It is true that often your first thoughts are not your best thoughts. I am particularly guilty of opening my mouth before I have thought things through. Consequently, I am creating both a time and a place to refine my whines. This is a concept that could be very beneficial to all political candidates, not to mention celebrities of all ilks. I know Rick Perry and Mitt Romney will be adding a refinement tab to their websites to clarify all those issues that you, me and the media have clearly misunderstood.
Now for today's whine. Common sense is something we apparently all have in, well, common. If your common sense is not the same as my common sense, then whatever it is we disagree on is clearly not common sense, by definition. Republicans and Democrats, oh and The Tea Party, all think their positions are both clear and commonsensical. For example, how could any one disagree with the Republican desire to reduce taxes? No one, except Warren Buffet, wants to pay more taxes. Does that make never raising taxes common sense? At first thought, the answer has to be yes.
Second thoughts are another thing all together. If never raising taxes means the government has insufficient funds to meet its obligations, is it still common sense? Of course, as the Tea Party is wont to point out, we can always cut government. Less government, less expense. Does minimal government make common sense? At first thought, the answer has to be yes.
Then there is that second thought again. If we agree to have less government, then what government services and activities does common sense suggest that we eliminate? Hmmm. That is a real tough question. We can't cut the military, or we will be overrun by terrorists. Common sense tells us that is not a good idea. We all agree we need a strong military.
How about cutting just part of the military, say, the US Army Corps of Engineers? After all, they didn't do a very good job on the levee system around New Orleans. Oh, the Corps failed because there was not money in their budget to do the needed monitoring and repair? Well, it doesn't matter if the levees break, because all the damage will be paid for by FEMA and private insurance. Wait a minute, we can cut FEMA from the government budget, and leave the clean up and rebuilding to private insurance and private businesses. There, solved. We cut both the Corps and FEMA, and open the doors to private enterprise. Sounds like job creation and common sense to me.
Then, opps, another second thought. Okay, private enterprise is going to pay for disaster service and redevelopment. Where will they get the money to do that? No problem. Insurance companies will simply raise the homeowners insurance rates. Banks will foreclose on "underwater" properties. To raise capital, the Banks will also raise their rates on services and reduce the interest rates paid to savers. Real estate developers will borrow the money from the Banks with little or no collateral and develop the property into upscale master-planned communities. (Borrowing opportunities are limited for affordable housing project, besides the disincentive of regulations.) The virtue of entrepreneurship is as American as apple pie and just plain common sense.
The bottom line of all this common sense is that you and I will pay more for insurance and our homes in order to add a profit incentive to private businesses to take over the role of disaster relief and infrastructure rebuilding. While we as voting citizens have some measure of control over our rate of taxation, we have no control over the rate of greed extracted by corporate executives. The pay gap between American rich and poor is higher than that of developing countries like Cameroon, the Ivory Coast, and Revolutionary Egypt according to the CIA's World Fact Book. Common sense tells me that placing my health and welfare in the hands of corporate executives is about as good an idea as inviting a terrorist to lunch.
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