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Debt Increasing; Solutions, Anyone? So here we are, a year away from an election that could dramatically change national leadership, and the way this country’s government (and perhaps all western governments) deals with almost an insurmountable debt and outrageous entitlement obligations for the next 60 years. But when we will hear about real change? In the last four years we have seen virtually every constant that we knew in the worlds of business and high finance turned upside down. We have seen dozens of blue chip, Fortune 500 companies bankrupted and liquidated, or worse, put on federal government subsidy/welfare programs that goes against every principle of what capitalism and business independence is supposed to be. What have we learned from any of this? Apparently, not a hell of a whole lot. The president and his top officials have
not offered a single solitary new plan, idea or proposal to change the way Americans think about business, or the finances of the local, state and federal governments that already tax achievement and success at confiscatory rates. Well, nothing except the federal takeover of our health care system, which most intelligent wage earners recognize is a nightmare riding a train into a brick wall at 200 miles per hour. With the exception of a few longshot presidential candidates, no one is even willing to suggest the kind of radical change that will be needed for our way of life to survive, and, so far, Michele Bachmann, Ron Paul and Herman Cain are not getting much traction in the national media. So where is the new leadership... where are the new ideas... where is the realization that what has gone before ain’t gonna work anymore?
No one seems to know. At least the business community seems to have gotten the message. I have seen it in my own company. During the tough times, there were reductions in staff, salary, expenses and capital improvements. Now that we have gotten past the (initial) crisis point, things are getting better, but we will likely never see a return of some of the positions that were eliminated. That is not a sign that we have given up, but it is a sign that our business model has changed, and we have changed forever to accommodate the times. We do things differently because the times demanded it. When will government get the same message? Are there any rational liberals among us who actually believe that we can tax the rich (the rich that are remaining, that is) to deliver us from our current fix? Are there any conservatives who still believe we can fix it all by reducing the tax rate across the board without drastic spending cuts, that, quite frankly, no one has the guts to even suggest? The change is only going to come from outside the box thinking, and rarely do we
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see that kind of innovation from men like the established front runners for president, incumbent Barack Obama and GOP challenger Mitt Romney, both of whom have been neck deep in the political status quo since they were in knickers. You may have noticed this week’s column is a bit short, and I am leaving it that way to emphasize that I don’t have any answers to the problems that face us either. Not answers that would be Constitutional or palatable to the average citizen, anyway. Those of us who understand the quandary are going to have to wait until the misery and confusion trickles down to the masses (even more so than we have yet seen) before the necessity for reform is forced upon us in a dramatic sense. Take the blank space that sits at the end of this column and scribble down your brilliant plan to save the planet and mail it to the people you think need to see it. Oh, and please include me on that list. The views expressed are the opinions of Austin Rhodes and do not necessarily represent the views of the publisher.