Now You Have to Govern

by Max Johnson

We have seen these swings for the past 25 years at the federal level, so we can weather the changes in the House of Representatives. In addition, there is this internal war going on within the Corporate party which will eventually lead to a Day of Reckoning. I mean these tea baggers will wake up and realize that their partners in bed were the very people who ran up the deficit. They will realize that Dan Coats was a lobbyist and long time Congressman who brought the pork to Indiana. They will realize that Marco Rubio and Rick Scott in Florida are businessman who are more interested in enriching themselves and improving the business climate than being a populist. They will see that the amount of discretionary funding available to cut is so small that it is meaningless. The Corporate Party will have to cut defense, transportation, education, social security, and Medicaid (all popular programs) to make any impact on debt. When this day of realization comes will be interesting to stand back and watch the feud.

I have to wonder if the corporations of America held off hiring until after the election to make sure that they would have a favorable election. There is nothing comparable to motivating people to vote for the party out of power like unemployment. It certainly would be a good strategy to reverse the Obama gains to keep the economy sluggish. I just have to wonder.

Where we have to worry is state government and especially Ohio. Kasich of Ohio, Perry from Texas, Scott in Florida, Brewer in Arizona, and many others are facing huge budget deficits and have made pledges that they will not raise taxes. There is no way to cut enough out of the budgets to get a balanced budget. Even if the economic climate improved today that would not raise enough dollars to balance the budget with additional income tax in the next year. So, what is left? The only choice left is to sell off public assets. They will have to sell public parks, roads, and maybe even schools, parking meters, and public utilities. Anyone want to buy Interstate 70 or 71 for $8 billion? We are not going to have a train, so in order to get to Columbus we will have to pay a toll. We will have to pay for a quality elementary charter school, and the poor kids will go to the crappy public schools. There is nothing else to do when these right wingers have painted themselves into a corner. The entire state except Cuyahoga County is now red, and they break it, they buy it.