Today all around the nation we are repeatedly hearing the cry "We're in fiscal jeopardy". Not in exactly those words but I think that paraphrases it enough and I do not want to add to the rhetoric by repeating a false statement more than I need to. The facts do not support this claim, no matter how many times it's repeated.
The fear of economic troubles was perpetuated during the end of the Bush Administration in collusion with those that were going to benefit from that fear. "Distressed mortgages" were blamed for an upheaval in the "world of finance". The "recovery package" presented by that administration, again by working with those that were going to benefit from it, was sold to us as an "optimistic" means to "fix" the "financial mess".
Language is a very important tool, one that is used very successfully for purposes of propaganda. Very experienced and intelligent people are employed to come up with these catch phrases and get them out into the media and into the daily thoughts of Joe Public. A famous quote by Abraham Lincoln goes like this "You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can not fool all of the people all of the time." You might think that this quote is ignored by those that would want to spread misinformation, however it is quite the opposite. Those in charge of spreading this kind of misinformation watch closely for anyone that see's through it and is prepared with a new bit of misinformation as soon as the prior lie is uncovered, be that with a 'poll' or 'statistic' or 'expert opinion' or what ever.
The call today to cut social program funding to cover financial difficulties in our government is already having a disastrous effect upon our economy. Economies live off of the flow of their currency in a very similar fashion to how the global populations health is affected by the supply of food. How well the strength and quality of supply meets the demand directly impacts it's health.
Have you have ever heard the phrase 'It is better to make one dollar off of a hundred people than it is to make one hundred dollars from one person.'? I don't know who coined that phrase but the concept is really pretty simple. If your in business and you have a hundred customers at one dollar a month then the likelihood of having an income the following month is much greater than if you tried to depend on a single customer at one hundred dollars. If you lose a few customers the next month then you still have money coming in, whereas with a single customer lose any part of that and your left with zero. Stick with this while I write on.
The money that goes into a social program is dispersed widely amongst a large number of people. All the way from the person who heads the programs administration down through the ranks of everyone employed to provide the program and finally to the people who are served by it either directly or by the services that are provided or paid for. The federal food stamp program for instance, those tax dollars are not only seen by the people who get the food but by everyone involved in the program and everyone involved in the food that is bought from production to plate. A very small portion of these funds will make it into bank accounts that have very little return flow into the economy such as the upper echelon of share holders of any one the food production corporations, however as service providers by and large and service recipients are not in a position to put away money into savings this means that by far the majority of this money stays in the economy and continues the flow.
While those involved in these programs and receiving their assistance are certainly benefiting the actual money ends up in someone's hands that most likely has no idea where it originated. These people then use that money for their own needs and wants and again that money has made it's way back to join the flow of currency in our economy. It is a healthy flow that allows for the majority of the population to thrive. It's these 'small dollars' that see their way to your local grocers, to your local restaurants, to your local newspapers, and all the way down to the lemonade stand that industrious five year old set up on a hot summer day.
Taken on an individual basis we are talking such a minute penance that it's not worth even looking at. However, we are not talking individually but instead we are talking about our nation as a whole. The next time you see the billions of dollars that are being put on the chopping block from social programs look past the 'welfare recipient' into your own personal part of the economy and consider if you really want that money to no longer be a part of what is available to you and instead hiding well protected in the corporate echelon's accounting system.
Lastly I ask you to consider this: If these programs are such failures and such an incredible drain on our economy the why is it that each and every one of these programs are being considered to be privatized?
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