Should the US become a third-world banana-republic?
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ETpro (
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October 3rd, 2013
Is Haiti the model economy we should emulate? Reagonomics is deliberately destroying the middle class to transfer its wealth to the wealthy. 95% of the increase in wealth since the great recession hit bottom has gone to the wealthiest 1%. Check out this graphic on the top 6 things we could do to reverse the mushrooming wealth inequality curve before we become a banana republic. Before you jump to the conclusion that the wealthiest nation on Earth can’t afford what all the poorer developed nations can, make sure you look at the last two facts stated on the graphic link above.
If we want ever growing inequality, keep voting Republican. They are there for the billionaires and the good of the multinational mega-corporations. That’s who funds them, so they return the favor. That’s what this whole sordid debt ceiling fight is about, getting your medicare and social security benefits for the wealthy. Boehner intends to extend the shutdown till the debt ceiling fight in the middle of this month. He hopes to extract a grand bargain scaling back spending on our social safety net rather than restoring even a little of the revenue we lost when Ronald Reagan cut taxes for the wealthy by 50%. We’ve slashed investment in infrastructure. We no longer lead the world in investment in R&D. We have a student debt bubble now approaching $1.4 trillion. When it explodes, the little guys will have to yet again bail out the banksters Republicans want to further deregulate. We now lag other developed nations in education and are moving to defund it and privatize it so only the landed gentry will be able to afford good schools. How much does it take to read the tea leaves the Tea Party are high on?
The Tea Party claim to be the true patriots, but are they? Here are two quotes. Which one would the Tea Party endorse?
1—“Why should we subsidize intellectual curiosity?”
2—“There is nothing which can better deserve our patronage than the promotion of science and literature. Knowledge is in every country the surest basis of public happiness.”
Quote 1 came from Ronald Reagan in a 1980 campaign speech. Quote 2 From George Washington in an address to Congress January 8, 1790.
If we want to fix the USA’s growing wealth inequality, which is now back to the level it hit when the robber barons ruled just before the great depression, I say we must convince the GOP to change course, or take the government completely out of their hands. Hopefully, if we have to do so, an alternative party will arise. No matter what the party is, having a single ruling party that always wins always leads to corrupt government of the worst kind. What say you?
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25 Answers
You know a lot of third-world banana-republics have an actual, functioning, government. The US should definitely look in to getting one of those.
We are lagging in math, science, and basic research, but we are not yet shot up by warring factions
The USA is continuing to decline to the point where most of its supposedly deeply cherished values no longer apply and are not even being pursued. The American dream has become a cruel joke under the influence of the republicans. Some kind of 2nd American Revolution (hopefully non-violent) may turn out to be required to restore it to its path to freedom and equality.
Is “banana republic” politically correct? Just saying…...
If we could figure out how to prevent jerrymandering, this problem would solve itself.
We should ASPIRE to be a banana republic.
Like it (or not) .... this seems to be the direction in which we are heading.
@thorninmud – I like this from your wiki: ”.. a collusion between the State and favoured monopolies, in which the profit derived from the private exploitation of public lands is private property, while the debts incurred thereby are a public responsibility…”
@mattbrowne Thanks for sharing that. The color of the US continues to darken.
@Linda_Owl I don’t like it, and the more we expose it, the fewer Americans will just sit idly by and take it.
@thorninmud & @RocketGuy That’s the modern Republican party’s economic plan. And I don’t know if Democrats, even if they were fully in control, could communicate the need to reverse course well enough that the American electorate could grasp and approve the tax policy changes needed.
@RocketGuy I’d like to see a reason-based pre-Regan version of the Republican party. A legit fiscal conservative party that won’t spend trillions on wars and simultaneously cut taxes and expect the math to work out. Or one that realizese the real cost of the “war on drugs” is a ridiculous expense keeping prisons full of non-violent addicts. A real fiscal conservative would want income to be higher than expenses, this would mean raising taxes to cover costs, and cutting costs that don’t produce good returns on investments (education spending yield great returns, military spending doesn’t for example).
@RocketGuy Agreed,
@gorillapaws I was a member of that party up until an actor named Ronald Reagan killed it. The travesty of his election showed me the party had lost its way, and I needed to get out.
Actually, we are on our way to becoming a first world banana republic.
@rojo With the top 1% now owning 42% of the nation’s wealth and that number soaring higher every year, I believe you are right. We have the dubious distinction of being the first developed nation to deliberately use tax policy to become a banana republic.
I think we’re well down the path, although it is not too late to turn back.
@Yetanotheruser We only need for enough of the electorate to wake up to the fact we’re heading there. I am pretty sure permanent wage slavery isn’t what Joe Six-pack really wants.
I find myself increasingly grateful that I live north or the 49th parallel. Yes, here in Canada we have to continue to resolve some longstanding inequalities, especially for aboriginal peoples who were here long before the land was “discovered” by European explorers. Our current government has been losing favour among many Canadians and they may not lead the government after the next federal election. Prime Minister Harper and his party have done too much to increase economic inequality.
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