Krugman: California Becoming a Banana Republic, Is America Next?
OPS_admin | May 27, 2009 | Comments 0
Krugman: California Becoming a Banana Republic, Is America Next?
Who would have thought that America’s largest state, a state whose economy is larger than that of all but a few nations, could so easily become a banana republic?
The fiscal problems threatening to bankrupt the state of California could soon besiege the entire national government, paralyzing it with partisanship and making the nation ungovernable, according to Nobel Prize winning economist Paul Krugman.
California is a special case because of a few arcane laws that make imposing tax increases nearly impossible. Residents must approve increases to property taxes through statewide referendums and tax increases in the state legislature require a two-thirds majority to be approved. As a result, the state is facing a massive budget gap that cannot be closed through increasing revenue due to the lack of will to increase taxes on both the parts of legislators and residents.
The common thread that the state shares with the nation on a whole, however, is the increasing marginalization of the Republican party to its most extreme and conservative elements.
Nationwide, this has been epitomized by the ascendancy of talk radio host Rush Limbaugh as the titular head of the Republican party, the party switch of former Republican senator Arlen Specter and a recent poll showing that just 21 percent of the American people identify themselves as Republicans – the lowest level in the history of the poll.
via Economyincrisis.org – America’s Economic Report – Daily.
Filed Under: odds & ends
Comments (0)
-
If we don't change our ways soon...
A new report by the Royal Society, chaired by Nobel prize-winning biologist Sir John Sulston warns that world population must be stabilized and consumption in wealthy nations must be reduced or the entire planet is in big trouble. As the report reads: "The number of people living on the planet has never been higher, their levels of consumption are unprecedented and vast changes are taking place in the environment. We can choose to rebalance the use of resources to a more egalitarian pattern of consumption... or we can choose to do nothing and to drift into a downward spiral of economic and environmental ills leading to a more unequal and inhospitable future."This is the same warning that President Jimmy Carter gave Americans back in the 1970's - but it was ignored when Ronald Reagan came to power with a "more positive" message basically telling Americans we can do whatever we want. And then after 9/11 - Bush told us all we should go shopping and consume ever more.And now with corporations calling the shots in Washington - long-term sustainability of the planet takes a back seat to short-term profits. If we don't change our ways soon - and embrace clean, alternative energy and educate women around the plant - then we all could be headed for a rough century.-Thom(Is there any chance we will learn in time? Tell us here.) -
LEGALIZE Democracy
" We the corporations" On January 21, 2010, with its ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, the Supreme Court ruled that corporations are persons, entitled by the U.S. Constitution to buy elections and run our government. __________
MOVE to AMEND
a project of the CAMPAIGN TO LEGALIZE Democracy
Help end Corporate personhood
-
The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness. 
moveon.org
