It is being thrown around from the powers that be that the general populace of both Europe and the United States are at fault for our current financial situation in these developed countries. In Europe, the Euro is coming undone at the seams and the U.S. is fighting mass-unemployment and enormous budget defecits. Now the power brokers, the elite at the top of the government chain are claiming that we, the people, asked for to much, so the government gave it to us, and now we have to suffer and take the blame in order to get back to where we were. The problems were not, however, created by us, the general public. In fact, the elite who now are blaming the public are the one's who set us down the road to financial insecurity and ruin. As Paul Krugman in an op-ed article in the NYTimes points out, the problems weren't designed by the public, but were envisioned and implemented by those with the power to do so. In the United States, which had a budget surplus in 2000, we had "Bush-era" tax cuts which added significantly to our defecit, we had the invasion of Iraq which had absolutely nothing to do with 9/11 and everything to do with oil (also adding to our defecit), and we had the Great Recession spawned by deregulation of the financial industry allowing them to act however they wanted to and set the course for disaster. In Europe on the other hand, you had an elite group of powerful individuals dead-set on uniting Europe through a common currency. However, they failed to create the necessary institutions to deal with booms and busts that inherently come with any economy.
It seems that the government is the only institution where people can screw up, blame it on others, and still keep their jobs even getting re-elected often times by deflecting the blame from themselves to others. They prey on the general public's inattention to the root causes of the problems and create new, often fictitious theories of how things got the way they are. Often times the public buys their theories as new explanations for events thinking that the elite are finally taking a step in the right direction when in actuality they are shifting blame in an attempt to save their own skin and often times they are not addressing the root cause as it needs to be. The general public has a job to do, question those in power and hold them accountable. When we hear the blame being passed from one hand to another, we need to step in and stop them, however hard that may be to do. Deflecting blame also does not address the need to learn from the mistakes of the past and come up with new solutions for the future that will help keep us out of these situations. Too often, we get caught up with our own concerns, which is absolutely justifiable. It seems most of us have needed to tighten our belts, watch our money even closer than before, and be more concerned with day to day expenses. So how are we to find the root cause of the problem when we have so many other concerns that need to be dealt with? It starts with taking a few minutes every day to dig into the news and find the stories that expose the truth.
Believe me, there is a lot of crap in the media that needs to be sifted through in order to get to the truth. As much as we would like to believe everything the media says, they are often not thoroughly objective and do not question everything that is handed to them as thoroughly as it needs to be. When the government hands the media a story, they often times run with it, not reporting the flip side or questioning the ulterior motives that are behind a certain press release or story. Why then should we bother reading the news or digging to find the truth? Because it affects all of us one way or another. It may not affect us immediately, but it will affect us at some point whether we know it or not. The news must be read with an air of skepticism on our part, always questioning the words that are being portrayed as truth. Truth is difficult to find in this day and age, especially when it concerns our government, whether it be in Europe or the United States. Too many of us have unquestioning faith that our government will do the right thing. While I love our country, I need hip boots to wade through the crap flowing out of our capitol sometimes. I say we must question the government, a little every day, till our country reverbrates with skepticism at the motives of our elected officials. Maybe then they will take responsibility for their actions and be truthful with those that put them into power. Today, read a little news, question it, and then question it some more. Search for the truth and don't let yourself be blinded by those who proclaim to know the truth.
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