What Are America's Priorities? And Can We Afford It All?
America is in the midst of several crises - economy, environment, energy, healthcare, education, and the war on terror. Tonight the U.S. Senate is voting on the $700 billion bailout plan. Two days ago the House of Representatives voted down the plan. I hope the Senate does too!
Why? Because I don't believe our government has clearly defined our priorities. And until they do so, we should not agree to spend $700 billion for the plan. We can't afford to bail out Wall Street, and at the same time, spend $10 billion a month for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, continue with another $500 billion annually for DoD business as usual, maintain our current entitlement programs, make our ongoing interest payments on the mountain of national debt, and attend to all the other pressing programs that need funding.
This wild spending spree has to stop. Haven't we learned anything about the national calamity that we are going through right now? The kind of debt we have is bad. The kind of debt we are about to take on is bad. Homes are being foreclosed on because of the massive debt load home owners have accumulated. What will happen to America with our ever increasing load of debt?
We won't be able to address the really important issues like education, which should be our number one priority. The lack of education is the root of most evil throughout the world.
Did you know that according to Christopher B. Swanson, director of the Education Research Center, the high school graduation rates for the principal school districts of the following cities are all below 50 percent: Detroit (24.9%); Indianapolis (30.5%), Cleveland (34.1%), Baltimore (34.6%), Columbus (40.9%), Minneapolis (43.7%), Dallas (44.4%), New York (45.25), Los Angeles (45.3%), Oakland (45.6%), Kansas City (45.7%), Atlanta (46.0%), Milwaukee (46.1%), Denver (46.3%), Oklahoma City (47.5%), Miami (49%), and Philadelphia (49.6%)?
Folks, theses are big cities. That's a lot of children not getting educated! I contend the failure of our schools to educate its students is the number one crisis in our country. And we are about to approve the expenditure of $700 billion to bail out the failures of Wall Street firms! How dumb is that!
I think we have our priorities upside down. Education leads to good paying jobs, healthcare insurance, tax revenue and big contributions to society. The lack of education more likely leads to entitlements, time in jail, poverty, and big drains on society.
How can we allow 1.4 million kids drop out of high school each year? Because we continue to spend $10 billion a month on ill-conceived wars, and plan to bail out Wall Street.
Does this make sense? Continuing to spend $700 billion a year on defense and taking on another $700 billion as a handout to Wall Street are bad investments. In fact, they are no investments at all.
I think educating our children will provide the best return on investment. Take that investment advice from someone off Wall Street!
Pierre Cutler
The Sacramento Executive
Comments
Note from the publisher: I received the following comment via email and am publishing it anonymously on behalf of my republican friend. Pierre.
Nice write up. You know of course I take exception to the ill-conceived war comment. Approx 3,000 souls were taken from us on our own soil on 9-11-01. The last time an event like that occurred was called Pearl Harbor and marked our entry into the WW II. I would agree that we need a strategic plan on how our military goes forward fighting the GWOT and what exists today is not working.
A point I would like to make and to get you thinking about is what did Japan do in the 80's and 90's when they faced a similar crisis. They got off debt and saved as a nation down to the individual. Reform needs to be driven down from the banks and credit lenders. The pay you later and not think about the future is the root of the problem on the individual level crisis that is looming for all of us in the near future. The nation's mindset on how we view credit and living with in our means and setting the table for future generations success needs to be the focus. You are spot on the role education plays in this change. We need a grass roots effort to wake the people of this nation up and get them thinking of what is important in life and what it means to be successful. I recently attended a event where the University of Iowa wrestling coach was talking about how his wrestlers and his program has had such great success. The key statement made by the coach was simple enough. His wrestlers come in everyday dedicated to being the best and then hold themselves accountable. We as a nation have lost our commitment to being the best and lack any accountability for our actions and their out comes.
The crisis we face to day may in fact re-calibrate this country into as you so rightly stated prioritizing what is the right task to take on first to resolve the predicament that we now face. The bailout is a shining example of the lack of accountability our government and investment firms have. The fact that they want all of us to pay for their mistakes is unacceptable. You know I am a capitalist and view the market as the correcting mechanism that should fix this problem not a government bailout. The government has never done anything well, that has not come back to haunt future generations. If you make bad decisions then you must live with the consequences not have the people bail you out. We are not socialist, we are a market based democracy. Just look across the Atlantic at western European nations and you will see our future. Failing economies, high unemployment with lots of government involvement in industry. It is time that America lived up to its founding father's dream of a nation ruled by the people not the government. We all need to be accountable and that starts with education. You have to know what is right to do what is right.
Dave Kirkwood
Posted by: Dave Kirkwood (alias) | October 2, 2008 7:41 AM