This Sh*t P*sses Me Off!

I am tired of people forwarding me emails or exhorting me to copy-and-paste their facebook status to mine, espousing the fallacious belief that America can be saved from its debt crisis if I and my family would buy only American products from locally owned businesses.  Even more so tonight when I got  one that promised "if every American spent just $64 more than normal on USA made items this year, it would create something like 200,000 new jobs" after reading about John Boehner walking away from President Obama's "grand bargain" due objections over raising revenue by "removing tax breaks for oil companies, corporate-jet owners, and hedge-fund managers." ("No 'grand bargain' on the debt ceiling," from The Week, the Best of the US and International Media, July 22, 2011, volume 11, page 2).



Walmart and other big box stores that  buy cheap foreign products to sell at lower prices are not the evil here.  I don't buy things from Walmart because I hate America, I do it because it is more affordable. My family is not financially independent enough to spend more when given the option  to pay less.  I am sure there are many Americans out there who feel the same way (you know who you are).

The evil here is being told by some rube that the solution to our financial problems is to make the Americans who have the least, do the most.  Meanwhile, the small majority that owns the most crooks their bejeweled fingers and discussions over America's future grind to a halt in an attempt to keep tax breaks on their corporate-owned jets.  There were less than 117 million households in America in 2006.  Of those, less than 2% (around two million) earned  more than $250,000. At that same time, 20% of  households (that is, 20 million)  earned less than $20,000.  Those two million wealthy households earn 125 times more than the 20 million poorest (Wikipedia).  Which group has more hedge-fund managers and corporate owned jets?  Which group has more resources to fit the debt crisis?

This chart from from Fair Economy shows some of the things that could be done by those who can afford it, if they chose to.

However, just like me, they are not giving their money away.

One last thing, rubes, the president that is really responsible for America's messed up financial state is not Barack Obama.  President Obama is trying to help the majority of Americans, not a wealthy elite.  

Please leave your comments below (and not on my facebook wall!)