Now that there is such concern about government programs adding to the deficit, it should be mandatory that the war in Afghanistan be fully funded by a war tax. There was never a peep from conservatives when Reagan quadrupled the national debt from $1 trillion, when he entered office, to $4 trillion when he left. There was never a peep from conservatives when Bush Jr added $5 trillion to the national debt by giving tax breaks to the rich, starting wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and a prescription drug benefit that was a giveaway to the pharmaceutical corporations. In fact the only President in the last 30 years to run budget surpluses was a Democrat, Bill Clinton. In addition to running up a $5 trillion deficit, Bush Jr ran the economy off a cliff and then handed it over to Barack Obama.
And all of a sudden conservatives are up in arms about the deficits and debts. Not only did Bush Jr add $5 trillion to the national debt, he borrowed most of that money from the Communist government of China. How come conservatives aren't up in arms about that? Because they are total hypocrites, that's why. They want lower taxes, but they want more war, and they want the government to borrow the money for that. However, they don't want the government to borrow any money for any program that might benefit the American people. They don't want the government to borrow money to spend on infrastructure that's been neglected for 30 years. They don't want the government to borrow money to spend on health care or start a jobs program such as the Civil Conservation Corps, a domestic Peace Corps that FDR used to great effect in combating the Great Depression. They only want the government to borrow money to spend on war.
Congress ought to pass a bill that says every increase in the Federal budget needs to be paid for and that includes war spending. Right now the US spends more on its military industrial complex and war machine than the rest of the world combined. And for what? There's no functioning Al Quaeda in Afghanistan. Are we suppposed to invade every country where some group of ragtags goes and hangs up a banner saying "We're Al Quaeda and We're Here"? It's patently ridiculous. We're spending ourselves into oblivion while neglecting infrastructure and the needs of the American people. The train has already left the station on alternative renewable energy. And where is the US? Well, never having gotten aboard, that's where.
While Canada didn't have one bank failure during this economic catastrophe, the US is still shuttng down banks at an alarming rate on a daily basis. The US has more people unemployed than the entire population of Canada. While the US is bombing civilians in Afghanistan, China is going in and silently buying up assets and natural resources while never having to fire a shot. This is utterly stupid on the part of the US. We're creating enemies all over the world, while China is being a perfect example of a well-behaved capitalist country. Their leadership, while authoritarian, can at least operate effectively in the world in the interest of China and its citizens. Meanwhile, the US, in an exercise of colossal futility, spends months and months trying to pass a bowdlerized and watered down health care bill. It's a tribute to the ineffectiveness and futility of the American political system. Other countries, like Taiwan for example, just make an assessment of the best health care systems in the world and then just go ahead and pick one with slight alterations. The US lets lobbyists swarm Washington and beseige citizens with misleading ads resulting in an abortion of a health care bill that takes forever to pass and longer than forever to go into effect. What are these people thinking? At this rate, the rest of the developed and developing world will tuck the US empire into its grave after the shortest run in history.
The US is doing everything in its power to become a backwater of history: namely, wasting blood and treasure on useless, pointless wars, borrowing money like a drunken sailor at a payday loan store, letting lobbyists legislate in the interests of corporations, neglecting infrastructure, spreading the culture of individual greed, outsourcing its jobs, a Congress that takes forever to get anything done and then they're a dollar short and a day late. The list goes on and on.
China is eating our lunch. Europe is eating our lunch. India is eating our lunch. And it's all because these countries are investing a minuscule amount in their militarys compared to the US, while the US goes around the world creating enemies. These other countries are using the tools of captalism and friendly cooperation to create friends instead. China is building infrastructure in Afghanistan thereby winning friends. We're there dropping bombs on wedding parties and occupying their country thereby creating enemies. It doesn't take a lot of smarts to figure out who will be the winner there.
And the US is entangling itself in the most ridiculous contradictions. The logic seems to be we want lower taxes, but we don't want to add a penny to the deficit, but we don't want to pay for war, and we want more war in order to make the world safe for what?
