Now, frankly it is quite tiresome to hear a bunch of pseudo Christians, especially "scholars", bloviating about their phony "faith" in Paul and calling it faith in Jesus! You know, Paul, the guy who said that anyone who didn't agree with him is cursed (Galatians 1:8) and anyone getting circumcised (including Jesus?) should go "all the way" and get castrated (Galatians 5:12). I mean, If they want to come out and say "Hey, I agree with Paul and I disagree with all that idealistic bullshit that Jesus is trying to peddle," well, mazel tov! That is, "good luck!" I certainly don't agree with them, but at least they're being honest and have a right to their opinion. On the other hand, one does not have to be a Christian to believe in Jesus' principles. They certainly seem to be the exact same principles laid down by everyone from Zaresthustra to Parmenides to Buddha to Hillel to Jesus and all the way to Albert Schweitzer and Billy Graham. They are all about how to treat one's neighbor, not how to treat G-d as some kind of fearsome knucklehead making arbitrary decisions and who embodies all of humanity's worst faults! Appreciating a creator who happened to give even the poorest of us in this country a better lot in life than most human beings who lived before the post WWII era is a good start, but it might not hurt for people, especially those of the MAGA persuasion to look at some facts.
We can start with the fact that by actually activating some of what Trump would consider Jesus' "idealistic bullshit" principles, we have avoided a third world war! This was done, however imperfectly, by actually taking Jesus' advice to essentially "love our enemies". We rebuilt Germany and Japan and now, despite what our country's most serious homegrown detractors say, they are perhaps our staunchest allies besides Canada! To lower the risk of nuclear war, we actually convinced a dozen or more countries in Europe to not have nuclear weapons with the proviso, our solemn word (unfortunately something completely meaningless to our current "Commander in Chief"), that we would protect them through NATO.
Meanwhile, we live in a country where our standard of living is much higher than the vast majority of other countries. We, therefore, have to pay our workers higher wages than most foreign workers receive for the same jobs and we cannot even find workers for lower-paying jobs that have customarily been filled by newer immigrants. Many previously higher-paying blue-collar jobs are being replaced by artificial intelligence, i.e. machines. Meanwhile, through a basically "Free Trade" system, not only the U.S., but the "free world" in general, has generated enough wealth to make every one of the world's citizens comfortable. Of course, as yet, we haven't figured out how that wealth can be distributed equitably without "screwing" those who help most to create it but admittedly, it's not the worst problem with which to grapple, is it? There is some concern, however, with the fact that more and more of the world's wealth is finding itself in the hands of a rather limited group of individuals. Some of these individuals are billionaires, while some are even trillionaires!
In fact, before continuing our little conversation, it might be appropriate to reintroduce the well-worn concept of the "self-made millionaire". According to this 1920's model, by pulling oneself up by one's "bootstraps", an entrepreneur with some good ideas could make himself phenomenally wealthy! Thus the millionaire, like today's billionaire or trillionaire, could take credit for his or her success without sharing it with anyone else. Of course this concept leaves out customers, employees, supply chains, advisors, police and government/legal protection, roads and transportation, electric, plumbing, sewage, and literally scores of services that the millionaire could not reasonably secure without the help of fellow citizens. In fact, based on our graduated federal income tax system, until about sixty years ago, wealthy persons would pay incrementally higher tax rates on each segment of their yearly income... say 18% on the first hundred thousand, 25% on the next segment and so on. Eventually the rates might hit 90%, but they were drastically decreased eventually.
As a result, the government collects a somewhat lower percentage of taxes per year than it used to, while providing more services than it used to. Although the difference in tax revenue is not quite as much as "left leaners" would like us to believe, it is enough to at least contribute significantly to the surge in the national debt. Of course the "right leaners'" foolish habit of repeatedly reducing the IRS workforce contributes significantly to decreased government revenue. Then there is the eternal struggle between the "privateers" and the "bureaucratic campers". As an aside, most people don't associate Dick Cheney as the neoconservative hero of the Reagan and Senior Bush administrations, actually standing up to the military industrial complex. Well, gradually, the same patriotic Dick Cheney and so many of his compatriots developed the working theory that by privatizing government functions, not only could the government save hundreds of billions of dollars, but privateers could make billions as well. However, on paper, at least, there was one problem with their theory that could not be overcome, one commonly referred to as "the math". Simply put, "expenses plus profit margin equals more than expenses alone". In other words, paying the same for employees, but paying extra for stockholders and huge bonuses, would necessitate either cutting services or increasing the budget. Clearly, if the math doesn't work then the only alternative, it seems, is to blame it on the bureaucrats!
The first problem with blaming the government bureaucrats, however, is that they went to the same schools as their private-sector colleagues. They are, by and large, just as ethical as their private-sector cohorts and they approach their superiors with the same useful information and helpful suggestions. Well, maybe we can blame it on their superiors! Take the U.S. Postal Service. It's already run by private executives who are paid by the federal government, but do not own the "Post Office", a clever idea instituted by the greatly underappreciated Richard Nixon. For years the postal service was so successful that greedy "right leaners" decided to completely privatize it! First, however, they had to somehow show that the most successful government agency in history was actually poorly run. That is, they had to bankrupt it! Sound familiar? Initially, they voted that it had to donate more than five billion dollars each year to fund insurance and healthcare for employees some 75 years in advance! However, even with the abuse, the Post Office still usually either breaks even or loses a few billion dollars each year. In short, Trump and Musk are not the first miscreants to blame our fiscal shortfalls on government bureaucrats. As we shall see, it is just a much bigger problem for them than it has been for anyone else.
Now, according to the "Citizens United" decision by a Supreme Soviet, excuse me, "Court", polluted by blatantly political (at the time Republican) "justices", billionaires are allowed to personally donate hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars to political action committees supporting their favorite individual candidates. Before this decision, individuals were limited as to the amount they were permitted to donate to a single candidate. As a result, numerous tax exemptions have been "bought" in recent years and added to the tax code such that a billionaire may actually end up paying an overall lower income tax rate than the average earner. Meanwhile, the current administration plans on lowering the tax rates for the very wealthiest of the wealthiest Americans even further in order to satisfy their huge campaign "obligations".
Interestingly, Mr. Trump, who was apparently raised in an ethical black hole, wanted to perform all of his current stunts in his first administration, but apparently encountered so much interference from competent advisors, that he swore he would never hire anyone whose loyalty to him was not markedly greater than their loyalty to the country. Thus it should not have been such a shock even to Republicans that one after another, so many of his appointees, this time around, seemed so unqualified for their positions. Added to the serious lack of competency is a notorious lack of planning as well, the president being known for making his most inspired decisions, apparently sitting on his ample toilet seat while texting. Where on earth, they wondered, could they possibly find the funds to meet their enormous "obligations" to the billionaires? While exaggerated tariffs, a synonym for "taxes", might account for a modest portion of the shortfall, ironically, the one thing in which the president seemed to be most skilled, that is negotiating deals, if successful, would end up drastically reducing the amount of tax income they could provide. Meanwhile, even the most conservative Republican congressmen and senators are afraid to make really severe cuts in the "Big Three", Defense, Social Security, and Medicare, moves that would almost assure them of a Democratic majority in both Houses come the midterms. One answer: blame it on the bureaucrats! Not only are they supposedly running their own departments, but they are the ones wasting all that money that could make up the shortfall!! They are the "deep state!" The only problem is that the government bureaucrats have bosses who, if I'm not mistaken, give them orders, don't they? And, not only do the bureaucrats have only modest salaries and reasonable retirement and health packages, but very few of them are rich. So where is all this "Deep State" money going, anyway? Is it going, no, it can't be, not to the programs for which the funds are "earmarked?"
Well, I might have been able to tell you during the last administration, but the first thing the MAGA King did was fire as many inspectors general as possible so that he could play fast and loose with the math from their agencies, including that precious tariff data (maybe you should look up the actual tariffs with Canada on dairy products). As for the people, especially children who may have already died due to arbitrary and incompetent cuts in USAID and medical science funds, not to mention measles, MAGATs don't care, except maybe the one out of a hundred who accidentally follows poor Jesus instead of Paul! Gee, ya still think the bureaucrats are the "Deep State?" It couldn't involve poorly paid congressmen and senators, having to own two homes and having to absorb huge expenses, but many of whom are none the less multi- multimillionaires, could it? It couldn't involve Supreme Court Justices who receive lavish gifts almost entirely from patrons sponsored by Leonard Leo of the Federalist Society, the man who hand-picked all but one of the conservatives on the Court, a true believer in Paul in every way! No, obviously it's some poor soul with three or four kids and a mortgage, making 60 or 70K a year, conspiring with other highly skilled criminals of the same ilk to cheat Americans out of their hard-earned money! Those "dirty bastards!" If we fire half of them, their salaries and benefits could not only pay for the tax cuts not covered by the tariffs, but after we freeze and confiscate all millions in assets they have hidden in their foreign bank accounts, we can pay off the entire national debt in a New York minute, by golly!
Seriously, in the case of the post office, it is clearly the Republican House and Senate that are responsible for trying to sabotage the institution, but dim-witted Democrats can share in the blame for their own wasteful ways. Blame aside, however, the time for simple-minded answers to complicated problems has long passed. Neither the problems or their solutions materialize in a vacuum despite what equally selfish and equally arrogant MAGA and progressive camps seem to think. Donald Trump and his amoral, radical Pseudo Christian allies' ideas, however, do materialize in a vacuum, the one that seems to occupy the space between their ears where the official capital of the "Deep State" is to be found. Only an ignoramus who never studied history would believe that repeating the most egregious mistakes in history will lead to different results!!! In the years just after WWII we had mature adults running our government, "grown ups" who had not only studied but had actually experienced history. They were not only bound and determined to avoid another World War, but they were equally determined to provide a modicum of wealth, a modicum of health and safety to everyone, not just themselves. In simple terms, amazingly, a government actually tried to follow the principles of Hillel and Jesus, not of Paul cursing anyone who disagreed with him. Somehow, I can't see Jesus' principles involved in vindictive anti "DEI" campaigns, in the destruction of millions of American citizens' savings and retirement plans, in blanket censorship, not only of secular education, but of medical science! Sooner or later, even some of Mr. Trump's most loyal supporters will wonder if they may have indeed elected the Antichrist as our president!
Al Finkelstein
