It's time to take to the streets to protest all bailouts!

[Donna Cay Tharpe]

We citizens have been much too passive in response to the corporate-controlled congress throwing our money at a problem neither they nor we understand.

Let's demand answers now.

I suggest sidewalk protests in fron of Sen. Nelson's and Rep. Boyd's offices.

[zendog3]

I can’t really agree with you on this one Donna.

As an old Keynsean, I subscribe to the “pump priming” concept. For the economy to work dollars must keep flowing – from the store clerk, to the grocery man, to the farmer, to the feed store, to the travel agent, and so on. When the dollar stops flowing anywhere, the system starts shutting down. Unless government steps in to get money flowing again “pump priming”, sooner or later the money that pays your pay check will not come in and you will be out of a job. And you will not have money to pay – well you get the point. It doesn’t much matter where the government spends money. We might argue that the bail out should have gone to people who made bad mortgages, but the companies that were bailed out were those most important to keep the cycle of money flowing.

The problem, as I see it, is that since WWII we have systematically been killing off our basic industry and substituting a service economy. We have been becoming a poorer people but to sustain our inflated and unsustainable standard of consumption, we have been running a deficit in trade and balance of payments. We only finally emerge from this when American workers have salaries competitive with workers in countries that supply goods through basic industry. That is, we will have to live no better than our industrial productivity permits. That means we live within our means. We are a poorer people. This economic stability will probably be reached by massive inflation which will cause those who are not protected with inflated wages to be unable to purchase as much as they previously did.

It does not HAVE to be as bad as it sounds. There is plenty of wealth in our society that reduced wealth need not mean that the limit of happiness and fulfillment of any of us is for want of “stuff”. It is a cliché, but true, that money does not buy happiness – as long as you have food, shelter, a clean environment and satisfying work you can be happy. We can all drive to the movies if we all have Camrey’s but some of us are going to have to stay home and watch TV if others of us insist on driving BMW’s

The problem is: how do we get to be a poorer people? It is unlikely that people with greater wealth will voluntarily share it with those who have less. Let me be clear: I AM NOT ADVOCATING COMMUNISM AS A SOLUTION. However, a more progressive income tax with increased government spending on social and environmental programs would, at once allow us to find a national standard of living that fits within productivity, and create a better and sustainable environment.