Originally posted by apacheman
reply to post by Jansy
My disabled brother and I, both in our sixties, and him still recovering from major surgery, are having to leave the home we've rented for the last 14 years in just a few more days because we've run out of saleable resources, and our incomes have steadily shrunk while expenses have risen.
The final straw was the sudden loss of a roommate because the business he worked for was sold and his job eliminated, combined with my landlady's desire to remodel and up the rent. It wasn't a great job, and paid under the table (therefore no unemployment), so the loss was immediate and irreplaceable. Living paycheck to paycheck and falling slowly behind each month leads to where we are now:
Too poor to stay and too poor to pay for a move.
We've lots of stuff, but it's fairly worthless in today's economy: no one who would want it has money to buy it, and anyone with money can get better. So we're stuck with the options of paying to store it, paying to throw it away, giving it away, or selling it for literally pennies.
Cuts aren't the answer: we've had years of them. What is needed is JOBS.
More cuts = fewer jobs, fewer jobs = less tax revenues = more cuts = fewer jobs....
How the hell does that help?
What is needed is a return to the tax rates of the the era Republicans are so fond of: the '50's.
That will solve most of the problems we're having with the deficits.edit on 27-7-2011 by apacheman because: sp
Well done well said. At long last somebody who sees the problem : lack of work not debt.
Debt does NOT cause unemployment. Lack of demand for goods and services do. Ironically cuts in public services promotes job losses DUH!
Increase jobs = less welfare = less debt
Increase jobs = more taxes = less debt
Higher taxes = less debt
Inflation = less debt (7% inflation over 10 years reduces 14 trillion dept to 8 trillion in real terms)
Also interesting is that people don't realise they own most of their own debt!?!?!?!?! (crazy capitalist system) Peoples investments (and pensions) in bonds are "the government debt". About 9 trillion of the 14 the US owes to itself.......do you want to default?
Personally I think the whole western government debt business is up its own rear end. I can see the need for temporary debt for large scale capital projects, war, massive environmental disaster costs etc but to use it as a financing system by borrowing against future earnings (just like people do with credit cards!) is crazy.
That said the solution is simple : more debt (ironically) to stimulate growth through public infrastructure projects, no cut backs, promotion and use of domestic suppliers for ALL projects.
