Congress and the media paid homage to the agenda of the billionaires and Wall Street, with the manufactured "fiscal cliff" PR campaign frenzy that just ended. So now can we get back to the country's priorities? Can we talk about jobs now?
Jobs Fix Deficits
Now that the idiotic "fiscal cliff' is out of the way, maybe we can start to get around to doing something that will actually help We, the People, fix the economy and reduce the borrowing. Namely, invest in modernizing our country's infrastructure and reducing our economy's reliance on burning fossil fuels for energy.
We are $2 trillion behind in keeping our country's infrastructure up to date. Imagine how our economy would be humming if we finally got started on that work that has to be done sooner or later anyway -- modernizing all the roads and bridges, modernizing the electrical grid, bringing fiber Internet lines to businesses and homes, building high-speed rail across the country and all of these things using American-made supplies, steel, rail cars... Et cetera, et cetera.
Imagine our economy (and the health of the planet) if we didn't depend on burning oil and coal for our energy. We could retrofit all buildings and homes to be energy-efficient. We could build more (American-produced) wind farms and install (American-produced) solar everywhere. Everything would cost so much less, our trade deficit would be lower, Et cetera.
Imagine how many more people would be working if we did those things. They would be paying taxes, patronizing stores, Et cetera. They would not be collecting food stamps or unemployment. Et cetera.
And imagine how all of that would help our government's budget situation. More people working = less govt assistance, more people paying taxes, more businesses being patronized... Modernized infrastructure = more competitive economy creating more new opportunities. Energy efficiency = lower energy costs, lower trade deficits... This is because jobs fix deficits.
The Plutocrat Agenda Is Cuts
The agenda of the plutocrats is to get government -- We, the People -- out of their way.
The billionaires tell us that the biggest problem we have is too much government. Think about who benefits if we cut government. If we cut government We, the People get less of the things that We, the People do for each other, the billionaires get less of We, the People in their way.
If we cut government we get less regulation of their banks, and they get less regulation of their banks.
If we cut government we get less worker safety rules protecting us on the job, and the get less worker safety rules, making them pay for those protections.
Et cetera.
The agenda of the billionaires is also to limit competition. Government regulations work to increase competition. The billionaires are on top and they want to stay on top. A thriving, competitive, opportunity-creating economy is not important to them, their economy is thriving -- they are already billionaires.
Et cetera. So of course the billionaires want less government. Less We, the People making the decisions means less We, the People in their way.
The Agenda of We, the People Is Jobs
We, the People want good jobs that pay well and provide benefits. We want a modernized, competitive, opportunity-creating economy. We want modern infrastructure that enables our smaller businesses to thrive and grow. We want plentiful good-paying jobs. And when an economy is humming and there are plenty of jobs, more of us can do well.
Do billionaires create jobs or do jobs create billionaires? Why would a billionaire want to "create jobs," anyway? This is about who has the power. If you believe that billionaires create jobs, you want the billionaires in charge and making all the decisions. But if you believe that jobs create billionaires then you want We, the People in charge, doing things that create lots of good-paying jobs and improve the economy for all of us.
Do We, the People still have the power to do the things that benefit our lives and each other? Again, if democracy creates billionaires then you want democracy to be in charge. If billionaires create jobs then you want billionaires to be in charge.
Who do you think should be in charge? We, the People? Or the billionaires?
This post originally appeared at Campaign for America's Future (CAF) at their Blog for OurFuture. I am a Fellow with CAF.