Yesterday I enjoyed watchig my favorite un-reality show: the
Republican Debate. I was hoping to see the battle of the
crazies. Mostly, I was not disappointed. There was an
intelligent comment here and there among the bat guano.
Huntsman is the only one with enough brains to win the
independent vote. Unfortunately for the GOP, he will not be
nominated and Obama will win in 2012. You read it here first.
Wait and see.
This evening, President Obama spoke before a joint session of Congress to promote his legislation to create jobs in this country and stilumate our economy. It was probably his best speech before congress, and his best since the Inaguaration. It was a great serve and the ball is now in the court of the Congress. "You should pass this bill right away." Let's see what they do with it.
Thursday, September 8, 2011
Thursday, July 28, 2011
So Who’s (De)Fault is it?
In less than a week, we are told, all hell will break loose, if Congress doesn’t act to raise the debt ceiling. The country’s credit rating will fall, Social Security checks will not be mailed, the national parks will close, vital services will stop or be drastically cut, and the liberty bell will break totally in too. Others tell us that, if we raise the debt ceiling, we will be borrowing more money from China, our grandchildren will have to earn to speak Chinese in order to get the only jobs that will be available – working in American sweatshops to make goods to sell a newly-affluent China.
At this time, Congress is deadlocked. The more conservative members Republican Party will not agree to an increase in the debt ceiling under any circumstances. Others take the slightly more reasonable stance that, yes, they will agree to a temporary increase in the debt limit, but only with massive cuts to spending on Medicare and other entitlement programs. Still others have realized that we need to raise the ceiling, but need enhance revenues and to make different spending cuts.
I keep hearing the country compared to a family or a small business. When a family finds that it has overspent – say for an expensive vacation, to buy a new car, to move to a bigger house, or to invade Iraq – it doesn’t have to option to keep borrowing and borrowing money that it can’t hope to pay back. It has to cut back. Too bad for the sick grandmother who really needs that operation and too bad for the kids who would really like to go to college, and they’ll just have to get a bigger bucket to catch the rainwater that comes in through that hole in the roof when it rains.
Except that this is now how a modern, resourceful, intelligent family solves the problems it finds threatening it when it wakes up from its spending binge. They’ll try to refinance at a more favorable interest rate. They’ll make some cuts – even unpleasant cuts – on spending for family expenses (more meals at home, fewer new clothes, less expensive Christmas presents, etc.) and put more of their income into paying off the debt. A business will do the same thing – fewer employee perks, try to cut back on the energy use, one-ply tissue in the restrooms, and so on. All of these things might help somewhat, and they might bring the family members closer together and might teach the business owners how to work smarter.
However, there is another thing that the family and the business might be able to do to help pay off the debt without making cuts so deep.
The business or the family can work to increase its income.
That is at least part of the solution for many families. A spouse who does not work outside the home gets a paying job. An employed spouse gets a second part-time job.
The kids make a little spending money after school and on weekends. The business starts selling previously un-thought-of products. All of these are ways that inventive companies and families increase their revenues.
Now, the U S Government can’t to out and get a paper route. But it can increase revenues. Governments increase revenues in one way – by increasing taxes. It’s that simple.
The Federal Income Tax on the wealthiest Americans is lower than it’s been in a generation. Bush gave the rich of this country a huge tax cut at the same time he increased spending. We still have Bush’s wars and we still have the Bush tax cuts. We need to end both.
I’ve heard it said that rich companies and CEOs are job creators, that taxing them more will end that job creation. Well, where are those jobs? And with Fortune-500 CEOs making 300 times the salaries of their workers, and with oil company stocks paying huge dividends, while unemployment still hovers around the double-digit mark, I fail to see that job-creation is a fundamental goal of many of our Nation’s large corporations and billionaires.
If this mess is not cleaned up soon, and if we are all forced to pay higher interest rates for all kinds of loans, the net result will be as if a tax has been imposed on everybody, including – no, especially – those who are the most vulnerable.
Please remember that Clinton left Bush with a budget surplus. Bush’s tax cues and misguided wars made that vanish down a drain of crippling debt, without so much as a gurgle. Ending the wars will take some time, but the Bush tax welfare for the rich could be eliminated much more quickly.
Will it happen, probably not – at least not until things get much worse for the vanishing middle class the poor, and that is very sad.
However, what does need to happen now is Congress needs to raise that limit and get to work on ways to make further increases less frequent.
At this time, Congress is deadlocked. The more conservative members Republican Party will not agree to an increase in the debt ceiling under any circumstances. Others take the slightly more reasonable stance that, yes, they will agree to a temporary increase in the debt limit, but only with massive cuts to spending on Medicare and other entitlement programs. Still others have realized that we need to raise the ceiling, but need enhance revenues and to make different spending cuts.
I keep hearing the country compared to a family or a small business. When a family finds that it has overspent – say for an expensive vacation, to buy a new car, to move to a bigger house, or to invade Iraq – it doesn’t have to option to keep borrowing and borrowing money that it can’t hope to pay back. It has to cut back. Too bad for the sick grandmother who really needs that operation and too bad for the kids who would really like to go to college, and they’ll just have to get a bigger bucket to catch the rainwater that comes in through that hole in the roof when it rains.
Except that this is now how a modern, resourceful, intelligent family solves the problems it finds threatening it when it wakes up from its spending binge. They’ll try to refinance at a more favorable interest rate. They’ll make some cuts – even unpleasant cuts – on spending for family expenses (more meals at home, fewer new clothes, less expensive Christmas presents, etc.) and put more of their income into paying off the debt. A business will do the same thing – fewer employee perks, try to cut back on the energy use, one-ply tissue in the restrooms, and so on. All of these things might help somewhat, and they might bring the family members closer together and might teach the business owners how to work smarter.
However, there is another thing that the family and the business might be able to do to help pay off the debt without making cuts so deep.
The business or the family can work to increase its income.
That is at least part of the solution for many families. A spouse who does not work outside the home gets a paying job. An employed spouse gets a second part-time job.
The kids make a little spending money after school and on weekends. The business starts selling previously un-thought-of products. All of these are ways that inventive companies and families increase their revenues.
Now, the U S Government can’t to out and get a paper route. But it can increase revenues. Governments increase revenues in one way – by increasing taxes. It’s that simple.
The Federal Income Tax on the wealthiest Americans is lower than it’s been in a generation. Bush gave the rich of this country a huge tax cut at the same time he increased spending. We still have Bush’s wars and we still have the Bush tax cuts. We need to end both.
I’ve heard it said that rich companies and CEOs are job creators, that taxing them more will end that job creation. Well, where are those jobs? And with Fortune-500 CEOs making 300 times the salaries of their workers, and with oil company stocks paying huge dividends, while unemployment still hovers around the double-digit mark, I fail to see that job-creation is a fundamental goal of many of our Nation’s large corporations and billionaires.
If this mess is not cleaned up soon, and if we are all forced to pay higher interest rates for all kinds of loans, the net result will be as if a tax has been imposed on everybody, including – no, especially – those who are the most vulnerable.
Please remember that Clinton left Bush with a budget surplus. Bush’s tax cues and misguided wars made that vanish down a drain of crippling debt, without so much as a gurgle. Ending the wars will take some time, but the Bush tax welfare for the rich could be eliminated much more quickly.
Will it happen, probably not – at least not until things get much worse for the vanishing middle class the poor, and that is very sad.
However, what does need to happen now is Congress needs to raise that limit and get to work on ways to make further increases less frequent.
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
What’s a President Have to Do to Get a Little Respect?
It will turn out to be one of the biggest news stories of the year: A team of Navy SEALs — America’s elite fighting force — directed by our president, dropped into a secret compound in Pakistan and killed Osama Bin Laden and several of this cohorts. No Americans were injured. And, with this news, a manhunt which has lasted for nearly a decade and through parts of two presidential administrations, has finally come to an end. Nobody knows exactly what the eventual ramifications will be, but some American families will finally have some sense of closure and most Americans will feel that justice has been done.
There was celebrating in some streets and even a few conservatives were willing to give Obama and everyone else a salute and a “Job well done.”
However, you might have seen this post or something similar, submitted by one of your FaceBook friends or via e-mail:
"For those of you that believe Bin Laden is dead Let's be clear on this: OBAMA did NOT kill Bin Laden. An American soldier, who Obama just a few weeks ago was debating whether or not to PAY, did. Obama just happened to be the one in office when our soldiers finally found Osama Bin Laden and took him out. This is NOT an Obama victory, but an AMERICAN victory!! RE-POST IF YOU AGREE."
Well, I don’t agree, and anybody who does needs to have his or her meds adjusted and soon.
I’ve been critical of Obama in the past, but I do my best to stick to some semblance of reality. I am just naive enough to think that, with Osama Bin Laden dead as the result of orders given by Obama, that our current president might actually be given some credibility by the conservatives out there. I have just too much faith in the ability of others to base their opinions on the facts and on reason.
The SEALs did an amazing job at tremendous personal risk to themselves, but they didn’t do it alone, and there is more than enough credit to go around. This is an American victory, lead by Obama, and that makes it his victory as much as yours or mine or anyone's
If you are going to give the military all the credit for getting Bin Laden, are you also going to give the poor guys in Iraq all the blame for that fiasco of a war over there? Of course not. Most of us know enough and have enough sense to put the blame right where it belongs – on then President George W. Bush and a spineless Congress that voted to attack the wrong country.
Likewise, we must give at least a lion’s share of credit and thanks to Obama.
If you’re still not convinced, consider this: If the raid had gone South, in a similar manner to the failures of the Bay of Pigs invasion (Kennedy) or the Iran raid (Carter), the Teabaggers, Fox News, and most Republicans would give Obama 100 per cent of the blame for the whole operation. So, it took more than a little courage for him, as Commander in Chief, to order that attack. I rest my case.
There was celebrating in some streets and even a few conservatives were willing to give Obama and everyone else a salute and a “Job well done.”
However, you might have seen this post or something similar, submitted by one of your FaceBook friends or via e-mail:
"For those of you that believe Bin Laden is dead Let's be clear on this: OBAMA did NOT kill Bin Laden. An American soldier, who Obama just a few weeks ago was debating whether or not to PAY, did. Obama just happened to be the one in office when our soldiers finally found Osama Bin Laden and took him out. This is NOT an Obama victory, but an AMERICAN victory!! RE-POST IF YOU AGREE."
Well, I don’t agree, and anybody who does needs to have his or her meds adjusted and soon.
I’ve been critical of Obama in the past, but I do my best to stick to some semblance of reality. I am just naive enough to think that, with Osama Bin Laden dead as the result of orders given by Obama, that our current president might actually be given some credibility by the conservatives out there. I have just too much faith in the ability of others to base their opinions on the facts and on reason.
The SEALs did an amazing job at tremendous personal risk to themselves, but they didn’t do it alone, and there is more than enough credit to go around. This is an American victory, lead by Obama, and that makes it his victory as much as yours or mine or anyone's
If you are going to give the military all the credit for getting Bin Laden, are you also going to give the poor guys in Iraq all the blame for that fiasco of a war over there? Of course not. Most of us know enough and have enough sense to put the blame right where it belongs – on then President George W. Bush and a spineless Congress that voted to attack the wrong country.
Likewise, we must give at least a lion’s share of credit and thanks to Obama.
If you’re still not convinced, consider this: If the raid had gone South, in a similar manner to the failures of the Bay of Pigs invasion (Kennedy) or the Iran raid (Carter), the Teabaggers, Fox News, and most Republicans would give Obama 100 per cent of the blame for the whole operation. So, it took more than a little courage for him, as Commander in Chief, to order that attack. I rest my case.