Do you have confidence in the American economy?

Glen Holzhausen recently said the economy, referring to the Wall Street Journal [“What can I say?” Village News, Opinion, 6/7/07]. He should quote Fox News, too – both cheerleaders for a flagging economy. Here are facts:

Forty percent of the tax benefits from Bush’s tax cuts have gone to the top one percent (those whose incomes are $850,000 and above).

That top one percent has increased their total share of pre-tax earnings. In 1980, they took home about eight percent of total earnings. Now, they take home 16 percent.

That means the top one percent are taking income away from the rest of us – it’s not that the pie is bigger, they are just getting more of the pie. Look around; ask your neighbors. Do you feel more financially secure? Do you have more confidence in the American economy? We’re borrowing over $2,000,000,000 a day. Interest payments on that debt continue to rise. It’s not sustainable.

According to US Government reports, we have 12 percent of the population living below the poverty line – about the same as Bulgaria and twice that of France.

Our healthcare system is ranked 36th in the world, and yet we pay twice as much per person as number-one-ranked Japan.

The so-called strong economy of the last four years has been fueled by consumer spending: people taking equity out of their homes (as variable rate loans) and spending it on non-essentials. Housing prices are falling, interest rates are rising and the bill is coming due on those variable rate loans. The cost of fuel has nearly doubled since Bush took office, and although the government doesn’t count it in the “Core Inflation Rate,” it does in fact cause inflation.

The recently passed “Emergency Funding Bill” for the war was $100,000,000,000 and will pay for only four months, and Bush’s people don’t see any end to it. Is this the new creed of Conservatives – endless war, higher spending, deeper debt, rich getting richer, poor getting poorer? Where does it lead?

Drastic changes are required, such as national health insurance, living wage minimums and much higher taxes on the rich. It’s coming.

Jon Monday