“Billionaires of integrity are as essential to society as tributaries are to Oceans. Yet a simple fable has the power to save a nation!” John Johnson II.. 01/29/25
By John Johnson II
As you recall, the fable “ The Goose That Laid The Golden Eggs” was used as a metaphor to highlight the urgent and potentially catastrophic fate of America’s Federal Budget. If government officials don’t intervene to stop the budget from being gutted, we could be hurtling toward a severe economic crisis. It’s not the greedy and senseless farmer robbing the budget. It remains a platoon of clandestine thieves operating as accounts payable personnel, lobbyists, fraudsters, and complicit, wasteful executives/managers.
Despite the thievery assault on the Federal Budget to steal its money (Golden Eggs), essential facts must be highlighted. For example, for decades, the government has continually spent more money than it has received as tax revenue. Consequently, this has resulted in a significant increase in the national debt.
Simply put, our government is spending money it doesn’t have in its budget, and there’s no Goose to lay golden eggs. Unfortunately, this blind spending has led to uneventful battles between Republicans and Democrats about how high to raise the threatening national debt.
The national debt is not just a number on a balance sheet. It threatens the U.S. government’s ability to respond to security threats, provide funds for defense, allocate disaster aid to states, and stimulate economic growth. These threats should serve as a wake-up call to Congress that the current tax code is inadequate for generating enough revenue, “Golden Eggs,” for the government to meet its financial obligations.
In other words, how can the government extract more taxes from workers who are already struggling to pay rent and buy groceries and extend tax breaks to billionaires? If taxpayers were forced to pay higher taxes, this would be tantamount to treating them as though their pockets were filled with “Golden Eggs.”
Unfortunately, the federal budget’s “Golden Eggs” can also be drained by Officials who enact laws that prevent various corporate entities from paying their fair share of taxes. Based on the ‘trickle-down philosophy,’ these laws have not worked to ensure money reaches those at the bottom of the economic ladder. They haven’t
provided fairness nor reduced the number of impoverished people.
Currently, approximately 22 million and 6.8 million white and Black people live in poverty, respectively. Laws should focus on ensuring that everyone, from the smallest taxpayer to the largest corporation, contributes to the well-being of our society.
Hopefully, this information linked again to the fable will shed light on the destructiveness of selfish greed, racism, lust /misuse of power, and the sheer ignorance of the reasons past and recent 20th-century empires collapsed. Also, why do governmental Officials act as though their priority is to protect and ensure that billionaires become even more wealthy?
Rightfully, billionaires earned their wealth through hard work, ingenuity, and the delivery of excellent services and products. Nevertheless, the government has the responsibility to protect the poor, homeless, poorly paid workers, and marginalized individuals and to avoid entanglement or the furtherance of any religious doctrine.
Amazingly, there’s a true story and not a fable. A CEO, Dan Price in Seattle, in 2015 took a pay cut and shared his “Golden Eggs. He did this to raise each employees’ salary to $70,000. He said, “I hope others will follow his lead in tackling inequality.” Regrettably, naysayers have labeled him as a ‘lunatic.’
YOU HAVE THE POWER TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE! As a member of the public, your voice, your vote, and your Senators can shape the future of our Federal Budget. Your engagement is crucial. It’s time to stand tall and demand fair taxation and payment of a living wage to workers.
YOU BE THE JUDGE!