One of the videos in Tom Ulrich’s email the other day shows former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich giving a clear, easy-to-understand explanation of what happened to the economy and why—in only 2 minutes! Here it is:
In later posts to his blog, Reich covers two related concerns:
- Why Medicare Is the Solution, Not the Problem
- The Only Social Security Reform Worth Considering: Raising the Ceiling on Income Subject to It
They’re both fairly short, so I recommend you take a minute to read them.
To Reich’s explanations, add the fact that defense expenditures are so bloated—now over 3 times what they were just 10 years ago—that it’s reasonable to conclude that this alone is enough to cause the budget crises. Unfortunately the defense industry has so much power, it’s easier for Congress to pretend that spending for people is the problem.
Considering the hundreds of billions wasted in the name of defense and connecting the dots described in Reich’s video, it is easy to see that the current crisis is largely artificial—and Reich’s blog posts make clear why 2 of the solutions demanded by the Republicans (and supported by many Democrats, including Obama) are dead wrong.