On to Next Year...

We live in an interesting time politically. The national debt is fast approaching eight times the amount collected in taxes by the government with the year to year deficit tripling the year of President Obama’s inauguration and with 29% of the national debt having been accumulated during his three years in office. In order to simply get to the point where the country is broke the government would have to somehow collect taxes while completely shut down for almost eight years. No big deal says economists who tell us that the United State’s debt to GDP ratio is still less than Greece’s never mind the fact that our economy is 45 times the size of Greece’s. The public is told that the assorted and mostly unspecific sins of the previous administration are to blame for all ills, imagined and real, ignoring a record that can be easily researched. The public is told that the previous eight years were a time when inequality reigned and conditions were worse relying on short memories. Intentions are judged as a substitution for cost and consequences with unemployment augmented by the impossible to enumerate jobs ‘saved or created’ and improved by a shrinking workforce of discouraged former workers. Credit is claimed for the aversion of an imaginary depression by a President who considers himself the fourth greatest in our nation’s history and considers the definition of compromise as the capitulation to his policy preferences.

2012 brings with it an election for President to determine whether our country continues on current course or not. For many, 2011 was a forgettable year with simple stagnation being as good as it gets for those fortunate enough not to face drawbacks. It’s easy to blame others, the rich, corporations, greed, etc. for any problem that persists in spite of oversold political solutions. It’s more difficult to contemplate the real actual costs associated with those political solutions and compare them to any sort of tangible benefit. Because almost all government spending is considered mandatory it is difficult to conclude that massive course correction is possible on the scale necessary to ensure responsible government spending levels commiserate with its responsibilities and without confiscatory levels of taxation that might not even be enough to satisfy politician’s voracious appetite for goodies. On the precipice that our country faces an honest examination of the issues is paramount but will likely be overtaken by myths and name-calling as rent seekers attempt to maintain their place within the federal government’s favor.

While the reality can be discouraging there is some hope for optimism. The amount of information available to anyone has led to a much more educated populace aware of the structure of our government. Many saw through the nonsense of the Occupy Wall Street ‘movement’ and their sophomoric grievances regardless of the constant pandering by the mainstream news outlets. 2012 will certainly be a year of learning and a time to pay attention and participate. Happy New Year.