Tilting at Windmills

Headline: Obama, McCain joust over economy as jobs plunge. In the famous novel by Miguel de Cervantes, the protagonist Don Quixote, believing that windmills are menacing giants, jousts them, of course to no avail. I couldn't help but conjure that image as I saw this headline, as our two fearless would-be leaders joust, or spar is another commonly used word, over the economy. Have you ever wondered what exactly either would do specifically as it pertains to the economy, other than of course, look out for the middle class? They all give us plenty of rhetoric about looking out for the middle class, with so many politicians looking out for us you'd think we would be in better shape than we are. Looking out for the middle class is sufficiently vague yet apparently comforting enough to keep us in line, similar to fighting the terrorists, or supporting the troops. What any of it actually means is another story, but Americans are never ones to let a feel good slogan get in the way of more empty promises. As best I can tell, there is a general promise to cut our taxes and to create jobs, which sounds charming, except that the tax breaks just go toward paying the ever accumulating bills, and job creation is usually a product of good economic conditions, not any specific government policies.



That is not to say that government policies don't have an impact however, but they are much more indirect and require sacrifice and longer term consideration of complex issues, something our system isn't very adept at dealing with. Case in point is our fiscal policy as it pertains to government spending, budget deficits, and the enormous debt that our nation continues to rack up at unprecedented rates. Most economists, not to mention ordinary people with a basic understanding of capitalism can tell you that free markets produce more goods, services, and jobs when there is more capital available to invest and resources are being tapped. Government plays a role by encouraging this investment, sometimes even directly investing in the form of public works and increased social spending, but often in the form of policies that allow the free market to work as intended. Certainly there must be some measure of government regulation, pure unfettered capitalism is never a good idea, but over regulation can be stifling, as can over taxation. Another thing that holds the government back is when there is so much debt that money that could be spent on true economic stimulus, that is creating favorable conditions for the free market to work as opposed to cutting checks to individuals or giving away the farm to corporate interests, is impossible. We are currently in a dire situation in this country in terms of our finances, not to mention our military and national security, our relations with the world around us, and our domestic situation isn't all roses either, but let's tackle one problem at a time.



We are broke, flat out busted, and even though we have the world's largest economy with a GDP of nearly 13 trillion dollars, we are also approaching 10 trillion dollars in national debt. If you count the off the books spending we do on the Iraq war we are probably already there, but getting the straight dope on our nation's finances is probably as realistic as getting an accurate account of most of corporate America. Our Congress, through no fault of our own this time around, just approved not only 700 billion dollars to rescue the financial industry in the hopes of providing a boost to capital markets, which may or may not work as intended, but for good measure they threw in an extra 150 billion for what is generically referred to as pork barrel spending. It seems like we are bailing out water from a sinking boat with a strainer here, spending money to help a free market that will only be hurt worse in the long run by the fact that our government is now further in debt and less able to provide true stimulus policies, not to mention providing the services that do require direct spending, such as infrastructure, education, military, police, and the like. Health care? Not very likely. A comprehensive energy policy that will lead us in the direction of ending our addiction to oil, both foreign and domestic? Don't hold your breath, that takes government investment in green technology and seed money for industries to start up until the scales become economical enough for the free market to step in. T. Boone Pickens may have a wad of cash to invest, but it will take more than him and Warren Buffet to jump start an alternative energy industry that is needed for economic, environmental, and national security considerations. And what of the crisis with our Social Security system, the one we heard so much of in the 2000 campaign? Last I checked, the system is no more solvent than it was 8 years ago, yet we hear nary a word on this important matter in the current campaign. What ever did happen to that lock box by the way?



So what do we get from our leaders? Despite overwhelmingly public disapproval, we get a Congress that passes the bailout anyways, in direct defiance of the wishes of their constituents, but certainly adhering to the wishes of their patrons and clients in the financial industry, among others. We get treated to Obama and McCain with dueling fiddles while the financial house of cards we call our national economy continues to burn. It begs the question as to whether either of these two senators are fit to serve as our next president, and whether we should follow either of these two, or the political parties they represent, over the bridge and into the river. These modern day pied pipers sound a sweet tune with their song of standing up for the middle class, the working man and woman that allow this society to function, but the tunes ring hollow when you look at the actual policies that lay underneath the facade. While I don't have all the answers, I do know that tilting at windmills won't do anything to get us started with the monumental task of digging ourselves out of the hole we are in. I also believe that the solution will not come from on high, but will have to somehow be effected by we the people at a true grass roots level. We've been waiting for leadership for too long, and the time has come to step up and take matters into our own hands, or accept the consequences of a nation and a society on the gradual but certain descent. We have been too great of a people for too long to let that occur, and my hope is that the creativity, passion, and strength of our people will overcome the failure of those we elect to serve and lead us.