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Has anyone flipped through their local newspaper lately? Taken a gander at national headlines? Observed the political and cultural landscape? If you haven’t, I recommend you do so, and soon. Turn on and tune in because it’s 2010, and if you recall it has been two years since America and the world alike was slapped in the face with a barrage of the fear mongering, urgent, no-turning-back message of the recession.
What I’m about to examine is far from any such tactics, but rather reality, and if the American public doesn’t act fast, we’re poised to fall off the cliff. Before we know it, it will be too late; our fall from grace will essentially amount to a stupor.
Since 2008, a number of consequential things have happened: unemployment has wrought havoc on the innocent and has held steady at around 10 percent nationally since housing markets crashed; bailouts were granted; and yawning gaps in revenues and spending slashed their way through the American economy. The effect is nothing short of societal polarization and hardship for those caught in the throes of misfortune. Struggle and depravation surround us.
Never mind that though; after all, it’s more or less inconsequential once we consider the thick of it all. At the federal level, the Bush era tax cuts are set to expire. If the Republicans have their way in protecting the wealthy — and, yes, anyone making more than $250,000 per year is unequivocally wealthy — an extension would cost $168 billion alone in 2011, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.
Furthermore, lawmakers have until year’s end to fix the Alternative Minimum Tax. Approximately 23 million new families will be hit with tax bills that, on average, would be $3,900 higher if the AMT is not adjusted for inflation. Doctors who care for senior citizens on Medicare face a 23 percent cut in the amount the federal government reimburses for care starting Dec. 1 unless Congress acts. Millions of Americans will lose unemployment benefits if they are not extended; this would have a crippling effect on individuals’ ability to merely survive, and it would carry immense implications for the economy as a whole.
Unrelated, but alarmingly reflective of the economic climate, the U.S. Postal Service recorded an $8.5 billion operating loss in 2009. Every time we turn around, a private or public entity is losing money. Unfortunately, money does make the world go round.
Our country has persisted for nearly a decade now at two wars in which we continue futile nation-building efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan, with potential conflicts on the horizon in Yemen and Africa, all to the tune of $110 billion or more annually.
The imperatives surface as President Obama failed in the last week to open up economic opportunities in Asia. Next are trade wars with China, bolstered by recent approval in the U.S. House of Representatives to raise punitive tariffs on Chinese imports. Additionally, as worldwide economies face the fire of economic distress, the world market could be subject to a rash of protectionism, something we can ill-afford.
Meanwhile, at home in Maine, we face a $1 billion budget shortfall over the next biennium, and entitlement programs, retiree benefits and infrastructure demands guarantee more hardship. Maine’s plight is nothing compared to other states like Connecticut, with a staggering $5.1 billion budget shortfall, or California, with astronomical budget woes. You can bet your bottom dollar those states will see additional cuts in federal aid as well.
The bottom line is lawmakers must act, but they won’t. They’re too concerned about their own political fortunes and abilities to earn a buck in a career meant to solve these problems. Partisan politics and never-ending terms have ruined the legislative process on Capitol Hill. In response to the country’s accelerating and ubiquitous problems, austere measures have been proposed.
Now I suppose I could be considered a liberal, but it’s high time we acknowledge that sacrifices will have to be made. But more importantly, it’s time as students, as citizens of a democracy, as those struggling with fear and uncertainty, to step up to the plate and let our voices be heard.
I’m a reporter, and I’m doing all I can to make these problems heard, but I need your help. It’s time we fix our sights on something other than Facebook and the text message at hand. It’s time we get off of the couch and stop turning our heads the other way. We’re sleeping and we need to wake up, because if we don’t, sooner or later there will be nothing to wake up to.
Jamison Cocklin is fourth-year journalism student. He is a staff reporter for The Maine Campus.
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