The Ongoing War: After the Battle Over the Cliff Comes the Battle Over the Debt Ceiling

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Apart from the military, Medicare and Social Security account for almost everything else the federal government does – and these programs continue to be hugely popular, as Republicans learn every time they threaten them.

The animus toward government has more to do with the growing frustrations of many Americans that they’re not getting ahead no matter how hard they work. Government is an easy scapegoat, utilized by much of corporate America to convince average Americans to cut taxes, spending, and regulations. 

The median wage continues to drop, adjusted for inflation, even though the economy is growing. And the share of the economy going to wages rather than to profits is the smallest on record.

Increasingly it’s looked like the game is rigged, especially when people see government bailing out Wall Street (the Tea Party movement grew out of the bailout, as did the Occupiers), and handing out corporate welfare to big agriculture, big pharma, oil companies, and insurance companies.

The outrage grows when average working people are told – wrongly — that a growing portion of Americans don’t pay taxes and live off government handouts.

The battle over the fiscal cliff is over but the trench warfare will continue.