A State of Denial

Denial is a very tragic thing and the consequences of denial are equally tragic. Have you ever known a person who had a very sick relative?  You knew the person was dying, but their close loved ones or spouse insisted they would recover?  It tore you up inside to think of the pain that person would endure when they finally realized the truth, probably too late to prepare themselves for the loss.  Some would say that it is good to remain positive, which I agree is true - to a point, but it is also true to prepare for the inevitable.

Such is the case with the state of our state and our nation.  Many, many people are walking around assuming things will get better.  It will soon be like the good old days when everyone was working and money was growing in accounts like dandelions in a field.  The "haves" had everything they wanted and the "have nots" were given what they wanted by the government. 

Fast forward to 2011 when the "haves" are struggling to keep what they have earned and the "have nots" are not going to be able to look to the government much longer for the luxuries they feel they deserve, or the necessities the need, like food or a home.  My point is simple.  It is time we realize that the country is simply not the thriving bounty it once was.  The government does not have the cash it once had, borrowed or otherwise.  Our state (and many others) has driven itself into bankruptcy and is looking to the taxpayer to bail it out.  We are taxing our residents to death and it will not help bring us out of trouble.

Add to this, the fact that our nation is placed itself into a debt, the like of which we have never seen and we can never pay.  What are we going to do about it?  Tax people and tax corporations!  As a nation, we now have the largest corporate tax of any nation in the world!  What effect do you suppose this will have on business growth in the U.S.?  The worst part is that the problem has only begun and will only get worse and nobody seems to notice or care.  Not yet anyway.

Just in the past 24 hours, I purchased a gallon of milk on sale for $2.88 at the local grocery store.  This same gallon of milk was only $1.99 one year ago.  I purchased gas for the car at $3.29/gallon today, in February - a time of year when gasoline is usually the lowest price.  What does this say about the price of gasoline in peak driving season, $4.50?  $5.00?  What will happen to the economy when people have to pay $5.00 for a gallon of gas?  That gallon of milk will be $3.50 or $4.00.  This would be a 100% increase since one year ago.  Now, imagine if everything delivered by truck to market increases by 100%, what would that do to an already fragile economy?  Okay, let's call it extreme, but if we look at only 20% which is not only realistic, but very likely, the economy will fail.  The reality is if the inflation rate climbs to 20%, it can easily go to 100%.  Of course there are always government price caps if the inflation rate climbs too fast, but we know what that did in the 70's.  Farmers dumped milk rather than sell to market and let crops rot in fields.  That will happen again.

Some people may think I am an alarmist, but nothing I am saying here is dreamt up out of a science fiction novel.  This has happened before at some level in this country or other countries.  The difference is, as a nation, our citizens have never been taxed so much and our government has never been so deep in dept when it occured in the past.  During the 70's, the tax burden was not so high that the citizens could not afford to pay a little more.  Today, taxpayers are paying 50% or more of their earned wages on some form of taxes or government fees.  The government cannot take much more without depleting the fuel that keeps the econony rolling.  The fact is, the well has run dry and the piper must be paid.

At a time when government, both national and state, should be cutting spending as much as possible - not just feel good, window dressing cuts, but real deep, painful cuts.  Our lawmakers continue to spend, continue to try to win the favor of the voters by handing out more money for programs we cannot afford.  The way I see it we only have one option though it may be too late already to save us from total economic disaster in this country.  Our state and federal governments MUST begin to act as if they were a business in bankruptcy, spending only the money that is absolutely necessary to maintain operations.  Where there is an opportunity to save a buck, take it.  This is not about trillions anymore, it is about every single penny.  This means government paid cell phones - gone!  Government paid vehicles - gone!  Government paid events of all kinds - gone!  And don't forget to turn off the lights at the capitol building when the last lawmaker leaves at 4PM either.  As Benjamin Franklin said, "A penny saved is a penny earned".  Let's take a lesson from the past!

If we continue to live in this state of denial, we will soon wake up to a stock market that will make the crash of '29 look like a fender bender, $3.00/gallon gas, the good old days and change for a dollar, the punchline to a joke.  If we continue to live in this state of denial, we will soon be staring at a much different country, a much different way of life and the day will come very soon when even the most blind of us will wake up one morning and ask, "what happened"?