4 Ways the Austerity Obsession in Washington Could Cost You Your Job

[xchrom]

http://www.alternet.org/economy/4-ways-austerity-obsession-washington-could-cost-you-your-job



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1. Austerity costs jobs

This economy is still sputtering. Over 20 million people are in need of full-time work. While corporate profits are at record heights as a percentage of the economy, wages are at record lows and falling. An alarmed Federal Reserve has kept interest rates close to zero. Housing prices have started to come back. But companies are cautious, looking for customers before they do much expansion.


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2. More austerity is already being inflicted

Last quarter's decline took place before the tax hikes agreed to in December's "fiscal cliff" deal. The increase of tax rates on the top 1 percent will have little effect on demand, since someone making over $400,000 can afford the hit. But the end of the payroll tax holiday cost the typical family 2 percent of their income, with the change visible in their January paychecks. For a family earning $50,000, that represents a $1,000 loss of income -- and will be felt.

3. Even more austerity soon come

House Republicans devoted their retreat to reordering the serial fiscal hostage taking they have planned for the next five months. The proper etiquette of hostage taking, they determined, begins with the threat of deep automatic cuts of military and domestic spending -- the sequester -- on March 1, then moves to the threat to shut down the government by the end of March, and finally to the threat to default on the national debts and shudder the global financial system in mid May. This reordering, they believe, gives them greater leverage to extort deep and unpopular cuts in spending, particularly Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. The mainstream media hailed this as a sign of their new maturity.


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4. The deficit hawks are delusional

Serial hostage taking is a truly inane way to run a government. What is striking, however, are the purblind delusions about deficits. We're forced to these measures, Republican Rep. Paul Ryan says, because deficits are out of control and will soon, eventually, sometime lead to America becoming Greece, with the dollar losing all value. It is a testament to the depths of his delusion that Ryan has been saying this for years, despite all evidence to the contrary.

[HiPointDem]

1. the american ruling class is delusional

[xchrom]

2. +1

[bvar22]

3. the american ruling class is delusional ?

No they aren't.
They know exactly what they are doing.

They have been methodical and relentless since the 80s,
Democrats or Republicans....it doesn't matter.
The agenda of the Rich & Powerful has been constantly advanced, sometimes faster, sometimes slower,
but ALWAYS in the same direction, never retreating.

Austerity for the Working Class means MORE loot for the 1%.
Less for YOU = More for THEM.
They want another Gilded Age,
AND, they are going to get it too.
The Wealthy & Powerful aren't really happy unless they are walking on the heads of the smelly 99% groveling at their feet for crumbs from their tables.



[font size=3]Hold on to your memories, SUCKERS,
cause we're TAKING everything else!
Hahahahahahahahaha!

[HiPointDem]

4. they know what they're doing, but they're still delusional. in the same

sense that someone with schizophrenia knows he's tinfoiling his house to protect against the death ray but is still delusional.

[bvar22]

5. The schizophrenic isn't successful or effective.

The Ruling Class has been both.

The Top 1% reaped 90% of the rewards from our latest economic "recovery".
The Banker Class rapes & pillages our economy without restraint or consequence.
With the assistance of BOTH dominant Political Parties, they have successfully elevated themselves above the laws imposed on the rest of us while enjoying conspicuous luxuries unknown to any of the richest emperors the World has ever known.

What is delusional about that?

[ieoeja]

6. Eventually there won't be anyone to take from.

I have already experienced it in small ways.

After paying off my mortgage, I decided it was time to get some damage to my car's body repaired. I discovered the repair shop was out of business. There are still others, but much further away making it a hassle. And, of course, there are only still others "for now".

On the drive to my farm I had specific gas stations where I liked to stop: clean bathrooms and not too busy. Every single one of the gas stations I would stop at are now out of business. Of course, there are still others "for now".

I haven't lost a dime in this economy. In fact, I actually benefitted from the downturn economically. Yet, for all my money, I still lost the above things. Apparently, those of us who could still frequent these businesses weren't enough to keep them alive.

If the customer base shrinks far enough, the wealthy will find life increasingly inconvenient. If only the wealthy can afford a car, their car buying options are going to become very limited.

And that doesn't even take into account crime and the possibility of civil unrest.

There is a reason the rich live better lives in countries where they share the wealth than in countries where a plutocracy hordes everything. And their inability to understand this could qualify them as delusional.