Rich men, poor country

This is rich: Alan Greenspan and other economists are warning about excessive government and individual debt. As Chair of the Federal Reserve, Greenspan has been a key regulator of the US economy for 18 years. Now, in his last year as Chair, his swan song is a lament for irresponsible financial behavior that he has aided and abetted!

Greenspan explicitly defended the current administration's penchant for increasing spending without increasing taxes to pay for it. Inheritance taxes were cut to allow the richest to pass nearly all their wealth on to their heirs. Taxes on the top 1% have fallen the most dramatically while CEOs in the US increased their pay over 50% last year. Our class mobility is disappearing - the very rich get richer, the poor stay poor. We celebrate the very few "jackpot" winners that manage to beat the odds and get rich, but its rarity proves the evisceration of the meritocracy. Moreover, we delude ourselves into thinking we are owners in an ownership society when in fact we are debtors in an indebted society. A poll reported that 20% of Americans thought they were already in the top few percent of income earners while an additional 20% thought they soon would be. This isn't optimism, it's delusion.

Just 25 years ago, Ronald Reagan was elected president with a promise to reduce the national debt. Instead, he tripled it. Republicans once provided financial discipline but since Reagan was beatified by the right, the wanna-be candidates of both parties have hardly given lip service to debt and compete only in pandering. Party on and don't worry about the bills: (no) bread and circus.