Thank you so much for your interest and support of my book, “The Age of Entitlement.”
Here’s what we face: Our economy has been hijacked by a small cadre of the powerful and wealthy, and they are stripping money out of the middle class. Billions of tax dollars go to failed banks, while the savings of hard-working people are wiped out. The bank bailout didn’t skip a beat when we switched administrations. The “banksters” have a firm grip on both parties, and all branches of government.
The stock market is a bonus-hungry casino no longer interested in building the long-term wealth of America. In fact, our growing wealth disparity is approaching that of a Third World nation.
It is not just “them,” it’s “us” too: When cheap debt was offered, we couldn’t get enough. We have a government that is 20% larger than we are willing to pay for in taxes. We refuse to elect anyone of any party that will not promise us a tax cut, which we borrow money from China to pay for. Somewhere, we lost fiscal sanity. Publicly and privately, we are mired in debt that will outlast our time on this planet.
As individuals, we are starting to restore ourselves to fiscal sanity, because we have to. No one will bail us out. Now it’s time for us to demand that of our government. No country ever prospered with a weak middle class, and this “top down” bailout recovery is all about reimbursing wealthy investors for their lost equity, while the rest of us wonder how we will send our kids to college, or retire.
Yes, moneyed interests still hold disproportionate sway. Don’t think you can make a difference? Think about this: Five years ago “green” was an idea on the fringes of society. Today, no politician of any party dares not speak about it. Not because a lobby paid them to, and not because they want to, but because we demanded they care about it. We can demand fiscal sanity. If we don’t, what a sorry mess we will be leaving for our children!
“Change we can believe in” will have to come from us. Our leaders have been bought off by special interests, ruled by short-term greed. America has been weakened by this greed and by entitlement thinking — that somehow prosperity is owed to us. China, India and Brazil are well on their way to becoming the powerhouses of this century. They will not stop as we stumble. India has more “honors” students than America has people!
Our place in history is not guaranteed. Long-term greatness will depend on an informed and engaged citizenry, and it will involve determination, sacrifice, and clear thinking. Partisan politics as usual is a distraction. It turned out there was little difference between social programs we couldn’t pay for and tax cuts we couldn’t pay for.
Let’s take a longer view than limping to the next boom-and-bust cycle. Everyone really knows we can’t spend and borrow our way out of this. But admitting that is much harder.
Writing this book and speaking out on these issues has been a large effort by one person, and I need all the help and exposure I can get! Please do your part by encouraging your friends to buy the book, talk to the people you know, whatever you can do to help this momentum. This is important information that affects all our lives, and it is being under-reported in the mainstream media.
This economic meltdown provides a unique moment in history. The American Revolution was fought to free our country from England’s stranglehold. Wall Street has stolen our 401Ks and given themselves bailout bonuses funded by our tax dollars. Time for another kind of revolution.
