WE THE PEOPLE: When Perception is Reality

If the messages delivered to the public are to be believed, thenwe never seem to be able to remove our feet from the ledge.Republicans decry the president’s American Jobs proposal as anexample of him running for re-election instead of governing thenation.

We are bombarded with images of financial markets in turmoil, aEuropean debt crisis to snuff an American economic recoveryaborning, a debt crisis, stagnant job creation and a crisis in thepostal service. It is impossible to know the relevance and meaningof the information reported.

U.S. employers added 103,000 new jobs to the economy in September.That number was inflated by Verizon employees returning to workafter a strike.

However, the unexpected good news helped buoy the stock market.Retail sales figures were better than experts had predicted theywould be in September. Meanwhile, members of the European Union areearmarking hundreds of billions to stabilize Greece’s debtproblems.

Unfortunately, back home, Congress cannot select a reasonablecompromise plan to reduce our public debt. Congress will allowanother crisis to become our news story du jour instead of findingan acceptable solution to the problem.

Democrats and Republicans know that inaction is no way to manage anation. The U.S. Postal Service is reported to be bankrupt and neardefault on payment for its health care benefit obligations. Peopleare lining up calling for privatization or elimination of theservice.

If you look beyond the sound bite, you will see the hand ofCongress which created the crisis. The USPS actually makes moneyand was a source of considerable revenue that Congress wanted touse for its own purposes.

In 2006, Congress passed a law forcing the USPS to prepay thehealthcare expenses of its workers for the next 75 years! Thispreposterous law allowed Congress to siphon billions from the USPSfor other budget items and now people want to blame our lettercarriers for the problem!

This classical Congressional legerdemain is an example of whatCongress can accomplish when it is motivated. They can passridiculous and complicated laws to appropriate money they shouldnot touch but cannot pass a budget or a debt ceilingresolution.

In downtown Manhattan, protesters are calling for equity andjustice in the tax system. The protest has been attracted attentionbecause it is relevant to our economic situation.

In New York City, 20.1 percent of New Yorkers (1.6 million) areclassified as the working poor (family of four with $22,314 or lessannual income), while 64 New Yorkers are collectively worth $270billion.

The 64 can invest the immense wealth so that their nominal tax rateis lower than that of a cop or of a firefighter. We need changesmade to our tax law, Social Security rules and healthcare law. Weneed simpler, progressive and more equitable rules and regulationsthat raise some taxes and reduce a lot of spending.

If we can create jobs in a sluggish economy then we can createcareers for young people so they can take their place andcontribute to future improvement of society. We live in a societycapable of producing great minds which in turn produce greatthings.

Let the can do spirit of Steve Jobs inspire our lawmakers everyday and maybe some reasonable plans for our future will be withinour Touch.

Brian Kieran is a community activist who works for the State ofNew York and is a Democrat.

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