CONSUMPTION VS CONSTRUCTION

Considering the accelerating decline of our nation, particularly as a pandemic, severe economic downturn and social unrest grip our nation, it occurs to me that what differentiates today from the 1930s is that our government is leading us further and further into consumption as a solution to what ails us verses constructively addressing the challenges before us.  

During the Great Depression, FDR led our parents and grandparents in building roads, bridges, dams, schools, hospitals and the national power grid.  By doing so they not only created jobs and built a foundation upon which our nation could grow, but they built dignity and a sense of accomplishment and pride. Today, the Trump Administration and Congress have demonstrated no such constructive instincts nor provided any meaningful vision.  They have myopically thrown $3 trillion into the economy devoid of direction or lasting benefit.  Our Federal Reserve has printed and thrown another $3 trillion at banks and corporations to prop them up. 

Sadly, this represents an escalation of the consumption based economy and society we’re devolved into.  One of the primary missions of prior generations was to build a better future for their children; one that manifested itself in providing a solid education, parks, clean water, transportation systems and abundant food.  

Today, while those instincts are still very much alive, they seem to exist to a more varied extent and with a meaningfully tilt towards the short term. Slick marketing ads and banks have convinced many to go out to dinner often, go on expensive vacations, trade in vehicles only a few years old for new ones, and freely use debt.  Yet when it comes to providing the resources public schools need to bring out the best in our children, we often readily turn away small property tax increase requests.  This lack of prioritizing public education, the surest way to improve income equality and meaningful careers for all, has taken place in communities and through federal budget cuts.  All while, $1.5 trillion in tax cuts were given to the top 1% in our country to use as they wish.  

We can be disturbed by the protests and dysfunction we witness, but choosing to under-resource the growth of our children, all children, is not the means by which we will remedy the tragic conditions that bedevil us.  Problems educating children can be blamed on a number of factors, but under-resourcing schools struggling to help our children reach their full potential, from pre-school through college-bound courses or skilled trades training, is a tragic loss for all.

Last year, with the largest economy in our country’s history, and GDP growth still running at a healthy clip, leaders in Washington also chose to let 54,000 structurally deficient bridges across America largely rot. With over 15,000 dams across America classified as “high-hazard potential” dams, our leaders in Washington also chose to let them continue to fall deeper into disrepair. Instead of securing our future, my fellow Republicans borrowed over $1 trillion per year to give away in the form of tax breaks to fuel consumption and boost their re-election prospects.  Anyone can throw a great party with a $1 trillion of borrowed money, but it takes vision and maturity to build a future.  

With respect to climate change, another long simmering, enormous crisis barreling towards us, senior Republicans have chosen to be dismissive and feed a “live for today” consumption economy and culture. Instead of leading us to invest in technologies that reduce greenhouse gas emissions, they’ve chosen to ignore what will be an utterly devastating crisis for future generations.  Carmakers had plans underway to introduce higher mileage vehicles, but Trump administration officials chose to rescind higher mileage standards.  Regulations pertaining to methane emissions, a greenhouse gas 84 times more potent than CO2, were also rescinded, as well as many power plant emission standards.  

Sadly, Republicans have chosen to stick with a false choice between serving the needs of the economy and the environment.  Instead of trying to stimulate our economy by rescinding regulations that protect us, they could, for example, implement a Cash For Guzzlers Program. Rebates could be provided for trading in gas guzzling vehicles for higher mileage vehicles, simultaneously stimulating the auto and steel industries while reducing global warming. 

Trillions of dollars of borrowing and spending should be executed with a purpose, and not just thrown at the economy. Unlike deficit spending over the last three years, which we have nothing to show for, we need to rebuild our economy in ways that bear fruit for generations to come.  Let me suggest we encourage and support leaders willing to rebuild our economy through strategic investments in public school systems, the repair of structurally deficient bridges and dams, and attacking global warming, including incentifying green energy projects. We can come out of this crisis with a more equitable and sustainable society, but we, individually and collectively, need to let go of some of the consumption habits cultivated in us and focus on building a better tomorrow the way our parents and grandparents did for us.