{"id":310076,"date":"2010-02-11T17:19:11","date_gmt":"2010-02-11T22:19:11","guid":{"rendered":"tag:blogs.rj.org,2010:\/rac\/\/2.2450"},"modified":"2010-02-11T17:27:11","modified_gmt":"2010-02-11T22:27:11","slug":"a-deficit-of-perspective","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/310076","title":{"rendered":"A Deficit of Perspective"},"content":{"rendered":"

Imagine my surprise when, comfy on my couch and enjoying the Super Bowl, I saw a commercial<\/a> – aired not once, but twice – featuring a classroom full of children reciting the following mock pledge of allegiance:<\/p>\n

“I pledge allegiance to America\u02bcs debt, and to the Chinese government that lends us money. And to the interest, for which we pay, compoundable, with higher taxes and lower pay until the day we die.”<\/p>\n

Forgoing my first thought – how ironic it is that an organization would spend millions of dollars on 30 seconds of air time for a commercial preaching fiscal responsibility<\/em> – my second thought was how amazing it was that a commercial about decreasing the deficit would air during the Super Bowl and NOT a commercial pressuring our lawmakers about somehow lowering our 9.7% unemployment rate<\/a> or supporting the millions of Americans struggling to make ends meet. Yes, it’s true, there does seem to be a loud and proud movement afoot to cut government spending in order to reduce our national deficit. <\/p>\n

While the deficit is a major problem, when it comes to government programs, the truth, as a New York Times editorial<\/a> from last weekend puts it, is that “At a time of high unemployment and fragile growth, the last thing the government should do is to slash spending. That will only drive the economy into deeper trouble.” Pulling the plug on support systems at the time of worst need for Americans in the most financial trouble makes little short-term or long-term economic sense. While spending must always be done responsibly, trumpeting deficit reduction should be saved for more prosperous times when fewer than one in eight<\/a> Americans receive SNAP (food stamp) benefits, or when fewer than 1.2 million Americans<\/a> are fearing that the government unemployment benefits they rely on will disappear due to Congressional inaction (that number could be 5 million by June). <\/p>\n

Americans need their government now more than ever. Football fans are now turning their attention to April’s NFL draft, where the worst team from the previous year gets to pick first. The most vulnerable citizens need the most help, just as the worst teams do, and kicking them to the curb now, even if it means pushing our deficit problem to a later date, will lead to millions more without a place to turn. As Don Peck wrote in an excellent article<\/a> on the long-term social aspects of joblessness in The Atlantic, “At the very least… we should make the return to a more normal jobs environment an unflagging national priority.” Where are their Saints<\/a> in Congress? You can send an e-mail to your Representative and Senators urging them to extend unemployment benefits<\/a>, fund the construction of affordable housing<\/a>, and increase the reach of anti-hunger programs<\/a> at the RAC’s Chai Impact Action Center. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Imagine my surprise when, comfy on my couch and enjoying the Super Bowl, I saw a commercial – aired not once, but twice – featuring a classroom full of children reciting the following mock pledge of allegiance: “I pledge allegiance to America\u02bcs debt, and to the Chinese government that lends us money. And to the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4317,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-310076","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/310076","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4317"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=310076"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/310076\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=310076"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=310076"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=310076"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}