It's been a
while since I discussed our country's increasing resemblance to a banana
republic, but four recent reports essentially confirm that we're more
like those third world countries we used to make fun of than many people
think. Among the things we have in common:
1. Significant
corruption
"Poll:
Plurality Say Congress is Corrupt" (UPI)
A plurality of
Americans say they think most members of Congress are corrupt, with less than
a third saying the opposite, a Rasmussen Reports survey indicated.
The survey, released Wednesday, also indicated a staggering 85 percent of
voters said they believe congressional members are interested in advancing
their own careers rather than helping people.
Forty-six percent of likely voters said they view most members of Congress as
corrupt, up 7 percentage points from June and the highest finding yet,
Rasmussen Reports said.
2.
Deteriorating infrastructure
"Infrastructure
Woes Take Toll on US Economy-Engineers" (Reuters)
Failing
infrastructure will cost the United States billions of dollars in lost
productivity, income and trade in coming decades, according to a civil
engineering report released on Wednesday that said the impact on gross
domestic product could reach $2.7 trillion.
The American
Society of Civil Engineers regularly tallies the amount needed to upkeep
declining U.S. roads, bridges and waterways. It said the country will need to
invest roughly $220 billion annually to maintain the country's infrastructure
in "minimum tolerable conditions."
It said the gap
between infrastructure needs and federal funding is growing.
"If
present trends continue, the funding gap for rail and bus transit, seen as 41
percent in 2010, is expected to increase to 55 percent in 2040," it
said. "The expected gap in highway funding, 48 percent in 2010, is
expected to increase to 54 percent by 2040."
3. Reckless
fiscal policies
"Republican
Leaders Voted for Debt Drivers They Blame on Obama" (Bloomberg)
House Speaker
John Boehner often attacks the spendthrift ways of Washington.
“In Washington,
more spending and more debt is business as usual,” the Republican
leader from Ohio said in a televised address yesterday amid debate over the
U.S. debt. “I’ve got news for Washington - those days are
over.”
Yet the
speaker, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan
and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell all voted for major drivers of the
nation’s debt during the past decade: Wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the
2001 and 2003 Bush tax cuts and Medicare prescription drug benefits. They
also voted for the Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP, that rescued
financial institutions and the auto industry.
Together,
according to data compiled by Bloomberg News, these initiatives added $3.4
trillion to the nation’s accumulated debt and to its current annual
budget deficit of $1.5 trillion.
As Congress
nears votes to raise the $14.3-trillion debt ceiling
to avert a default on U.S. obligations when borrowing authority expires on
Aug. 2, both parties are attempting to claim a mantle of fiscal
responsibility. They both bear some of the blame: Many Democrats contributed
to the expenses that are forcing lawmakers to boost the nation’s debt
limit, as have Republican leaders at odds over how much borrowing authority
to hand President Barack Obama and when.
“There’s
plenty of blame to go around,” for the debt, said Robert Bixby,
executive director of the Concord Coalition, an Arlington, Virginia-based
group that advocates for balanced budgets. “If there had been no Barack
Obama, we would still be bumping up against the debt limit.’”
4. Significant
wealth and income inequality
"Growing
Share of Income for the Rich" (Washington Post)
Inequality in
the U.S. has has grown steadily since the 1970s,
following a flat period after World War II. In 2008, the wealthiest 10
percent earned almost the same amount of income as the rest of the country
combined.
SHARE
OF NATION'S INCOME Including capital gains
The
top 0.1 percent of the population (those making about $1.7 million or more)
saw the sharpest increase in income share, taking home 2.6% of the
nation’s earnings in 1975 and 10.4% in 2008.
It's not your
father's America, that's for sure.
Michael J. Panzner
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