements and pat themselves on the back. They're always telling us how they're working hard for Americans. We're gonna cut spending, reduce taxes, create jobs, invest in education... blah, blah, blah. They're a broken CD that keeps looping and looping and...
So what exactly is the state of the Union? Its in a rather tumultuous pickle. We're in a black hole of debt that offers no escape. $14 trillion give or take a few billion. The U.S. Government is broke. Has been for a long time. States are now broke. California, Illinois, Michigan, New York to name a few. Cities are broke. Los Angeles, Chicago, New York city, Detroit and many others. They're cutting and slashing services, education and pensions.
Individual people are broke. From their depreciating homes, to their leased cars, to credit cards, medical bills and student loans to not even bringing in an income because of a joblessness. So, in short, everybody and everything is broke. The only exception would be those tribes still yet discovered living in the remote Amazon jungle. But, I fear they'll be found by modern methods like GPS and sucked into the black hole, too.
Who the heck do we owe all this money to? President Obama broached the subjects of deficit reduction, spending cuts and investments. Isn't investment and spending the same thing? At least in government terms?
Let's talk about the deficit. In order to reduce the deficit you need to stop borrowing and printing and printing and borrowing more money. Borrowing forty cents for every dollar we (they) spend is suicide. And who do we (they) borrow all this money from? The Federal Reserve of course.
A non-federal institution with no reserves. A legalized banking cartel looking out for their interests while charging us interest to print our own money. But, not once did we hear about reforming the Fed or even doing away with the banker barons of the fake and inflated financial economy on Wall Street. Why can't we print our own money? What is the Treasury Department's real responsibility these days? To print T-bills and bonds in exchange for debt?
What about spending cuts? What do you cut without adding to the unemployment numbers? How do you protect the borders and battle terrorists with military reduction? How do you care for the elderly while slashing Medicare? What about Social Security? President Obama touted education last night. But how do you get educated without spending and investing and loaning money? While the federal government has grown in scope and size and billions upon billions of money has been wasted, where do you even start?
Trillions or dollars have been spent on Iraq and Afghanistan in the name of protecting us from terrorists. We (they) recently constructed a multi-billion dollar embassy in Iraq at taxpayers expense. Its bigger than the Vatican. They have swimming pools, grocery stores, shopping malls, movie theaters, housing and offices. But, for what?
The city of Detroit could have used those billions for new housing and grocery stores. The city could have used that money to build state of the art schools for education. Fix the roads. Provide infrastructure and architecture to lure small and big businesses downtown. But, instead we'll invest in an embassy on foreign soil. Is that what Obama meant about investment?
The dot com bubble burst ten years ago. The housing bubbled popped three years ago and it seems headed for a double pop with artificially inflated prices, toxic assets and bad loans dished out by the big banks. Housing prices here in the Metro Detroit area dropped more than 8% in 2010 and it hasn't even bottomed out yet.
They say that student loan debt has now eclipsed credit card debt for the first time in history and is the next bubble to explode. How's that for incentive to get an education? Borrow money to invest in your future. If there aren't any jobs waiting for the recently graduated then what kind of investment is an education if you can't pay it back? That also comes with interest mind you?
Some states, including Michigan, have started to research the possibility of creating their own public banking facilities. These banks would use the resources from their citizens to invest within their own state. For economic growth, for agricultural purposes and real investment into education. They're trying to emulate the success of North Dakota's 92 year old state owned and publicly run bank. In 2009, North Dakota saw the largest budget surplus in the U.S.
Unlike private banks, public banks do not gamble on high risk financial investments. They don't dish out high paying salaries and bonuses. The profits of the bank are returned to the shareholders -- the people of the state. Michigan and the Metro Detroit area should look into concepts and ideas that can copy a similar system.
Because as we keep borrowing and spending we'll continue to rack up astronomical debt levels that will never be paid back. And even though Congress extended Bush era tax cuts, we are experiencing the most dangerous tax, the tax we don't even think about that exists. The tax that you really never here about. It's called inflation. When the prices of goods go up and the dollar continues its steady decline, inflation is the tax we pay. The purchasing power of your hard earned dollars is slowly disappearing.
Maybe Michigan and the Metro Detroit should print their own money. After all, Michigan is a sovereign State (country) within the Union.
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