THE KABUKI THEATER CONTINUES-and in the lounge we now have the Fourth Estate performing an improvisational rendering of Inept
THE KABUKI THEATER CONTINUES…and in the lounge, we now have the Fourth Estate performing an improvisational rendering of “Inept”
Our “leaders” appear to be continuing their involvement in a theatrical farce, which offers evidence of either their collective ignorance or of them presenting misleading information to the People.
Which characteristic is worse, incompetence or untruthfulness?
My optimistic best guess, at this time, is that our leaders’ actions reflect 70% incompetence (stimulated by greed and lack of knowledge) and 30% untruthfulness (stimulated by greed and axes to grind), but the more logical and pragmatic mix may be 2% incompetence and 98% untruthfulness.
The incompetence factor is stark and has its derivation in the lack of understanding of why we are where we are and greed.
The untruthfulness factor has its derivation in greed, axes to grind, and the concept of not failing to take advantage of a crisis, real, potential, or perceived.
The Republicans say they were elected to shrink the Federal government. The greater probability for the results of the November 2010 elections is that the People were frustrated due to the weak economy. The frustration was caused by the intuitive perception that the Obama Administration, which had the benefit and wherewithal of both Houses being controlled by the Democrats, was ineffective.
The People’s desire is that our “leaders” promote an environment, which is conducive for healthy economic growth.
Our leaders are, currently, involved in a conversation regarding the extension of our national debt limit, i.e., whether or not to increase that limit (the facade of this malfeasant, illogical, and immoral script).
The Republicans claim that making draconic cuts of federal expenditures will benefit our economy. This concept is, unequivocally, empirically untrue. Whether the economy is weak or strong, draconian cuts will act to mitigate whatever energies existed prior to those cuts.
The Democrats don’t know what to claim. Sadly, they appear to be reactive, at best. Apparently, they lack ideas or they are complicit in the effort to create the planned final scene of this immoral and unethical script.
An excellent example of this complicity is agreeing with the Republicans that Social Security must be addressed because of our massive annual federal deficits. The truth is that Social Security has nothing to do with our federal budget. Except for about one billion dollars a year for the costs to administrate the fund, Social Security revenue and obligations are deposited into and paid from the Social Security trust fund, which currently has about $2.4 trillion. If Social Security were eliminated, tomorrow, the federal deficit would not be affected.
If my assessment is valid, how must we interpret President Obama suggesting that he will agree to modify the Social Security program to save expenditures?
Is he ignorant (which includes being misled) or is he offering something that is less than truthful? Either answer is very uncomfortable. The answer must be discovered. Once we know the answer, we can cure the matter.
If it were ignorance, discussion about the relevance of Social Security to our federal deficit will cease and our leaders should be a step closer to discovering the provenance of why we are where we are. Once the provenance is recognized and understood, our leaders might be embarrassed into taking the correct actions to benefit the economy and the People.
If it were that President Obama was less than truthful, the People should be outraged, and should demand the reason for his untruthfulness.
Our major problem is not our national debt or our annual national deficits, or the stock market, or real estate prices, or unemployment, etc. Those are derivatives of our economy. Our major problem is the strength of our economy. Rational efforts to re-energize the economy should be our goal. Everything that has been done has been triage, at best. The Federal Reserve Board has reduced interest rates, employed QE1, QE2, for the purpose of holding up the stock market and real estate prices.
It appears that there is little understanding as to why our economics are weak. Until our leaders comprehend the reasons for our economic weakness and they remain content to continue triage efforts, the cancer will not be cured or mitigated.
The roots of our confusion reside in Congress, and, sadly, Congress must address its previous toxic legislation, if we are to restore those environmental conditions, which will promote a healthy economy, which, in turn, will resolve the derivative issues. Congress must act like a firefighter to put out the fires it has created. Unfortunately, Congress has constituents and ”clients”.
There are appropriate, balanced, equitable, and healthy solutions.
Again, unfortunately, these solutions are incompatible with Congress’s clients, i.e., this nation has morphed into “of the clients, for the clients, and by the clients”.
The Kabuki performance continues, and in the lounge, we now have the Fourth Estate performing an improvisational rendering of “Inept”.
mz
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