America's Silent Occupy Movement Needs To Be Heard

I was a latchkey kid. When I was a child, both my parents worked full time in order to pay the mortgage, put food on the table and put clothes on my back. Although I was often left home alone without any parental supervision, I was also blessed to have women in my life, the mothers of my friends, to care for me until one of my parents came home from work, usually after dark.

I never went to bed hungry. For years, my mother made most of my clothes, and she would never forget to sew one of those little bare feet on my shirts so that I could go to school wearing what appeared to be the coolest Hang Ten attire. My father used a glue gun to repair my shoes, and my mother would sew fabric to the bottom of my rapidly shrinking corduroy pants, as my parents couldn't afford to buy me new clothes, no matter how quickly I grew.

I recall my father taking me to Anaheim High School to sign me up for Pop Warner football. Days later, as I sat next to the telephone waiting for the call from my new coach, my parents told me that I could not play as we couldn’t afford the application  fee. I was heartbroken, feeling that my parents would not let me do anything.  My parents were heartbroken as they couldn't provide their child with everything.

As time goes on, and surely like others in my situation (three kids, two dogs, two fish and one wife), I find myself respecting and appreciating my parents more and more.  They had no choice but to work very hard in order support a family of four. They were products of the Great Depression and how it affected their lives growing up in Ontario, Canada, where unemployment reached 27% in 1933.  In retrospect, it seemed that most of my friends had a mother at home when they came home from school. Two earner families were relatively rare.

But not now. Today, our tax burden is so oppressive that two earner families are not even rare, but are the norm. What began in the 1970s as a true desire by women to work outside the home has become an economic necessity brought on by an increasing tax burden and a floundering economy. “Floundering” is probably too soft of a word. We now face an economic crisis, a recession like none I have ever personally witnessed, and an economic future that has led my generation to be the first to believe that our children will not be better off than we were.

Consider the financial picture of this fictional American family:

Income                             $22,000

Expenses                         $37,000

          Shortfall>>             $15,000

Credit Card Balance        $143,000

Retirement needs            $540,000

Pretty dismal, don’t you think? Just a brief glance at this financial situation, and one would rightfully conclude that this family has been living far beyond its means for quite some time. In fact, one could reasonably conclude that this family’s finances have been managed by some fool who is so stupid that he or she couldn’t pour water out of a boot unless the instructions were written on the heel. Well, brace yourself.  Multiply these figures by roughly $100 million and you now have a general understanding of the current fiscal condition for the United States of America.

Additional “income” (taxes) will never be able to compensate for the current level of “expenses” (spending).  Our “credit card balance” (debt) continues to skyrocket, and our “retirement needs” (Social Security/Medicare) remain an unfunded liability which, at the current rate, will go bust in matter of years.

The common refrain from the left is that President Obama and his economic advisors inherited an economic disaster, a financial morass of epic proportions that was created by the ineptitude of one former President George Bush. Now, as his presidential term progressed, I came to agree with many that President Bush was far from the sharpest tool in the shed. No doubt that the spending increases incurred during the Bush years contributed to the current financial mess.

However, to say that George Bush is solely responsible for our current economic situation is like saying that Karl Dorrell is solely responsible for the current state of UCLA football. The federal government has been recklessly spending our tax dollars and incurring debt for decades. Democrats and Rebublicans alike have been spending like drunken sailors on shore leave.

Regardless of one’s political point of view, it’s hard to dispute some cold, hard realities:

• After $787 billion in “stimulus spending,” the national unemployment rate has not been stimulated to fall below 9.1%.  Indeed, the unemployment rate in California still exceeds 11.9% (9% in Orange County). (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics)

• The unemployment rate when President Obama took office was 7.7% with 12 million people unemployed. Since taking office, and despite BILLIONS in additional spending, over 14 million citizens are out of work, and millions more are underemployed or have just given up.

• The federal debt is 67% of our gross domestic product, the highest since WWII. (Office of Management and Budget)

• Social Security and MediCare are fast becoming insolvent, and it is the rare politician who is brave enough to even address the issue publicly. (e.g., Congressman Paul Ryan, R-WI). In fact, Medicare is already broke, as we are $37 trillion short of our current Medicare obligations (Report of Medicare Trustees, 2009 annual report).  If you add Medicaid and other federal entitlements, we are $54 trillion short. To put this in perspective, the current gross domestic product (the market value for all goods and services on an annual basis) is approximately $14 trillion.

• For the first time in history, Standard & Poor’s downgraded the U.S. credit rating to AA+, and Congress continues to fiddle away as Rome burns. In the meantime, despite warnings by auditors, the Obama administration provides a taxpayer funded “loan” of $535 million to a failing solar panel company that promptly took the money and then declared bankruptcy.

• Despite the promises of a federally mandated health care program, medical costs and health insurance premiums continue to climb to previously unimaginable heights.

• Over vehement opposition, Congress has adopted a national health care policy that will cost TRILLIONS and allow for governmental control of 1/6 of the American economy.

• Governmental dependency, defined as the percentage of persons receiving one or more federal benefit payments, is currently at 47%, the highest level in American history.  (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics/U.S. census)

• The Congressional Budget Office estimates that under the current administration, public debt will rise from 40.8% of GDP (gross domestic product) in 2008 to 70.1% in 2012. (U.S. Congress, Congressional Budget Office, March 2009 report)

• The federal debt when President Obama took office was $10.6 trillion, but is now $14.7 trillion, up 39%. To be fair, it was $5.7 trillion when President Bush took office in 2001. In 2012, the debt limit will be at an unprecedented level, $16.7 trillion.  The growth in federal debt since President Obama took office represents the highest debt growth rate in our nation’s history,  this occurring while our GDP continues to decline.

• The federal government spends $300 billion per month to pay expenses, while federal tax revenue per month amounts to approximately $180 billion.

I admit, trying to grasp the significance of some of these figures can be daunting, particularly when we are talking about trillions of taxpayer dollars.  However, in an effort to try to put this in perspective, consider that a million seconds equals 12 days, a billion seconds equals 31 years, and a trillion seconds equals 31,688 years! The scope of governmental spending is absolutely stunning.  To quote Cyndi Lauper, “it makes my mind boggle!” 

The significance of our dire economic circumstances cannot be understated. We’re in big trouble folks. We can discuss our positions on “social issues” until we're blue in the face, but there is no greater threat to our country than our dismal economic situation.  

For decades, any perceived attempt to rein in spending has been token at best; like throwing a deck chair off the Titanic as it sinks. And believe me, on this current course, this ship is sinking … and sinking fast.

“I am strongly in favor of common sense, common honesty, and common decency. This makes me forever ineligible for public office.”  —H.L. Mencken

In the last number of weeks, we have seen the “Occupy” movements demonstrate in various cities. They have no leadership. In fact, their “demonstrations” have repeatedly been proven to be nothing more than loose collections of individuals with no cohesive message or collective goal.  To say that some of these people suffer from "Knowledge Deficit Disorder" would be an understatement.

But I submit that there is another “Occupy” movement that gets very little recognition. Yes, these individuals occupy homes that might be worth less than the amount of the unpaid mortgage(s). These “Occupy” people do everything in their power to find a job, to put food on the table, and to provide their children with shelter, clothes and an education. “Retirement” for these “Occupy” members is no longer a reasonable expectation. Like my parents did with me, these people want to provide all they can for their families, yet circumstances presumably beyond their control are making this more and more difficult. Yet, despite these economic realities, unfortunately, this “Occupy” movement is surprisingly silent.

WE are the 99%. WE are the people who pay for college, pursue a career, work endless hours, pay the mortgage, provide the food, clothe the family, raise the children, pay the taxes, coach the kids, etc. Indeed, we have earned a vested interest in this country; a prize that should not be taken for granted in such uncertain times. 

My hope for the coming year is that we all remember to educate ourselves regarding the crucial issues we face, and that we get up and actively support those with the courage to seriously address this economic crisis; nationally, on a state level, and on a local level. For the sake of our children and grandchildren, this is one “Occupy” movement that has yet to be heard. 

“Our lives begin to end the day we begin to become silent about the things that matter” 

—Martin Luther King, Jr.