In the Presence of Vultures

I’ve always written my views based on the Philippine setting and matching it with my international views. McCain has been saying that Reaganomics works. In simpler terms, this is what the Republicans refer to as “trickle down economics”. You give the rich enough tax breaks and they will invest in the people. But has it really worked. Philippine economics is no different. Our government also share this same view. So they tax heavily the ordinary citizen while giving more breaks to big business.

Like the US, the Philippines has its share of small businesses that earn modestly but are subjected to heavy taxation. My small business alone pre-pays taxes based on projected sales for the coming year. This is collected when I renew my business license for the new year. The middle class which is comprised of the working class has their tax deducted before they receive their paychecks. Both small business and the employed is the middle class. On the average, about 38% of earnings of the middle class is taxed.

The desired trickle down never came. Big businesses shipped their manufacturing overseas. Only a handful actually expanded their operations domestically. This resulted in a huge occurence of hunger and a jump in the level poverty. At the end of the day, this brand of economics only created oligarchies and widen the social gap. Unemployment and underemployment rose dramatically as fewer jobs are available.  Job-seekers are forced to seek jobs abroad.  Our education system churns out 300,000 graduates every year, they add to the growing statistics of the jobless. They are forced to take jobs that has no connection to their educational attainments.

The sad reality on the ground is that the people ultimately suffer. This is what is happening to America right now. Those who were given tax breaks are investing abroad and not in the US. I used to look forn products made proudly by American manufacturers, that’s a thing of the past. I buy a pair of Nike shoes only to discover that they were made in China or Korea. Even car parts are being manufactured elsewhere and not in Detroit. I don’t know if American consumers are as particular as I am. Do you actually feel the trickle down the Republicans like McCain claim is forthcoming? I don’t think so. The same problems the Philippines is encountering is being experienced by Americans as well.

Republicans are fostering a class war and not the Democrats because they are nurturing a tyrannyof the few as power and wealth is corraled by a handful. And who in the end is the hardest hit, the average American just like the ordinary Filipino. McCain can never justify his connection with the average American. He doesn’t share the same experiances the ordinary folks do. I’m sure that Joe six-pack and Joe the plumber doesn’t own several houses or can even buy a plane at the snap of a finger.

Trickle down economics will never work. Taxing those who have more actually forces them to invest in the people. These taxes are not dole outs to those who have less. It is invested into programs that give them the opportunity to grow. This is not about socialism but on of social justice. McCain is a big liar and he knows it. He certainly is distorting facts. He his throwing around the scare tactics that the hardliners or should I say the oligarchs have used so effectively. What I don’t understand is how the average American cannot seem to see this. The fact of the matter is that The rich will always find a way to make more at the expense of the ordinary American.

In the Philippines, the middle class is almost extinct. Many have either sought life abroad or have joined the ranks of the underprivileged. If Americans would like to avoid this, rethink your economics and ask yourself who really ends up with the fatter wallet.