I felt bad leaving you guys with nothing today, thanks to my Buerkle rant yesterday. So, I just wanted to post two amazing videos from Greece. I mentioned in the first post yesterday, that the trash hadn’t been picked up in 17 days and there has also been violent clashes with the police. Here are videos of each. It got really nasty Thursday, thanks to their Parliament voting for more austerity measures (salary/pension cuts, social programs, etc). It’s something to think about, when you see the stories pertaining to Paul Ryan and written by Paul Krugman. It’s not so far-fetched to see a Greece-type situation here (in a number of years), if massive cuts are allowed to continue.
First off, some amazing pics from Greece, about 20 of them in total, 2 of them show someone who caught fire (from trying to put out a fire due to a thrown firebomb):
If you saw Congresswoman Buerkle yesterday, you remember her talking about cutting programs and how taxes are evil. So, I may have to file this under the blog’s new section: “Wouldn’t It Be Easier to Just Raise Taxes?” Congressman Paul Ryan talks to a young student about the evils of Pell Grants and that he should work 3 jobs and take out school loans to pay for school. Article and video appear here. And, here’s one more. It’s an older story, but our situation (unemployment, smaller tax base, etc) has gotten worse since I saw this. Cities around the country are turning off street lights and some cities in the Midwest are even un-paving roads to save money. Here’s a good read, from Nobel Prize winning economist, Paul Krugman talking about each issue. Krugman would take issue with some things Congresswoman Buerkle said yesterday as well. He always states (and this is proven) that if corporations are not hiring people, governments have to step in and do it. Those are the only two options and corporations aren’t hiring. So, her argument about taxes, regulations, getting government out-of-the-way, private sector jobs being somehow better than public sector jobs, etc, doesn’t make much sense.
Even in the article I linked to, Krugman mentions the Interstate Highway System and the Erie Canal project. These were public works projects. You can throw in another large one, the Hoover Dam. These projects employed thousands and thousands of people. And, if we’re being honest, and we care about getting the country turned around, who cares who does the hiring? Projects like this are not profitable to some corporation. They will likely become a public good down the road. But, there are times when you need the government to step in and directly hire when things are bad and corporations won’t (like now).
UPDATE:
This was forwarded to me, by my buddy Paul. A more recent update of the sorry state of some US inner cities. Places where the street lights are not put on, street lights were even repossessed in some cities (couldn’t pay the electric bills), packs of wild dogs traveling together, the list goes on. Just a horrible situation, but it’s a must read.
See you next time,
James
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