First, there was the inspiration and struggle to break free
from Europe. Prosperity followed. When Europe failed to do things for itself,
we aided…and bled. Then there was the
quest to be more like Europe. Years
later when Europe seemed to be struggling in spite of having embraced social
hedonism, progressives explained that it “can’t happen here.” Suspension of disbelief is required in order
to believe that following someone will somehow only put you in a happy place -
and not necessarily where they end up. But
the explanation continued, repeated at a greater frequency. Now there is the almost constant mantra, “that
can’t happen here.” It started at a slow
pace with Greece and you can just about dance to it now with Cyprus. It is unclear whether they are trying to
convince us or themselves.
What an interesting idea Cyprus had. Just take their savings straight from the
source. Brilliant - highly illegal, but
brilliant! And it “can’t happen here.”
Funnier still, Cyprus blinked and now everyone with money has run
away. That is a classic run on the
bank. At any rate, whatever legal or
illegal options Cyprus might have had are largely gone now, which will put a
strain on the European Union. Let’s be
more like them. Say it together, “can’t
happen here.”
Without getting into a long discussion on the fresh new
wrapper professors like to put on the same old package, let’s all agree that
the economy has been “global” since ocean trade routes were established. Countries compete for global resources and
tie into other markets whose success and failures are shared in degree. So when the EU gets pinched, we will feel
some pressure, too. Can’t happen…
So back to being more like Europe; this budget thing is frustrating. Well it is if you are going to enter into the
discussion from the perspective of how we are going to pay for everything we
need and want. Unfortunately, the
average American must budget, starting with their income and subtracting the
things they need then sorting out the wants.
Lets play the “it can’t happen here game,” just for fun. The Senate finally showed up on the job after
4 years (try doing that and keeping your
job) and passed a budget with $1T in tax hikes over the next decade. That means it is $100B each year so don’t get
excited that it is a significant part of a greater than $4T annual budget or a
$16T debt. Oh and it will probably be
reduced over that 10 year period.
Now, in the spirit of the game let’s focus on those super
evil 1 percenters. We all know they
don’t do enough because they still have bigger houses and more toys than we
have. It is not enough that the top 1%
pays 40% of the bill. No! Let’s make them pay more. In fact, inspired by Cyprus, let’s become
Utopian and take it ALL. That would be awesome! No more problems ever!! Wait, how much did we just get? Well, according to a summary of 2009 taxes,
we just stole (I think that is what they call it when you take something that
does not belong to you and you did not earn) $1.3T[i]. We have failed to even cover our budget. Then we will have to take/steal more!!
Now do not panic, it
can’t happen here.
Maybe we do have a spending problem, after all. There is very little the federal government
must do. Top of that list when the EU
dominos start to tip on a stage built by the likes of North Korea, Iran, and
Syria, will be to maintain our sovereignty.
After that, start subtracting our needs and see if the
income extends to any of our wants. It
can’t happen here - but what if it did?
Will we be like Europe then?
[i] Logan, David S..
"Summary of Latest Federal Individual Income Tax Data." Tax
Foundation. N.p., 24 Oct 2011. Web. 23 Mar 2013.
<http://taxfoundation.org/article/summary-latest-federal-individual-income-tax-data-0>.
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