The times demand bold actions. In a similar way that FDR played with the price of gold from his bed each morning in the White House, so too must Obama continuing doing what he is doing. He is writing new rules to the US economy and there is simply no playbook--they are like the rules we all have applied when we made up games in childhood: "ok, if you tag me but I am eating my ice cream at the time, then I am not it."
President Obama's strategy is a multi-layered one. Complainers who claim his increasing of the deficit threatens to ruin our nation--and on this bandwagon are some reknown economists--are the same people who sat back and enjoyed the deregulation ride; and, in the case of the economists, failed to predict the imminent collapse of the Anglo-American Economic system as set to stone at Bretton-Woods in 1944.
FDR
FDR did a lot of things wrong actually. He was tinkering with the fate of the world's economy because he really had no idea what needed to be done. There was no existing panacea for that era's woes and the same holds true today: our world is a lot different from what it used to be thanks to hyper-deregulation and the creation of "virtual wealth" (VW).
We, the prostelytizers, the white, we-know-everything, God-fearing, Christian-for-the-most-part Americans were wrong! And today, the entire world is gripped by seeds of greed planted by these God-fearing Christians. What boggles my mind and truly empassions me to despise these fat-asses is that they really do pretend to believe in God--"God Bless", they say like others say "hey, what's up"--and they truly believe that they are right in every belief they hold. Many of these knuckleheads would have supported slavery and fought for the Confederacy had they been alive.
The wonderful thing about Obama's attempts at getting our nation running again is that is what they are: attempts. He is trying! He is giving it the old college try with hefty doses of creativity and small pinches of compromise. Interest groups on both the left and the right complain that he isn't doing enough. Repigs will say that he should be cutting taxes to stimulate business (yeah, like that will fly in this climate of hate towards those wealthy widget-makers; afterall, we have seen what they were making for the past 20 years, VW--see above).
Armadillos
Unlike W. who was frozen like an armadillo in the headlights, Obama has been shaking things up and in the vein of FDR, first, you float it out there and get the talking heads chirping and then make some corrections (granted sometimes they have only changed the name of their remedies and not altered the content). They are churning out programs, weaving together long-overdue reform that will not only create jobs in and of itself but will also benefit the expanding ranks of the working poor (and the vanishing middle class).
Mythes
The Depression of the 1930's was not ended by the onset of WWII: that just served to be a great jobs program and then we sort of forgot about the depression. No, FDR paved the way for a better America and a then a dreamy, young man who received the benefits of that America, Ron Reagan, came along and commenced the financial dismantling of our government.
As I write this today, pistachios are being recalled for salmonella; yet, another example of our government failing to protect us from greedy businessmen. It used to be the ghettoes were only the real and living example of Republican anti-government programs; today, eating peanut butter or nuts can result in death. Our own ktichen cupboards have become as dangerous as a ghetto, a post office, a Michael's Craft Store (no gun control) or an abortion clinic (those Christian people, save a live by killing).
Anyhoo...President Obama should be praised for trying and sooner or later, like FDR, he will find the right mix and we will recover. Unitl then, anyone with tired ideas--anything heard from a conservative, a repig or on Fox TV--should move to Bermuda or somewhere.
We need a new TVA; actually, we have it and it is called wind power!
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
China Owns Us--This cannot be Good
It had been a nice but short vacation. Ever since that cold January day when Mr. Potter was wheeled to his car and tossed into the back seat for his ride home, America hadn't seen much or heard from the evilest person in America: Dick Cheney.
Last Sunday, he was on the Sunday talk-show circuit telling us (actually, sort of spitting out through that "I just ate a lemon look") how President Obama had weakend the US by regarding terrrorism as a law enforcement issue instead of a strictly military one.
In perfect Repig-speak, with a oink-oink here and littel piggy went to the market there, he had the audacity to say that he and his buddy, W., only took actions that were took in line with the Constitution: yeah, maybe the Russian one.
Really, so much of what he was spewing was rhetoric, pure and without pulp. But, the words that have stuck in my head and continue to ring like a massive and intricately carved church bell bonging and bonging and bonging are these: "he has weakened our country."
A Deep Breath
I have taken a deep breath and now I am ready to continue. Today, China owns 60% of our government paper. That is not good. Somewhere some economist is saying that in the new world where all economies are linked together in a web of cooperation, this does not matter so much. This same economist will tell us that China cannot hurt us because then they will lose their investment. This same rationale is used by the mafia when someone owes the a lot of money--kill the guy and you never get your money. I really don't think we should want our nation being compared to a degenerate gambler, for example.
As the largest single investor in the America, China has almost a right to be involved in Washington's affairs, more than so than even the tax-payers. China is bailing out our failing system; financing the rebuilding of our faltering nation. China owns us, feeds us, clothes us. What else?
Now, my question is this: who blazed this trail to massive government debt? Who made it not just acceptable but patriotic to run up massive government deficits? Which president started the bankrupting our nation via the shredding of budgets needed to keep our food safe, our roads safe, our air safe, our schools safe, our cities safe? Um...let's see, it wasn't Jimmy Carter. It wasn't Bush I--he actually raised taxes, God love him.
No, it wasn't Clinton who actually managed to balance the budget while investing in our nation's infrastructure, while making our cities safer, while overseeing drops in teen pregnancy and a decreasing mortality rate of children under 5 (we lead the industrialized world in this category today!!).
Well, let's end the suspense: yes, it was old silver shoes himself, Ronald Reagan.
Since 1981, we have had 20 years of Republican presidents and 8 for Clinton. In that time, our nation has rocketed itself into debt. We have spent the past 28 years rewarding the rich for creating wealth for themselves, only to be divied up amongst people who look very much like themselves. The American worker, despite his amazing levels of productivity, has grown poorer and poorer during this period; except, for a brief respite during Clinton, and the weatlhy have amassed ever more power.
And, all I need say is W. and most sane Americans can readily recall the 8 years of theft, corruption, dishonor and bankrupting that has taken place thanks to the leader of the GOP his fat, white friends like Dick.
We Are Weaker
Again, I write these words: we are weaker than we have ever been (and I am not talking about missiles or numbers of aircraft carriers); we are broke; our nation has been auctioned off by the GOP for the benefit of a very small amount of really wealthy Americans--many who have lost sunstantial sums in this crisis but, still have millions and even billions to keep them fed and clothed.
Nothing good can come out a world with a weak or irrelevant America. Irrelevancy, however, is nothing we have yet to worry about. We are so relevant that when our economy went sour so did the world's economy! The Chinese, however, with their wealth, the Russians with their gas and oil and the Indians with whatever they have won't let us pull them down again in the future.
Barack Obama has made our nation stronger from the very second the polls closed on election night. By making so many of us believe like we have not believed, feel empowered like we have not felt in so long, he has already done more good for our nation than the republicans have done since their policies of hateful-economics and then economics-dictated by politics took us astray in 1981.
For many of us, for the world's sake, America is again united. History shows us that a united America is a strong America, a good America and fair America. Now, today, once again, it is so important for us to let President Obama lead as he has been leading to let him take our nation, with our help, back to the prominent place the world wants for us: leadership.
Cheney's World
Dick Cheney's world is one where there is silence except for the whining music of a violin. Some random Hungarian ballad is being plucked to life while in this sepia version of Cheney's world good and evil are clashing in cataclysmic battles. Yet, what we learn in the end of this thriller is that the "good" are Cheney and his corporate friends from the big military industrial complex and the "evil" are all of us.
Kind of reminds me a little of "The Matrix."
Last Sunday, he was on the Sunday talk-show circuit telling us (actually, sort of spitting out through that "I just ate a lemon look") how President Obama had weakend the US by regarding terrrorism as a law enforcement issue instead of a strictly military one.
In perfect Repig-speak, with a oink-oink here and littel piggy went to the market there, he had the audacity to say that he and his buddy, W., only took actions that were took in line with the Constitution: yeah, maybe the Russian one.
Really, so much of what he was spewing was rhetoric, pure and without pulp. But, the words that have stuck in my head and continue to ring like a massive and intricately carved church bell bonging and bonging and bonging are these: "he has weakened our country."
A Deep Breath
I have taken a deep breath and now I am ready to continue. Today, China owns 60% of our government paper. That is not good. Somewhere some economist is saying that in the new world where all economies are linked together in a web of cooperation, this does not matter so much. This same economist will tell us that China cannot hurt us because then they will lose their investment. This same rationale is used by the mafia when someone owes the a lot of money--kill the guy and you never get your money. I really don't think we should want our nation being compared to a degenerate gambler, for example.
As the largest single investor in the America, China has almost a right to be involved in Washington's affairs, more than so than even the tax-payers. China is bailing out our failing system; financing the rebuilding of our faltering nation. China owns us, feeds us, clothes us. What else?
Now, my question is this: who blazed this trail to massive government debt? Who made it not just acceptable but patriotic to run up massive government deficits? Which president started the bankrupting our nation via the shredding of budgets needed to keep our food safe, our roads safe, our air safe, our schools safe, our cities safe? Um...let's see, it wasn't Jimmy Carter. It wasn't Bush I--he actually raised taxes, God love him.
No, it wasn't Clinton who actually managed to balance the budget while investing in our nation's infrastructure, while making our cities safer, while overseeing drops in teen pregnancy and a decreasing mortality rate of children under 5 (we lead the industrialized world in this category today!!).
Well, let's end the suspense: yes, it was old silver shoes himself, Ronald Reagan.
Since 1981, we have had 20 years of Republican presidents and 8 for Clinton. In that time, our nation has rocketed itself into debt. We have spent the past 28 years rewarding the rich for creating wealth for themselves, only to be divied up amongst people who look very much like themselves. The American worker, despite his amazing levels of productivity, has grown poorer and poorer during this period; except, for a brief respite during Clinton, and the weatlhy have amassed ever more power.
And, all I need say is W. and most sane Americans can readily recall the 8 years of theft, corruption, dishonor and bankrupting that has taken place thanks to the leader of the GOP his fat, white friends like Dick.
We Are Weaker
Again, I write these words: we are weaker than we have ever been (and I am not talking about missiles or numbers of aircraft carriers); we are broke; our nation has been auctioned off by the GOP for the benefit of a very small amount of really wealthy Americans--many who have lost sunstantial sums in this crisis but, still have millions and even billions to keep them fed and clothed.
Nothing good can come out a world with a weak or irrelevant America. Irrelevancy, however, is nothing we have yet to worry about. We are so relevant that when our economy went sour so did the world's economy! The Chinese, however, with their wealth, the Russians with their gas and oil and the Indians with whatever they have won't let us pull them down again in the future.
Barack Obama has made our nation stronger from the very second the polls closed on election night. By making so many of us believe like we have not believed, feel empowered like we have not felt in so long, he has already done more good for our nation than the republicans have done since their policies of hateful-economics and then economics-dictated by politics took us astray in 1981.
For many of us, for the world's sake, America is again united. History shows us that a united America is a strong America, a good America and fair America. Now, today, once again, it is so important for us to let President Obama lead as he has been leading to let him take our nation, with our help, back to the prominent place the world wants for us: leadership.
Cheney's World
Dick Cheney's world is one where there is silence except for the whining music of a violin. Some random Hungarian ballad is being plucked to life while in this sepia version of Cheney's world good and evil are clashing in cataclysmic battles. Yet, what we learn in the end of this thriller is that the "good" are Cheney and his corporate friends from the big military industrial complex and the "evil" are all of us.
Kind of reminds me a little of "The Matrix."
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Stop Playing Games
In 1929 and 1930, when the economy started to sputter, President Hoover started to tinker. Truth be told, despite the fact that history has given him a bum rap on his handling of the period, Hoover had a pretty fair understanding of things economic. Hoover even tried some very creative things; many, of which were then expanded by FDR to make the "New Deal."
Yet, as we all know, due to his "tinkering" a sound and unified policy was not formulated in time and the economy tanked. In came FDR and after a continued period of tinkering the sputtered economy started to crawl forward. By the time the war was over, we were the world's economy.
Obama's Stim
Today, President Obama's stim, which by all accounts should have been larger, is proving to have been not enough to save our economy from the direction it went in 1930. What separated the country then, however, from now is that the Democrats (Hoover was a Republican) did not want the president to fail. In 1930, people knew that when a president failed, the country suffered.
Today, still the most effective weapon for most republicans in the war to defeat the economic downturn is the tax cut. In order to understand the effectiveness of the tax cut, one does not need to understand economics. The tax cut, whispered like 10 Hail Mary's after confession, is no longer an economic instrument. It is and will be for the next decade solely a political one. One whose sole reason is to give more wealth to the wealthy.
Our nation today, is for all intents and purposes bankrupt. 30 years ago, the middle class worker's wage was closer to his boss's by 20 times. The 20% wealthiest today control 84% of the naitons wealth. When the republicans give them tax breaks, that wealth increases. And the wealth of the nation shrinks on two fronts: a) we lose that money that should have been collected; and, b) the nation loses the benefit from that money that would have been invested in something like a bridge, a school, etc.
Rush is the GOP
Today, staring down the barrel of a shotgun that has not been seen since 1932, President Obama is trying to save our nation. Yet, the republicans led by the likes of Rush Limbaugh and that scattering of Christian, in-bred misfits and walking dead in Congress, are doing everything in their power to destroy his attempts; to play politics as usual.
We are beyond politics. Politics are what the GOP have been playing since 1981. Their political games tried to destroy Clinton and we can argue that their tireless efforts at proving he and his wife were thieves might have been just enough to have weakened his attempts to combat terrorism. W.'s game even made scientific facts on the environment doubtful--despite being proven by scientists all over the globe that global warming was real.
Today, as millions lose their jobs, the republicans continue their polical game by calling for tax cuts. They look at it like this: their objections to his stimulus package were enough to have made it smaller and less effective than it should have been. This battle, they have they won. Their strategy now is such that if each month 600,000 jobs will be lost, by the end of the year Obama will almost be a lame duck. This would mean yet a another victory for them, for the republican party!
W. was absent when the economy started to tank and under the guidance of Newt Gingrich the republicans refused to support a bail out in October. Today, they refuse to help America because they want us all to fail so they can go back to playing games.
If you ask me why I hate the republican party it is because the games I like playing, yatzee, scrabble, hearts and others are usually fun experiences shared with family and friends while have some chips, salsa and some beers.
The games the GOP lives for result in destruction of families; economic dismemberment; societal collapse; environmental collapse; rising crime; and, probably may have resulted in the 10 deaths in Alabama yesterday by a distraught man: he probably had lost his job, was economically irrelevant, and, oh, he also had ready access to very leathal weapons (whose sales support an organization that has great power over the GOP, the NRA).
Game over. Tax cuts are politics and politics are games. The next time you hear someone speak out in support of them, walk up to them and scream at the top of your lungs: STOP PLAYING GAMES WITH MY COUNTRY!
Yet, as we all know, due to his "tinkering" a sound and unified policy was not formulated in time and the economy tanked. In came FDR and after a continued period of tinkering the sputtered economy started to crawl forward. By the time the war was over, we were the world's economy.
Obama's Stim
Today, President Obama's stim, which by all accounts should have been larger, is proving to have been not enough to save our economy from the direction it went in 1930. What separated the country then, however, from now is that the Democrats (Hoover was a Republican) did not want the president to fail. In 1930, people knew that when a president failed, the country suffered.
Today, still the most effective weapon for most republicans in the war to defeat the economic downturn is the tax cut. In order to understand the effectiveness of the tax cut, one does not need to understand economics. The tax cut, whispered like 10 Hail Mary's after confession, is no longer an economic instrument. It is and will be for the next decade solely a political one. One whose sole reason is to give more wealth to the wealthy.
Our nation today, is for all intents and purposes bankrupt. 30 years ago, the middle class worker's wage was closer to his boss's by 20 times. The 20% wealthiest today control 84% of the naitons wealth. When the republicans give them tax breaks, that wealth increases. And the wealth of the nation shrinks on two fronts: a) we lose that money that should have been collected; and, b) the nation loses the benefit from that money that would have been invested in something like a bridge, a school, etc.
Rush is the GOP
Today, staring down the barrel of a shotgun that has not been seen since 1932, President Obama is trying to save our nation. Yet, the republicans led by the likes of Rush Limbaugh and that scattering of Christian, in-bred misfits and walking dead in Congress, are doing everything in their power to destroy his attempts; to play politics as usual.
We are beyond politics. Politics are what the GOP have been playing since 1981. Their political games tried to destroy Clinton and we can argue that their tireless efforts at proving he and his wife were thieves might have been just enough to have weakened his attempts to combat terrorism. W.'s game even made scientific facts on the environment doubtful--despite being proven by scientists all over the globe that global warming was real.
Today, as millions lose their jobs, the republicans continue their polical game by calling for tax cuts. They look at it like this: their objections to his stimulus package were enough to have made it smaller and less effective than it should have been. This battle, they have they won. Their strategy now is such that if each month 600,000 jobs will be lost, by the end of the year Obama will almost be a lame duck. This would mean yet a another victory for them, for the republican party!
W. was absent when the economy started to tank and under the guidance of Newt Gingrich the republicans refused to support a bail out in October. Today, they refuse to help America because they want us all to fail so they can go back to playing games.
If you ask me why I hate the republican party it is because the games I like playing, yatzee, scrabble, hearts and others are usually fun experiences shared with family and friends while have some chips, salsa and some beers.
The games the GOP lives for result in destruction of families; economic dismemberment; societal collapse; environmental collapse; rising crime; and, probably may have resulted in the 10 deaths in Alabama yesterday by a distraught man: he probably had lost his job, was economically irrelevant, and, oh, he also had ready access to very leathal weapons (whose sales support an organization that has great power over the GOP, the NRA).
Game over. Tax cuts are politics and politics are games. The next time you hear someone speak out in support of them, walk up to them and scream at the top of your lungs: STOP PLAYING GAMES WITH MY COUNTRY!
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Starbuck's: The Revolution from Above
In 1929, Stalin launched a revolution from above which resulted in thousands of top party people being slaughtered. Most were already guilty of atrocities so they probably deserved it. Stalin, also, having sought the cult-following that the dead Lenin had, wanted to rid the present of anyone who had known him prior to the revolution in 1917.
So too, Starbucks' the former great place for a good coffee and an even better cappuccino is now forcing change and altered perceptions from above in an attempt to draw away from the caramel-laced atrocities of the past 8 years.
There was a day, not too long ago, when the nation was perculating along under the prosperity created by the steady hand of Bill Clinton and Starbuck's was coffee. And then, as if with the appearance of the financial derivative, the "buck" lost its way in its caffeinated-inspired reality: sugary and cold frappuccino's and macchiatos with nice margins and really milky cappuccinos that no Italian in his worst nightmare would drink took front and center on the chalkboards. Gooey and diabetes-inducing caramel pressing against Jetson-esque plastic lids replaced cool, white with green logo-ed cups smelling pleasantly of coffee, steamed milk and a hint of chocolate shavings.
But I don't Want an Egg Sandwich
This week, in Starbuck's across the nation, in an attempt to fight back against the so-called unfair tatics of McDonald's where they say that all coffee at Starbuck's costs $4, the $4 breakfast is being introduced.
The breakfast to me means nothing: I have stopped eating anything of empty-caloric value for breakfast since 10 January of this year. The coffee means something still but even too, my super veggie-drink with muesili threatens to push this out of the picture also--simply no room for a coffee after one of those drinks.
Yet, I do watch the "buck" with great interest. For me, this company is the epitome of excellence in many respects. All companies make mistakes yet somehow, when it came to their core identity, the good cup of coffee in a pleasant setting, they always seemed to protect themselves. Until, that is, they like the nation in the late '90's and up until the crash of our economic system, found the brilliance of expanding margins thanks to the use of things like corn syrup and ice, simply too sweet to resist.
Yes, Howard Schultz, the coffee addict with the original vision in early '80's, lost his way in the world of greed. Money and the endless pursuit of getting more so you can sit and count those meaningless numbers (numbers for the sake of numbers) led him astray. And, thanks to Schultz's walkabout from the CEO-ship of the company, from 2000 to 2008, many, many Americans grew a lot fatter than they would have thanks to those hyper-caloric non-coffee drinks (one caramel macchiato with Breve milk has close to 600 calories and 42 (26 saturated) grams of fat!)
Now, in an effort to regain its lost coffee aroma, Starbuck's has introduced the $4 breakfast (actually $3.95 breakfast). Ok. Fine. I am sure it is tasty. But, Howard, you know as well as I do that it is not the absence of food that led you guys astray. It is not the economic downturn that has forced you to make deals with chicken-owners instead of coffee plantations (sure, some people have stopped going there but not as many as you may think).
It is greed. It is greed that drove you and your stockholders to the macchiatos. Now it must be a commitment to your original vision, to the idea that got your heart racing with excitement, to the passion you poured into this formerly almost-perfect company, that will take you back to where you should be: a great cup of coffee, a perfect cappuccino in a great setting whether alone over un giornale or talking with a priest about pre-Cana classes in a corner whilst seeking confidence in that frothy latte.
That is what Starbuck's used to be. Bring it back to those of us who now only find that same dedication to coffee-excellence in place as far away as Moscow! The caramel macchiato has not yet been introduced there.
Make Us Proud
I don't want Starbuck's to vanish. But, until this great company realizes that focus should not be on the bottom-line but on the values that made it the world's leader, the hard times are going to continue. In the meantime, a great Vienna-based company, The Coffeeshop Company has opened near me: the best cappuccino I can drink outside of Italy. The next best cappuccinos are being made by McDonald's in their "MacCafes".
Like our nation which has lost its commitment to the core values that made us what we were, so too a great company was seduced by the fatness of modern society. Shame on you Starbuck's. Now, go on back out there and make us proud!
So too, Starbucks' the former great place for a good coffee and an even better cappuccino is now forcing change and altered perceptions from above in an attempt to draw away from the caramel-laced atrocities of the past 8 years.
There was a day, not too long ago, when the nation was perculating along under the prosperity created by the steady hand of Bill Clinton and Starbuck's was coffee. And then, as if with the appearance of the financial derivative, the "buck" lost its way in its caffeinated-inspired reality: sugary and cold frappuccino's and macchiatos with nice margins and really milky cappuccinos that no Italian in his worst nightmare would drink took front and center on the chalkboards. Gooey and diabetes-inducing caramel pressing against Jetson-esque plastic lids replaced cool, white with green logo-ed cups smelling pleasantly of coffee, steamed milk and a hint of chocolate shavings.
But I don't Want an Egg Sandwich
This week, in Starbuck's across the nation, in an attempt to fight back against the so-called unfair tatics of McDonald's where they say that all coffee at Starbuck's costs $4, the $4 breakfast is being introduced.
The breakfast to me means nothing: I have stopped eating anything of empty-caloric value for breakfast since 10 January of this year. The coffee means something still but even too, my super veggie-drink with muesili threatens to push this out of the picture also--simply no room for a coffee after one of those drinks.
Yet, I do watch the "buck" with great interest. For me, this company is the epitome of excellence in many respects. All companies make mistakes yet somehow, when it came to their core identity, the good cup of coffee in a pleasant setting, they always seemed to protect themselves. Until, that is, they like the nation in the late '90's and up until the crash of our economic system, found the brilliance of expanding margins thanks to the use of things like corn syrup and ice, simply too sweet to resist.
Yes, Howard Schultz, the coffee addict with the original vision in early '80's, lost his way in the world of greed. Money and the endless pursuit of getting more so you can sit and count those meaningless numbers (numbers for the sake of numbers) led him astray. And, thanks to Schultz's walkabout from the CEO-ship of the company, from 2000 to 2008, many, many Americans grew a lot fatter than they would have thanks to those hyper-caloric non-coffee drinks (one caramel macchiato with Breve milk has close to 600 calories and 42 (26 saturated) grams of fat!)
Now, in an effort to regain its lost coffee aroma, Starbuck's has introduced the $4 breakfast (actually $3.95 breakfast). Ok. Fine. I am sure it is tasty. But, Howard, you know as well as I do that it is not the absence of food that led you guys astray. It is not the economic downturn that has forced you to make deals with chicken-owners instead of coffee plantations (sure, some people have stopped going there but not as many as you may think).
It is greed. It is greed that drove you and your stockholders to the macchiatos. Now it must be a commitment to your original vision, to the idea that got your heart racing with excitement, to the passion you poured into this formerly almost-perfect company, that will take you back to where you should be: a great cup of coffee, a perfect cappuccino in a great setting whether alone over un giornale or talking with a priest about pre-Cana classes in a corner whilst seeking confidence in that frothy latte.
That is what Starbuck's used to be. Bring it back to those of us who now only find that same dedication to coffee-excellence in place as far away as Moscow! The caramel macchiato has not yet been introduced there.
Make Us Proud
I don't want Starbuck's to vanish. But, until this great company realizes that focus should not be on the bottom-line but on the values that made it the world's leader, the hard times are going to continue. In the meantime, a great Vienna-based company, The Coffeeshop Company has opened near me: the best cappuccino I can drink outside of Italy. The next best cappuccinos are being made by McDonald's in their "MacCafes".
Like our nation which has lost its commitment to the core values that made us what we were, so too a great company was seduced by the fatness of modern society. Shame on you Starbuck's. Now, go on back out there and make us proud!
Thursday, February 26, 2009
The South: Moon pies and RC Cola
Typical, big-government, spend, spend, spend, socialist, stealing from future generations, deficit-creating, LIBERAL, welfare state, give to the poor, steal from the rich, wah, wah, wah, wah, blah, blah, blah...
Now that this is out of the way, we can proceed to the heart and withering soul of our argument.
It's about time! It is about time that someone elected into power by the nation's sufferers has proven himself brave enough to completely buck a system whose DNA was designed by that oh-so capable team of magicians that came to Washington in January 1981. The madness must be stopped and President Obama with his courageous budget is demonstrating that he does not seek power for power's seek--if he fails, he will not be re-elected and he knows this and he still went ahead with the most brazen and bold attempt at stemming the tide of angry, Christian, White, Southern opportunism.
Barack Obama has said it: for too long, way too many Americans have been thrown into poverty or near-poverty because of our obsession with making the rich richer via ridiculus tax cuts which had absolutely no hold in practical economic reality. The notion that the increased wealth would eventually trickle down to "employees in waiting" is unadulterated nonsense!
Trickle-down My A..
There may have been a time when that theory in practice had legs; but, any economist with a frontal lobe will tell you, when an economy is percolating along and making widgets and competing with the world for the wigdet market, an added buck or so will be invested into operations to make the given company more competitive.
However, when a economy has entered the post-industrial phase and so many of the players who have been truly enhanced by the massive corporate welfare doled over the last 28 years are already creamy rich, that added buck or so is NOT invested because their widget market (which is now not a widget but a super, high-tech widget splicer) is a) their monopoly already; and b) a market greatly affected by the elasticity of supply and demand-meaning should they make more then they will actually start to lose money!
So, the money is not invested for an increase in productivity will throw the supply and demand elasticity off-balance. What could and should be done, according to those whacky supply-siders, the owner of corporation A would ideally take that extra buck he received as the result of the corporate welfare program and invest it in medical insurance for workers; or, maybe invest it in R&D so as to make his product not just more competitive today but even more competitive tomorrow! Instead, he divies up with his cronies and shareholders and they all say "The Lord's Prayer."
And this leads us to the crux of our argument: tomorrow. President Obama's right assessment that we have NOT been planning for tomorrow since the coming to town of the Reagan Train, has led us to the moral and economic collapse we have today. Bill Clinton tried to get us on track but he was so restricted by a Republican Congress which did everything it could to distract him from governing and leading by abusing the powers of the independent council (which was actually begotten at Clinton's behest); by persecuting the President and by the near bankrupting of our government as a result of the massive debt passed on from Reagan to Bush to Clinton--which so wonderfully restricted any real investments in our society.
Anyhoo!
I will wrap this one up by commenting on the latest Ponzi scheme which was reported in the NYTimes on Saturday. The Stanford Financial Group, a Memphis-based, really sickly Southern company run like a tight-knit mom and pop shop in some backwater of a town in a state where the Confederate flag is still the preferred flag and Reagan is a god, was accused of stealing billions of dollars. And, one of the owners, James M. Davis, would open company meetings with a prayer to a light-haired Jesus with blue eyes and an ivory complexion.
Yes, I blame them. I blame the red states with their "god" and their fake patriotism. I blame the two-faced, sweet as rhubard pie smiles and "hey y'all..." for the troubles, for evils that our nation knows today. Sadly, though, when I blame them, because so many of them are so poor, I lose my class argument: when we get into the swamp that is southern society today, we are not dealing with just arrogant, despicable rich Southerners but also all of those moon-pie eating, RC Cola-drinking Gomer Pile's who think think that "white is right" and W. was like having "Jaysus in the Watt House".
The Southern slant of our national politics and its taking hostage of our economy has been an attempt by the defeated confederate states to regain much of what was lost when the war ended (and, if you say "war" to them, they still know which one you are talking about--the Civil War, only we Northerners are so naive to believe that the issues of this War are long gone).
We won that War. Now, it is time to remind them and all who are listening that we too can play some of that sappy country music, wave a flag or two and talk about a god who is good. However, what seperates our words from the words of these sickly white and religious and mostly Southern pretenders is...we love our America and we respect our Constitution. A-f.....g-Men!
Now that this is out of the way, we can proceed to the heart and withering soul of our argument.
It's about time! It is about time that someone elected into power by the nation's sufferers has proven himself brave enough to completely buck a system whose DNA was designed by that oh-so capable team of magicians that came to Washington in January 1981. The madness must be stopped and President Obama with his courageous budget is demonstrating that he does not seek power for power's seek--if he fails, he will not be re-elected and he knows this and he still went ahead with the most brazen and bold attempt at stemming the tide of angry, Christian, White, Southern opportunism.
Barack Obama has said it: for too long, way too many Americans have been thrown into poverty or near-poverty because of our obsession with making the rich richer via ridiculus tax cuts which had absolutely no hold in practical economic reality. The notion that the increased wealth would eventually trickle down to "employees in waiting" is unadulterated nonsense!
Trickle-down My A..
There may have been a time when that theory in practice had legs; but, any economist with a frontal lobe will tell you, when an economy is percolating along and making widgets and competing with the world for the wigdet market, an added buck or so will be invested into operations to make the given company more competitive.
However, when a economy has entered the post-industrial phase and so many of the players who have been truly enhanced by the massive corporate welfare doled over the last 28 years are already creamy rich, that added buck or so is NOT invested because their widget market (which is now not a widget but a super, high-tech widget splicer) is a) their monopoly already; and b) a market greatly affected by the elasticity of supply and demand-meaning should they make more then they will actually start to lose money!
So, the money is not invested for an increase in productivity will throw the supply and demand elasticity off-balance. What could and should be done, according to those whacky supply-siders, the owner of corporation A would ideally take that extra buck he received as the result of the corporate welfare program and invest it in medical insurance for workers; or, maybe invest it in R&D so as to make his product not just more competitive today but even more competitive tomorrow! Instead, he divies up with his cronies and shareholders and they all say "The Lord's Prayer."
And this leads us to the crux of our argument: tomorrow. President Obama's right assessment that we have NOT been planning for tomorrow since the coming to town of the Reagan Train, has led us to the moral and economic collapse we have today. Bill Clinton tried to get us on track but he was so restricted by a Republican Congress which did everything it could to distract him from governing and leading by abusing the powers of the independent council (which was actually begotten at Clinton's behest); by persecuting the President and by the near bankrupting of our government as a result of the massive debt passed on from Reagan to Bush to Clinton--which so wonderfully restricted any real investments in our society.
Anyhoo!
I will wrap this one up by commenting on the latest Ponzi scheme which was reported in the NYTimes on Saturday. The Stanford Financial Group, a Memphis-based, really sickly Southern company run like a tight-knit mom and pop shop in some backwater of a town in a state where the Confederate flag is still the preferred flag and Reagan is a god, was accused of stealing billions of dollars. And, one of the owners, James M. Davis, would open company meetings with a prayer to a light-haired Jesus with blue eyes and an ivory complexion.
Yes, I blame them. I blame the red states with their "god" and their fake patriotism. I blame the two-faced, sweet as rhubard pie smiles and "hey y'all..." for the troubles, for evils that our nation knows today. Sadly, though, when I blame them, because so many of them are so poor, I lose my class argument: when we get into the swamp that is southern society today, we are not dealing with just arrogant, despicable rich Southerners but also all of those moon-pie eating, RC Cola-drinking Gomer Pile's who think think that "white is right" and W. was like having "Jaysus in the Watt House".
The Southern slant of our national politics and its taking hostage of our economy has been an attempt by the defeated confederate states to regain much of what was lost when the war ended (and, if you say "war" to them, they still know which one you are talking about--the Civil War, only we Northerners are so naive to believe that the issues of this War are long gone).
We won that War. Now, it is time to remind them and all who are listening that we too can play some of that sappy country music, wave a flag or two and talk about a god who is good. However, what seperates our words from the words of these sickly white and religious and mostly Southern pretenders is...we love our America and we respect our Constitution. A-f.....g-Men!
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Reagan is Dead
I really want to know what is wrong with trying to make our nation a better, safer and healthier place in which to raise families? I really want to know why so many people, and they are usually people who are doing financially "ok" (unless they are dumb and white and from the South), think it is wrong to want to make our nation truly better?
America used to have limitless resources. America used to lead the world in pretty much everything. We were usually on the right side when fighting a war outside of our national borders. For long periods we have tolerated policies that were not in any society right ones; that were not in the bible right ones, that were morally very, very suspect (slavery, hangings, no justice for blacks, segregation, anti-immigrant laws, corruption, etc.); yet, we have always somehow righted the clock's mechanism and time would go ticking onward, taking us from the past and present and into an ever brighter future.
However, I can honestly say that after Ronald Reagan came into Washington, despite his mild-mannered way of whispering sweet-nothings into our living-rooms about an America that conjured up visions of Capra-esque Anytown, USA, America's lost vision of herself, thanks to a drawn-out and lost war in Vietnam and a run on the Constitution by Nixon, was restored. Sadly, however, that vision was more like the one that D.W. Griffith silently laid out before aghast audiences in "The Birth of a Nation" in 1915.
My genuine dislike for Ronald Reagan stems not from the fact that he did do some good by bringing the Soviets to the table (although, most of Reagan apologists know nothing about the man Mikhail Gorbachev and had Reagan not had Gorbachev those troops cuts would never have occured); but, from the fact that Ronald Reagan finished the conversation that Richard Nixon began with the silent majority--and, he gave them the right to be really, really noisy.
And, with that boisterousness, came school-yard bullying of anyone and all not in agreement with those who fell in awe of Reagan's masterfully painted vision of small town USA: a place where whites were the kings and the upidy blacks knew their place; where taxes were minimal and charity was supposed to cover all of the gaping holes in a social safety net (charity is good but when it is THE system, it will keep the givers always economically and socially above the takers); where women were supposed to be at home and pregnant and where "girls were girls and men were men"; in a society where even the "old LaSalle ran great."
Much of what Reagan painted for us, in a very Seurat meets Rockwell way, sounds really nice; but, in that same fantasy, I am walking in from church to the smell of baking bisuits in the kitchen, the electric knife is slicing off pieces of roast beef and my Uncle Albert is sitting in a haze of smoke reading the Sunday Press. My grandmother is wiping her hands on her apron, my dad takes his chair and my grandfather offers up a cranky greeting to the five kids that have just invaded his house for another Sunday dinner.
In other words, the lovely scene that Reagan gave the US, and to which his followers still cling today is of an America that a) is no more; and, b) an America that never was. America has been a place of bigorty and greed and close-mindedness and hatred but at the same time, the principles inherent to our national experiment have always forced someone, an American, to challenge those with hatred and greed and bigorty and eventually, goodness has always won. The Reagan freaks hang onto that America that did not right itself and still honors bigotry, deception and even theft of our common resources.
The Reagan cult, not unlike personality cults in other nations of historical relevance, is so against any kind of government support for the expansion of the American dream to all corners and walks and races of life, that they have sought (and continue to seek) the complete bankruptcy of our nation.
They make up enemies in every corner of the globe; talk about how dangerous it is to travel outside of the US (I recently heard a hard-core republican say that it was too dangerous to travel to Rome because of all the terrorists!!); if any money is spent by the government on anything other than tax cuts or military then they go crazy and start shouting about socialism; they would rather see a city with the cultural richness of New Orleans wither away than support it rebirth (probably because most of those who would have received help were again, "from the other side of the tracks in their Reaganesque world-view"); despite their so-called fiscal conversvatism, they advocate the accumulation of massive societal debt so as to enrich those who resemble themselves and to build bigger armies and more secure gated communities; and, they advocate extreme lassez-faire economics which has led us to the worst economic collapse since the Great Depression.
In their small town, "we are always on the right side of the moral issue", they can justify the invasion and occupation even of other nations. The consequences of Iraq, the lies by their president, the abuse of the Constitution and the deaths of hundreds of thousands of innocent people including soon to be 5,000 American soldiers, on our economy will be felt for generations; and, then today, when a president comes to town, a man who is truly leading our nation like it has not been led since the time of the Roosevelt cousins, they can only pull out their tired and worn out visions of Reagan's anti-America.
We are a better nation than the one that Ronald Reagan gave them. We do not hate those who don't look like us. We don't hate foreigners or immigrants; we don't believe in Church and State mixing; we believe that everyone should be allowed to be who they want to be, with whom they want to be; we believe that in any market based economy NOT EVERYONE can be wealthy so society MUST provide a safety net for a substantail minority who will end up below the poverty line.
In Bedford Falls, big business lost and the little man won. The bastardized, flag-whipping ways of Reagan's followers are anachronistic. They too have become irrelevant and so now, so soon will their politics.
America used to have limitless resources. America used to lead the world in pretty much everything. We were usually on the right side when fighting a war outside of our national borders. For long periods we have tolerated policies that were not in any society right ones; that were not in the bible right ones, that were morally very, very suspect (slavery, hangings, no justice for blacks, segregation, anti-immigrant laws, corruption, etc.); yet, we have always somehow righted the clock's mechanism and time would go ticking onward, taking us from the past and present and into an ever brighter future.
However, I can honestly say that after Ronald Reagan came into Washington, despite his mild-mannered way of whispering sweet-nothings into our living-rooms about an America that conjured up visions of Capra-esque Anytown, USA, America's lost vision of herself, thanks to a drawn-out and lost war in Vietnam and a run on the Constitution by Nixon, was restored. Sadly, however, that vision was more like the one that D.W. Griffith silently laid out before aghast audiences in "The Birth of a Nation" in 1915.
My genuine dislike for Ronald Reagan stems not from the fact that he did do some good by bringing the Soviets to the table (although, most of Reagan apologists know nothing about the man Mikhail Gorbachev and had Reagan not had Gorbachev those troops cuts would never have occured); but, from the fact that Ronald Reagan finished the conversation that Richard Nixon began with the silent majority--and, he gave them the right to be really, really noisy.
And, with that boisterousness, came school-yard bullying of anyone and all not in agreement with those who fell in awe of Reagan's masterfully painted vision of small town USA: a place where whites were the kings and the upidy blacks knew their place; where taxes were minimal and charity was supposed to cover all of the gaping holes in a social safety net (charity is good but when it is THE system, it will keep the givers always economically and socially above the takers); where women were supposed to be at home and pregnant and where "girls were girls and men were men"; in a society where even the "old LaSalle ran great."
Much of what Reagan painted for us, in a very Seurat meets Rockwell way, sounds really nice; but, in that same fantasy, I am walking in from church to the smell of baking bisuits in the kitchen, the electric knife is slicing off pieces of roast beef and my Uncle Albert is sitting in a haze of smoke reading the Sunday Press. My grandmother is wiping her hands on her apron, my dad takes his chair and my grandfather offers up a cranky greeting to the five kids that have just invaded his house for another Sunday dinner.
In other words, the lovely scene that Reagan gave the US, and to which his followers still cling today is of an America that a) is no more; and, b) an America that never was. America has been a place of bigorty and greed and close-mindedness and hatred but at the same time, the principles inherent to our national experiment have always forced someone, an American, to challenge those with hatred and greed and bigorty and eventually, goodness has always won. The Reagan freaks hang onto that America that did not right itself and still honors bigotry, deception and even theft of our common resources.
The Reagan cult, not unlike personality cults in other nations of historical relevance, is so against any kind of government support for the expansion of the American dream to all corners and walks and races of life, that they have sought (and continue to seek) the complete bankruptcy of our nation.
They make up enemies in every corner of the globe; talk about how dangerous it is to travel outside of the US (I recently heard a hard-core republican say that it was too dangerous to travel to Rome because of all the terrorists!!); if any money is spent by the government on anything other than tax cuts or military then they go crazy and start shouting about socialism; they would rather see a city with the cultural richness of New Orleans wither away than support it rebirth (probably because most of those who would have received help were again, "from the other side of the tracks in their Reaganesque world-view"); despite their so-called fiscal conversvatism, they advocate the accumulation of massive societal debt so as to enrich those who resemble themselves and to build bigger armies and more secure gated communities; and, they advocate extreme lassez-faire economics which has led us to the worst economic collapse since the Great Depression.
In their small town, "we are always on the right side of the moral issue", they can justify the invasion and occupation even of other nations. The consequences of Iraq, the lies by their president, the abuse of the Constitution and the deaths of hundreds of thousands of innocent people including soon to be 5,000 American soldiers, on our economy will be felt for generations; and, then today, when a president comes to town, a man who is truly leading our nation like it has not been led since the time of the Roosevelt cousins, they can only pull out their tired and worn out visions of Reagan's anti-America.
We are a better nation than the one that Ronald Reagan gave them. We do not hate those who don't look like us. We don't hate foreigners or immigrants; we don't believe in Church and State mixing; we believe that everyone should be allowed to be who they want to be, with whom they want to be; we believe that in any market based economy NOT EVERYONE can be wealthy so society MUST provide a safety net for a substantail minority who will end up below the poverty line.
In Bedford Falls, big business lost and the little man won. The bastardized, flag-whipping ways of Reagan's followers are anachronistic. They too have become irrelevant and so now, so soon will their politics.
Monday, February 23, 2009
What does it say about the direction of our nation's economy and industrial base when the "Buy American" clause in the President Obama's stim does not really scare any of our foreign trade partners? There is a stipulation in the stim which says that if the item cannot be purchased in America, then it can be bought overseas--creating a job not for an American but for an Indian, a Chinaman or a Belgian.
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