I'm angry about politics.... so what else is new?

I listened to a 'debate' on NPR yesterday between two economists about the Congressional budget proposal that Paul Ryan made recently. It's very interesting because it clearly contrasts the difference between the conservative approach to government and the more progressive approach. The conservative approach believes, blindly that giving tax breaks to the rich will eventually get to the rest of us. However, there is no proof of this. In fact, in this interview, when the conservative economist is asked he simply reverts to his talking points. There is no proof, yet conservatives consistently take money from the poor and give it to the rich. If we want to talk about redistribution of wealth this is the redistribution of wealth that has been occurring in this country over the past 30 years. We are taking money from the poor and giving it to the wealthy.

Immediately after this interview, there was a story about how Wall Street is making more money than it has since 2000. Our government, state, federal and local are making tough decisions about who to lay off and which people's benefits to cut. These cuts will literally mean death for some people. People that are chronically ill or in need of medical treatment will not receive it. These cuts will literally cause people to become homeless and go hungry. These cuts are not about abstract numbers of 3 billion and 10 billion there. These cuts are about the people that I meet every day on the street or where I volunteer. Yet, while our government is making these tough decisions Wall Street is raking in more profits than ever. It makes me angry that the people in this nation are not crying out for more taxes.

When I'm making my personal budget and I do not have enough money there are two options. One, cut spending. Two, raise my income. If the government were an individual they are ignoring one half of the solution. Cutting spending might be necessary, however, personally, I would never cut my grandmother's housing, no matter how poor I became, first I would look for other sources of income. The Government however, would rather cut my grandmother's housing and food for my cousin and my health care before they even begin to think about the possibility of more revenue. At some point, more revenue needs to be on the table.

Furthermore, cutting money from poor people is going to hurt the economy. Poor people spend ALL their money. If the government gave poor people money in a stimulus that would help the economy and would encourage jobs. If businesses were doing more sales they would need to hire more staff to meet this need. Instead of having trickle down economics we need trickle up economics. Rich people don't spend all their money. They have savings and retirements and IRA's and 401K's and many other ways of keeping their money out of the economy. Poor people don't. They just spend to meet their basic needs. If the government really wants to keep the economy from completely tanking, they need to invest more money in the programs that help the poorest people. These cuts at all levels are going to make any kind of recovery impossible and perhaps turn what is already the worst economic crisis in 80 years into the worst economic crisis in American history.

Dilemma

My life here in Austin doesn't feel as exciting, or epic, as my life in Geneva, which is why I have not been posting nearly as much. However, I have a dilemma that I would like to share with all of my lovely readers. (I will not start this as a letter to the reader, although I am sorely tempted to do so).

I am part of the online community, Couchsurfing. In the Austin community we have a message board which is used to organize community events, sharing of vehicles and other objects and general discussions. It is an open forum where anyone that is a member of the Austin group can post and/or reply to posts.

I saw a post a few days ago entitled "Shooting 'Good Friday' in Austin - open casting this Friday." Intrigued, I opened the message. It was a satire of the Christian tradition around Jesus' death on 'Good Friday' as made into a music video with Mel Gibson directing. At first I just thought, this is an insensitive post, it doesn't really matter. However, the more I thought about it the more offended I became. I am not usually offended by people's religious beliefs. People can believe whatever they'd like and I encourage them to express those beliefs in a open, honest and respectful way. This post was simply there to mock deeply held beliefs. However, this post is not expressing any belief - it is instead simply mocking the traditions around Good Friday. I know that if someone posted a similarly mocking post about atheism, or any other religion, people would be greatly offended. I also understand that as the dominant religion and culture, Christianity needs to be more understanding of the backlash against it. Whenever religion is to be the subject of debate it should be done a careful and thoughtful and timely manner. This satire was none of those.

Yet I have decided not to post a response on the forum. I am offended, but I think that the best option is silence. Responding to the message on the forum would not create an open and honest discussion. The person who posted the message, in my opinion, is not in a state of mind to have a discussion at all. Furthermore, if I respond the whole message is bumped up to the top of the list, further encouraging others to read it. If I do not respond it will slowly trickle to the bottom and eventually off the front page and out of people's minds. I believe that I am making the right decision, but it is difficult to stand by in silence when something I believe is being mocked.

Thank you, reader, for reading about my dilemma.