Rep. Blake Moore regularly claims that we have a culture of spending in our federal government; therefore, we must reduce spending.
Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy go further, claiming that we must reduce government spending by imposing economic hardship on our citizens through austerity. No suggestion of hardship for the rich, apparently.
Clara E. Mattei addresses this theme in her book, “The Capital Order, How Economists Invented Austerity and Paved the Way to Fascism,” where she documents the effects of the economic policies of Great Britain and Italy from the time of World War I forward.
Very briefly, she explains why the right wing’s theory of austerity is code talk for maintaining the status quo; that is, making sure that money continues to flow upward.
The Rand Corporation reports that since the days of Ronald Reagan, $50 trillion has been transferred from the bottom 90% of the public to the top 1%, much of which is thanks to tax cuts for very wealthy individuals and corporations.
The results are an exploded national debt and less revenue for the government to invest in the common good, leading to right wing claims that there is not enough money to fund the very popular programs that benefit the country as a whole; therefore, we need to cut back on popular services that people rely on.
It’s a vicious cycle that the GOP continues to peddle, which begs the question: Do we have a culture of spending or a culture of reducing revenue? Or both?
When I was young, the middle class was thriving. Since the days of Reagan, the wealthy have become enormously richer while the wealth and income of the middle class have stagnated. The consequent inequality in this country has resulted in us now having a fascist, fearless leader-elect and his supporters who are either afraid to stand up to him out of fear or maybe they kind of like his nastiness because they imagine he will somehow make them better off.
What’s your guess?
The Biden administration has demonstrated that investing in the common good works because what drives a nation’s economic success is a middle class with money to spend, not cutting taxes for the rich.
Dean Olsen, North Ogden
