I guess the upside to refusing to educate our kids and help low-income people with their medical bills is that we'll have a place for all of those newly-formed criminals to go.
What's even more interesting is that the programs taking the biggest hits around the nation also happen to be programs Republicans never liked anyway. In Wisconsin, legislators felt so ignored that the only way to get anyone to listen was to flee their state. Despite vicious protests, their governor insists on taking away rights that union workers have had since the Industrial Revolution. In Utah, Mormon state representatives are taking advantage of these "troubling times" to try and make it illegal to drink (again). In Idaho, lawmakers are moving swiftly to crack down on those most deviant of citizens, those damned teachers.
Funny how long of a period there was between the initial economic failure (2008) and when lawmakers want to respond to the economic failure (2011). For those who had their teachers taken away, that's three years. Three years of individuals losing homes, banks getting bailouts, and the government trying to keep things afloat. Finally, when things are starting to look good again, our lawmakers want to act like the sky is falling.
Even in Congress, they're acting like they're going to have to sell the White House to keep shit going. Of all the times to cut back on social programs, now is one of the worst times. These are lawmakers that apparently never took an economics class. They weren't informed that the best time to have social programs and, therefore, national debt, is during a recession. Once things have stabilized, you increase taxes and decrease social programs.
Let's put it in terms our white, middle-aged, overweight lumps "representing" us will understand- you take aspirin occasionally when you're in pain and need assistance. When your heart throws a clot, you definitely want to take some aspirin. So deciding to chuck the aspirin bottle whilst having a myocardial infarction is one of the dumbest choices you could make. The only time you could consider getting rid of aspirin, or reducing the amount, is when you don't need it.
Does that make sense? If not, sucks to be you.
Anyway, the truth is that this has nothing to do with "making tough choices." Do not fall into their trap, my friends. This has nothing to do with economics and everything to do with political maneuvering.
I'll use the congressional budget for my next trick, and as a bonus, I'll go slow while explaining.
To begin this magic trick, John Boehner (I know it looks like "boner," but stick with me) throws something outright ridiculous into the proposed budget, like cutting all funding for PBS.
Predictably, Democrats react unfavorably, and because they still control the important bits of the government, they tell him to try again.
Boehner refuses, and says the magical phrase, "We need to make some tough decisions about money right now." He'll probably also talk about how fiscally irresponsible Congresses past have been.
THIS IS THE IMPORTANT PART.
After saying the magical phrase, criticism shifts from the Republicans to the Democrats. Instead of the Republicans being uncooperative and uncompromising, blame shifts (magically) to Democrats, for being fiscally irresponsible.
Nifty trick, eh?
If you didn't see all of this as being pure political fuckery, consider the laws they're now trying to pass that have nothing at all to do with economics. The sneaky bastards that they are, two states- Texas and Idaho- have Republicans campaigning to allow guns on college campuses. Does that have a rabbit's fart to do with money? Of course not. But they're trying to slip it all in under the same umbrella, and unfortunately, a fair amount of people are buying it. What's more, most of these fine examples of what you don't want your children to be when they grow up are claiming that they have every right to ignore opposing arguments, simply because they were the ones voted into office. They are simply the vessels, my dears; this is what they will have us believe.
So there you have it, kids. Your children's education going down the tubes isn't Tom Luna's fault, just like the collective bargaining demolition isn't Wisconsin's governor's fault, and reintroduction of Prohibition down here in the land of Zion isn't our reps' faults. It's ours. We let them get into office, and now we're going to be cleaning up their messes for the next twenty years. Thank Buddha for democracy.
Makes you proud to be an American, doesn't it?