Essay: The Government Shutdown

Cascadian Dreams

The Government Shutdown

The Threat

So, we've officially averted a default in the midst of a government shutdown at the 11th hour, kicking the can a little farther down the road.  The high drama coming from our leaders in D.C. resolved itself in a capitulation from the Republican party, and some minor concessions from the Democratic Party.  The biggest loser in this particular game seems at first glance to be the Tea Party, but the truth is, that the American people are the biggest losers in this high stakes game of brinksmanship.  The truth is that our debt is out of hand, our social programs will be strained during the mass retirements of the baby boomers and that we are taking on huge amounts of debt just to keep the illusion of an economic recovery going.  We are not out of the woods yet.  We are not coming out of the woods anytime soon barring a massive transition in our national priorities. 

The Woods

At least it's pretty. 

Why are we in the woods, how did we get so lost as a nation, and what are the different directions out that are being offered?  Before I attempt some answers to these question, I'll define the woods.  Our nation as a whole has become lost.  We have given away our basic fundamental freedoms for temporary security.  While the bill of rights has always been a bill of privileges, Americans as a whole have believed in them and used these rights to help define our identity and our concept of freedom.  At this point in our nations development, we have begun to become more and more a plutocracy rather than a democratic republic.  While we have always had elements of rule by the wealthy in this country, we have typically gone through cycles where we push back against it.  But this rule has become more entrenched, and any of our rights that threaten the powerful have been limited.  

The woods is this entrenchment, symbolized most vividly by the complete dominance of the financial institutions of the present era.  The banks are above the rule of law, and any of their mistakes or outright fraud are glossed over and unpunished.  Any punishment that does manage to come through tends to be a few days profit which the banks are happy to defend against and pay if they must.

You just have to be faster than the slowest camper. 

 

The reality of our current situation is that these financial institutions have both of America's main political parties in their pockets, and while a few politicians might make a fuss every now and again about their abuses, this fuss is never quite enough to cause these politicians to bite the hand that feeds them.  When you expand from what the financial institutions to to the whole kit and kaboodle of corporate contributions to our political parties you begin to realize that true representation of the people, rather than the corporate backers of the political process is near impossible.  Many of these corporate backers are the people that have done everything they can to become globalized at the expense of the American people that got them off the ground in the first place.  We've been sold out, and both parties have sold our long-term interest for short-term profit.

There will be no real recovery.  The current economy is the new normal, at least until it becomes more profitable to further undermine it.  The straight dope is that we now have globalized companies working hand in hand with global governments to further the power and reach of these companies.  But there is no need for global democracy in this plan, and that's why we're seeing a real rollback across the world in democratic freedoms.  The woods is dark and full of terrors.

How Did We Get So Lost?

Where the F&*# Are We?

To put it simply, we're between a rock and a hard place.  As the owner of the global reserve currency, we've been able to slide through this hard time by mortgaging our future.  As long as the dollar is king around the world, we'll be able to barely hang on to our global empire through massive debt easing.  For those that don't see us as an empire, I'll posit that the fact that we can do drone strikes at will and have military bases in almost every corner of the world puts the lie to that assumption.  The morality of Empire aside, we have exhausted our resources in maintaining it.  America is losing it's grasp on the world, and as our Empire declines, our relative power declines.  We are in this process as we speak.  There is real talk about moving away from the dollar as the world reserve currency.  While the world is not ready for the transition at this point, but every time our government shows major instability such as in the latest crisis, the rest of the world moves further away from us.

Also, we are seeing one of America's biggest generations, the Baby Boomers, moving into retirement at the same time that the youngest working generation, the Millennials is severely underemployed.  The way that Social Security works is that the younger generations are paying for the retirement of the older generations.  Unfortunately, the demographics of the current cycle of history are making Social Security more and more unsustainable.  Plus, the Millennials are more in need of government support than previous generations have been with persistent unemployment and increased utilization of social programs.  These facts, coupled with the crushing education debt load many Millennials have taken on adds up to a real potential for the breakdown of many of our social welfare programs.

Many on the right see this coming and want to cut the social programs so that we can lessen our spending, and many on the left see this coming and want to strengthen these same programs so that they can last in perpetuity.  The right sees Obamacare as adding to these unfunded liabilities and therefore wants to stop the implementation of this program.  In point of fact, in many ways the Affordable Care Act will cost the Millennial generation more on the whole, and that generation is already in a tenuous economic position.

Generational conflict peaks during times of unbalanced demographics. 

But the reality is that the healthcare system in America is very broken.  It needed fixing as it was taking more and more people economically down and out because of the almost ludicrous inefficiencies of it.  Whether the Affordable Care Act is the solution and will work to bring some equity into health care remains to be seen, but many Americans are at least happy that they can't be turned down for healthcare because of pre-existing conditions.
 

On top of all these problems of Empire (Military Spending) and demographics (Domestic Spending) we are also moving towards a security state.  We are spending about $4 billion on a massive NSA data center in Utah, not including the costs to staff and run it.  Recent leaks show massive programs of data mining that can be used to stifle dissent, spy on allies, and eliminate any potential threats to the Plutocracy.  In some ways, everything else is just a side show.  These programs are the biggest example of how far we've gotten into the woods.  This is the kind of spending that neither side ever talks about cutting.  The American people have not been silent about these abuses of power, but our politicians are generally deaf to any real conversation about it. 

A Good Breakdown

 How Do We Get Out? 

The Democratic Plan

1. Keep borrowing and extending the debt ceiling. 

2. Hope for Economic Change. 

3. Protect and Defend Social Programs. 

4. Win more House and Senate Seats Next Year. 

5. Otherwise, business as usual. 

The Republican Plan

1. Cut social programs to the bone. 

2. Defund the Affordable Care Act. 

3. Shrink the size of the Federal Government. 

4. Maintain their House advantage next year. 

5. Otherwise, business as usual. 

Neither of these plans will work.  The Democratic plan would decrease suffering in the short term, but the Republicans will say that their plan decreases suffering in the long term.  Neither plan really addresses our demographic, militaristic and constitutional problems.  None of that is on the table, because both parties are invested with a few exceptions in continuing Plutocracy. 

Plan X From Outer Space

Other Plans

Other plans are legion, but unfortunately, as long as we only a two party system, we cannot expect any of these plans to come from the top.  We have about 3 to 4 months before we're in the same position again where our politicians will be arguing over what concessions need to be made before we can back off from a debt default again.  Since eventually, it's likely that we'll be going over that cliff, perhaps we can start to take some action before that time. 

What's your plan?  Please comment.