Don't know what rag that piece of drivel dripped from, but you hit a few hot points.
In fact, of course, America is far from "broke". It is the largest economy in the world. After collapsing as a result of the recklessness of the big Wall Street banks -- and Republican economic policies in late 2008 -- the economy has, in fact, grown for six consecutive quarters. The stock market has almost doubled since the crash -- regaining most of its value. Corporate profits are soaring. And American corporations are now sitting on close to two trillion dollars in cash.
No, we are broke. If you are so far in debt that the servicing the debt, not touching the principle, is more than you spend on required stuff, you are broke.
If you think that this started in 2008, you haven't a clue.
No corporation is going to spend a extra dime in expansion when they don't have a clue as to how much the Govt. is going to tax or regulate them. As it is, there will be about another 2 years of indecision.
The problem isn't that America is "broke." The problem is that economic growth is not being shared with most Americans. The problem is that the very rich are wealthier than ever and everyone else is falling behind. Not only does that mean that the massive store of wealth that we create today is not widely shared. It also means that -- taken together -- we have less wealth as a nation because so many Americans who could be creating goods and services are unemployed, creating nothing.
We have less because we have more. OOOO-K
Rich get richer while the poor get poorer is BS. The rich got richer and the middle class and "poor"'s income also went up. Not as far, but they didnt risk much either.
Frankly, you have a hard time taking that kind of talk seriously from a guy who just recently demanded that America continue to give massive tax breaks for the wealthy for the next two years -- and who wants to flat out abolish the estate tax that, by definition, benefits only the sons and daughters of multimillionaires and billionaires.
And is taxation without representation, beside the fact that taxing a persons wealth because they died is morally reprehensible. No American can say he deserves that other than that persons family. BTW, the pres is trying to cut it back to 3.5 mil for a min. Thats the price of a farm anymore, and the value of most small businesses. Owner dies, people are out of work because the place gets shut down and sold to pay the taxes.
Of course the implication of the "America is broke" mantra is that we have to make massive cuts in programs and services that benefit the middle class and poor because we "can't afford them" -- us being broke and all.
BTW, I am very middle class, and I am willing to take the hit if they lose some of these services that benefit me for the freedom to fail.
Is America broke? Have a look at John Paulson. In 2007, as the financial crisis descended, he made $4 billion in personal income betting against subprime mortgages that helped sink the rest of the economy. Last year he made a record $5 billion in personal income as the manager of a hedge fund. By the way, had he somehow managed to make that astronomical sum of money laying bricks or sweeping floors, he would have paid taxes at a rate of 35% on the bulk of that income. Instead, he paid at a rate of only 15%, since he earned his money by speculating as a hedge fund manager instead of making a useful good or service. Makes sense, right?
He made 4 billion betting against a wealth transfer program run by democrats. Whoda thunk that wouldn't work.
The answer you were looking for is that we are the shareholders. If you have a retirement fund, you are a shareholder. Get used to it, you are the evil rich.
BTW, my union Prez, just bought a Honda SUV, a Perazzi shotgun, and shops at Wal-Mart.
