Despite all my rantings here on things political I am not an expert. Not by a long shot.
I do, however, possess an innate sense of when things are bad and, my friends, things are really bad here in the Ol' US of A.
Firstly, we have a President that lost an election but, by virtue of the Electoral College and a bad decision by the Supreme Court, was installed to his post. We will not dwell on the man's shortcomings as a person or as a political figure here (I do it all over the rest of this site). There is one aspect of him that while on the outside seems very noble it is, in fact, something that is very bad, indeed.But, let's start with the economic downfall. What we have now is what's called "trickle down economics" or, by some: "voodoo economics". In general the idea is that you give tax breaks and money to the rich industrial sector in hopes that they will expand and make more jobs. It's a nice idea but it doesn't work all the time. Reagan did it in the 80s and it didn't work then, but, the rich white people who were the beneficiaries loved it and used their influence to convince the poor people that it was great. Which is what's happening now. Bush, like Reagan, is using money that is either: a surplus on paper or money that shouldn't be touched (Social Security) to fund things like these tax breaks or an invasion on Iraq. Like all of us who have credit cards know that this kind of spending eventually needs to be paid back. Reagan's bill came up but was paid by Clinton. He had to raise taxes and that goes against every fiber of anyone here in the States and doubly so for the rich folks who never want to see their money go to such things as social programs. Bush's bill is coming up right now. We are now stuck with an administration that actually believes that it has a mandate or "political capital" to spend. It has such hubris that it thinks it can do whatever it wants with impunity... unfortunately it might be right. Therefore Bush's people are pushing this need to "fix" Social Security.
Social Security, for those overseas, is a mandatory savings plan. We all have to give in to it to ensure that when we retire there will be money for us to live on - based on what you put into it. It generally gives a stupidly low amount of interest but, at least it's something. Unfortunately, Bush has been raping these coffers to pay for all this shit that either rich people love (tax breaks for the wealthy) or scared people love (invading Iraq as a part of the "war on terrorism"). So, now they're trying to tell us that it needs to be fixed. Well, of course - they broke it! Bush had a surplus in the budget thanks to Clinton and in less than 3 years has put the deficit back and is now higher than it ever was. They say the deficit could maybe be paid back in 20 years... if they stop spending now. Which ain't gonna happen.
I am also reading about how many parts of our economy are tied to other countries economies. I don't understand this but I read how our Dollar is tied to the Chinese Yuan. I'm also reading how other countries are backing our Dollar. I'm seeing the Dollar dropping in value against almost every other currency except the Canadian or Australian Dollars. I'm seeing our exports dropping and the EU is putting large taxes on our products. I'm seeing Canada doing the same thing. So in a nutshell: our economy is in the shitter. And I don't see us doing anything positive to help it. Giving money to the rich people doesn't seem to be helping. The jobs that Bush promised haven't shown up yet. The Dollar keeps losing its value. The deficit is getting bigger. Yet, 52 million people voted for this guy. Well, maybe not so.
There is a huge scandal brewing that is being kept under wraps. The "liberal media" that the Cons love to throw around is keeping very shtum about the fact that the electronic voting machines in Ohio (amongst other places) were not secure and were probably tampered with in order to give votes to Bush. If you want to read more, please go to blackboxvoting.org and read up on just how screwed this election was.
I alluded to an aspect of Bush's person that is very bad. Well, there are many things about Bush that are odious. His never having held a "real job" is something that rich folks don't ever have to do, so, that's not entirely unnatural. The fact that every business vanture he had lost money and was a failure until a family friend (never his father) intervened in some way to make it work is something that rankles me. Imagine: a failure who is the leader of a country. His mediocre performance at school is kinda bothersome, too. He even said: "I am proof that a C student can be President". Doesn't that make your blood boil? But the one thing that is truly the scariest aspect is his embrace of Christianity.
Like most drunks or drug abusers he found his way via being born again, or an "evangelical Christian". Which is fine for most people but it is not good for him in his present position. He went against the separation of Church and State and gave federal money to "faith based initiatives" which means that Christian Churches are getting MY tax money to help out poor folks. That sounds good on the surface, right? Well, it seems that this office has not being keeping records of who is getting the money (how is that possible?) and what records they do have point to Christian charities getting the lion's share of the money with Jewish getting a low amount and Muslims zero.
We have very conservative judges who believe that the Bible is the way to rule being appointed.
We have a fear that Roe Vs Wade (the ruling for legal abortion) is on the brink of being overturned. One of the first thing Bush did after being installed was to stop federal funding of family planning offices overseas.
I have my problems with organized religions to start with but using your faith to govern a country is wrong. It is wrong for a little country to do and it is very wrong for a country the size and influence of the US to do it.
We are also saddled with a man called Karl Rove. Rove is an evil political genius. He was behind Reagan and is the only reason Bush is where he is. He knows exactly what buttons to push to get most Americans to vote for whoever he wants. Just the fact that most people who voted for Bush are against his domestic policies and especially his economic policies but they just had to do it to protect themselves. These people (some of them very intelligent) truly believe that the invasion of Iraq was a good thing and necessary. They believe that terrorism can be stopped by bombing countries to the bejesus. They don't seem to care that we have neither the money nor the manpower to do this. Bush can't run again for President. So, if Rove wants to he can put Jeb Bush up and he will get in. He will appeal to the Christian right and to the scared folks. It doesn't seem to bother anybody that here is one man who can do anything he wants. Nobody wants to look beyond "terrorism". That word stops all rational thought, it seems. The Conservatives used 9-11 and terrorism like a club during the Republican Convention. They stood there and terrified the people to vote for their candidate...or else. ...and the people bought it and 52 million people voted out of fear. They used Christ like a battering ram and people bought it because they had to vote for the Born Again candidate. They used people's greed like a sword and people voted with their wallets.
And now we have a country that has almost no army left to protect its own shores because they're all in the Iraq quagmire despite the fact that we invaded Afghanistan and haven't fixed that place up yet. We have an idiotic dictator who is much more of a threat than Hussein ever was (North Korea) yet we don't seem to be doing much over there. We have a country that is running out of money and an economy that is teetering on the edge. We have laws that are being dictated by a conservative christian base. And I don't see anything good happening in the near future.
Just how screwed is the USA?
Incredibly.