gracchusdixit

It is an article of faith on the right that our government spends too much and taxes too much.  To quote tea party zealots in Congress:  “We don’t have a revenue problem, we have a spending problem.”  No matter who gets the Republican nomination, we’re going to hear this refrain again and again and again.  Indeed, Americans have already heard it so often that most people have come to accept it as true without thought or examination.  The trouble is, it’s not true.

We are told that “runaway spending” by government is wrecking our economy.   But government spending in the United States, as a percentage of our total economy, is far behind the rest of the industrialized world.  How do we account for the fact that other societies, with far higher levels of government spending, are in better economic shape?

We are told that taxes are too high and that high taxes “kill jobs.”  But taxation in the United States is far lower than in most other advanced countries.  How do we account for the fact that more highly taxed societies offer their citizens higher standards of living and better public services?  And how do we explain the reality that our economy was in much better shape in prior eras when our taxes were, in fact, much higher than they are today?

We are told that higher taxes on the top one percent would crush the “small businesses” that provide most of the jobs in our society.  But the vast majority of small business owners aren’t even close to being in the top one percent of income earners, and no one has proposed raising their taxes.   How, in any event, do we deal with the fact that many of the jobs provided by small businesses are insecure, ill-paying, and temporary?

It’s time to recognize that we are being lied to—systematically and deliberately—by those whose self-interest is at stake.   We are being lied to by Republicans whose sole interest is the downfall of Barack Obama and the eradication of the New Deal.  We are being lied by corporations whose sole motivation is to continue shipping jobs overseas all the while they continue to pay no taxes at home.  We are being lied to by right-wing demagogues in Congress whose sole purpose is to win the next election and every election thereafter.

It’s time to stop listening to the lies and face up to the truth.  The truth is that we spend too much on the wrong things and too little on the right things, and that we don’t tax enough to pay for either.  If we want our kids to become thinking citizens rather than mindless consumers, then we have to invest in education.  If we want roads and bridges that don’t fall apart, then we have to invest in infrastructure.  If we want a decent health care system, then we have to stop subsidizing private insurance companies and start investing in a more efficient public alternative.  It’s time to stop kidding ourselves.  You get what you pay for and not a penny more.