Left Right Politics

I am amazed today by the extremes on both sides of the political debate. Rants by the liberals on the left about shipping jobs overseas, busting unions, the rich getting richer and trying to eliminate the middle class, tax breaks for the rich, America doesn't produce anything anymore and on and on. Rants by the right that unions are bankrupting the country, (FYI unions represent only 11.9% of the workforce in 2010. 36.2 % of the public sector and 6.9% of the private sector.) that we are spiraling out of control, that our debt is unmanageable etc etc.
Granted, unemployment is too high, our debt is too high, our deficit is too high and much of the debt and deficit problem is unsustainable. We need to make changes. We spend too much. BUT, the demise of the US of A is greatly exaggerated.
The real truth is in the middle. There are 90% of the population working (for brevity I rounded the unemployment to 10%) That means there are lots of people making things, doing things, paying their mortgage, buying things and YES starting businesses. That is where the employment will come from not from the big businesses. There are fewer auto workers at the big three than before the bailout. Private businesses will be the answer to growing our way out of this mess. They will hire people, their payrolls will multiply in the economy and tax revenues will increase. Taxing the rich only encourages them to move assets to tax shelters. When John D Rockefeller died his family had more money in tax shelters than their Standard Oil stock was worth primarily because of high taxes. Taxes on the rich become "voluntary" taxes because they have the resources to move assets to shelters to offset the tax.
We live in a 14.6 Trillion Dollar economy, the largest in the world by a factor of 3 unless you count the European Union which approximates our economy if you lump all 27 countries together. We continue to be the largest manufacturer in the world, students from every country come here to be educated. Immigrants from every nation want to come here because of the opportunity, the freedoms both personal and market and our type of government.
As Mark Twain said " The report of my death has been greatly exaggerated."