The expression is to “kick the can down the road” until a problem becomes someone else’s. In this case it’s the U.S. economy and arguing over whether to temporarily not charge a gas tax ignores the fact that several decades of Congress have failed to take those steps to insure we had gas at a reasonable price and enough of our national resources in play to not be under the thumb of other nations.
What scares me most these days is either one of the Democrat candidates. Obama is a flat-out Marxist although he won’t admit it until he gets into office and Clinton is far enough to the left to want to tax everyone and everything. For years she’s been talking about going after “windfall” profits of the oil companies that, a couple of years ago, were not enjoying the highest profits in town. For that you could look to other industries like pharmaceuticals and those madcap kids on Wall Street who were raking in millions by underwriting bad loans.
I don’t have that much confidence in McCain’s economic background. He’s been mostly a foreign affairs guy in Congress, but he has tried to rein in the profligate pork barrel spending in that ignominious sinkhole of common sense.
There’s a large group of the population who are paying a lot of attention to what is happening in this endless race for the presidency and that is America’s senior citizens. There’s a reason you see those adds for reverse mortgages on television. That’s because the property taxes on their homes have risen beyond belief and that is the only way for some to be able to stay on.
This has largely been due to the education mafia, the unions, that have continued to demand higher salaries, bigger pensions, and other perks while the nation’s schools have continued to fail the students passing through them.
Civil servants, another massive group, also put pressure on states to raise taxes to pay their salaries and pensions. The federal and state governments employ millions of Americans these days. Meanwhile, those running small to moderate-size businesses find themselves in a maze of red tape, rising costs of doing business, and an economy that is beginning to slow as people reduce spending in order to afford fuel and food.
Everyone feels squeezed and that’s because we all are.
The senior citizens have managed to live a lot longer than their parents and grandparents. Being 70 is, in some circles, not considered “old” anymore. You have to be at least 80 to qualify for that these days.
I received a call from an old friend and, while financially secure, he is bored. He wants to get back into business, but I suspect he is going to discover that the generations behind us, those in their twenties, thirties, and forties, are going to want to do business with their own age cohorts, not some 70-year-old. This nation has a legion of people like him who can’t get anyone to tap our expertise, our knowledge, and our enthusiasm.
So while Congress dithers, the cost of living increases, and pressures increase for both the poor and the middle class, we are looking at a can that cannot be kicked much further down the road unless the federal and state governments reform their ways, tighten their belts, and put a priority on something other than just redistributing our money. I don't think that's going to happen.
What will happen? It is a scenario too ugly to contemplate.
