I am not familiar with Mr. Bartlett's work and probably should be. I liked what I heard today at Chris Hayes "Up." I need to read Mr Bartklet's book.
I am sure the public library has the book and there is no reason for interested parties not to read these books. Reading is a very important expertise every American should be proud of and practice on a regular basis, either recreational, self-interest, political or business reading. We have a nation that invests in reading for every American and we should use that investment well.
Knowledge is power. I believe that beyond any rational otherwise.
To return to Mr. Bartlett, he stated hacking away at entitlements is ludicrous. I have to agree. It is also surrending our democracy to a plutocratic victory.
The problems the USA faces is far more profound than simply a balance sheet and I hope Mr. Bartlett is aware of these problems. They are real and remain unaddressed by the country whom leans on capitalism to sustain its sovereignty.
There are many Americans receiving subsidies to their lives because a decent wage cannot be found. These are the working poor. The longer these folks are allowed to be in poverty the worse the economic problems of the country become. It is astounding to me President Obama has been able to turn this country around at all from the 2008 crash. When it occurred, I was fairly well convinced it was the end of a sincere sovereignty of freedom of which the USA has built its national sovereignty. But, that is another discussion.
While American jobs were outsourced the wages of the Middle Class continued to fall and unions were destroyed. It is a paradigm for huge profits and stockholder dividends, but, not an ability to maintain a nation within sovereignty.
A + B does not equal C
A is working Americans
B is the wage they earn
C is the tax base
When Americans are not earning enough to prevent from receiving Food Stamps, Medicaid and other subsidies to maintain a minimal quality of life, the people become a weight on the USA Treasury and the economic growth of the country. While the minimum wage is important it was never meant to support the majority of Americans in a living wage. Even at 40 hours per week the minimum wage will not keep a family out of poverty.
This is not that difficult to understand.
When the minimum wage remains as a majority of income to the USA in a service economy where it cannot be outsourced, the sustainability of the USA Treasury and ultimately the coveted military will end. Ultimately, such an economy will end and the people will be cast into a subsistence economy where any corporation no longer has a basis of survival. The entire economy will collapse.
It can be easily argued at this point, with the lack of corporate investment in the country and the local economies reaching a maximum (at this point), the minimum wage should be looked at again to provide a minimum standard of living outside that of government subsidies.
It really is laughable when the Political Right Wingers rant on and on about the 'virtue' of being employed or better yet self-employed with a small business while they scoff at the poor. They don't bother to reach beyond their own little world to realize it is actually imploding.
What Mr. Bartlett probably appreciates is that the entitlements support the 'baseline' economy of the USA. While there is a sovereign treasury the USA economy does have a bottom of which to support it. I don't consider the entitlements to be a tax base at all. They are not a form of tax base, they are entitlements and those receiving them should not be coveted to 'return to work.' That is more ludicrous than any Republican proposals to change them to date.
I think it was James Carville that I once heard say, "The most important thing a person can provide after love is work." He could not have said it better. He stated that after President Clinton's re-election. My understanding of his meaning was that human labor was valuable to society, to the individual, to the sovereign state of the nation and it was for that reason it has high esteem in any society. Military service is work in that meaning of the word. Military service is the ultimate sacrifice to our country and it needs to have the esteem it has over and above other methods of social value, but, it is work.
Where Republicans ever got the idea it was okay to devalue work to the point of 'the working poor' is beyond my imagination to realize. There has been complete demoralization of labor unions and the distress of the country is obvious in the face of that reality. Labor unions have had their problems with corruption no different than other large organization with large amounts of money, but, it isn't as though it was out of the reach of justice. To the end that labor unions are so corrupt they should not exist is a political fantasy.
There is a 'happy balance' between government and private industry in the USA. That balance has been lost to the idea that capitalism is the answer to all problems imaginable. That is completely wrong. It is a faux philososopy called an ideology and has no basis in reality. Capitalism is a way of conducting the PRIVATE sector based in freedom, but, it is not the answer to effective government conducting the nation's business. The nation does business, but, efficiency has its limits in government structures. Government is necessary and it is necessary to maintain that happy balance.
Government should never be draconian to its people which derives life from a vibrant private sector, but, the private sector should never, ever be allowed to dry up the tax base to a sustainable sovereignty of freedom. Namely the USA.
I don't know if Mr. Bartlett would concur, but, the current working poverty is growing and it will ultimately result in socialism. No doubt in my mind. So, if the political Right Wing wants to maintain its standing at all as the party of capitalism, it needs to be sure there are 'living wages' maintained in the USA. The best entity to provide that living wage are unions. No doubt about it.
The Republicans need to raise taxes on the wealthy, it is after all where they have invested all their political capital. What honestly do they expect? They shot themselves in the foot politically and are becoming a threat to the nation's sovereignty.
