"Shut It Down, America" - Let's take Howard Schultz's suggestion and close our purses and wallets

By Jack Brummet, Ethics Editor

and
Pablo Fanque, National Affairs Editor

We could follow our earlier advice and "throw the bums out."  But we just might end up with a President Bachmann, or President Nader.  Or, we could take up Howard Schultz's suggestion and starve them out.  Eliminating all campaign contributions would seriously shake the pumpkin.

"This means not kicking the can anymore. It means reaching a deal on debt, revenue, and spending long before the deadline arrives this fall. It means considering all options, from entitlement programs to taxes." - Howard Schultz

illustration © 2011 by Jack Brummet

A "throw the bums out" movement won't really change anything, because politicians thrive on backbiting, sophistry, backlash, and factionalism.  But choking off the supply of cash to all politicians would surely have desired effect. It is the thing they fear the most.

Let's give it a shot.  In the words of Tina Fey, "Shut it down America!"

In his--now--widely distributed email dated today, Schultz wrote:

August 15, 2011

Dear Fellow Concerned Americans:

Our country is better than this.

Over the last few weeks and months, our national elected officials from both parties have failed to lead. They have chosen to put partisan and ideological purity over the well-being of the people. They have undermined the full faith and credit of the United States. They have stirred up fears about our economic prospects without doing anything to truly address those fears. They have spent a resource even more precious than the dollar: our collective confidence in each other, in the future, and in our ability to solve problems together.

As leaders in business, we have watched all this unfold, first with frustration and then with dismay. Like so many of our employees and customers, we are gravely concerned about the current situation. Today, with both humility and urgency, we propose to do something about it.

First, we aim to push our elected leaders to face the nation's long-term fiscal challenges with civility, honesty, and a willingness to sacrifice their own re-election. This means not kicking the can anymore. It means reaching a deal on debt, revenue, and spending long before the deadline arrives this fall. It means considering all options, from entitlement programs to taxes.

This is what so many common-sense Americans want. That is why we today pledge to withhold any further campaign contributions to the President and all members of Congress until a fair, bipartisan deal is reached that sets our nation on stronger long-term fiscal footing. And we invite leaders of businesses – indeed, all concerned Americans – to join us in this pledge.

We also believe in leading by positive example. And we believe that while the long-term fiscal challenge is serious, even more painful to millions of Americans today is the immediate crisis of jobs. Tens of millions are unemployed and underemployed. Right now our economy is frozen in a cycle of fear and uncertainty. Companies are afraid to hire. Consumers are afraid to spend. Banks are afraid to lend. Record levels of cash are piling up in corporate treasuries, idling. That cash is not being used to expand operations, train new workers, underwrite new ventures, or spark innovation.

The only way to break this cycle of fear is to break it. The only way to get the country’s economic circulatory system flowing again is to start pumping lifeblood through it. That is why we today issue a second pledge. Our companies are going to hire. We are going to accelerate growth, employment, and investment in jobs.

We do this because we want to set in motion an upward spiral of confidence. We are not waiting for government to create an incentive program or a stimulus. We are not waiting for economic indicators to tell us it’s safe to act. We are hiring more people now. We invite leaders of businesses across the country to join us in this pledge as well – and to bring their stakeholders into the effort. Confidence is contagious. The best thing we can do now is to spread it.

This is a time for citizenship, not partisanship. It is a time for action. We don't pretend that our two pledges are quick fixes. We just believe that in this moment of great uncertainty, the government needs discipline, the people need jobs – and leaders need to lead.

Our country is better than this. Let’s get things moving now.
Respectfully,

Howard Schultz

Other recent relevant posts on ATIT:
"Throw The Bums Out" - images from a quick web search
Throwing The Bums Out Does Not Mean Replacing Them With Teabaggers
"Throw the bums out!": more reflections on the deficit fiasco

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We have to put the screws to someone. Don't we?

By Mona Goldwater
Amateur Economics Correspondent





What do we do?  If this was a real business--and it seems like we need to treat it like that once again--wouldn't we nick our employees and, especially, our vendors and buyers; we'd lower wages and raise prices (taxes) and hope we could find a middle ground on which to survive.  Despite all the moaning and groaning, hasn't the TARP money done what it was supposed to do?  In fact, haven't many/most of those "investments" been paid back, even with a little vigorish?  Yeah, we ran up deficits dealing with the late 2000's financial meltdown, but isn't it approximately time to put a cork in that?

The U.S. ran up budget deficits for nearly 30 years--from 1970 through 1997.  Bill Clinton was president in 1998, when the government finally achieved a surplus--a surplus created through bi-partisan cooperation.  And we racked up further surpluses in 1999, 2000 and in 2001.  2001 was the final year of a Clinton-managed budget.

George W. Bush succeeded Clinton in 2001, and--surprise--we had a budget deficit in 2002 that has continued every year since then.  The deficit is projected to increase massively and exponentially this year under President Barack Obama.

This isn't an editorial opinion.  I have no idea how to roll back the clock to 1998.  What do the smart people say?  What would you do? What's three trillion between friends?  Do we need to crank up the presses at The Mint?  Or sell, say, a 25% equity stake in the U.S. to The People's Republic of China?  If the numbers I see are right, we have now borrowed around $1.4 trillion from China, or, $1,000 from every one of the PRC's 1.3 billion citizens.   Where do we go from here?  How do we fix this?

And one last question?  How much gold do we actually have in Fort Knox?  I know that virtually all the gold we own there was purchased at $35 an ounce or less, and most of it was accumulated when the price was far lower than that (when we were still on the gold standard).  Why don't we break that gold out and sell it, now that it retails for around $1,500 an ounce--while all the knuckleheads are buying gold, shotguns, and canned goods like madmen?

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