If there's a major theme in today's NY Times Opinion pages, it's that the American Dream is badly broken. It's been broken for a long time actually - we've just gotten to the point at which we can't pretend it isn't any more.
But the same kind of magical thinking that got us here is still at work, still trying to make trade-offs today to put off payment till tomorrow, and find scapegoats to take the blame.
More below the jump.
I'm not going to put up a huge diary here, just connect some dots. Frank Rich asks Who Killed the Disneyland Dream?
How many middle-class Americans now believe that the sky is the limit if they work hard enough? How many trust capitalism to give them a fair shake? Middle-class income started to flatten in the 1970s and has stagnated ever since.
Tom Friedman gets it almost right.
I’ll be in a better mood when I see our two parties cooperating to do something hard. Borrowing billions more from China to give ourselves more tax cuts does not qualify.
snip
To survive in the 21st century, America can no longer afford a politics of irresponsible profligacy. But to thrive in the 21st century — to invest in education, infrastructure and innovation — America cannot afford a politics of mindless austerity either.
Nick Kristof points out the obvious:
Let me be clear: I’m a believer in a robust military, which is essential for backing up diplomacy. But the implication is that we need a balanced tool chest of diplomatic and military tools alike. Instead, we have a billionaire military and a pauper diplomacy. The U.S. military now has more people in its marching bands than the State Department has in its foreign service — and that’s preposterous.
What Kristof fails to note - as do so many others - is that the military is headed for the same wall the rest of the U.S. economy has already hit; cannibalizing past investment to keep things going today with the hope that tomorrow doesn't catch up. We're still burning up our troops, we could do a better job taking care of them when they get home, and the machines and infrastructure they rely on is wearing out and not getting replaced.
The one piece on the Times Opinion page that starts to look past the easy answers is The Looming crisis in the States.
During the last year, 23 states raised taxes and fees, but only eight increased personal income taxes. Ultimately, states are going to have to acknowledge that more effective, targeted tax increases are inevitable, and can be achieved if they are structured properly. Governors also must explain to voters that they have cut spending. The nation’s richest taxpayers just got a windfall in the federal tax deal extorted from President Obama by Republican senators. States should not shy away from asking for more help from those most able to pay.
snip
Many governors claim tax increases are ill-advised during a recession, but more experienced economists say it is better to raise taxes on the rich than to lay off workers and cut spending, in effect offsetting Washington’s attempts at stimulus. The federal government missed a chance to begin to act rationally about its long-term deficit by giving away the store to the rich in the tax deal. States should not make the same mistake.
emphasis added
To go back to Frank Rich for a moment, the Disneyland Dream is not entirely dead - in that people still are looking for a magic solution to create a happy ending. Tom Friedman believes getting public employee pension costs cut will do it. (Government employees are the new scapegoats for all our budgetary problems.) Kristof thinks more balanced spending between diplomacy and the military will help. Rich at least doesn't look for easy answers - but he doesn't offer any either.
At the core, it comes down to TANSTAAFL. We can't cut taxes indefinitely and not expect the bill to come due. Republican nonsense continues - they're still pushing Voodoo economics and worshipping the rich in hopes they'll deign to save us. The Democrats worship at the same altar these days - they spend a little more time worrying about the poor is all.
The biggest con game going is the one that turned the idea of taxing and spending into an unspeakable crime. Only the rich can afford to pretend that government is an unnecessary expense. Taxes are what make what government provides possible; government spending is how the vast majority of people get a better life than they could manage solely by their own efforts.
Tax cuts are like Soylent Green - they're made from people. The idea that cutting taxes will make everyone richer is a fantasy that comes with a huge bill. It's not just about breaking promises made to people who worked for years in good faith, only to be betrayed by politicians who figured they'd be gone before the bill came due. People who vote for tax cuts are picking their own pockets - unless they really think schools, safe food, roads, bridges, etc. just happen some how. Tax cuts for the richest people in the country are at the center of this great divergence The American Dream has become the American Nightmare - and it's already been turned into a movie, if you consider Rich Cohen's disturbing reflection.
If you were to cut "It's a Wonderful Life" by 20 minutes, its true subject would be revealed: In this shortened version, George Bailey, played by a Jimmy Stewart forever on the edge of hysteria, after being betrayed by nearly everyone in his life, after being broken on the wheel of capitalism, flees to the outskirts of town, Bedford Falls, N.Y., where he leaps off a bridge with thoughts of suicide.
That's the movie: The good man driven insane.
And every time taxes are cut, somewhere Mr. Potter smiles as he forecloses on someone's American Dream.