What Next?
By Leon Slaughter,
Legacy Publications Edgewood, TX
Peace, prosperity, a balanced budget, liberty and justice for all. Maybe! A newborn baby is lying peaceably in its mother’s arms. Suddenly it starts crying unstoppable. The frantic mother cannot find what is wrong. Could it be the little fellow just found out about the enormous debt with which he was born? Before we add in our present over $500,000,000 current national deficit, our national debt was $6,399,900,075. How much is that for every man, woman and child? You figure it out; this is giving me a headache.
Leading economists agree that the United States has, for several years, dominated the world’s economy, but now our economic domination is over.
Globalization is now the dominating force. Because of our enormous and growing national debt and our growing dependence on imported resources such as oil controlled by a global oil cartel, we are mortgaging our future.
Foreign investments from countries such as Japan, China, other East Asia countries, and the European Union is fast gaining control of our economy.
The fear that has plagued blue-collar workers for a long time that they might be “down sized, laid off, not needed, or fired” has now reached the middle income white collar workers. Now if you call almost any national company or organization about almost anything, you will likely talk to someone in India, China, or who knows where. Outsourcing has putmuch of our middle-income workers in competition with workers overseas who will work for a fraction of the wage scales here.
The theory of free trade is good for everyone involved if everyone is on the same level playing field. It lets the economic law of comparative advantage work, which produces a win-win situation for everyone. However, we are not playing on a level playing field. The countries we are outsourcing to and moving plants to have no minimum wage, safety laws, environmental restrictions, and a high unemployment rate. Our government must negotiate some controls on these concerns with countries before we open our gates to them for free trade with no tariffs, taxes or restrictions.
Where does our effort to develop alternative sources of energy rate in our nation’s priorities? I am afraid it is not high enough. All energy somehow came or will come from the sun. We must develop more efficient methods of harnessing it and freeing ourselves from the oil cartel and other monopolies.
Many middle class American families are living from payday to payday with the man and wife both working and struggling to pay bills. Most are just one paycheck missed or a medical emergency away from bankruptcy. Thank God for the pill. There is a growing resentment in the working class at the widening difference in their income and that of the wealthy and upper management. The salaries of CEOs have gone from 40 times the average worker’s just a short time ago to 400 times today.
That plus the behavior or management at Enron, World Com, Tyco, Global Crossing and others is just too much. Add to that the fact that most of the Bush tax cuts went to the wealthy top 10% income group. Then too many of our corporations rent a post office box on some little island and pay no income tax.
Why do drugs cost so much more in this country than just across the border in Canada? And, why is our government trying to stop our buying the same drugs we have been buying here much cheaper in Canada? Is our hope for peace based solely on the concept that we have the largest and most efficient war machine ever developed? What is the real purpose of this world wide military power as seen by our nations leaders? Fifty-seven years after World War II we still maintain occupation forces in Germany and Japan.
After fifty years we are still in South Korea. In addition we have ten bases in seven European countries, also bases in Guam, Okinawa, Taiwan, Kyrgistan, Uzbekisten, Pakistan, and Afghanistan. We also have bases in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Behrain Quatar, and four new bases in Iraq. Why haven’t we invaded North Korea? Is it because they have no oil? When did policing the entire world become our responsibility? “The leaders of the country determine the policy for war. The people can always be brought to the bibbing of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifist for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country.” A statement by Herman Goering at the Nuremberg Trials of Nazi war criminals.
After the war in Afghanistan we were told and insisted that we had to go to war with Iraq because they were aligned with al Qaeda and they were producing weapons of mass destruction. None of which proved to be true.
While this was happening the Bush Administration in June 2002 withdrew the United States from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty and ask Congress to lift a ten-year ban on research, development, and production of “smaller” nuclear weapons. Smaller, but still powerful enough to kill thousands, cripple many thousands more, and devastate the environment.
We are living in the most wonderful country in the world by any measure.
Why do so many people in other countries hate us? Two-thousand years ago Rome owned, controlled or dominated all of the then known world. It collapsed. Are we being directed toward a policy of attempting world domination both militarily, and economically? Sure we need to have military power second to none but used only when we are attacked or about to be.
Otherwise around the world we will be considered a bully as we are now in some places.
What can you and I do to help our great country survive and continue our Founding Father’s dreams of liberty and justice for all? We should keep ourselves informed and vote. When we can, vote for someone who we believe has not already sold his or her vote to the highest bidder.
