Mattea Kramer of tomdispatch.com has written an article on what she considers some hard truths that probably won’t come out in the Presidential debates. In summary, her points are:
1. Immediate deficit reduction will wipe out any hope of economic recovery.
“When the government cuts spending, it lays off workers and cancels orders for all sorts of goods and services that would generate income for companies in the private sector.”
2. Taxes are at their lowest point in more than half a century, preventing investment in and the maintenance of America’s most basic resources.
“There is no way the U.S. can maintain a world-class infrastructure — we’re talking levees, highways, bridges, you name it — and a public education system that used to be the envy of the world, plus many other key domestic priorities, on the taxes we’re now paying.”
3. Neither the status quo nor a voucher system will protect Medicare (or any other kind of health care) in the long run.
“Medicare could be significantly protected by cutting out waste. Our health system is riddled with unnecessary tests and procedures, as well as poorly coordinated care for complex health problems. This country spent $2.6 trillion on health care in 2010, and some estimates suggest that a staggering 30% of that is wasted.”
4. The U.S. military is outrageously expensive and yet poorly tailored to the actual threats to U.S. national security.
But in a country desperate for infrastructure, education, and other funding, funneling endless resources to the Pentagon actually weakens “national security.”
5. The U.S. education system is what made this country prosperous in the twentieth century — but no longer.
“Scarcely 2% of the federal budget goes to education, and dwindling public investment means students pay higher tuitions and fall ever deeper into debt.”
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