patrick.net

Well shit, that was easy.

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/11/13/weekinreview/deficits-graphic.html?choices=01114559

The whole "Gotta cut SS/MC/raise the age" is all bullshit. Just (mostly, not even the whole way) out of Iraq-Afghanistan, and return to Clinton-era taxation.

thunderlips11 says

Well shit, that was easy.

And yet, Congress can't do it. Why the hell aren't people like us running this country?

Dan8267 says

And yet, Congress can't do it.

They could, but once they get there, the incentives (campaign finance, revolving door, bribery of all kinds) are too powerful. The Capitol is an auction where policies are sold to the highest bidder, resulting always in the most wasteful policies that cost the most while delivering the least value, because those policies have the most markup that can be shared with advertisers, PR, marketing, politicians, lobbyists, etc. For example, the failed drug war confers no benefit to anyone other than those who make $ off it, but that $ "creates jobs" (especially for ALEC member corporations), so it is a huge success from their POV and it continues.

Yep, and any reform that would fix the problem with be blocked by the incumbents who benefit from the system. So is there any non-violent solution to the problem? Is there anyway short of a revolution in which we line the bastards up against the wall that would allow for real reform?

Dan8267 says

thunderlips11 says

Well shit, that was easy.

And yet, Congress can't do it. Why the hell aren't people like us running this country?

Because the organizations who would have their incomes cut with your plan are. Simple as that and completely true.

You and I may be adequately intelligent and informed to demand those cuts, but the vast majority of voters aren't. They are successfully propagandized by hundreds of millions of dollars worth of marketing science and superficial, sensationalist mainstream "news" media coverage that prevents the typical, casually interested individual from knowing the truth.

wbblair3 says

You and I may be adequately intelligent and informed to demand those cuts, but the vast majority of voters aren't.

And, besides, the vast majority are so deeply divided along sectarian and tribal lines that they end up choosing the lesser of two evils. You can have one party selling you out to its corporate sponsors, or the other burning you at the stake for witchcraft and blasphemy. The self-serving corporate media are part of the problem, but audiences choose which sources to listen to, and most give their attention and $ to self-serving preachers.