The New 'Green' Deal

All of the signs are there... thunderstorms in the middle of a blizzard, flooding, forest fires, and other out-of-season weather phenomena becoming commonplace! Further, these phenomena are in place worldwide! As a world leader, we must set the cadence to protect the only place we have ever lived.

The Green New Deal (GND) is a proposed economic stimulus program in the United States that aims to address both economic inequality and climate change. Supporters of a Green New Deal advocate a combination of Roosevelt's economic approach with modern ideas such as renewable energy and resource efficiency.

America must eliminate Corruption and Corporate greed and welfare. We must invest in our resources, i.e. people, natural resources, and higher education! Corporate America does not invest to erase the facade that we are the richest country in the world, because we aren't!

For all of Obama's terms in office, Congress hide behind the Sequester Act of 2011. Trump becomes President and immediately there is a 1.5 trillion dollar Tax Reform Act that has no reforms. Corporate welfare loopholes are still in place. This money accumulated as a result of the Sequester Act of 2011!

Last year, offshore accounts were allowed to be retrieved at one of two rates... 15% or 8% tax rates vice the 35% tax rate that has been in place since 1986!

"President Donald Trump requires companies to pay taxes on those earnings at two discounted rates — 15.5 percent on income held as cash and cash equivalents and 8 percent for illiquid assets. Those rates apply to an  estimated $3.1 trillion in earnings stockpiled overseas since 1986."

My point... Free College tuition, Re-education of the workforce to fill Silicone Valley high tech job vacancies for areas suffering from the effort to go green in America and third world countries.

The elimination of Corporate welfare alone will free up 85 billion plus dollars! Corporate and the 1% got 1.5 trillion in tax cuts, recovered 3.1 trillion dollars from overseas accounts at one of two tax rates that aren't available to a person whose income is 30k per year!

The largest cost to the American economy... fewer and fewer students able to graduate college without an enormous debt to pay, with interest I might add!

When are we going to learn that investing in America has major implications for all of us!

My Response to Mr. Krauthammer's Op-ed in the Washington Post

"A troubled nation wonders: How did we get mired in 9.1 percent unemployment, 0.9 percent growth and an economic outlook so bad that the Federal Reserve pledges to keep interest rates at zero through mid-2013 — an admission that it sees little hope on the horizon?"

As is always the case, Mr. Krauthammer talks about the problems that have mired the POTUS' agenda, but he never addresses the factors that stymie the POTUS's efforts to generate a full recovery. Let's enumerate them to ensure that there is a contradiction to his position:

1. The House, led by the Tea-partied Republicans and an indecisive speaker of the House has failed to introduce one job creation Bill, in fact, every attempt by members of the House to introduced legislation has been blocked by the Right - reference:http://j.mp/q5FXRG.


2. When the POTUS attempted to introduce a Stimulus package that would address jobs by setting aside money that would have created jobs as part of a grand scheme to influence recovery, the Republicans used the pretense of voting for that stimulus in a ploy that watered-down the package and thus, rendered it nothing more than pouring a bucket of water on a barn fired.

3. When the POTUS asked for a 'big' debt reduction budget plan that would reduce the deficit over the next ten years by 4.7 trillion, Republicans refused the package because it contained demands to cut tax loopholes and rescind the tax cuts to the top two percent of wage earners.

I could go on with example after example of how the POTUS' agenda was thwarted by a partisan effort to reduce any chance of success by this President to posture change to the economic situation in America. The Republican mandate is to 'make Obama a one term' President at the expense of the American worker.

It is shameful, and you are being less than candid when you present an opinion that is as bias as the Republican response to the economy of our country.
In a democracy, silence is not golden; it is condonance in the face of injustices; it is fear, where the thought of reprisal fosters control – Rodney A. Davis

The Road Ahead is Full of Obstacles

Currently, we are witnessing a major change in the way America functions.  We are seeing an increase in the use of food stamps as a method of feeding families.  Keeping in mind that the qualifications for receiving Food Stamps are directly related to the income of the recipient (below poverty, or no income at all), this is becoming a disturbing trend.

I did a search of the site www.opencongress.com using the following statement: What Job creation bills were presented in Congress' House of Representatives for the 112th Session.  This was my result: http://j.mp/q5FXRG.  Most recently, Wal-Mart, the poor man's Neiman-Marcus, posted this quarterly financial report for the last six months: http://j.mp/pZEnqv.  I make these revelations so that you might associate buyers with those clothiers that are prospering in the current economy; that you might realize that trickle-down economics are not working.  Oh... on Neiman-Marcus... they had a surge in profits for the year with this quarter being superb... http://j.mp/pV1Wzv

There were no Job Creation Bills coming out of Congress for this 112th Session!  There are no jobs being created by the top three percent receiving tax cuts!  There is no correlation between tax cuts for the rich and job materializing for the masses.

Mr. Boehner made the statement on the very day that he took the gavel that he had no idea how to create jobs and he was as right as rain would be to those suffering from the drought in the Southwest.  Still, Congress, as a whole is to blame for the current laxity in meeting the needs of the country - we need jobs and plenty of them!  We need partisan legislation for the good of the country!

The end resultant of this inaptitude on the part of Congress is the starving of the government, an agenda that has at its center the mandate to ‘make Obama a one-term President’.  That this President has managed to keep the country’s financial crisis from dragging us down in a spiral quagmire is in no part due to the assistance of the Republican Party. The Republican Party is in a position to push through the House any legislation that it would have become law… but it has not entertained one job creation Bill, in fact, the House has blocked job creation legislation from such notables and John Conyers (D-SC) and others.

Are you going to be a partisan voter when it comes to the general elections of 2012, or are you going to vote your conscious and elect whomever is in favor of rescuing the unemployed?  Be an informed citizen; there are many ways that you can discern the truth.  Use impartial sites to gain the real picture… start by visiting www.opencongress.com – that is where you will see an impartial record of who is doing what in your State as well as in Congress.

In a democracy, silence is not golden; it is condonance in the face of injustices; it is fear, where the thought of reprisal fosters control – Rodney A. Davis

Mr. Grassley Predicts the Future...

Regarding Obama’s chances of getting re-elected in 2012, Grassley tells Newsmax: “I think that he is headed for defeat based upon three things.

"One, Obamacare. Two, the terrible situation with spending and the budget deficit and the fact that the economy is affected by that and jobs aren’t being created. And third, his attitude about America not being an exceptional nation. Probably for the last reason more so than any other, he ought not to be re-elected."

“We have a great deal of credibility based on the fact that we have been looked upon as a different nation, as a world leader, and he wants to put us as a second-class nation — or let’s put it this way, not first among nations. It’s a threat to peace, that position he’s taken.”

Can Mr. Grassley be serious?  Could it be that the Republican candidates, all rejects from a casting for the featured actors in a Three Stooges look-a-like movie - as acknowledged by Glenn Beck, are better than Obama, in Grassley’s eyes?  Where he chuckling as he made these remarks, I would have known that he was making a joke.  As it is, Mr. Grassley is not joking and that is disturbing, to say the least.

In case Mr. Grassley is watching/listening, consider this:

1. United States is now ranked 21^st out of 27 of the industrialized nations in education.
2. United States is now ranked 42^nd when compared to the nations of the world in life expectancy, behind Cuba!

On your watch:

a.      We financed two wars under your watch during the Bush 43 era.

b.      We never had a balanced budget between 2000 and 2008.

c.       We sold America’s birthrights to the Chinese for pennies on a dollar.

d.      We oversaw the Republican destruction of the middle-class.

e.      We saw the spending of over eight trillion dollars, for which we have no benefits.

f.        We are witnessing the Republican response to creating jobs - none!

g.   And lastly, sent the country into an economical tailspin, losing at its height – seven hundred jobs per month beginning in August of 2008.

You have the audacity to belittle this President!  You and your Republican cohorts fought his every effort to resurrect the job market.  You refused to allow the closing of Gitmo by defunding the project, even though there are three maximum security prisons in the United States begging for inmates – prisons that currently house other terrorist convicted in our civil courts.

You won’t, and for obvious reasons, give this President credit from turning the job loses around in six months, instead you ridicule and misrepresent his every remark and action as a way of doing what Sir, covering the shortcomings of One George W. Bush?  Your comments are well received by a constituency that you have purposely denied a formal education, and continue address using terms and examples that incite the worst from them.

WATCH:

Read more on Newsmax.com: Grassley: Obama Wants America to Be 'Second-Class Nation' 

In a democracy, silence is not golden; it is condonance in the face of injustices; it is fear, where the thought of reprisal fosters control – Rodney A. Davis

Pat Toomey: How to Freeze the Debt Ceiling Without Risking Default - WSJ.com

The insanity of prophesying that the debt ceiling can be maintained by committing the United States to a path that may or may not work properly is beyond ludicrous - massive layoffs and cutbacks in government workers and programs.  You would think... but that theory may just work!

Senator Pat Toomey will very shortly introduce legislation that will, in effect, cut our decades long dependency of borrowing to cover the overspending that has been a integral part of the American economy for the last five decades - the Korean war veterans returning from the Korean conflict created a need to borrow and it has been the accepted thing to do every since.

Only a few months ago Britain embarked on this same surgical procedure with less than disastrous results!  The predictions by some that the British economy would collapse has not occurred, but the jury is still out, since the majority of the cuts won't occur until this time next year.

The Economist posted this article: So Far, so Good in which statistical data shows every indication that the policy is working, but as I said before, they have not gotten to the core of the new policy - massive layoffs and severe cuts in government spending.  The British plan is to make cuts equaling ten percent of the GDP over a four year period.  That is a significant reduction that would theoretically be the equivalent of cardiac arrest to an economy the size of Britain's, but contrary to 'the doom and gloom' that was predicted, the opposite is occurring.

Growth has been steadily improving for the last three quarters in direct contrast to predictions for Britain.  In summary, maybe the good Senator has it right and adopting  Britain's policy may be the right course for America as well.


In a democracy, silence is not golden; it is condonance in the face of injustices; it is fear, where the thought of reprisal fosters control – Rodney A. Davis

Obama Sucks!

I am sick and tired of clueless numbskulls walking around here shouting from the top of their lungs - Obama Sucks! Obviously, you loved the crap that Bush 43 shoved down your throw and you are looking for more! More job loses; larger deficit spending; more tax cuts for the rich; more nonsensical obstructionism on the part of the GOP; just more of anything that would lead to the eventual destruction of the United States of America.

Had America been paying attention from the beginning, we would not have entered Iraq. Bush's Father asked him... "what in hell's tarnation are you doing; do you have an exit strategy". He had no comment for his Father and his book should tell all - read it and find out just how much you were duped by the infamous duo of Bush/Cheney.

I, like many other veterans of Viet Nam who have a knowledge of nuclear weaponry, knew that Saddam had no WMDS. There never were any, but Bush 43 could do no wrong. There are many distinctions that Bush 43 will have as asterisks by his name... first President to enter two war fronts at the same time; first President to attack a foreign country without provocation; first President to 'give' tax cuts to the top one percent of the people at the expense of the working class and not pay for it; first President to spend over ten trillion dollars - more than any other President. I could go on, but you get the picture.

What I don't understand is that the legacy of Bush 43 is there for all to see - he ruined this country! Yet, you have those who would shout Obama sucks - why, because he stopped the job lost of seven hundred thousand per month, because he passed a comprehensive health care plan for all of America, or is it because he has done so much in two years with so little to work with because his predecessor gave it all away in dumbshit spending?

Bush 43 was handed a silver spoon by the Clinton Administration and he promptly used it to dig a hole for this country. You now have a decent President trying to bring America back and all I can heard is Obama sucks - well, if Obama sucks, then Bush 43 blew it!

In a democracy, silence is not golden; it is condonance in the face of injustices; it is fear, where the thought of reprisal fosters control – Rodney A. Davis

Give Big Business a Tax Break – Not

It seems that the only thing that will save the economy is a tax cut… so says the majority of conservatives. Conservatives want to give Big Businesses tax cuts; they want to give tax cuts to small businesses; and they want to give tax cuts to taxpayers.

Here is the real deal… Debt is bad for the economy and tax cuts are good. We know this because a lot of very serious people in ties keep saying it on the teevee machine. Never mind that these two positions are somewhat contradictory -- tax cuts make it difficult to reduce debt -- that's just the way things are. If we give tax cuts to the "job creators," we're told they'll go all crazy with the job creating and everything will be perfect forever.

My mathematics teacher long ago told me that any problem can be solved using basic mathematics and this ‘tax cut’ thing is a prime example. President George W. Bush 43's tax cut is a prime example of what tax cuts can do to an economy. Remember that the Bush tax cut was across the board and designed to eventually be a permanent fixture; meaning that everyone got the same percentage tax cut and would get it forever. A person making two hundred thousand dollars naturally would receive a larger tax cut than a person making fifty thousand dollars.

The Middle-Class of the United States has traditional paid the majority of the taxes received by the IRS (Internal Revenue Service). The average person that received Bush’s tax cuts got six hundred dollars. Consider that the average person during the Bush Administration was making fifty thousand dollars and now you know why tax cuts are of no value to the majority of taxpayers – the Upper-Class and Big Business were greatly rewarded by the Bush Administration. What really happened is that we lost the main group that pays taxes, the Middle-Class, and now the only people receiving tax cuts are the rich and Big Business. That the Middle-Class is almost non-existent is evident.

The Oil Industry under that Bush administration got tax breakers that led to astronomical profits for the giants within the Oil Industry. The records show that the Oil Industry benefited greatly from Republican influence. Big Business was predicted to ‘flame-on’ and the United States’ economy is going to chug along at an easy clip… not.

Tax cuts are never the end-all answer to the problems within the American economy – they never have and never will. The IRS sees any tax cut as a cut in pay. The IRS sees a tax cut as a less money to pay the country’s bills. Keeping that in mind, there is never an instance where a prolonged tax cut will benefit the country as a whole. Tax cuts increase the national debt, put money in the coffers of those who may or may not invest that tax cut and in general are of no lasting value. On the other hand, targeted tax cuts of a short duration do make a difference.

The Bush Administration has stood in favor of tax cuts through thick and thin. In the midst of a booming economy and large projected budget surpluses, President Bush’s top economic policy initiative — both as a candidate in 2000 and upon taking office — was to cut taxes. When the economy slowed, the Bush Administration’s response also was dominated by tax cuts. Now, in the face of yawning deficits and its own pledge to reduce them, the Administration has again put forward large, permanent tax cuts as part of its most recent budget.

In summary, balanced tax cuts that target a particular element of the economy for a short duration appears to be the best route to take when attempting to stimulate the economy without creating a nightmare for the entities that have to pay the bills on the Federal, State, and Municipal levels.

In a democracy, silence is not golden; it is condonance in the face of injustices; it is fear, where the thought of reprisal fosters control – Rodney A. Davis

How Would You Fix the Economy...

The Business Section of the St. Petersburg Times asked readers for ideas on "How Would You Fix the Economy"?  I think this guy nailed it!

Dear Mr. President:

Please find below my suggestion for fixing America's economy.  Instead of giving billions of dollars to companies that will squander the money on lavish parties and unearned bonuses, use the following plan.
 
You can call it the Patriotic Retirement Plan:

There are about 40 million people over 50 in the work force.  Pay them $1 million apiece severance for early retirement with the following stipulations:

1) They MUST retire.  Forty million job openings - Unemployment fixed.

2) They MUST buy a new American CAR.  Forty million cars ordered - Auto Industry fixed.

3) They MUST either buy a house or pay off their mortgage - Housing Crisis fixed.

It can't get any easier than that!  If more money is needed, have all members of Congress and their constituents pay their taxes... If you think this would work, please forward to everyone you know.  If not, please disregard.

In a democracy, silence is not golden; it is condonance in the face of injustices; it is fear, where the thought of reprisal fosters control – Rodney A. Davis

 

 

The One Big Thing George W. Bush Did Right

Robert Creamer Political organizer and strategist

Posted January 15, 2009, Huffington Post | 08:54 AM (EST)

History will record that George W. Bush made one critically important contribution to our country -- and to the entire world. He and his administration provided unquestionable proof of the bankruptcy of radical-conservative ideology, and set the stage for a qualitatively different progressive era in American politics.

History is not linear. It is not gradual or evolutionary. Human progress proceeds in fits and starts like a volcano, where pressure gradually builds over years and then erupts with enormous power.

Very often those explosions of progress -- periods when we expand the realm of democratic values, human dignity, economic opportunity and optimism -- are precipitated by periods of domination by the forces of privilege, inequality and selfishness.

By assuring that all of the fruits of the growth of productivity in our economy went to the wealthiest 2% of our population, the Bush administration set the stage for the current economic collapse.

By actually putting into practice the Neo-Conservative theories of pre-emptive war and unilateralism, George W. Bush demonstrated their failure more persuasively than could the most articulate progressive critic.

By abandoning our historic commitment to due process and sinking into the dark world of torture, George W. Bush and his partner Dick Cheney isolated themselves from the growing worldwide commitment to human rights.

A brilliant new book by Democratic strategist and author Mike Lux documents the other periods in our history when conservative domination led to progressive renewal. The Progressive Revolution: How the Best in America Came to Be, describes the five "big change" moments in American history since the American Revolution: the Bill of Rights, the ending of slavery, the Progressive Era, the New Deal and the civil rights movement.

He argues that big changes have never occurred gradually -- nor have they been spread randomly over our history. Rather, they have been concentrated in these periods of "big change." In each, a cascade of progressive innovation took place over a short period of time, after years of right wing opposition.

Lux writes:

Progressives invented the American ideal and inspired the American Revolution. Conservatives, then known as Tories, opposed it. Since then, every major advancement in American freedom, democracy, social justice, and economic opportunity has been fostered, fought for, and won by progressives against conservative resistance. Now who's anti-American?

We've already seen previews of the new progressive era, but the curtain will really go up next Tuesday when Barack Obama is inaugurated the 44th President of the United States. The next few years could be a transformational period -- if we all make it so.

As for Bush, he will be remembered as the man who set the stage. He has played the Hoover to Obama's Roosevelt, the James Buchanan to Obama's Lincoln.

Lux's study also makes something else absolutely clear. In American history, the pendulum has not swung inevitably back and forth between conservative and progressive periods with some form of historic equivalency. Instead, the changes emerging from periods of progressive success, once made, remain a permanent feature of our society.

Conservatives fought against the ending of slavery, women's suffrage, Social Security, collective bargaining, Medicare, and the end of segregation. After the progressive period that brought them to life was done, a conservative backlash often tried to limit the scope of these important advances -- with Jim Crow, assaults on Labor, or attempts to privatize Social Security. But conservatives have never been successful at eliminating them.

Once enacted, progressive change is hard to dislodge. That's because progressive change is progress. Progressive values are the most adaptive trait human beings have yet created to ensure our success and survival on this small planet.

The Right battled for decades to take complete control of the levers of power in Washington. The election of George W. Bush finally gave them the ability to combine the power of the presidency with their control of Congress to make their program the law of the land.

Ironically, their very success may assure that George W. Bush is remembered as the president whose failures created the conditions we needed to craft a new bottom-up economy, to pass universal health care and to create new international institutions that bring us closer to a world where we no longer rely on war to resolve our differences.

Of course nothing is inevitable. We cannot afford to squander the opportunity that history and George W. Bush have provided us. It is time for all of us to report for duty in the battle to turn this historic opportunity into the next great period of progress in America.

Robert Creamer is a long time political organizer and strategist and author of the recent book: Stand Up Straight: How Progressives Can Win, available on Amazon.com.

World Bank Releases Forecast for Global Economy, and it's Not Pretty
By: Andrew Hughes December 11, 2008

The World Bank today released its long awaited forecast for the World economic future. "The financial crisis is likely to result in the most serious recession since the Great Depression," said Justin Lin, its Chief economist. The global economy is captured in a downward spiral as never witnessed before. Whereas before, economies were more localized and had more immunity to outside forces, now Globalization has ensured that one big failure in the machine can create a systemic event that brings down all the component parts. The inevitable failure of a few major banks has demonstrated just how much havoc can be wreaked from Alaska to Beijing.

Emerging markets, dependent on mature market consumption, are teetering on the edge of Bankruptcy as Private capital inflow has been drying up and is forecast to reduce by half next year. The volume of world trade is set to decrease by 2.1%, the biggest drop for 33 years. Oil exporting countries from Venezuela to Russia are seeing revenue crash as demand across the world decreases. Poor countries, on the other hand, have experienced a decrease in the cost of living as food and oil prices drop. In an unforeseen twist of fate, Globalization has enriched poorer countries and impoverished richer ones.

Greece is in the throes of a revolution as their people mount a massive protest against the country's history of corruption and economic mismanagement. Originally born of the alleged murder of a 15 year old boy by Greek police, the momentum was maintained by deeply rooted history. Is this a sign of things to come? As economic conditions deteriorate across every continent, blame will be apportioned and it won't be hard to find easy targets. Shortage of food, homelessness, and unemployment are now realities for an ever increasing number of people who have never known a life like this before.

We are watching our own Governments waste the money we could be using constructively to prepare and mitigate for harder times. Attempts to restore the economic activity of nations through liquidity injections into failing banks will achieve nothing when the basics of this same economy rely on a volume of activity that was sustained by inflated wealth through credit. The only reason we bought so much stuff was because we could always pay the bill off later.

So it's no big surprise that "We're almost in an air pocket, where we don't have a new global driver of growth." as said by Thomas Mayer, the chief European economist for Deutsche Bank. Sorry Thomas, we're all tapped out. Unrealistic growth was the problem in the first place. Growth of an economy through a regulated monetary system, consumer saving, profits ploughed back in to production, balanced budgets is one thing, but unhinged consumption and imaginary accounting by the Financial "Industry" to inflate wealth was always destined to arrive at cardiac arrest.

Financial companies are supposed to provide credit to individuals and real industries to grow the economy. When they discovered that there was money to be made giving loans to anyone who could hold a pen, they officially became usurers. When they opened the casino and took bets on anything that could go one way or another, from the economic health of a country to whether interest rates would go up or down, they opened the gates to their own destruction and consequently that of their victims. Even ordinary citizens got caught up in the act as stocks were bought and sold like candy. We have a Stock market that may as well take its cue from the atmospheric conditions on Pluto. It certainly has nothing to do with economic realities on the ground.

Lack of regulation and the quest for short term profit at the expense of long term sustainability has brought the world to its knees. A new paradigm is desperately needed to restore sanity to a world gone mad. As we travel the downside we cannot expect the same failed mechanisms to save us. The actions of Governments the world over so far is to try and blow air into a burst balloon; no matter how hard they blow it will never be able hold its form. It's time to admit that we have overextended the system to the inevitable breaking point and now the remaining pieces must be reassembled into something that does not need wizardry to keep it upright. Pundits the world over are espousing many different analyses and solutions, but in most cases, economic fundamentals play a minor part in the dialogue.

Fortunately there are people like the FDIC chairman, Sheila Bair, who seem to have a grasp on what is actually needed:

We will dig out of this. And when we do, I hope for a back-to-basics society - where banks and other lending institutions promote real growth and long-term value for the economy, and where American families have rediscovered the peace of mind of financial security achieved through saving and investing wisely. We need to return to the culture of thrift that my mother and her generation learned the hard way through years of hardship and deprivation. Those are lessons learned that the current crisis is teaching us again.

Twin Towers - The Bush Legacy

While I am greatly appalled at the destruction of the Twin Towers, I am also astounded by the circumvention of our system of justice, a cornerstone of the American way, as it is presented to the world by the Bush Administration. We are no better than the President of Zimbabwe if we are to allow this sort of injustice to prevail.

I include this excerpt from an article written by Mr. Horton of Harper’s Magazine which conveys my interest in the outcome of the political travesty that is the imprisonment of a group of men at Guantanamo under such bizarre circumstances.

Sabotage at Gitmo

By Scott Horton, Harper’s Magazine – December 9, 2008

“They warn that if the trials move to federal court, defendants might actually be acquitted (an outcome which they apparently believe can be foreclosed entirely in a military commissions process, which notoriously was the view of Goldsmith’s erstwhile boss, Jim Haynes) or get short sentences. The pair disclose a distinctly low level of confidence in the federal criminal justice system.”

Americans ought to be outraged that the Bush administration did not locate and bring to justice the one person that is deeply responsible for September 11 – Osama Bin Laden. America should be profoundly concerned that the man lodged in the White House, in this case – George W. Bush, having recited the following oath, in accordance with Article II, Section I of the U.S. Constitution: "I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States" has failed to even come close to upholding the Constitution of the United States".

Mr. Bush, as President promised to pursue Bin Laden to the gates of hell if necessary to avenge an American tragedy – he didn’t! He should have tried harder over the eight year period that he was in office to keep his promise to you and me. His promise to get Bin Laden is just another reminder of just how inept he and his administration have been when it comes to the welfare of America. During the Bush-Kerry presidential election, Osama Bin Laden challenged America “saying that the safety of America is not in Bush’s hands, but in the hand of America”. This tape was carried on Al-Jezeera and broadcasted to the free world four days before the election. Many wonder if this was not by design to ensure that Bush gained another four years in office! Surely we can say that we were not protected.

Of late, Mr. Bush has been saying in interview after interview that the intelligence that was used to justify the invasion of Iraq was faulty, and as such, should be considered when historians are writing entries into the history books concerning his presidency. Mr. Bush reminds us that Congress voted overwhelmingly to support his decision to invade Iraq. I remember it differently. I remember the skewed and clumsy attempts to present evidence that an educated public could see readily through. I remember the lies that were pressed into the hands of Congress that persuaded them to give carte blanche permission to the ‘Commander-in-Chief to invade another country – contrary to any precedent in American history. With some degree of authenticity we can say that Mr. Bush abused the Constitution.

President-elect Obama is inheriting all of the problems that have been caused by the Bush Administration. Obama is being urged to disregard the Constitution and assume more control of the economy, of the situation in Iraq, of all the things that should be addressed daily by Mr. Bush. There are those that say that Obama is not moving fast enough with his cabinet selections – untrue; he is moving faster than any President- elect before him. Many say that Obama is not keeping promises made during the run up to elections – he is; he continues to adjust to the changing situations in our economy and the many other things that will confront him on DAY ONE.

Mr. Bush is attempting to rush to completion the task of punishing the prisoners at Guantanamo and that will be part of his legacy. All of us should keep in mind that each President has the legal right to readdress anything that his predecessor did. Mr. Obama can pardon, commute, or rescind any part of anything that Mr. Bush has done. In my opinion, the individuals incarcerated at Guantanamo have not been given due process. If they are guilty as charged, then try them, convict them, and send them to prison, but by all means get rid of Guantanamo and the constant reminder of American injustice represented there.

The Slippery Eel That Is The Economy

With each day I read the tea leaves in the bottom of my teacup and instantaneously I have a panic attack. I don’t know about you, but this is not looking good at all. The Stock Market is not my barometer as to what the economy is doing, but it is never far from wrong. I check the reports from Wal-Mart to get an indications of where the country is going – don’t laugh! Think about it, if Joe the Plummer isn’t buying the best that he can purchase for the lowest price that he can find, Wal-Mart is where he will be for the best price.

When the Republicans decided to give away the money in the bank, where did it show up in the realm of economical statistics – within the stats put out for Sachs-Fifth Avenue that Christmas. Sachs had a seasonal increase of five percent in sales while Wal-Mart had a decrease of one point five percent. Clearly those that have the money will spend it, and predictably so in the places where it is indicative of who is spending of the money. Rich guys don’t go to Wal-Mart!

Secretary Paulson and the SEC guy – Christopher Cox have said with emphatics that they need ‘Bailout’ money to buy the bad debt from the banks and make the world start to go around again. Noticing that the world has not started to go around as predicted since we gave those two ‘hamburglers’ the money, I have to wonder if they really intend to give banks any money. On yesterday, Henry Paulson said as much. With seven hundred billion dollars of our money that he promised that he would spend a certain way that we all thought would be the right plan as stated by them, this guy is suppose to be doing what he said he was going to do. But he isn’t and he is telling us that he isn’t going to do what he said he was going to do – to boot.

Hank Paulson and his department are blowing the money and we are all watching as these guys do it. No money is getting to Main Street. No money is being used to take the toxic debt away from the banks. No money is going to people that want to make loans. Money is going to all the wrong people… shareholders, to finance the buying of other banks, to banks that don’t even want the money, and to, of all people, AIG. Why is the Bush administration allowing this BS to continue without complaint? Why isn’t Congress lamenting this gross misuse of government funds for frivolous crap?

Well, you have been placed on ‘Red Alert’ regarding this issue and as usual no one will shout out to their Congressman about this until it is too late. When Congress comes back to ask for another trillion to rescue the banks, you will know that you have been robbed by a sly slick criminal while you watched daily!

Don't Be Fooled Again

At present the financial life of the United States in ICU. The patient is in critical condition and not expected to recover. It seems that the patient ignored all of the symptoms of a disease that is difficult to cure, in fact, in most cases it is terminal. The disease can be prevented if the patient refrains from greed, lives a regulated life, and heeds the warnings originating from competent authority. The patient can thrive if it has the guidance of a good doctor – leader.

By way of hindsight we can see where a certain patient did not heed good consult from his physicians(Congress). The patient decided that he was going to, against good counsel, expose his body to financial uncertainties (smoking) by giving away the surplus of money that he had been entrusted with by the previous owner of the body.
He reasoned that since he was in excellent health there was no reason to guard judiciously the health of the body. So, he smoked the money of all the people and spread the ashes around to those who needed money least of all. He exhaled and immediately felt the nicotine course though the body.

The body, excited by the introduction of all of this nicotine (money), began to crave more of the same and the patient sought new ways of giving the body what it desired. The body broke other rules of good financial health by introducing new ways of getting nicotine (the money). It decided that it would smoke unfiltered regulations that allowed more nicotine (money) to enter the body and the body began to do other things that were even more exciting than before. It violates good health rule after good health rule in a quest to get even more nicotine. The body stoped going to the physician and eliminated the constraints that would have told the doctor that it was out of control (in deep debt).

A cancer formed in the body in the shape of what one might call a tumor (debt). The cancer multiplied and became great. Cancers in the form of subprime loans, speculations without oversight, and other cancers formed tumors (debt) where there had never been tumors (debt) before. The body knew that something was not right, but reasoned that it could make adjustments by taking over-the-counter medications (prime rate adjustments) others had told him would make things right, but the cancer continued to spread. First his lungs that provided him with air began to have difficulty in distributing the oxygenated money that would feed him.

Of course, the heart (banking system) was next because without the oxygenated blood (cash flow) it could no longer support the (credit) muscles that were needed to make the body move. The body began to slow down; sometimes going days without oxygenated blood (cash flow). It became hard for other parts (businesses) of the body to function. The kidneys (car loans) that cleared toxicants from the body soon stopped doing so because they were laid off. The liver (retail stores) started to slow down because it could not get the support (money) that it needed from the kidneys. The outer extremities (small business) that depended on the heart, the kidneys, and the liver to keep them pure and strong became weak and dysfunctional (out-of-business). The body took to its bed!

Finally, the physician (Congress) was summoned. He arrived with his black (bailout) bag full of goodies to bring a glow back to the pale (economy) looking body. The physician was shocked at the condition of the body, but immediately went to work to save the body. Realizing that he would need the help of others, the physician called for an ambulance in the form of congressional help to perform the necessary operations that would save the body. Congress, after much complaining and hesitation, came to the aid of the body with medications that it thought would save the body. Congress shook its head and said… this does not look good!

The moral of the story is this… are you better now than you were eight years ago? If you think that you are better off than you were, chose John McCain. If you are not better off, chose Barack Obama!

Here Is My Take

Iraq/Afghanistan

It is absolutely imperative that we divorce ourselves of the responsibility of ‘waiting’ until the Iraqis decide to unify under one flag and redistribute the profits from oil as one nation. A major problem with tribal nations is their inability to overcome the obstacles to unification that has been embedded in their minds since birth. We can’t wait; the President must declare an ultimatum and allow the chips to fall as they may. In doing so, we quickly release our armed forces from further obligations to Iraq; reduce the Defense budget outlay for the war in Iraq which in turn will give us an opportunity to address the dire situation in Afghanistan.

We must quickly ramp up our armed forces in Afghanistan; seal the border electronically between Afghanistan and Pakistan and patrol by fly-over a two mile wide zone in the mountainous border area. With the border under surveillance, we should put the backs of our troops to the mountains and move east eradicating the Taliban and Al Qaeda as we move eastward. It will take a year to eighteen months to secure the border.

We should use that downtime to rest the troops coming from Iraq. Once we have gotten the two mile zone depopulated (Afghans must move out of the de-populated zone) and fully under electronic surveillance, we should insert the troops and began the sweep to rid Afghanistan of the Taliban and Al Qaeda. If the same amount of troops that were used at the height of the occupation of Iraq is use, this operation could be over in less than three years after mass troop insertion.

Employment and Re-tooling of the Work-Force

The Economy of the United States is ‘trickle-up’ and the current state of affairs on Wall Street and Main Street proves it to be just that. When credit dries up, the only thing that will open the doors to credit again is cash flow. We have to get the consumer spending again and the only way to do that is make jobs available to the workforce. We need the same kind of nationwide work projects that jumpstarted the economy the way the interstate highways did back in the late fifties and sixties. The new projects should be mass transit and the modification of the types of fuels that we use to produce energy.

Mass Transit

We have to reduce our dependence on oil and the method to complete it is three-fold. We must re-invent the way we get from point A to B. Applying the same intensity to mass transit that we applied to developing the interstate would give us the relief that we need in least than three years time. We must demand that our automotive engines meet new design specifications that make it possible to triple the miles per gallon that we currently accept. All vehicles should meet these new design specifications within three years from setting the mandate – no exceptions!

We must, in addition to reducing our dependence on oil, re-invent the way we produce energy. Mass usage of wind, gas, hydro-electric, and solar energy is the answer to achieving a reduction in the use of oil and, as a by-product, the reduction of pollutants in our atmosphere. Integrating these solutions into the workforce equation will further increase the employment of our workers in jobs that cannot be shipped overseas.

The Republicans are playing the 'B' Card

So, Bailout 1 never got a chance and I am so glad for that. The Republicans are playing the 'Blame' card. Why should you or I have to pay for what some bozos on Wall Street and the man down there at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue are responsible for having put in play? I am not interested in helping anybody that did not have my best interest at heart from the beginning. Show me where Wall Street ever did anything for the man on the street. Show me where all of the middle class jobs went and I will show you where ‘they’ need to go to get the help that ‘they’ need. I am using the word ‘‘they’’ liberally because it is a way of expressing just how far away these people are from me and reality. This situation is 'their' reality check. You can't scare me anymore because I don't believe you anymore.

Here is the cool skinner on how the Bailout went south in the Devil’s hand basket. Bear in mind that the Republican Party in the guise of Phil Graham set all of this up when ‘they’ changed the Commodity Futures Market Act in 2000. That set in motion all of the speculation that sent Enron, WorldCom, and the Electrical Utilities market in a tailspin. The futures market was manipulated and it was apparent to the people on Wall Street and ‘they’ took advantage of it. Everybody made money, bought fancy cars, and big houses in gated communities.

In addition, big business saw that ‘they’ could out-source jobs to wherever. We noticed it as a person that spoke English with a serious accent reading from a script answering the phone and fielding our questions with no idea as to what we wanted. Advanced technology took more people off of the assembly line, further reducing the middle class. With a fine chisel and a never tiring hand big business advanced its assault on our Unions, reducing them to ineffective street crowds. We loss every job that had a value-added tag and Wall Street smiled and said… “This is good”.

Wall Street and Big Business did everything ‘they’ could to strip every dollar from the hands of the very people that were needed to support the American economy. Without money in savings accounts, without people spending money, buying stuff and using stuff, cash flow ceases to exist. What did ‘they’ expect? Didn’t anybody think that this would happen? Drunk with the unbelievable influx of cash, Wall Street and Big Business could care less.

The next area of attack was the housing market. ‘‘they’’ applied the same philosophy to the housing market, giving over-appraised houses to people that wanted to live the American dream, but had no real money to buy into the dream. Mortgage lenders followed the game plan that Wall Street had polished into a money-maker and the boom was on. Everybody that could drag himself into the door was given a fat boy loan.

I say no to the bailout. Let all of those that raked in the big bucks return the favor. Give the money back. Straighten out those loans that you fraudulently put together. Stop the felonious practices that took all of our jobs and sent them overseas.

In response to those that blamed the Democratic Party for the failure of the Bailout to be a reality, let me tell you exactly what happened. The Democrats have enough votes in both the House and Senate to have passed this bill with no problem. The Democrats, and I, believe that since the Republicans are responsible for this mess, ‘they’ should share in whatever method of recovery that was devised. The Republicans would love to see the measure pass, but want no part of the blame if the measure should fail. So, the Democrats had a plan, we will allow so many of our votes to be recorded, but if the Republicans don’t match the vote count, thus insuring bi-partisan support, than we will instruct the rest of the Democratic vote to record a negative vote.

I don’t blame Pelosi for doing what she did. She is nobody’s fool. The Republicans and the ‘lame duck’ down the street had better come up with a plan for saving the economy, or history will not be too kind to ‘them’. The President should stop begging and demand a positive response from his Party!

The Fundamentals on Bushonomics…

Well… America’s chickens on Wall Street have come home to roost. Banks are failing, financial institutions are failing, and the real estate industry is in the toilet. How the heck did we get here? What caused this to happen? Who is responsible? Who do we blame?

The President, a few weeks ago, told reporters in what was supposed to be a private – no cameras - discussion that Wall Street is the cause of the problem. To quote him “Ya see Wall Street got drunk…” Really? If we are to believe a person that I think is a habitual liar, then we must blame the regulatory entity that was suppose to oversee Wall Street for the dilemma that we must endure for the next two or three years. That is the case, if you believe the lie. I don’t think that Wall Street is totally to blame for the current financial situation we are experiencing.

Does anyone remember the speech that President Bush made in March of 2001 on the economy? In that speech, the President made a statement that was heard around the world, but especially on Wall Street and the other financial institutions. Big business heard it too! The President said… “We are in a recession…” From that moment on we were in deep you-know-what as consumers. That was the signal for big business to start laying off blue collar workers. United Airlines ‘pink-slipped’ thousands of its people. United Airlines went into bankruptcy and stole the pension fund of its retirees – pension checks went from 2000.00 on average per month to 250.00 - take it, or leave it. Enron went under after the Bush administration refused to prop up their failed policies. Enron failed as a result of the policies that McCain and the Bush administration pushed through Congress.

From the Baltimore Chronicle dated May 28, 2008: "A McCain aide told me that the Arizona senator opposes the farm bill because it “rewards lobbyists” by granting rich farmers lucrative subsidies, although he would support “a reasonable level of assistance and risk management to farmers when they need America's help.”

But the aide, who spoke on condition of anonymity, acknowledged that the presumptive Republican presidential nominee also opposes the farm bill because Gramm advised McCain that he should resist its regulatory language on the energy futures market.

Democrats have dubbed that gap in energy futures regulation the “Enron loophole,” but it played a part, too, in the more recent attempt by the Amaranth Advisers hedge fund to corner the national gas market by shifting trades to the unregulated “dark markets” of the Intercontinental Exchange.

The “Enron loophole” also has become part of the debate over the soaring price of oil. Last week, a study sponsored by Sen. Carl Levin, D-Michigan, concluded that speculative futures markets were partly to blame for the surge in oil prices that have pushed gas at the pump toward $4 a gallon."

McCain has stated that he will keep in place the majority of the initiatives that Bush put in place over the last eight years. To ensure that things remain status quo, he has chosen Phil Gramm to be his ‘economical advisor’. The same Phil Gramm that was Bush’s advisor and helpmate in Congress when the Republicans were pushing through these deregulatory initiatives that started the ball rolling for big business. Even when Phil Gramm called America’s working class ‘a bunch of whiners’, McCain pretended to fire Gramm, but a few weeks later Gramm was back on the job.

Who do I blame? I blame Bush for signing off on faulty legislation, with the advice of Phil Gramm; that created the loopholes that allowed Enron and others like Enron to take advantage of the consumer with disastrous results. I blame a Republican dominated Congress that supported the derailment of our economy. We got here through the greed of a few people who were trusted with the well-being of our economy. This is what can happen every time the everyday guy walking on the street does not pay attention to the inner workings of our economy and how it is regulated. I blame the President and his cronies for allowing this to happen.

The bottom-line, you cannot deregulate anything unless there are built-in checks and balances!

Who is the Republican Presidential Nominee...

Who is the Republican nominee for President anyway? It is apparent that Sarah Palin has made ‘celebrity status’ with her nomination to the Republican Party ticket as their Vice-Presidential selection. That is all good, but she is not the one that will be leading this country in the unlikely event that the Republicans win the White House for a third time, or will she?

I think that it is perfectly within the rights of the media to investigate Sarah Palin; after all, she is an unknown and will be sitting in the co-pilot’s seat next in line to be the President should McCain win. The first order of business of the next President is to attempt to bring this nation back from the brink of the abyss. To say that we are in deep trouble economically is an understatement. We have lost credibility world-wide with the Bush Doctrine. Given the present state of our Armed Services, we probably are closer to being vulnerable to attack by another country now more than ever before. Our troops are battle tested, but fatigue has begun to set in within the ranks and with the equipment that they are using in a state of disrepair.

Banking institution after banking institution is failing causing intelligent individuals to wonder if we have not reached a situation similar to the one that preceded the crash of the Stock Market and Financial foundations that have been directly influenced by the Bush-McCain economics. The Bush Domestic Doctrine has been a totally failure and rivals his ‘Bush Doctrine’ for interfacing with the rest of the world for worst thought processes ever to be put forward by the President of the United States.

Who, in their right mind, would want to grant the Republican Party yet another opportunity to correct what is wrong with the country by applying the same thought processes for four more years. What is wrong with this picture is what most of America should be asking itself. The good people of Ohio, bless their hearts, are having a hard time trying to figure out whether they should vote against a Party that took their jobs and sent them overseas. I don’t believe that anybody is that insensitive as to what is an obvious truth – Ohioans, you have no jobs and the present administration has no answer as to how you will ever get jobs in the near future. If you, Ohioans, can’t think with your heads; think with your stomachs – no jobs, no food, no McCain is your mantra.

I urge the media to continue doing exactly what you are doing – bring light to a dark and scary situation – Sarah Palin, President of the United States as a result of the unthinkable happening to Senator McCain were he to become President of these United States. I beg of the Obama campaign to remain focused on what the true goal of this campaign is – educating the voters about the Democratic nominee’s solutions to the problems that confront the next President of these United States.