Our Imagination Deficit

[Donnachaidh]

http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/our_imagination_deficit_20110529/?ln

While the United States remains utterly frozen in a debate about budget deficits and all the things that government shouldn’t do, other countries are marrying public and private resources to make themselves stronger and more competitive.

While the United States is not even sure we should have gone halfway toward providing health insurance to all of our citizens, other democratic countries long ago began using government to cover all their citizens—and have health costs far lower than ours.

While Americans pay less in taxes than the citizens of other rich countries—and currently pay the smallest share of their incomes for taxes since 1958—one house of Congress thinks the only thing that can be done to help the country is to cut taxes even more.

While other countries have jumped ahead of us in green economics, we have backed away from any effort to put a price on carbon to battle climate change and promote new technologies. In the Republican Party, politicians have to apologize for even thinking about global warming.

More at the link --