The American Engine Analogy

Seventy years of damage have been done to the economic engine of America.  The engine has survived in spite of it, but the warranty is about to run out.

The damage is repairable if somebody really wants to fix it.  The problem is that whoever has had their turn in the drivers' seat, has not seen fit to address the engine problems.  Instead they've turned up the radio and dazzled you with a GPS system and in-seat DVD players.

Nobody wants to fix the engine because it means less passenger comfort.  The seats will have to be ripped out and replaced with cheaper, less comfortable ones.  No one wants to be the one to say it has to be done.  Every driver has hoped the problem would hit the next person to drive and not them.  We're at, or pretty near that last driver.

The engine has to be fixed.  Nobody wants to hear the truth, but it's going to cost a lot.  If it had been addressed long before this it would have been cheaper.  If we wait much longer it will soon become unaffordable. The cost to fix America is probably in the neighborhood of of a 25% tax increase and a 25% across the board slashing of spending.  Or more of one and less of the other depending on your preference.  But as passengers, the free ride is over.  The car is going to break down or else require a major overhaul.

The irony is that instead of addressing it, the current driver (Obama) is siphoning the gas out of the gas tank.

I've written about this before. Quite some time ago in fact.  And often.  Many others have raised the same warnings.  But it hasn't mattered.  The passengers have been too caught up in their free ride to notice that the car is going to leave them stranded on the side of the highway.

The good news is that the passengers are starting to notice the problems with the car.  Maybe, it's not too late to start the repairs.