I try not to spend too much time thinking about politics and politicians. It gets depressing and repetitive. They’re like a soap opera in the fact that unless something very acute is happening I can tune in about once a month and can know pretty much what has, is, and will be going on. And now that I’m past the half century mark I am beginning to realize that what I think and do has very little impact on the world, especially the part of the world that isn’t physically within 2-4 feet of me.
To help me get up to date information on the fiscal cliff I just turned on the TV and because I decided to write about the fiscal cliff I turned to the Fox News station. What were they talking about? The government’s dangerous hot potato act that will impact each and every one of us? No it was a story on Hillary Clinton’s blood clot. Were they reporting on how she was doing, what a blood clot means, or what her prognosis might be? You know, unbiased information that people might like to know. Taking advantage of this serious personal tragedy to enlighten the public about a scary event that could happen to them.
Nah. That would be using news in a good way and that can’t happen. Please don’t get ruffled up about me being a Fox News basher. It isn’t about Fox News. All news broadcasts do it, just the angle changes toward whatever bias that particular broadcast has. Fox’s angle on this particular story was that Hillary Clinton would be unable to run for president in 2016 because of the clot(s). 2016, you know, 4 years from now when we have no idea what will be going on or who might be running. It’s never too early to start bashing the opponents and don’t let a little thing like serious illness get in the way.
Now back to why I started writing this post. The fiscal cliff. The end of the world, sky is falling non event that is driving advertising sales for the beloved broadcast news stations. Don’t misconstrue what I’m saying. The fiscal cliff is a real problem that can cause real pain to Americans, our budget, and our economy. The reason I call it a non event is because it is easily fixable on top of being self-induced.
The problem is that the recipe we used to make this unpalatable fiscal cliff is the same recipe we are using to make a new, improved, and edible budget that will save our country from the fiscal third world slide we play on. Democrats still think that supporting an old or disabled person that needs our help can be done with contributions from a little more than 2 people each. And they think we can do this for longer periods of time for people who aren’t quite as needy as they used to need to be.
Meanwhile republicans think that they can give the richest people our society has ever created more and more of our nations money and that will be beneficial to the masses. They believe that large percentages of our society can be left without healthcare and we can spend billions unnecessarily by treating people through the emergency room. Even worse, we stopped listening to our mom’s, who always said an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Ask any dope dealer, those untrained pharmacists that lessen the pain of many of the most hurting members of our society, the difference between the price of an ounce and a pound and you will understand that millions of dollars spent in well care can save billions of dollars of emergency care.
So the fiscal cliff looms and as I am writing this the reality of falling over it grows. What is being sold to us now is that if they let us go over the cliff and then they throw us a rope at the beginning of the new year everything will be fine. Why do they want to deal with it this way? It gets republicans out from under the no new or higher taxes pledge that so many have signed. By letting us fall over the cliff and then going in and cutting some of the tax increases back on the non-ultra rich they can claim that they cut taxes. And yes I cannot call the ultra rich job creators any more than I can call myself a job destroyer,
It’s a wonderful system. No one is responsible. No one is at fault. The system itself is in control. At some point we will be in the crushing, destructive chaos that this behavior leads to. The economic collapses we have lived through, up to now, will look tame and gentle compared to the correction that will have to take place to fix this mess and no one will be responsible. Then, and from what it looks like, only then will some future great leader step up and take control of this mess. It is true America has raised many great leaders, but maybe that is because only America has created the need for such great leaders.