THE CORPORATIONS AND THE NATIONAL DEBT

The Supreme Court determined the Corporation to be an "artifical person declared by law." subjecting it to personal income tax which obviously was of great benefit to the Government, but the unintentional consequence of this act may have caused the creation of an artificial economy based upon an artificial certificate of wealth called money that may be one of the causes for the current financial crisis.

The very first economy was a consumer economy supported by the supply of natural bounty from the earth.  As civilization advanced, humans took private ownership over the products of the earth and a Supply Side of the economy rose up to satisfy the needs and wants of the consumers.  The producers were also consumers and the consumers had to be producers or producer support as well.  The more one produced, the more one could   consume.  A medium of exchange was established to facilitate this exchange and keep track of individual production and consumption.This medium of exchange (money) became the standard of value.

The idea was to produce as much as you needed and wanted to survive.   Free business enterprise came into the picture with the profit motive and gave the incentive to produce more and more.  Some areas of civilization became more prosperous than others and some individuals became more prosperous than others within the areas.  Individual and group competition became the way of life.

The system was ideal, giving individuals wealth to consume in proportion to ones production.  In a free society, individuals could choose  what and how they wished to produce and what and how much they  could consume based upon  their contriubution to the society.   On  a "cash basis"  this system appeared to be as perfect as a system could be.  However, with credit, consumers could consume more than they could pay for and the imbalance of production and consumption caused problems.  The result was an over supply  which caused the system to bog down.

The artificial persons (the corporations)  had expanded to the point where they became mini-economies in themselves, supporting large numbers of consumers, and their "bog down" with over production also cut back on the consumer action, adding to the imbalance thus accerbating the problem.

Powerful supply side advocates pushed for more production with the notion that more production would result in more tax revenue to revive the economy.  This would of course help unproductive consumers with basic needs through government aid but would also add to the over productive imbalance and postpone any recovery.

The mass production frenzy also brought with it mass corruption and mass waste.  The artificial person was out of control.  This senario was duplicated in various segments of the sociaty in  various ways.  Some lending institutions gave out money that borrowers could not pay back.  Some insurance institutions  insured for losses that they were unable to cover.  Some individuals spent money that they did not have and could not afford.


The answer is very simple; it is the same for the Government, for Business and for the Individual.  A Balanced Budget!  This is accomplished simply by "living withing one's means," or only spending money that you have and can afford.  (Refer to the American College Press publication, "Blue Print for Success in Business")  The  problem is How to Balance the Budget with an enormous debt.  Here are some suggestions to consider:

Focus on corrption and waist.  Give bonuses to whistle blowers and suggestions for savings and elimination of waste.

Eliminate unnecessary services.  Encarceration only for those that are a threat to society.  Fines for convictions.

Review compensation for  public employees (including  elected officials) receiving perks and  amounts  over  basic  pay scale.

Make necessary changes to eliminate padding of retirement benefits and overtime pay.

Review all costs that do not reduce tax paying personnel for reduction or elimination.   Review entitlements for possible reduction of higher end payments.

Increase taxes on income above 250,000 with graduated rates.

Print money to pay on debt.  This will cause some inflation and raise in prices but raise of minimum wage  would ease the burden on the lower
income bracket.

As a last resort, enact a temporary  federal luxury sales tax to be used only for the debt reduction