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Is America Driving Itself Into Depression?
Our economy is in crisis and proposed Bush administration solutions will not help. In fact, I think they are driving us into a depression. That's right, I said the D word.

We are in a time of chaos to say the least. This article is not about the war. Current tensions are demanding all of our focus, but we cannot afford to sit an watch an economic 'stimulus' package that benefits the very corporations that are the root cause of the crisis we now face.

You know, in our current climate, with America still trying to digest Enron, Tyco, Worldcom, AOL Time Warner and Anderson, I would like to ask Mr. Bush how in hell he can justify more corporate tax credits and incentives.

Are we so focused on war that we can't see what's going on? Has everyone forgotten where the present administration comes from? Remember Silverado and the Savings and Loan debacle?

In light of current events, the burden should be squarely on corporations, forcing responsibility… and the President is like a kid in a candy store, dishing out tax breaks. Bush's economic stimulus will reward corruption. It will encourage more corporate looting and it is a formula for recession and depression.

We need to promote consumerism, not reward the greed-driven corporate system that has so abused and caused the crisis we are now in. Blame Bin Laden all you want, but he didn't cook the books and move assets to the Caymens.

Solution:
I propose we reward the consumer, not the employer. And not in a little way.

The whole tax code is a farce. I think we need to offer zero tax credits to anyone anywhere, person, corporation, institution or state. No deductions, no loopholes, no nothing.

Every year, each and every company, institution and individual has to stop their focus on their business and worry about taxes. From January to April it consumes us as the IRS gets into everyone's lives in the most personal way possible.

Deductions as an incentive are the rule not an exception… the system is corrupt to the core and will collapse under it's own weight. Yearly tax law gets so complicated in ways only lawyers and accountants could drool over and I think enough is enough.

The Deveraux Plan:
Eliminate income tax. Eliminate tax returns in favor of sales tax for every single entity. Get the government out of everyone's business. The only task the IRS would have is sales tax, not the purposely over-complicated, loop-hole rewarding mess that we now have. Eliminate every single deduction and there is nothing to police. Straight accounting. Buy something, pay tax. Then if you want a stimulus, drop the rate across the board, no exceptions.

This is what Americans deserve, a fair, honest, straight forward tax system. One that rewards smart spending and gets the IRS out of their weekly pay checks… out of their lives.

As I write, readers suggest that to focus on matters other than the war is unpatriotic. But I tell you, I see the wool being pulled over our eyes; the classic shell game. At the risk of going off on a tangent, I'd like to address a few issues that should be addressed.

The Deficit:
The current deficit situation is absolutely corrupt. Unbalancing the budget, a Republication drive with the Contract with America, is now completely undone and long forgotten. We are robbing our children's bank accounts because current leaders do not have the stomach to cut programs. We know we need to sacrifice to pursue our current course, but no one is even talking about it! What bothers me most is there is no long-term strategy that addresses financial realities of a war on terror.

How long will we function in emergency mode? How long can we afford to not worry about it?

Congress' inability to even debate the subject should be eliciting warning bells. Wake up, fellow Americans. We have to demand responsibility in this matter. This is one area where running the country like a corporation will drive us into the red, at a historic time when we just got that monkey off our backs.

On the behavior of our President:
Bush's words, his name calling, his "Axis of Evil" and "with us or against us" bravado have got to cease. He is more like the SNL caricature by Will Ferrell than a stately leader of our great nation. Instead of a calm, collected commander in chief, the administration has fostered the irrational, cowboy, "Shootout at the OK Corral" image. Mr. Bush projects an angry vendetta, his father's vendetta, and this is what is raising the hair on the back of Europe's collective neck.

If our case against Iraq is so secure, then why does the administration make it so personal?

When we alienate long time friends and call them irrelevant, we only beg for negative economic responses in the future.

On Resolution 1441:
I believe the cause is just and we need to act, but the delivery is undefendable.

I ask this, what then does the UN stand for if a nation will not comply with 12 years of resolutions directed against it? Haven't we used economic sanctions against Iraq to no avail? Only the people of Iraq have suffered with sanctions.

So what do you do? Is it ok for Iraq to make missiles that will be shot against Israel after they have already done so without apology? What is the UN?

On Democracy in the Middle East:
We need to secure the peace in Afghanistan and bring stability. Making Afghanistan a bastion of democracy and our base of operations should be priority one. If it is to be democracy's poster child, it's success story, then we need to nurture it. If we allow it to collapse, then we will have missed an opportunity to prove democracy as a model to the Arab world.

In the end:
Wow, what a novel I've written here. What I've tried to show you, is that we have no long term goals, plans or even ideas on where we are going.

Our inability to see what is going on as economic incentives are passed, our cavalier attitude towards the world, and our indifference is even now effecting our economy. People see the daily market fall and attribute it to the news, but the problem is big picture.

The problem is systemic. Our economy is in distress because no one can see where we are going and our leaders are not showing the way.

In form true to corporate America, we think we can spend and shoot our way out of this mess, and I'm telling you, that model just doesn’t work anymore. The tactical guys have taken over. They've booted the Marketing department and now the Sales guys are driving the boat.

God help us.

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