So France bounces Sarkozy and Greece bounces them all. A morality play for US austerity proponents. [View all]

[Stinky The Clown]

There are two basic philosophies.

Cut spending and shrink government (Right Wing) (The Wild West/Survival of the Richest/Ayn Rand philosophy).

Increase taxes and provide for all (Left Wing) (The socialistic philosophy).

The best path lies someplace between the two extremes. We need to move back to the left to get to the sweet spot.

Ever since Johnson left office this country has been drifting toward the Right. A little more to left at times, a little more to right at times, but always moving along a baseline path inexorably toward right wing conservatism.

In Europe, we have an opportunity to see how abject a failure is right wing austerity. They're spending less than nothing on social programs and their economies are in the crapper.

In this country we're watching Mitt Rmoney move to the right with every twitch from the tea bagger morons.

I think its time to tax everyone more, and to tax the wealthy until their eyes bleed. Take some of that right wing protected wealth back from the 'job creators" and, by government spending, create some actual jobs. By government spending in the form of tax incentives, reward those who actually *do* create jobs. Stop the tax breaks for those who clip coupons for a living (except for those who have retired modestly) and tax that inherited wealth as ordinary income. I think it is time that we make the term "tax hawk" more desirable than the totally misleading term "deficit hawk."

The issues can always be debated at the edges, but my essential point is that we need be raising taxes and increasing spending right now. Not later. Not cutting taxes and then cutting spending to pay for it. It is time we take punitive steps to those who hoard their wealth while they continue to amass it.

And maybe the citizens of France and Greece will show us the way.