The Lost (104) Years for American Tax Payers

THE LOST (104) YEARS FOR AMERICAN TAX PAYERS

By Douceline de la Hay

[Disclaimer: Okay, I have written professional papers. I have masters degree. Not saying that for any reason other than to explain. I get that you might be cringing at my lack of sources, but here it is; if you look it up for yourself, you’re a lot more likely to think and believe. Teach yourself.]

Am I the only one to notice that poverty seems to be growing in America? People will say this is not true, but they are not the people who will go walking in the homeless sections of down town, counting heads.

I look around at all the problems with drugs, gangs and crime and think; though out the history of this country weren’t we supposed to be trying to make things better? How is it we keep paying more and more but it seems like it keeps going off the rails? Once upon a time we allowed other human beings to be used as slaves. As a society we went into crisis over this obvious evil and actually fought a war to end it that killed 620,000 people Good luck looking up the percent of white people who gave their lives fighting this evil. Sorry if that offends. Honestly, I wondered].

We crossed hundreds or thousands of miles in wagons. Yup and we made some more horrific choices and committed a trillion wrongs along the way then too. Finally, coast to coast we seem to have come together as a nation.

We know some of the real history of the US government up until about 1925, but much of it “iffy“, even then. So back in what, 2007-8? That one financial crisis is considered by most economists to have been the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression of the 1930s. There are so many approaches to having any idea of the REAL reasons for this horrific crash. But here are some of my guesses;

1. Bernie Madoff: His alleged Ponzi scheme ended up costing banks (you and me) $50 billion in losses, with an effect on every level of society; retirees and nonprofits alike. The fact that Bernie is dishonest does not even come into it. My attention is not where they want me to look. I am wondering about the regulators that were on the job when this was going on under their nose. And the pay-off for the big banks that followed. Talk about double indemnity.

2. Ah, the housing bubble of 2008, which happened at about the same time as number one. Now I realize that they might actually be the same thing, but you won’t find it presented that way anywhere in the news. At least not that I could find. The government rationalized its failure to prosecute anyone (seriously, not a single soul) for bubble-related crimes by saying Wall Street's behavior may have been unwise or unethical, it wasn't illegal. This one cost the Treasury Department itself. An assessment, put the total lost per household wealth at roughly $19.2 trillion. That is TRILLION with a capital T. Granted part of that might be counted in with Bernie’s pyramid. Still, altogether, that's a chunk of change, all covered by tax payers. Aaaagain.

These were far from the only thing that cost society, and tax payers, as a whole however. God, I could go on and on about the debt (and jobs lost) individual presidents have stuck taxpayers with and the poverty that was generated as a result. Just consider this; The national debt from the time of FDR and Truman was only slightly higher than it was under Obama. Okay, so, what was going on in 1945 that seems close to what we are going through now? Back then we were finally at the end of WWII. That cost, in addition to 60 million lives, over 300 million dollars then or 4.4 trillion in today’s numbers. Let’s not forget what it cost japan. Right now we have a fluctuating war in the middle east. In 1931 we were trying to recover from another little melt down, the great depression of 1929-30. The poverty from that was on a massive scale that not a single person alive today can imagine. NO, don’t start with that bristling hackle. Yes there is a horrific level of poverty now. But think about how many images of poverty there were in the 1930’s. Some are even classics. Let’s see you come up with as many “classic” images of poverty today. I am not saying no-one is experiencing poverty in 2017. I am saying, the reality is (for the most part) that poverty is not very “visible” in our “film everything” age. But I think that poverty today just as bad. When is the last time you actually filmed someone who is obviously homeless? Yes, they might be crazy and attack you for it, but really, when have you ever thought of doing that? Yeah, I thought not. Well, don’t feel alone, or insulted. No one has. Not news. Not journalists, not social scientists or cultural anthropologists. Not even professional photographers. So I don’t get sued for making a suggestion (that anyone with half a brain would ignore), let me just say in advance that I am not advocating that you go try to film homeless people, gangsters, drug addicts or criminals in prison. As an aside, Tax funded budget requests for prisons totaled $8.5 billion for federal prisons and detention in 2015. It seems like if you can’t employ them, imprison them. The American justice system holds more than 2.3 million people in roughly 10,000 facilities. Compare that to 5 million manufacturing jobs lost since 2000. In light of that people are pretty honest. I don’t need to tell you job loss and poverty go hand in hand. And poverty, well it’s leading the twins alcoholism and drug addiction. Remember 1930 prohibition? Alcoholism was a problem then too.

Where poverty and its history are concerned, think back a little farther. The Civil war caused poverty too. From then on war causing poverty holds true. Until… it seems like the government figured out that war cost money, but taxing for it actually made money. No surprise that, 46 years after the civil war, we were gifted with the privilege of having the government dip into our pockets to suck out our sweat and time. Enter 104 Years of Income Tax. Now if you go to look this up and find something, let me know but here is my guess; IF you could find a simple graph that showed the total taken in every year by the federal government it would look like a freaking jet took off. Pretty much a steady climb. Forget for a second all the noise about what it supposedly “costs” to run the government (some will read entitlements here) and just consider the raw income. Some of the costs to run that government include so much graft and nepotism that I could go breathless trying to list it all. [All that shady section right there; that’s tax payers covering that again.] Do you see the pattern yet? Poverty, War, financial crash, more poverty, war again. Round and round. All the while we slide into more tax payer debt and those in office never seem to blink. Not on TV anyway.

Some of those reading this are starting to gear up for a flame throwing party. And that is okay. I’m comfortable in my skin. Something supposedly positive, at least according to some of the extreme left. You know who you are. Most likely the ones who haven’t gone hungry in a decade due to either wealth, luck or food stamps. I get it. I like to be generous too, but then again, look around. It seems to me like politicians have stopped trying to make it better for everyone and are focused on making themselves and their friends rich. If that was an untrue statement, then how do so many people across the country spend millions to get elected to various offices and who may not actually be a millionaire when they take office yet somehow leave it as millionaires, excellent healthcare and a fat retirement AND all their student loans not only forgiven, but forgotten. And real poverty? They wouldn’t know it if it bit them and for now at least, never will. Check that little bit of research, I would love to read about that...Well, time to think this over some more. Remember; Film a homeless person.

Just so we are clear.

Copyright Douceline de la Hay, 2017