Julia Williams has run for Congress on the Green Party ticket and written for the NPA before. (See references at the end of this article.) Many people have a fundamental misunderstanding of economics and elect people who make their situation continually worse. Real total taxes, for example, have been going down for the rich and up for the middle class and poor since 1950. Below are some comments we made on Facebook.
Julia’s Comments:
First of all-TAXES DON'T "PAY" FOR ANYTHING. It is well known among most intelligent pols and even economists that is the case. That includes "deficits don't matter" Cheney.
Next, what the government spends on is DISCRETIONARY - just take a peek at the 17 TRILLION dollars given to banks. Look also at the Military Industrial Complex "Black Budget." Did THAT tank the economy, or cause inflation when they printed all those dollars for the banks or give the DoD all that hidden money? NO! SO-we can CHOOSE to have universal coverage and STILL not have our taxes raised, because the US is a sovereign government that issues its own currency. For greater detail on how Medicare for All will actually BE COST SAVING see reference two.
So, the question remains - do we ALLOW the austerians to continue to starve people, steal their homes, and KILL them with lack of healthCARE (NOT "insurance"-care) on the basis of twisted priorities and BS excuses? Or do we stand up and hold them to account?
AND-this fetish about "taxes" is how the neolibs, Tea Party, and essentially tools of the Kochs and Ayn Rand, want the populace to think. That is because THEN it's those less fortunate people who are "stealing my hard-earned money." That in turn sets people at each other's throats, when the CAUSE of our misery is the WAY our representatives decide to help their funders by diverting attention from THE ACTUAL THIEVES. The actual thieves are the people who fund ALL of them, the 1% whose taxes and financialized "earnings" (they never "worked" for a damn dime) are sucking the commons dry. The 1 percent steal pensions and buildings and land and every asset the PEOPLE worked for to increase their wealth at a rate never seen before. This includes the Gilded Age. The 1% make THOSE Robber Barons look like pikers.
Ed’s Comments:
Right now we pay more, have worse results, and less health coverage than any other industrialized county on the planet. Sure, it is good to question the government. Right now it favors companies with regulations instead of letting them compete. Whether you believe that we need less government regulation or a more complete government plan that includes all citizens like other countries, it is clear that what we have now does not work by any measurement. Just to be clear, Obama care was a complete waste of time and a giant undeserved gift to the insurance and pharmaceutical industry.
In an earlier discussion: "First, I cannot recall one thing that our government has "fixed"." Yes, that failure of a space program. And the CDC's failure to prevent disease outbreaks. And the Transportation Department's failure to construct an interstate highway system. And the Park Service's inability to preserve national parks. And the Coast Guard's repeated failures in saving stranded or lost boaters. And that loser Panama Canal. And the Internet -- why'd the government even think something like that would work? And failing to harness the atom for peaceful purposes. How about saving the world from the Japanese and Germans in WW II? Virtually eliminating poverty for the elderly? Providing healthcare for the elderly with medicare? Doing a great deal to eliminate racism and sexism? Providing an infrastructure which until the 1970s was the envy of the world? Building an air transportation system and airlines that until recently other nations just copied? Having and using the world's oldest constitution still being used?
What happened to being proud of our country? When did we go to hating it and thinking it can't do anything right? I agree with you that it is not perfect and needs major revision, but it is far from a complete failure. Don't get me wrong, there are a lot of things I don't like as well, but let us not throw the baby out with the bathwater.
References:
1-The Path Forward by Sondra Miller and Julia Williams
