Now we know why decades of deficit spending and debt accumulation, even through times of fake prosperity, storing our national wealth in ridiculously inflated stock and real estate prices, as potholes grew, bridges and infrastructure crumbled, and half of the population was left living paycheck to paycheck, or government check to government check, was a stupid and expensive mistake.
- How different our situation would be at this time of national crisis, if, rather than staking our economic hope on spending and consumption, incentivizing and rewarding debt accumulation, sometimes with a wink and promise of forgiveness, we had staked it on frugal living and preparation for crisis, rewarding frugality and savings accumulation, the proverbial rainy-day strategy.
- How different our situation would be at this time of national crisis, if, rather than focusing corporate attention on cost reduction, just-in-time supply and distribution, restructuring, rightsizing, mergers and acquisitions, outsourcing, advertising, and stock prices, we had focused it on creativity, building competency and capacity within the enterprises and within the nation.
- How different our situation would be at this time of national crisis, if, instead of viewing businesses and corporations as evil and taxing their productivity, we had made production and creativity tax free and, instead, taxed consumption, making the USA the most attractive place in the world for free enterprise to flourish, creating millions of jobs in the process.
- How different our situation would be, at this time of national crisis, if we had focused our education system on development of timely and appropriate skills and accumulation of pertinent knowledge, consistent with individual capabilities, rather than on day care, food distribution, and so-called “college educations” for everybody.
- How different our situation would be, at this time of national crisis, if, instead of government spending on transfer payments, taking from one pocket and putting it in another, we had focused spending on world-class transportation, communication, and energy infrastructure, pristine environment, and impenetrable defense, creating jobs for millions in the process.
I guess one answer to all the above is that there wouldn’t be that many dollars floating around, but eggs might still be $0.59 a dozen and a cup of coffee might still be a quarter, and all but the disabled would be busy earning a reasonable living and stashing away a few dollars for some future rainy day.
And maybe instead of already having national debt about equal to GDP and having to double it or triple it because of the crisis and lack of personal resources, we the people would be better prepared and need much less government assistance and we would be using up some saved national resources and taking on manageable debt for the first time since WWII.
Could we agree now that trusting and depending on career politicians even as we force them to focus on fund raising, promise making, and re-election by us, voters trained in the art of selfishness, most of us voting for what is good for us and our associates rather than what is good for the total population, the nation, has been a stupid and expensive mistake.
Now, what will we do, besides pay for our mistakes? Because, I am optimistic that we will pay. That will be much better than submitting to a hostile takeover and giving up the principles our founding fathers fought for.