War on Deficit/Debt – Sharing the Pain

If we are going to be forced to deal with the deficit/debt and ignore the economy and jobs, then getting the deficit/debt under control must be shared by all. Everyone must sacrifice, but some more than others.

It must be shared based on the degree to which citizens have suffered in recent decades as this deficit was created.

Those who suffered the most are the middle class and the poor. Their income has stayed even or fallen behind as their productivity gains were passed up to the corporate executives. They have gone into debt to make up the lost income, lost their homes, declared bankruptcy, been denied medical care, and lost union representation and their defined benefits retirement plans. They should now suffer the least to fix this fear-based problem.

Those who gained the most during recent decades should sacrifice the most now to fix the problem they helped create.

The “empathy deficit” is larger now than when President Obama spoke of it in 2006 and has grown in direct proportion to the federal deficit. That needs to be reversed.

As we lessen our care for those among us who have the least, we sacrifice what makes this country honorable and admirable.

Our representatives should stand up for the poor and middle class. The middle class and poor should not be asked to suffer another blow to solve a problem they didn’t create.