Can Americans think straight?

According to a new poll:

"Eighty percent say trimming personal tax rates should be a goal when the new president takes office in January, but only 36 percent say the cuts should [be] a very top priority, according to a new Associated Press-GfK poll."

We are in the throes of a recession that is very rapidly devolving into a depression worse than that of the 1930s, yet 64% of Americans have a completely wrong idea how to cope with the situation. Tax cuts (with corresponding spending cuts) are the only way to repair the crashing economy. People and businesses must retain more of what they earn, save it, and reinvest it; the government--which is the biggest consumer, not a producer or investor--must restrain its appetites in favor of rebuilding savings and capital in the private economy. As for the ostensibly sensible 36%, I'll bet a dollar that most of them want only half of the necessary remedy--tax cuts but not a dime in spending cuts. That's been Republican gospel for the last 30 years, and we are paying a terrible price for that foolishness.

Consumption and spending and borrowing and inflating will impoverish us, not restore us. When your assets and wealth are diminishing, you must save, not consume whatever you have left. Why can't Americans figure this out?

Read it here