How America’s Economy got this way

Imagine my surprise when I heard a gentleman interviewed during a segment about the 99%’s on Wall Street and protesting all over the nation.  What surprised me was this gentleman’s question of “what happened”.   Now I do not know exactly where that gentleman has been but to look around and not know how we got to where we are today makes me wonder just whose hands this nation has been in all of this time.  The answer, however, is quite simple and can be clearly seen in the following paragraph.

According to an article titled Thirty-seven states cut education funding this year in The Lookout published Monday, October 10, 2011; “A majority of state governments have cut funding to K-12 schools this year as they struggle to balance their budgets without the $100 billion infusion from the federal stimulus that has now dried up. Thirty states are now funding their schools with lower budgets than they had in 2008 (measured in inflation-adjusted dollars); even though school populations have grown. Arizona, California, Hawaii and South Carolina are leading the way, having cut per-student funds by more than 20 percent since 2008.”

So what happened, when Bill Clinton, Phil Gramm, Newt Gingrich, and the rest of those highly educated people decided to get rid of those pesky regulations, the desire of this nation to care for its poor and less-fortunate went with them.  Every single time any mention of reducing spending is discussed, take a few minutes and look at the first thing that we aim for to cut.  If we intend to become competitive in this global economy, we need a much better educated workforce and we will not get it through budget cuts.  The future of our children should be the last thing on the chopping block but low and behold, it’s always one of the first like police officers, fire fighters, the poor, elderly and the rest of the less- fortunate.

Big box stores like Wal-Mart and Target, locates in a town and gets a tax abatement which means that for 3 plus years they do not have to contribute one penny to the welfare of that city.  They suck the community dry for 3 years and then when it is about time for them to pony up to the bar; they suddenly decide that it is in their best interest to locate to another town.  This keeps happening because town leaders convince themselves that the jobs being brought in by these big box stores are worth it.  No result is ever worth it if it cost you your soul.