The modern American conservative movement cannot get beyond the Cold War, even though it has been dead and buried for 18 years. The current state of the Republican party only makes sense in a context of the Cold War. This has become a sort of cliche on the Left in America and yet it does have merit.
Now, to start, we have to define a few terms. Communism means collective ownership of land, property, and machinery, as used in the Soviet Union and other Communist states. This entire philosophy, economic and social, is pretty much gone, as even nominally Communist states such as China and Cuba have now invested heavily in private industry and privatization schemes. What Communism does not mean is wealth redistribution, large government, higher taxes, or any of the above. These were traits of the Soviet Union to be sure, but were a byproduct of that regime and not specifically traits of Communism.
The American conservative movement does deserve recognition for opposing the Soviet Union throughout the Cold War. But their continued insistance at looking at the world and the country through this prism has led to many grave mistakes and incorrect assumptions.
First, the typical modern conservative looks at everything as black or white. There is no gray area since during the Cold War you opposed the Soviet Union or you did not. Everything, every subject tends to be seen in either/or combinations. Either you are for abortion or against it. Either you are for higher taxes or against them. Nuances of disagreement or different solutions are not allowed.
This means that if you supported anything that was anti-conservative, you also were anti-American, pro-Soviet, anti-freedom, and so forth.
They defined themselves only in relation to the USSR. If the USSR was atheist, the American conservative would be Christian and would become even more Christian to show the godless anti-American Communists his opposition. If the USSR was for more government control in all areas of life, the American conservative would be against all government control in all areas of life. See how this works?
Because the current conflicts within the Republican party make no sense until you realize that the social conservative evangelical Christians and the pro-corporation libertarian economists have no reason to be on the same side unless they are opposing the USSR.
There is also no understanding of the difference between socialism and communism among American conservatives. Remember, everything not capitalist is automatically evil and anti-American, so can be safely dismissed as one opposing philosophy, even though there is a whole range of thought about individual sectors of the economy from capitalism to socialism with varying degrees of government regulation in between. Any regulation to the modern conservative is bad, because it is more government, and more government is bad because more government = USSR.
This is why some feverishly called Barack Obama a Communist even though absolutely nothing in his programs or proposals is remotely Communist, or even Socialist. Indeed, the policies of George W. Bush are more socialist than Obama's.
Conservatives perversely and blissfully ignore the history of their own thought and theory. Since they hate Communism, they love Christianity, which leads to opposing the idea of global warming (government regulation bad, idea that humans can destroy nature bad since nature was created by God), opposing evolution, opposing all forms of abortion, and opposing government funded stem cell research. Even an anti-science tinge has crept into conservative politics, fueled by the embracing of all things Christian even if illogical. This is also why conservatives can claim to be libertarians and oppose gay marriage in the same breath.
Again, this only makes sense looking through a Cold War, anti-Soviet lens.
Conservatives believe America to be a totally and wholly unique nation, probably due to God's will, but this is supported by evidence that America was the chief opponent of the USSR during the Cold War. American decisions are therefore better for everyone and the world would be a better place if everyone aped America. America ostensibly is democratic, and uniquely so in the world, so the rest of the world should likewise be democratic.
Combining a black/white mentality with the idea of America as unique in the world and the desire for global democracy America-style, and then throw in opposition to all regimes ever supported by the USSR and you get the precise mentality needed to invade Iraq in 2003.
Now, you might say, so what?
The so what is in the details. Consider the following quotes:
Jeane Kirkpatrick stated in 1979 (http://aei.org/publications/filter.all,pubID.25258/pub_detail.asp) that some dictatorships are good and wonderful things, as long as they oppose communism.
Rush Limbaugh hates Nelson Mandela, because in his view, Mandela was backed by communists. He restated this again as late as 2007 (http://www.commonwealmagazine.org/blog/?p=1223). Never mind that Mandela was trying to overthrow a racist dictatorship that Limbaugh loved and supported because they were pro-American and anti-communist. Indeed, in 1993, the day Mandela received the Nobel Peace Prize, he was trashed by Limbaugh.
Limbaugh praised then-Senator Strom Thurmond for calling a gay soldier "not normal" in 1993 (http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=1895). In 1994, he stated "When a gay person turns his back on you, it is anything but an insult ; it's an invitation."
Conservatives hated Mikhail Gorbachev from the outset because they feared his perestroika and glasnost were smokescreens. Remember, anything Soviet is automatically evil. President George H.W. Bush even told the Ukrainians to not try to become independent of the USSR, to great dismay of freedom-lovers everywhere.
Conservative ideas stemming from the Cold War have led them down a garden path of philosophy that is no longer relevant to their party, their movement, the country, or anything else. It has blinded them and it is worth remembering that conservatives used to despise gays, atheists, and agnostics, and supported dictatorships and assassinations as late as the 1990s. So when a conservative tells you you are a communist or socialist for opposing them or claims that conservatism has always been on the side of freedom, it is past time to call them on it.
Thursday, December 25, 2008
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Fair Tax is Bullshit
Honestly, there's a lot of BS out there masquerading as truth. There always has been, and in fact there's probably less today, if you think about it. It was in most of our lifetimes that plenty of idiots actually believed that divorce was evil.
But I digress.
One of the absolute worst ideas to ever come down the pike is the idea of Fair Tax. Fair Tax is a new tax plan proposed by a number of disingenuous scumbags, chief among them Neal Boortz, who wrote a book on Fair Tax. The basic idea of Fair Tax is to replace the current Federal Income Tax with a sales tax on all new goods, but not used goods. This new program is claimed to be able to do a number of things including revitalize the economy, lower prices, and goodness knows what else, but in truth why people promote the Fair Tax boils down to two reasons:
1. they think they will have to pay less taxes under Fair Tax
or
2. they want to piss off citizens and make people realize how eeeevil taxes are and therefore create a firestorm of anti-tax anger to shrink the size of government in general.
Both are stupid and Fair Tax actually will not help accomplish either goal.
Let's start with the basic premise and why it's garbage. First, the Fair Tax proponents lie through their teeth and say that the proposed Fair Tax is 23%. Even reading Neal Boortz's book shows that in their own example given, the Fair Tax imposed is 30%. If I buy a candy bar for $1.00 and you tax me 30 cents, that's a 30% tax rate. The Fair Tax people use a complicated algorithm based on gross payment to get that 30 cent tax to 23%. Even their basic figures lie. And that should raise a red flag right there for most people, but with quite a few people Fair Tax has become almost a religion.
Secondly, even at 30% tax rate, the Fair Tax proponents claim this will result in most people's taxes going down. Now, being that the top marginal income tax rate in 2008 is 35% for the ultra-wealthy and is likely to only be raised to 38% even if Obama let's Bush's tax cuts expire, this means the vast majority of the middle class pay around 20-22% Federal income tax now in real dollars. Believe me, your taxes will go up under Fair Tax and people who know more about this than I do calculate you'd have to be making well over $200,000 a year now to break even. Which is why the Fair Tax proponents love Fair Tax. You'll notice most of them are rich jerks or wannabes.
The astute among you might have also noticed that Fair Tax only replaces Federal Withholding and does not replace social security or medicare taxes. Nor does it replace any state income taxes, local or state sales taxes, excise taxes, corporate taxes, gasoline taxes, tariffs, user fees, tolls, property taxes, and so on. All this would continue under Fair Tax. So basically the very rich would be crying all the way to the bank and the rest of us would pay more money so that the well-to-do could be even more well-to-do.
Fourth, Fair Tax is basically a consumption tax and it will nail the poor to the wall. The poor have less discretionary income and have a lot more fixed expenses than the rich. The rich can invest, save, or spend money overseas. The poor have to buy shelter, food, clothes, and transportation. While Fair Tax does have an allotment for the poor and does not tax food, you can bet your life that the poor will still get hosed under this plan. Now, this rebate is monthly and is that everyone gets a credit under Fair Tax based on income. Only problem is that this wonderful allotment is a rebate after the fact. If you are a single mom washing toilets for a living you first have to pony up for the tax, and only after you prove your income is lower class do you get the wondrous tax rebate. Ask yourself how many people making minimum wage could fork over 30% of their income to get it back at the end of the month. My guess is, oh, about 0%.
Three people who make $30,000 a year spend more money on goods than one guy making $90,000 and Fair Tax would therefore hit the people making $30,000 the hardest, without question.
Far from being a boon to the economy, the Fair Tax would cripple the economy. If all prices suddenly went up 30% even if you didn't have to pay any income tax anymore, would you start buying? I bet not. Consumption would plummet, at least initially, and the economy would go into a tailspin.
Gets better. Neal Boortz assumes 100% compliance when he trots out his 30% tax rate. And lies about it. But anyway. Show me a tax and I'll show you someone who is trying to get out of paying it. No tax has ever had 100% compliance. Furthermore, a 30% consumption tax is not going to collect the same amount of revenue as a 30% tax rate, and even libertarian economists think that a more reasonable Fair Tax rate is at least 33% if not 39%. National Review, not known for it's socialistic bent, calculates 36% as a reasonable figure.
Still sounding like a good plan, peeps?
Even better, remember that you have to pay up front and receive a rebate. Far from weaning the American citizenry off government, Fair Tax would make a government dolee of every single one of us since the feds would be sending each of us a check every month. It's 100% government dependency. No one supporting Fair Tax can even remotely call themselves libertarian, egalitarian, or sane.
Even the basic premise is flawed. If the rich pay less tax, where do you think the shortfall is going to come from? Just simple logic says this: if one person is paying LESS tax, someone else is paying MORE tax.
Oh, and what happens when prices go up? Inflation. Remember inflation? Now, the Fair Tax proponents believe that companies who sell goods will lower their prices because they themselves will be paying less taxes.
I will stop and wait for you to stop laughing out loud. Because that should be your response to this. I advise you to go look at gasoline prices and tell me how corporations will lower prices in response to lower costs.
And even if domestic goods get cheaper, foreign goods won't. How much of what you buy was actually made in this country?
And, while you're at it, you might want to look at the fact that Fair Tax does not stop the federal tax agency (whatever it's called under Fair Tax since they want to replace the IRS) from auditing you. And you have to prove, just like now, that you've paid the tax. Except that with the current federal withholding tax, you can easily prove this. Since Fair Tax is based on what you buy over the course of a year, you have to save every single receipt to prove you paid your tax. Anyone want to do this? I want a show of hands.
Yes, you, the buyer are responsible for this tax, not the seller. You'll have to have a receipt to prove you bought that can of beans, that computer, or that car “legally.” Lose your receipt and you could be required to pay that 30+ percent tax all over again – plus penalties and interest. And since Fair Tax is reported monthly, instead of doing your taxes once a year, you get to do them once a month.
Fair Tax would be so wretched that people would do damn near anything to get out of paying it. Which means a nice, thriving black market.
Now, Neal Boortz and people supporting this measure in Congress and the media and business are not stupid men. They know precisely how the Fair Tax will affect the poor, the middle class, you, and me. They are bald-faced liars and they are greedy, grasping prevaricators and anything that comes out of their mouths should be fact-checked.
Fair Tax is the worst idea since Adolf Hitler said "Hey, dudes, let's invade Russia. It worked out great for that Napoleon guy."
But I digress.
One of the absolute worst ideas to ever come down the pike is the idea of Fair Tax. Fair Tax is a new tax plan proposed by a number of disingenuous scumbags, chief among them Neal Boortz, who wrote a book on Fair Tax. The basic idea of Fair Tax is to replace the current Federal Income Tax with a sales tax on all new goods, but not used goods. This new program is claimed to be able to do a number of things including revitalize the economy, lower prices, and goodness knows what else, but in truth why people promote the Fair Tax boils down to two reasons:
1. they think they will have to pay less taxes under Fair Tax
or
2. they want to piss off citizens and make people realize how eeeevil taxes are and therefore create a firestorm of anti-tax anger to shrink the size of government in general.
Both are stupid and Fair Tax actually will not help accomplish either goal.
Let's start with the basic premise and why it's garbage. First, the Fair Tax proponents lie through their teeth and say that the proposed Fair Tax is 23%. Even reading Neal Boortz's book shows that in their own example given, the Fair Tax imposed is 30%. If I buy a candy bar for $1.00 and you tax me 30 cents, that's a 30% tax rate. The Fair Tax people use a complicated algorithm based on gross payment to get that 30 cent tax to 23%. Even their basic figures lie. And that should raise a red flag right there for most people, but with quite a few people Fair Tax has become almost a religion.
Secondly, even at 30% tax rate, the Fair Tax proponents claim this will result in most people's taxes going down. Now, being that the top marginal income tax rate in 2008 is 35% for the ultra-wealthy and is likely to only be raised to 38% even if Obama let's Bush's tax cuts expire, this means the vast majority of the middle class pay around 20-22% Federal income tax now in real dollars. Believe me, your taxes will go up under Fair Tax and people who know more about this than I do calculate you'd have to be making well over $200,000 a year now to break even. Which is why the Fair Tax proponents love Fair Tax. You'll notice most of them are rich jerks or wannabes.
The astute among you might have also noticed that Fair Tax only replaces Federal Withholding and does not replace social security or medicare taxes. Nor does it replace any state income taxes, local or state sales taxes, excise taxes, corporate taxes, gasoline taxes, tariffs, user fees, tolls, property taxes, and so on. All this would continue under Fair Tax. So basically the very rich would be crying all the way to the bank and the rest of us would pay more money so that the well-to-do could be even more well-to-do.
Fourth, Fair Tax is basically a consumption tax and it will nail the poor to the wall. The poor have less discretionary income and have a lot more fixed expenses than the rich. The rich can invest, save, or spend money overseas. The poor have to buy shelter, food, clothes, and transportation. While Fair Tax does have an allotment for the poor and does not tax food, you can bet your life that the poor will still get hosed under this plan. Now, this rebate is monthly and is that everyone gets a credit under Fair Tax based on income. Only problem is that this wonderful allotment is a rebate after the fact. If you are a single mom washing toilets for a living you first have to pony up for the tax, and only after you prove your income is lower class do you get the wondrous tax rebate. Ask yourself how many people making minimum wage could fork over 30% of their income to get it back at the end of the month. My guess is, oh, about 0%.
Three people who make $30,000 a year spend more money on goods than one guy making $90,000 and Fair Tax would therefore hit the people making $30,000 the hardest, without question.
Far from being a boon to the economy, the Fair Tax would cripple the economy. If all prices suddenly went up 30% even if you didn't have to pay any income tax anymore, would you start buying? I bet not. Consumption would plummet, at least initially, and the economy would go into a tailspin.
Gets better. Neal Boortz assumes 100% compliance when he trots out his 30% tax rate. And lies about it. But anyway. Show me a tax and I'll show you someone who is trying to get out of paying it. No tax has ever had 100% compliance. Furthermore, a 30% consumption tax is not going to collect the same amount of revenue as a 30% tax rate, and even libertarian economists think that a more reasonable Fair Tax rate is at least 33% if not 39%. National Review, not known for it's socialistic bent, calculates 36% as a reasonable figure.
Still sounding like a good plan, peeps?
Even better, remember that you have to pay up front and receive a rebate. Far from weaning the American citizenry off government, Fair Tax would make a government dolee of every single one of us since the feds would be sending each of us a check every month. It's 100% government dependency. No one supporting Fair Tax can even remotely call themselves libertarian, egalitarian, or sane.
Even the basic premise is flawed. If the rich pay less tax, where do you think the shortfall is going to come from? Just simple logic says this: if one person is paying LESS tax, someone else is paying MORE tax.
Oh, and what happens when prices go up? Inflation. Remember inflation? Now, the Fair Tax proponents believe that companies who sell goods will lower their prices because they themselves will be paying less taxes.
I will stop and wait for you to stop laughing out loud. Because that should be your response to this. I advise you to go look at gasoline prices and tell me how corporations will lower prices in response to lower costs.
And even if domestic goods get cheaper, foreign goods won't. How much of what you buy was actually made in this country?
And, while you're at it, you might want to look at the fact that Fair Tax does not stop the federal tax agency (whatever it's called under Fair Tax since they want to replace the IRS) from auditing you. And you have to prove, just like now, that you've paid the tax. Except that with the current federal withholding tax, you can easily prove this. Since Fair Tax is based on what you buy over the course of a year, you have to save every single receipt to prove you paid your tax. Anyone want to do this? I want a show of hands.
Yes, you, the buyer are responsible for this tax, not the seller. You'll have to have a receipt to prove you bought that can of beans, that computer, or that car “legally.” Lose your receipt and you could be required to pay that 30+ percent tax all over again – plus penalties and interest. And since Fair Tax is reported monthly, instead of doing your taxes once a year, you get to do them once a month.
Fair Tax would be so wretched that people would do damn near anything to get out of paying it. Which means a nice, thriving black market.
Now, Neal Boortz and people supporting this measure in Congress and the media and business are not stupid men. They know precisely how the Fair Tax will affect the poor, the middle class, you, and me. They are bald-faced liars and they are greedy, grasping prevaricators and anything that comes out of their mouths should be fact-checked.
Fair Tax is the worst idea since Adolf Hitler said "Hey, dudes, let's invade Russia. It worked out great for that Napoleon guy."
Monday, December 15, 2008
Only Six Deadly Sins?
When did this happen? Only six deadly sins?
Seriously?
Think about it. The seven deadly sins are: Lust, Gluttony, Greed, Sloth, Wrath, Envy, and Pride.
Now, even a secular type like me I think would agree these are unpleasant traits for anyone to have, if not precisely sins. I don't begrudge anyone having sex with consenting adults, but you can take it too far when lust rules your life. I don't begrudge anyone a square meal, but eat a salad once in a while, huh? I don't begrudge people having days where they do nothing, but sloth shouldn't be a lifestyle choice. I don't begrudge people getting pissed off and having a catharsis, and I understand that envy and pride are quite natural to have in moderation.
But in 21st century America, it seems only six of the seven qualify as anything to be ashamed of, no matter how much or how little you have of them.
Lust is hated by Americans. Americans consume billions of dollars of pornography behind closed doors and yet decry it in the streets. Homosexual lust is considered evil and degenerate and certainly the lustful in our society are not rewarded. Indeed, they are checked into sex addiction clinics.
Gluttony is hated by Americans. Whenever we see a fat person, most people are repulsed and blame the person for their own weight problems. Fat people in fact, are one of three minorities it is still okay to disparage in public.
Sloth is nearly punishable by death. In 21st century America, one cannot presumably work too many hours, nor work too hard.
Wrath is so openly despised we put people in anger management classes.
Envy is despised as well, and anyone who despises anyone else is considered to be engaging in class warfare, adultery in their heart, or any other number of vices.
Pride also pisses people off. No one likes the arrogant or the condescending. If one makes a success in life, everyone expects that person to be humble, or at least not boast about thier own success.
So 21st century America hates Lust, Gluttony, Sloth, Wrath, Envy, and Pride.
But apparently not Greed.
When Oliver Stone had Gordon Gecko say "Greed is Good" in the movie Wall Street back in the freewheeling Reagan years, never in his worst nightmares did he forsee hedge fund managers bringing down the economy, obsessed tycoons shipping jobs offshore, or sociopathic talk show hosts claiming greed as a virtue.
Like the other six deadly sins, I've no problem with greed in moderation. We all want to have a decent and comfortable life. It is when you sacrifice others for your own greed that I believe you have become evil. A CEO who destroys a town to move factories to Mexico so he can get a bonus: that's evil, and we should recognize this and make no bones about it. We do not reward the lustful, the gluttonous, the slothful, the wrathful, the envious, nor the prideful. But somehow we have come to venerate the greedmongers among us to the point where we want to become them and copy them.
Now, I could attack the douchebags on Wall Street who started the economic mess in this country, but let's face reality: all of us are to blame. Every man-jack one of us. All of us subscribed to the doctrine that 'Greed is Good'. We all wanted $6.00 lattes and monster SUVs and 3000 square foot homes and iPods and iPhones and iPhucks and goodness knows what else. Nearly 70% of the American economy is now consumer driven and the only amazing thing is how anyone thinks this is even remotely sustainable.
One apparently cannot have too many gadgets, widescreens, electronic devices, clothes, and so forth. And we now measure our success with trinkets. And the size of our bank accounts or 401(k)s. Is it any wonder most people are in the grip of ennui? My parents house was built in 1973 and was originally 1200 square feet. My house was built in 1985 and is 1700 square feet. My boss's house was built in 2003 and is 2500 square feet. Good luck finding new homes today that are actually that small. And this with the number of children per household shrinking. Yes, because we need living rooms, family rooms, game rooms, workout rooms, sun rooms, Arizona rooms, and it's enough to give me a headache.
Among the many lost opportunities of George W. Bush was after 9/11 when he decided to tell the American people to shop to stimulate the economy. We did, and we all went into debt. We were in debt before, but not like this. Most people have six credit cards. Most people own more home than they need, much less afford. Most people own more car than they need, much less afford.
But Swordsman, you say, I have a right to buy whatever I want as long as I can afford it!
And my reply is "get lost".
Seriously, go to Hell.
You really think this mentality isn't to blame? I guarantee it is. If you think any society can absorb 70% consumer spending while actual production of goods is only 30% or less of the economy then you have taken leave of whatever senses you have left. If you think that you buying an SUV doesn't impact anyone else, then you are just plain nuts. It fucks up the economy, it fucks up the environment, and it sure as Hell affects my personal fucking space when you park it in a compact parking space next to me. "Compact" is an adjective, not a verb, dumbass.
We have mortgaged not only our future, but our present. None of us raised a fuss when we created mass deficit spending. No, deficits didn't matter of course. We could lower taxes and spend more and more and more and more! Or not. Now the chickens are coming home to roost and the imitators of Icarus who flew the highest are likely going to fall the hardest.
Along with the seven deadly sins, the Bible also says that the theological virtues are faith, hope, and charity. Indeed, we must all hope, religious and secular, that the sociopaths do not drag us all down into their economic mire.
Seriously?
Think about it. The seven deadly sins are: Lust, Gluttony, Greed, Sloth, Wrath, Envy, and Pride.
Now, even a secular type like me I think would agree these are unpleasant traits for anyone to have, if not precisely sins. I don't begrudge anyone having sex with consenting adults, but you can take it too far when lust rules your life. I don't begrudge anyone a square meal, but eat a salad once in a while, huh? I don't begrudge people having days where they do nothing, but sloth shouldn't be a lifestyle choice. I don't begrudge people getting pissed off and having a catharsis, and I understand that envy and pride are quite natural to have in moderation.
But in 21st century America, it seems only six of the seven qualify as anything to be ashamed of, no matter how much or how little you have of them.
Lust is hated by Americans. Americans consume billions of dollars of pornography behind closed doors and yet decry it in the streets. Homosexual lust is considered evil and degenerate and certainly the lustful in our society are not rewarded. Indeed, they are checked into sex addiction clinics.
Gluttony is hated by Americans. Whenever we see a fat person, most people are repulsed and blame the person for their own weight problems. Fat people in fact, are one of three minorities it is still okay to disparage in public.
Sloth is nearly punishable by death. In 21st century America, one cannot presumably work too many hours, nor work too hard.
Wrath is so openly despised we put people in anger management classes.
Envy is despised as well, and anyone who despises anyone else is considered to be engaging in class warfare, adultery in their heart, or any other number of vices.
Pride also pisses people off. No one likes the arrogant or the condescending. If one makes a success in life, everyone expects that person to be humble, or at least not boast about thier own success.
So 21st century America hates Lust, Gluttony, Sloth, Wrath, Envy, and Pride.
But apparently not Greed.
When Oliver Stone had Gordon Gecko say "Greed is Good" in the movie Wall Street back in the freewheeling Reagan years, never in his worst nightmares did he forsee hedge fund managers bringing down the economy, obsessed tycoons shipping jobs offshore, or sociopathic talk show hosts claiming greed as a virtue.
Like the other six deadly sins, I've no problem with greed in moderation. We all want to have a decent and comfortable life. It is when you sacrifice others for your own greed that I believe you have become evil. A CEO who destroys a town to move factories to Mexico so he can get a bonus: that's evil, and we should recognize this and make no bones about it. We do not reward the lustful, the gluttonous, the slothful, the wrathful, the envious, nor the prideful. But somehow we have come to venerate the greedmongers among us to the point where we want to become them and copy them.
Now, I could attack the douchebags on Wall Street who started the economic mess in this country, but let's face reality: all of us are to blame. Every man-jack one of us. All of us subscribed to the doctrine that 'Greed is Good'. We all wanted $6.00 lattes and monster SUVs and 3000 square foot homes and iPods and iPhones and iPhucks and goodness knows what else. Nearly 70% of the American economy is now consumer driven and the only amazing thing is how anyone thinks this is even remotely sustainable.
One apparently cannot have too many gadgets, widescreens, electronic devices, clothes, and so forth. And we now measure our success with trinkets. And the size of our bank accounts or 401(k)s. Is it any wonder most people are in the grip of ennui? My parents house was built in 1973 and was originally 1200 square feet. My house was built in 1985 and is 1700 square feet. My boss's house was built in 2003 and is 2500 square feet. Good luck finding new homes today that are actually that small. And this with the number of children per household shrinking. Yes, because we need living rooms, family rooms, game rooms, workout rooms, sun rooms, Arizona rooms, and it's enough to give me a headache.
Among the many lost opportunities of George W. Bush was after 9/11 when he decided to tell the American people to shop to stimulate the economy. We did, and we all went into debt. We were in debt before, but not like this. Most people have six credit cards. Most people own more home than they need, much less afford. Most people own more car than they need, much less afford.
But Swordsman, you say, I have a right to buy whatever I want as long as I can afford it!
And my reply is "get lost".
Seriously, go to Hell.
You really think this mentality isn't to blame? I guarantee it is. If you think any society can absorb 70% consumer spending while actual production of goods is only 30% or less of the economy then you have taken leave of whatever senses you have left. If you think that you buying an SUV doesn't impact anyone else, then you are just plain nuts. It fucks up the economy, it fucks up the environment, and it sure as Hell affects my personal fucking space when you park it in a compact parking space next to me. "Compact" is an adjective, not a verb, dumbass.
We have mortgaged not only our future, but our present. None of us raised a fuss when we created mass deficit spending. No, deficits didn't matter of course. We could lower taxes and spend more and more and more and more! Or not. Now the chickens are coming home to roost and the imitators of Icarus who flew the highest are likely going to fall the hardest.
Along with the seven deadly sins, the Bible also says that the theological virtues are faith, hope, and charity. Indeed, we must all hope, religious and secular, that the sociopaths do not drag us all down into their economic mire.
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