Krugman: "America is now on the unlit, unpaved road to nowhere."

[kpete]

Op-Ed Columnist
America Goes Dark
By PAUL KRUGMAN
Published: August 8, 2010


The lights are going out all over America — literally. Colorado Springs has made headlines with its desperate attempt to save money by turning off a third of its streetlights, but similar things are either happening or being contemplated across the nation, from Philadelphia to Fresno.

.............

How did we get to this point? It’s the logical consequence of three decades of antigovernment rhetoric, rhetoric that has convinced many voters that a dollar collected in taxes is always a dollar wasted, that the public sector can’t do anything right.

The antigovernment campaign has always been phrased in terms of opposition to waste and fraud — to checks sent to welfare queens driving Cadillacs, to vast armies of bureaucrats uselessly pushing paper around. But those were myths, of course; there was never remotely as much waste and fraud as the right claimed. And now that the campaign has reached fruition, we’re seeing what was actually in the firing line: services that everyone except the very rich need, services that government must provide or nobody will, like lighted streets, drivable roads and decent schooling for the public as a whole.

So the end result of the long campaign against government is that we’ve taken a disastrously wrong turn. America is now on the unlit, unpaved road to nowhere.

more:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/09/opinion/09krugman.html?_r=1&th&emc=th

[Yeahyeah]

1. It's all just accidental.

[mohinoaklawnillinois]

2. Nail met hammer.

Excellent op-ed by Mr. Krugman.

[Triana]

3. Remember the word plutonomy....

...it's why we're here. Nobody matters except the very rich.

"services that everyone except the very rich need, services that government must provide or nobody will, like lighted streets, drivable roads and decent schooling for the public as a whole." - GONE.

Do ya think they care? NO. Like ol Carlin said: "It's a big club, and YOU ain't in it!"

Big corprats and the rich are happy - and in the US of A, that's all that matters.

If 'the rest of us' want our government back, we're going to have to RIOT to get it - 'cause the plutonomy isn't going to give up their power, money, greed, and comfort (all at our expense of course) voluntarily. We're going to have to TAKE IT from them.

?

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

8. It's worse than not caring. It's negative caring.

"What? A poor person is about to get $1,000 that may keep them afloat? How much do I pay to avoid that? $10,000? Cheap! Where's my receipt?"

[John Q. Citizen]

4. Time to return to the mixed market. It actually works quite well.

[Enrique]

5. but we're putting that money in the hands of people who will create jobs

like Hamid Karzai and his brother. Think of all the small businesses they can start with those billions!

[KurtNYC]

6. Americans are among the worst consumers on the planet

they know the price of everything but not the value. They have very little idea what they are getting for their money. Small government sounds good bc it sounds cheaper -- not bc it promises more freedom. It is like the carrot in front of the donkey cart ("on an unlit road to nowhere"). We will never get the carrot.

The best we can do is try to get SOME value for a tax dollars. This period seems a real challenge for our 230 year experiment with democracy. While the RW fears a "nanny state" it seems that what we already have is a "Corporate Nanny State." It tells us everything to do, runs our government and controls the most significant parts of the media. Ironically it even tells the minions to fear a "Nanny State" even while they nurse at it's corporate teat. It has some protesting against the very social services they paid for and need. The Corporate Nanny is no Mary Poppins -- more like the robots in those experiments where lab animals must choose between drugs and pellets of food.

If the lights are turning out on America's future then I think we know who is turning them out. They don't call it a "War on Culture" for nothing.

[RKP5637]

9. Excellent! n/t

[LargeGreenSpider]

14. "Value of nothing"

Very well said. All we know is price, not value. That's why every time a more efficient transportation system is discussed, Americans scream about cost despite myriad benefits.

[Common Sense Party]

7. Maybe pro-government side needs to do a better job touting successes.

It's all PR these days.

[joeybee12]

10. They need a leader to do that...Obama seems to have bought into the pro-corporate mentality...

...and no Dem in congress seems willing to challenge him on his misguided ideology.

[area51]

11. +1 (n/t)

[Common Sense Party]

12. I'm talking about starting at the grass-roots level.

My wife works for our small town, and the local right-wing, know-nothing radio station is CONSTANTLY bashing the city, the county, and the school district, saying our tax money is being "wasted" and that these local governments are ineffective and corrupt.

Starting at the local level, all the way up through state and federal, governments need to do a much better job communicating to citizens how they are handling their stewardships.

[joeybee12]

15. Yeah, but even at grass roots levels you need a leader locally...

...weher i live I ain't seeing anyone...and the local leader could be your local congressperson, who is probably too concerned with getting re-elected.

[David in Canada]

13. Are they happy now?

People in the United States have been railing against "high taxes" and "big government".

Now, they realise what happens when taxes cannot be slashed anymore and services are slashed.

People do not realise that when they pay taxes, they are getting services at a bargain rate. Do they REALLY think they could get roads, police services, water and garbage pickup for such a good value if they paid them with fees out of their own pockets?

What the people of Colorado Springs are seeing is the true face of "small government". Now that they have looked beyond the pretty facade, they have seen its sheer ugliness and, surprise, they don't like what they see.

[phantom power]

16. I have some bad news for you: "they" are still mired in the anti-tax framing.

Just this weekend, my wife was discussing this with her brother re: our local schools needing supplies and money, and my wife is suspicious because she saw some leftover supplies in the school storage room last year.

That's the problem with allowing the GOP to dominate the discourse for 30 years. The world-view has a lot of persistence, even when facts on the ground catch up with you.

:(

[Marr]

17. Why should the wealthy pay for services they don't use?

I mean, it's not like they need people to keep their lights on, or to keep the plumbing working, or the roads cleared, or to do all the things that actually make up a society. It's not like regular people die defending their foreign investments in far-off lands. If you're not lounging by the pool with a mixed drink, waiting for your money to magically reproduce, it's because you're a lazy freeloader and society doesn't need you anyway!

:crazy:

[formercia]

19. They have their Nut

and are taking their Chopper out to the Mega Yacht to sail away into the sunset.

[Javaman]

18. One would think that the libertarians would swoop in...

but like anything they crow about, they hate government until the lights go out.

[BrklynLiberal]

20. Rachel Maddow covered this on her show last night with heart stopping details.

The repukes would rather see the entire country go down the drain than allow the Dems to do anything...ANYTHING..that might get the Dems some positive credit for helping.

Their aim was to bankrupt every govt in the nation...from Federal on down....and it would seem they are succeeding.