The “too expensive” myth seems pretty done right?
Sep 20th, 2008 | By benwyskida | Category: Politics
The effort to expand SCHIP, the State Children’s Health Insurance Program that was essentially cancelled last Fall, cost $35 billion a year. That was too expensive.
A real plan to invest in green economic development would cost $3-4 billion a year to start. Colleagues of mine have been laughed at for proposing so much. It’s too expensive.
Pell Grant student loans are facing a $6 billion shortfall. That’s too expensive.
Student loans, green jobs, kids health care? No, no, no. Amtrak grovels for an extra $600 million dollars a year while a major U.S. City essentially leveled by a Hurricane has to rebuild itself with $40 billion and share it with the rest of the Gulf. Transit? No. reconstruction of a major U.S. City? No. Arts funding? Let me know in the comments how big a grant you’re applying for, and the hoops you have to go through to get it. Real job security for you? That would be too expensive.
That’s why I have to shake my head at what the Government did this week: Approve, essentially, a trillion dollar economic bailout of Wall Street. $700 billion since Thursday. Like, on Thursday the government was all hmmm, we better spend some cash here, and by this morning — 48 hours later — we had laid out hundreds of times the amount of money that the left and the right battle over for basic human needs and services for decades. Unreal.
There is a blogger on a list-serv I’m part of (link forthcoming as soon as I find it!) who made the point very saliently this morning. Basically the Bush Administration and the Government (both parties in Congress included) have fucked up royally here, and BAM! $700 billion dollars. Health care is too expensive; college is too expensive; we have to raise the retirement age again because our retirement is too expensive but after eight years of massive tax cuts for rich people and deregulation and the ownership society suddenly we can spend whatever it takes to clean it all up in the time it’s taken me to drop off and pick up my laundry.
Sigh.
Now, I’m an idealistic lefty. I really believe that a new New Deal would be something amazing for this country and that some real progressive fantasies like universal health care and a massive green jobs economic development scheme are possible. And the answer we always get, the answer even Barack Obama gives (or is forced to give?) is no, no, it’s too expensive, we can’t afford it. People ridiculed John Edwards (shhh about that other thing) for saying just this: if we really want to end poverty, we can. But it will cost us.
What this insane bailout says to me, besides the fact that my friends with accounts at WAMU better get out of bed and head to a cash machine, is that “it’s too expensive, we can’t afford it” simply just isn’t true. And incrementalism, really, is bullshit. Health care, college, massive arts funding, infrastructure redevelopment, transit. We could do any of these things for the country; we just don’t want to.
In hopes of reawakening some of the debate around this, I’ll throw out a good link to my favorite issue of my magazine this year: The Nation’s April special issue proposing a new new deal, and what that might look like. Difficult? Of course. Anywhere near a political reality? Not really. Too expensive? Please.
[Editors Note: While I got up to get coffee mid-blog post my boyfriend's cat sat on the computer, and wanted you to know this about the economic bailout:
rfffffffffffffffffffffffffmrrrrrrrrry666666666cdffff
You tell 'em Duane.]
About The Author
Ben Wyskida is a writer, activist, conscientious hedonist and political communications strategist living in Brooklyn. - Visit Ben's site.
Ben, I think this is one of the best things you’ve ever written.
Other things that are to expensive:
Orange Juice
Bread
Rent…
MMMMM bread.
Thanks for writing this. Makes me sigh when thinking of the cost of the Iraq war so far, and now the bailout. To imagine the transformative effect those dollars could have had when spent more wisely…
I saw over at Politico the response from Hillary Clinton today. Can Obama be that populist and just doesn’t want to, or is that just not his thing?
I think he’s just being cautious, which i appreciate, and trying not to be too rash about this.
Thanks for the comments guys! You know it’s interesting, because at this point all the candidates plans and proposals — Obama and McCain — are just shot. Off the table. There is an opportunity there certainly, but whatever their economic plan WAS is totally changed now. Maybe it gives an opening for more boldness?
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THANK YOU BEN. for saying this. although it’s even more humiliating to beg for scraps to, like, save child victims of sex trafficking, when the u.s.a. has said so clearly what it thinks is more important.
Thank you so much for this article. I am going to forward it to everyone I know. So well put. As a teacher who is currently on strike to guarantee quality salaries for quality teachers so we may provide a quality public education, I am saddened when I think of how even a small part of these billions could have done so much for our schools.
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Thanks for this, well written and filled with reality, just like I like ‘em.
Wall Street is in a shambles due to a liquidity crisis based on the collapse of Mortgage Backed Securities, thanks to the Feds weak money policies, dropping rates to stave off inflation and pushing home-ownership to a historic high of +70% and the folly of Freddie and Fannie agreeing to lend to low-income borrowers thanks to pressure from Democrats. Sub-prime and interest only loans grew to $1 trillion. The market peaks, breaks and defaults (REO’s). No more MBS market = no liquidity = inadequate bank capital requirements = frantic need to raise capital = fear = insolvency. Congress agrees to $770 billion bail out to buy back toxic loans; otherwise global meltdown. Yup, no Pell Grant but a lot of unqualified folks got themselves a home – at least for a while…