Why the financial community repudiates American politicians

Many people thought that the agreed “cutting spending by two trillion dollars over ten years” meant that the present national debt of $ 14.586 trillion would be reduced by that amount , to 12.586 trillion (and will continue to drop later until zero.) Others offered different interpretations.

When I said what I thought to a group of friends, nobody could believe it. I had to make a few calls to Washington and speak to both Democrat and Republican leaders to confirm the following:

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They agreed to  spend  2 trillion dollars less over ten yars. True, but there was no provision for cutting, or eliminating, the borrowing. This means  that , if the federal government continues to borrow at the present rate (close to 4 billion dollars a day= about 1.4 trillion a year= about 14 trillion “over ten years”), we will have a national debt of about 28 trillion dollars at the end of that period. Of that, they will cut  2 trillion, thank you very much !!(These 2 trillion start with 21 billion in 2012, 47 billion in 2013,and 59 billion in 2014, a total of 127 billion– I don’t believe they will be able to
cut spending by the remainder of 1.873 Trillion in only 7 years ! that is 267 billion a year.)

The  majority of the people are not aware of what really happened, but the market and  the credit-rating institutions could not be fooled. The Dow Jones fell dramatically by 513 points bringing the fall to more than 6%, (later  a drop of  635 points, and then ups and downs.)  Standard and Poor downgraded the creditworthiness of the USA from AAA to AA+ . You can’t find a more resounding repudiation of this bipartisan agreement.

We  must also consider a third indicator  which is very telling: the ratio of the  debt to the GDP, which had plagued Greece and other countries. Today it is ominously 97.2 % , compared to what it was with G.W. Bush (69.4 %) and with Clinton (57.3 %) and this, while the economic growth is a meager 0.9 %, and the unemployment rate is 9.1%. A gloomy perspective, indeed.

 I am not a member of what is called “the tea party,” but in this scandalous mess,  they are the only ones who told the truth, consistently, which is to “Stop borrowing!” because we are in an abysmal hole and we should stop digging. But for telling the truth, they were attacked ferociously and vilified by the Left, and not only the extreme Left. Those who would not call the real Islamist terrorists “terrorists”  found it so easy to do it against their fellow Americans elected by the American people. They called them  “terrorists, jihadis, Nazis, who needed psychiatric help, Hizbollah, Taliban etc.” They accused them of “holding the nation hostage,” of “putting a gun to the head of other politicians.”  What a shameful behavior ! No elected representative in a democracy, right or left, deserves such treatment which is an assault on the voters. Senator John Kerry  proposed to muzzle them with some kind of censorship, thus abridging their right to free speech. He, like other  Democratic leaders, also used the new mantra, “the teaparty downgrade,” a  talking point issued by David Axelrod . All  these anti-democratic moves and insults have only succeeded in swelling the
ranks of the tea party.  Like someone who calls 911 to report a fire, they should be praised, not despised.

Both parties, both chambers, and the president have failed lamentably because they did not do the only thing that can salvage the economy and the country: prohibit new borrowing and start repaying our debts. The rest is negotiable, and nothing is sacrosanct and untouchable. This
last ordeal confirmed the president’s lack of leadership, not even “from behind.” He believes that speeches and pep-talks are substitute for decisive
actions. Almost every day, he repeats the same platitudes and contradictions, false predictions, blaming everyone but himself;  even his supporters lost interest and wished he could take a stand, for a change.His disapproval  rating increased substantially; 52%  of the American people said he does not deserve to be re-elected; his only consolation is that the Congress , both parties, rates much lower. Obama doesn’t seem to assess the gravity of the situation. Like the Roman emperor Nero, who fiddled when Rome was burning, the US President was jumping from venue to venue, Chicago, Los Angeles, the White House, celebrating lavishly his birthday with those “millionaires and billionaires who came in their private  corporate jets…” and joined the party at $ 35,800 a plate to fill  his 2012 campaign coffers which, it is rumored, will pass the billion line.Millions of families do not make $35,800 a year; they lost their jobs, and their homes, and their dignity. Marie-Antoinette is blushing of shame. “Let them eat speeches!”

Our system does not allow for “a shadow government,” or even “the Opposition of Her Majesty” as in Britain, but constant pressure by the people should force our elected representatives to admit their deficiencies and agree to “the Red-Ribbon Commission of non-partisan experts” I have
been proposing for a long time. As I wrote before, said commission will tackle the “third rail issues” and other necessary reforms with only one goal: the greatest good for the greatest number of people in the service of the country.All these essential issues are interconnected and interdependent and should be handled in concert,which the Commission can do and the government can’t.

Just as the first task of a paramedical team is to stop the bleeding, the Commission’s first task will be to inspect with a fine-tooth comb, line by line, all the departments’ finances, and decide which to shut down and which to reform by eliminating mismanagement, waste, duplication, and fraud.

Like everything alive, a country, especially with the size and complexity of the United States, must be fed, and cleaned, and its health supervised constantly.We know the famous response of Benjamin Franklin to a question on what was achieved in Philadelphia: “We have given you a Republic, if you can keep it.” At the present political conjuncture in Washington, the Republic keepers are not up to the task. It is up to the people to take charge to save the republic.

SOS  AMERICA !

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Lately, I encountered a few anecdotal pieces of simple arithmetic that tell a long story of mismanagement by a rudderless
government.Here are a few of them: