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The public is demanding jobs, jobs, jobs so DC's wizards and geniuses are gathered at a "Fiscal Summit" -- put on by a hedge-fund billionaire -- to not talk about jobs. This summit takes place at the seat of our representative government but none of the speakers will be unemployed or homeless or poor or retired or even middle class. The premise of the discussion is framed as "we need to find a way to cut entitlements" - to cut the benefits that democracy entitles citizens to receive so that the 1% can have even more. Speakers knowingly say they "need to get away from the reporters and the glare of the camera lights" so they "don't have to worry about public backlash" -- i.e. the transparency and accountability of democracy -- and "come up with a deal." They even talk about "coming out of a room with a deal" after the elections and before those we elect take office! This entire arrogant, anti-democracy display further erodes people's faith in their leaders.

No Jobs

25 million Americans either don't have a job, don't have a job that pays enough to live on or have given up even bothering to look for a job and these people are gathered to talk about how to cut back the things democracy does for We, the People. People who once thought of themselves as middle class are eating at churches, living with their parents or relatives or sleeping in cars, going through trash bins but the "solutions" offered by the remote wizards and geniuses take even more money out of the economy and give it to the 1%ers.

How To Actually Fix The Deficits

Here are some clues for the wizards and geniuses at the "Fiscal Summit:"

1) JOBS fix deficits. Because so many people are out of work we aren't bringing in tax revenue and we're paying out huge amounts for unemployment, healthcare assistance, food stamps, etc. Unemployed people don't have the disposable income to spend at clothing stores, etc.

2) Investment grows the economy, and that fixes deficits. We have an aging, crumbling national infrastructure while our international competitors have modern, efficient infrastructure. Our businesses are trying to compete but have to depend on 1950's road and rail, etc. Fixing the infrastructure has to be done at some point and right now millions of people need the work, and financing costs have never been lower.

3) A trade deficits bleeds money out of the economy and our trade deficit is HUGE. The trade deals have benefited the 1%ers and Wall Street, but they have devastated our industrial regions and their supply chains, cost millions of jobs and sucked trillions from our economy.

4) The top tax rate is low and that encourages a scam economy. When you can make a fortune overnight and keep it it makes no sense to take the time to grow a solid business. Instead of look for quick-buck schemes. Growing a solid business over time requires solid communities with good infrastructure and educated people around those businesses and we have thrown that away.

5) A democracy tariff on goods that come from countries where people have no say would remove the competitive advantage from exploitation. We have allowed countries where workers and the environment are mistreated to have a competitive advantage over our democracy where people demand good wages, good working conditions and a clean environment. Use the revenue from that tariff to make our goods competitive elsewhere.

6) Our huge, bloated, incredible, wasteful, unbelievable military budget is equal to all the rest of the world combined. Obviously this drains our economy. The Soviet Unions is gone.

Those are just a few of the things that would fix the deficit problem. Don't forget, just 12 years ago we were paying off the debt.

Here is a chart from yesterday's post, Why We Have A Deficit:

TopRates_vs_Debt_Chart

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