What Americans REALLY Want!

Oh, its obvious that the political tides are a changing but before those of you on the right get all bent out of shape over your perceived "win" lets look at some facts from a recent poll:

53% of Americans and a plurality of likely voters support the federal government providing aid to states and localities to avoid further layoffs and service cuts.  Or as this study found:

Provided even minimum context -- that some "300,000 teachers and other educational workers are potentially facing layoffs" -- support rises to 65-30, and over 60% of likely voters, with Republicans and independent moving dramatically in support.

54% of Americans favor allowing the Bush era tax cuts expire!  Oh, and this study found:

And by a stunning 68 to 28, voters say that cuts for Social Security and Medicare should not be part of any deficit reduction plan -- including over 60% of Republicans. Two-thirds of likely voters (65%) oppose raising the Social Security retirement age to 70 -- including two-thirds (66%) of Republicans.

Instead, over 60% of Americans choose progressive measures -- ending tax breaks for corporations that outsource jobs abroad, taxing excess profits on Wall Street, or lifting the cap on Social Security payments above the current 106,500 limit. By 54-31, they prefer higher taxes on the wealthy over a national sales tax that hits working people harder.

Americans are furious that Wall Street has been bailout out and Main Street remains in trouble.  Americans realize that the deficits were caused by bad political decisions:  Unfunded wars abroad, the bailout of Waltt Street, and special interest subsidies.  They can't understand talk of providing more tax cuts to the wealthy while cutting Social Security or raising the retirement age. In a time of Gilded Age inequality, they sensibly favor progressive taxes on the wealthy.

Americans are increasingly negative about the economy and for good reason.  While Americans are losing faith in Obama's policies and are souring on the Democrats in Congress they also hold Repulicans in low regard. 

2010 will be a PROTEST of Washington's failure not an endorsement of conservative priorities!

Amid the drumbeat of elite alarms about deficits, tea party fury at spending, Republican trumpeting of the "voodoo" of top end tax cuts and balanced budgets, most Americans haven't lost their heads. They don't want working families to pay for the calamity that they did not cause. They expect those who had the party to pay for cleaning up the mess. And they are looking for a plan that will rebuild America, not simply one that will sack government.

Six out of ten Americans favor the idea of rebuilding America and investing in new industries.  Or as this study found:

Six-in-ten voters respond positively to a broad narrative focused on resolving our public investment deficit in infrastructure. Investments in "roads, sewers, schools, trains, renewable energy and other basic parts of our communities" that would "create jobs, help business compete, improve our communities and generate revenues to pay down the deficit" makes sense to them. This message tests better than any other progressive message on investment as well as more conservative messages focused on spending cuts.

Or as the study's author concluded:

"Voters take the long view, seeing the need for both a commitment to a 21st century economy and long-term strategies to reduce the deficit. These are complimentary, not exclusive goals. Progressives need to show they are serious about the deficits, but once they do, voters turn to them, not conservatives, for the right spending priorities and answers."

Oh, I know lots of you believe I am a socialist....but as a small business owner I know that neither party gives a hoot about small business or the little guy.  Here is a great article about the reality of these business groups that claim to represent small business: Misrepresenting Small Business.

Forget Ayn Rand, but rather listen to the words of Adam Smith, the true father of capitalism.  The dysfunction that represents the policy debates we have today are clearly explained here:

We've been hearing a lot lately about the possibility of a double-dip recession. I do not know if we will actually go to a double dip or just substandard growth given the high level of underutilized human resources. But that is beside the point.

It is a very sad feeling, one that I had during the aftermath of Katrina, when the government reveals that it does not intend to respond to a crisis. It is a cold, dehumanized feeling. The tolerance of 9.5 percent unemployment, which is in reality a much larger number (say 15 percent) than the official numbers, is a symptom of dysfunction.

The dysfunction arises in part because of a failed vision. Society needs public goods and their repair. Adam Smith identified this in The Wealth of Nations. Education, schools, roads, and bridges are the lubricant of a productive society and there is no better time to repair or upgrade them than when you have slack resources that can be hired to address the task. Denigration of government's essential role has gone on too long. It is doing us harm. Yet it has roots in experience.

Our lockdown on spending is a symptom of lack of trust. It is also in part because our government is seen by the population as favoring large institutions and corporate power, not people. Given the choice between perceived corporate welfare that enlarges our future tax burden and curtailing the government, many people now opt for the latter. Not because people lack the desire for services, but because we do not trust our political system to deliver those needed services. See a recent Pew Reseach Poll, which illustrates the pervasive perception that government economic policies benefit Wall Street rather than Main Street.

The real dysfunction is the fact that those on the right while clamoring for freedom, liberty, and individualism are in fact mouthpieces for Wall Street and various other corporate interests.  As Rob Johnson states in a recent Huffington Post article:

We are amidst a breakdown. An irrational macroeconomic strategy and a nonsensical growth strategy is being chosen in a way that is perfectly understandable in a money politics-driven collapse of trust in government decision making. Deterioration of government services is bad enough, but imposing austerity due to lack of trust in a time of high unemployment and slack resources is tragic. It is a means to accelerate the decline of living standards of those who have taken a beating since 2007. Double dip or stagnation is too subtle a distinction. We are amidst an unfolding collective choice to pursue a downward spiral. I do not for a minute believe this will result in a lower debt/GDP ratio. I do see deflationary risks as a prelude to an inflationary response. Our leaders, showing their fear by responding to the fearful polling results are not leading. Where will this end?

Watching the antics of these politicians attempting to follow and not lead gives me pause...and makes me realize that the only true statesman in this country is Barack Obama.

Personally, I am tired of listening to the regurgitation of 30 years of stupid political rhetoric.  Unions didn't destroy our economy management did.  The facts are all around you and if you need more here are some good ones:  Rotten Apples, Core Values.

Oh, call yourself what you want but conservatives, libertarians, or whatever you are just Republicans and good luck in 2010!  Go ahead and follow Paul Ryan's "Road Map..." or just sit on your hands and do nothing for two years figuring it will pay off for you in 2012. 

You cannot stop the Republicans from going to war, from bailing out Wall Street and or from cutting deals with their special interest cronies....

Remember, our first crash ocurred in 1929 and FDR took office in 1933; I always believed that the Democrats should have allowed McCain to win in 2008 and allowed the Repulicans to muddle through for four years...

Americans have enough common sense to know that the 21st Century belongs to the Progressives and the Conservatives proved that over the course of the last 30 years!  Had the Democrats been truly Progressive then the election of 2010 would be a moot point.

Americans want to throw the democrats out of office because they remind them too much of Republicans......

Deficits and Economic Recovery (Full)

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