Lenten Reflection on the Ecomony

Here is a reading for a Lenten Reflection:  (Isaiah 58:  6-9;  The Message)                       

 ”This is the kind of fast day I’m after:
   to break the chains of injustice,
   get rid of exploitation in the workplace,
   free the oppressed,                                                                                                          
   cancel debts.
What I’m interested in seeing you do is:
   sharing your food with the hungry,
   inviting the homeless poor into your homes,
   putting clothes on the shivering ill-clad,
   being available to your own families.
Do this and the lights will turn on,
   and your lives will turn around at once.
Your righteousness will pave your way.
   The God of glory will secure your passage.
Then when you pray, God will answer.
   You’ll call out for help and I’ll say, ‘Here I am.’

After listening to Obama’s speech last night, I am beginning my Lent with a lot of thought about our country, and our economy.  Some how it all ties in with the Isaiah reading above.

The key, as any good economist will tell you, is for people to get back their confidence.  The whole purpose of the Keynesian economic plan that is now in place is to prime the pump with government spending, and thereby to encourage confidence.  The problem is a top down problem of hoarding money; not loaning it, not spending it.  It is doubt and fear — that lack of confidence — that keeps people stuck. 

In my opinion President Obama hit a home run in his speech to the joint houses of Congress last night.  He seemed to hit the right balance between expressing the seriousness of our economic situation, and the positive position that we are going to be all right, and all will be well, because “we are not quitters,”  and he said:  “we will rebuild, we will recover, and the United States of America will emerge stronger than before.”

On the other hand, I was not a bit impressed with Governor Jindal.  His speech missed the mark in every way.  It was as if he hadn’t listened to a word of what was actually said by Obama, but simply had his own narrow agenda.  As I said, I was not impressed and thought his speech was very immature.  I was flabbergasted by his mention of hurricane Katrina, as that had been such a catastrophe for the republican administration.  Very weird. 

I watched some of the “iReports” on CNN this morning, and the people in these reports were positive and already more confident.  However, I also ran into those talking heads who can’t seem to help but try to tear everything down again.  They have this need to analyse, analyse, analyse every word and phrase, until what was said no longer means anything at all.  These so-called commentators can rob people of what little bit of confidence they were gaining. 

There is something that disturbed me when watching the speech last night.  I have no problem with watching the republicans sit it out when the democrats in Congress are standing up and clapping.  But when they sat like stones when Obama mentioned the extension of unemployment benefits, I was struck by their position.  They are taking a position over and against workers, and it is blatant.   I definitely want everyone to be able to get well paying jobs, and when they lose that job, I want them to be able to manage until they can get a new job. 

From my point of view, the only time you would not want good paying jobs, and would not want workers to be able to manage while seeking another good job is if you want to drive salaries down.  In other words, it is very nice as someone who hires people to be able to pay them the least that you must.  (Why else go to some foreign country and hire people there?)  Then there is more money for yourself.  If there is a large pool of desperate people who need work — you can really get away with paying little.    From my point of view, this isn’t good.  The less salary a person makes, the less likely it is that they will be able to afford to do.   I want everyone in our country to have good jobs with excellent salaries, because then I do well, too.

Obama said the recovery plans already in the works are immediate steps to revive the economy in the short-term, “but the only way to fully restore America’s economic strength is to make the long-term investments that will lead to new jobs, new industries, and a renewed ability to compete with the rest of the world.”  (CNN) 

 There is also so much confusion over taxes in our country right now, and as far as I’m concerned, I’m kind of tired at the way taxes are portrayed as some kind of “punishment” instead of as the way we all contribute to the well being of our country, and of ourselves.  The republicans have this saying:  why would you want to “punish” someone for making over $250,000 a year?  They just don’t get it.  Taxes are NOT about punishment.  There is no punishment here.  It is about contributing what you can toward the common good, and it ought to be obvious to anyone that those who are making money hand over foot can contribute more than those who are barely scraping by. 

We have a progressive tax system in our country for a reason.  People forget our history.  We are a country with a bold history based on a great experiment.  We established a country that was meant to be quite different from the “old” countries we came from.  In the “old” ways it is very common for their to be very wealthy ruling families who pass that wealth on from generation to generation, staying in power through wealth.  We made a conscious decision in this country to be different – without that wealthy elite class.  We were going to establish a strong middle class, and get rid of those old style ruling families — the wealthy elite.  Having a strong middle class, and not having an hereditary wealthy elite is not natural in this world, and must be created.  Laws were made so that the wealthy were taxed more heavily, and so that they could not leave that hereditary wealth to create a new ruling class.  Does anyone remember this? 

From the beginning there were those who did not like this new way of being a country, and they have resisted down through the ages.  For them there is the “natural order of things” — with the wealthy on top, and the rest of us below.  In the last years, since Reaganomics was put in play, those on the side of the wealthy elite have been winning.  It is time, in my humble opinion, to bring balance once again, and reestablish a strong middle class — through education and good jobs.  It is not time to let go of the great American experiment!  Older countries have been watching, and predicting that we will fail — let’s not give them the satisfaction!