Sam Smith
The death of the super junta at least momentarily suspends one major weapon in a covert coup. Although lawyers can argue reasonably from a legal standpoint that the super junta was not unconstitutional, the fact is that the law has become increasingly dependent on perceptions developed not at law school but through propaganda, poor reporting and instant mythology.
The fact that nothing the super junta did could have constitutionally bound a future Congress from carrying out its will, or that there is no way one Congress can pass an immutable ten year budget, this doesn't prevent everyone from thinking so.
With the help of politicians and an ignorant and deeply prostituted press, most who care about the matter easily think otherwise. In fact the idea that one president and one Congress can constitutionally determine how we spend for the next decade has become so broadly accepted that the media hardly bothers to report what is irreversibly happening - a decision about the next year's budget and the next year's budget only. That's why you see the word trillion so much these days. It's meant to scare the hell out of you which, in fact, it clearly does.
If the media was reporting Congress' legal limit, as it used to until a few years ago, it would say tell us what was going to happen in 2012, not in 2022. But notice how little you hear about this.
The worst problem now is that having created this grotesque fiscal fiction, the Congress has no reasonable next step other than a mindless, indiscriminate cutting of the budget. It is if, because of an arm injury, your doctor proceeds to cut all four limbs.
And so the collapse of our land continues. . . .
2 comments:
I am glad that it failed. The Republicans wanted to keep military spending sacrosanct while military spending is a large part of the problem. This way at least there is a potential for a reduction in military spending.
As Sam points out, however, these things are not binding on future Congresses anyway. The "SuperJunta" and "The Ten Year Reduction" are nothing but political theater. That we would engage in "political theater" - considering the seriousness of our problems - shows just how dysfunctional our whole country has become.
The congress, and the president, continue to chase after the pennies and nickels and let the dollars go. This country would be on a fatal course even if all the fiscal problems were solved.
There was a story back in the day that the then-chairman of GM was treating Walter Reuther to a tour and pointing out all the automatic machinery replacing workers. WR asked "Who is going to buy these cars?" Since the '50's the productivity of auto workers has increased over 1000 pct but the adjusted wage has decreased. Instead of new hires, investments will continue to flow to technology (because investors are not stupid enough to do otherwise), and the numbers already indicate that there will never be jobs. Not ever.
A 30 pct tariff on all imported goods and services, a livable minimum wage, and a 3 month paid vacation for all Americans except elected officials would be a start in fixing what ails this country. The benefits of technology must be shared. It's not happening. It's not being discussed.
Things are so bad in this country that immigration has almost ceased. Immigration must be kept that way, but not by maintaining poverty here. We can't be a safety valve for Mexico's elite. Mexico needs its people.
The idea that OWS should "join the political process" and fight over the pennies and nickels is laughable, but it is getting less and less funny now that we are in stage two (Anatomy of Revolution) of what will by all indications be a murderous and bloody revolution.
I'm just sayin'. Not my fault.
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