Bill Maher

[thewayne]

On Real Time With Bill Maher (HBO, podcast available via iTunes) last week a documentary film maker went to a NJ beach area heavily hit by Sandy, asking a Tea Party gathering about government spending. They all said that government spending should be cut. When asked further: Social Security? No. Defense? No. Vet Benefits? No. Education? No. Military? No. What they did want to cut: government salaries and foreign aid, things that would make pretty much a 0.0% difference to the budget or deficit.

It's the obvious and classic problem of everyone gets assistance from the government in some form, and no one wants to cut programs that they benefit from.

I agree, spending needs to be reduced, especially when the economy is weak like it is now. Government layoffs with a weak economy is totally bone-headed thinking, because you're contributing to unemployment and job market pressure when you already have high unemployment. Spending cuts are going to hurt lots of people, and there's going to be lots of blow-back on it.

Comments

[silveradept]

This is a simple concept to grasp, and yet nobody in power seems to understand : on a weak economy, if you can't fight a war that will boost your economy (see Iraq and Afghanistan attempts), cut your military spending and size and put people to work making the country stronger and more robust. All the money for defense could be instead spent on infrastructure improvements that return economic benefits in positive multipliers and on unemployment insurance to keep people looking for work.

Yet the contractors still hold sway...

[thewayne.livejournal.com]

Because the big contractors have friends in Congress. If the opposite of Pro is Con....

[silveradept]

Pretty much. Sometimes it would be nice to go back to a time of politics before corporate dominance, long enough to get actual work done, anyway.

[thewayne.livejournal.com]

The thing that I'm afraid of is the current RNC attitude of obstructionism at any cost. They won't do anything to try to improve the country, they don't seem to want to engage in meaningful discourse, they just want to be obstreperous. They won't pass a reasonable budget, so what are they going to do, just keep passing extensions?

As I've said before, I think they're in for a rude wake-up call in next year's elections. I wonder if they might start changing their tune then.

[silveradept]

I think the rudeness of the wake up will be tempered by how well the project to gerrymander and disenfranchise works in the various states. The places with more success will be insulated, and so the awakening might not be rude at all.