When you open up a web site like Yahoo!, MSNBC, or even what is trending at the Examiner, there is a perception that the only things Americans are reading about is if another celebrity has done one of the following things; died, gotten married, divorced, been put on a reality show, had a Tweeting War or anything else that is remotely celebrity related. As far as political softballs making it into the top 10, we might see people that are completely unhappy with what the FLOTUS (First Lady of the United States) is wearing or if there is a negative perception about her budget since Americans are counting every penny during periods of austerity with newly dubbed catch phrases to try to get Americans to even read about it. We have heard about the "Fiscal Cliff", the "Austerity Hysteria" and the ever confusing language that reads like a derivative formula.
Could it be that Americans have grown numb to bad news? Could it be that the nation has the expectation that the House, Senate and the President will only work together if an issue actually makes it past the infotainment that has passed for news. There was a time when news was considered a public service and not a competition for capital earnings for a news service or a network. However, with the poor performance of the House and the Senate to actually hammer out a budget that doesn't deliver what is universally pleasing to the public, or namely having a budget that monkey bars from continuing resolution to continuing resolution that seems to have come to full stop.
Governmental rigor mortis seems to be starting to set in. One example that has been give a lot of press was the impact on Active duty military personnel Tuition Assistance programs. Furlough notices have been sent out to Federal Employees and also have seen their pay cut and work weeks shortened. There is an astonishing 53 percent of the nation that is dependent on the government for some form of capital, and a majority of those recipients are not just those who receive government assistance. It seems that when you become the largest employer in the nation, you become your own customer and you cannot sustain a system where everyone works for the government and have a strong economy. Our main street has died. In every major city, you see 'for lease or for sale" signs in down town areas. That is a lot of idle property sitting in disuse.
Routinely, we hear that the wealthy have never been wealthier. If that is true, the tax revenues should have greatly increased. However, even the Cayman Islands, whose total population, as reported on their last census is around 60,000. Per capita, it is the wealthiest UK territory in the world. However, total corporations who have their holding in the Cayman Islands is right at 96,000. What has made the Cayman Islands so attractive is their lack of requirement for any sort of taxation, just an annual business license fee, and no requirement to report who is registered within the Cayman Island. When researching for a complete listing of all of these entities a person may in fact submit a Freedom of Information Act request to the Cayman Island government directly. Oddly, you cannot see a complete list of who has established businesses within the Cayman Islands, because a majority of them reside at a post office box.
What brings this issue up is that a large number of nations, who are in fact going through very taxing times. We hear about people resigning their citizenship over taxation, but is that actually the right way to handle this situation. When entities like Facebook, who legally do not pay taxes, through established tax loopholes could be perceived as clever tax avoidance. Yet they create revenue streams that have made the owners extremely wealthy, what does that make the typical citizen look like when they are out paying wealthy corporations in percentage points. Still, this is not a call for the wrath of the people, but an encouragement for the average citizen to get involved with the political process. The tendency is to be standoffish if a perception is that the system is working. However, if a nation is sleeping, the population continues to be brutalized by the very people they elect to represent them.
This almost equates to taxation without representation, specifically, when it is the middle class person, who most often believes that a person making over $100,000 annually is very well off. There was a time when this land was little more than a colonial site, with villages and small urban areas and lush farms were used. As our industry grew and the wealth was becoming very apparent to King George III, we did cry out over taxation without representation. Was the Revolutionary war over freedom or was it over money?
However, if we are not aware of how our political process works and fail to have an understanding on who is actually screaming the most about taxation, how can the American people ever know? Have the people just become accustomed to being brutalized or have many just stopped listening and perhaps that is why we have become a celebrity obsessed nation that celebrates the fantasy. After all, it's not about how to get over on the system, it should be how to make the system work irrespective of what political affiliation or philosophy one ascribes to.
Perhaps if we started to change what is read on the network, we would have a very well educated political base that could cause a real change in our political process. Where we could have a system that isn't just fluid in times of war, but acts in times of peace to rebuild our nation from the inside out. At the end of the day it is about making this nation into a land of opportunity that is as equitable as possible.
Perhaps it is time to look at right sizing our taxation systems, because if a business is in fact doing business in America, they need to ask themselves if they are honoring the social contract. To be a part of any community, we all contribute. It is in fact, not the government's responsibility to police itself, it hasn't done a very good job of doing so. It is the responsibility of the people to demand that we have a clear concise government that is actually representing the people and not the lobbyists which outnumber each person we send to Washington DC, 6-1. When it comes down to looking for someone to blame, the people might have to stop being comfortable with their traditional roles of being armchair politicians.
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