The U.S. Budget Debacle

There is comedic value in the current budget arguments.  Leno, John Stewart, et al. are being fed more material than they know what to do with.
Unfortunately, there is much more tragedy than comedy.  Lots of nonprofit organizations depend on government funds to deliver their services.  When those services are decreased, the poor and the vulnerable will suffer most of all.

As a people, we have short memories.
Have we forgotten that every person in the know, including fiscal conservatives, said that a bailout was necessary to keep the U.S. economy from collapsing?  Have we also forgotten that the president at the time of that initial bailout was a member of the Republican party and an espoused conservative?

Have we blocked the fact from our memories that virtually every responsible economist consulted said we needed the large stimulus efforts, and that some experts argued that the stimuli should have been greater?

So now, with the recovery in its infancy and still quite tenuous, bullies in Congress are talking about the U.S. government and shouting "Shut it down!".  They forget that if it were not for that large, strong federal government, many of that wealthy thin slice of the U.S. populace they fight for might have joined the ever increasing percentage of the country that is the financial lower (not middle) class.
Perhaps they would have been happier if Hoovervilles made a comeback.  Or maybe they have forgotten their U.S. History lessons regarding the Great Depression, Herbert Hoover, his arguments on small government, and how so many Republicans fought tooth and nail to stop FDR's federal intervention.  As it has been said: "Those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it".

It is hilarious, and truly tragic.

Ed Thomas
Management in the Not for Profit Organization
www.npmanagement.org