Big trends that work against our national interest

Let the elections of 2008 be an unexpected start to keep the USA going for at least another 200 years. And why are these big trends seldom discussed in the election campaigns of 2008? If you believe in the idea of USA Americans being different from their old world ancestors, then there is hope. That the ideas and trends are not even discussed are the problems of the politicians and their hired managers, mostly. We can decide our future just fine without them.

The biggest trend of all is unfolding in front of us, right out in the open. The USA does not generate enough taxes, as vast as they are, to meet all the past obligations and promises; and the ever increasing borrowing to make up the difference, will finally crash of its own weight. The rub is right out in front of us. The friction between paying promised benefits and basic government functions like border control, food and toy safety, import safety, transportation maintenance, and even national defense is a real problem now, and we citizens are on the losing end, be it as a beneficiary or a basic citizen expecting to be safe in their home. Sooner or later the local, state, and federal governments will not collect enough, or be able to borrow enough, or increase taxes enough, to make things balance. That it is so close in time is frightening.

I can already imagine a movie scene like my granddaughter asking “Granddaddy, how could you do this to me?” just before she pulls the lever to terminate me. The debt we are passing on to our unelected kids and grandkids, is new in the annuals of human history, and immoral. Debt and borrowing are normal. It is the scale of what the USA is doing that is the biggest trend.

Most of the effects from the biggest trend will be practical in the effects on our lives. Social security and Medicare and many retirements will collapse and be reduced so much that generational conflict will result. Our basic government services will be reduced to the point of lawlessness, being cold and hungry, and even poor national defense. No one will loan us money, even to the point of the era of domestic War Bond drives, if anyone, domestic or foreign, thinks their principal in the loan will lose more value than the interest pays. In other words, the reduction in benefits and basic government services is going to happen, anyway. That we have warning and time to plan ahead is a blessing, if we elect the right Americans.

The second trend is also very scary. It has an academic name and history, but call it one of the flaws in democracy. When the have-nots figure out they can vote themselves benefits without having to pay the taxes to pay the bills coming do, then that democracy is doomed to eventual failure just from the underlying financial reasons. Most have heard the expression that there is no free lunch, and this expression is all so true. One can get into the weeds on this subject, and many have, often in books. But one simple point comes to mind. There is no free lunch, and pandering politicians who suggest so to get elected are doing our Country and our future a disservice.

The third big trend is the expansion of “big government” at all levels in the USA, local, state, and federal. Taxes have increased to fund all this, and one can reasonably roll the idea up into “increased income taxes”, though “increased property taxes” have helped a lot, also (depending on where one lives). The trend is obvious, we tax more and offer more government benefits and services, some which compete with former private services. The trend is one of voter direction since we ratified the 16th Amendment in 1913 approving the federal income tax. The trend is obvious, voters and the politicians who pander to them have exploited this federal income tax mine to gain more power using our monies to offer benefits along with the traditional services, like national defense. Increasing taxes reflect all this. But like a variation of the proverbial saying, can they break the camel’s back with another final straw? This author suggests that is a trend we are seeing right in front of us.

This trend clearly has led from starting income tax increases to borrowing increases above what income taxes bring in. And what have we got for it. There are benefits. For example we have been able to dump our elders off on the government, and cut our birth rate along the way. And many of our federal bureaucracies have also become jobs programs, funded of course by our federal income tax ratified in 1913. Is this what we voters want in 2008?

The old status quo is, well, the old status quo. Many don’t buy it. The times they are a changing, and we voters can make a difference, if we choose to do so. If you buy the idea of three trends that work against our national interest, then you can vote your own way to change things for your and your kid’s future. Perhaps most of us think we are too minor to count, but the combined votes at all levels, local, state, and federal, will count, and probably be influential, maybe even a start. Only time will tell.