Dear President Obama,
Nearly a year ago, 28 years of hyper-deregulating government policies led us and the world to the brink of economic collapse. You assumed office almost 6 months after this moment, 15 September 2008, and since then, through partisan action and your strong and decisive leadership, we are stepping back from the precipice. We can take a breath and whether others will join me or not, I don't know, but I want to say: Thank you.
Of course, it has not been an easy road for you, for the country, for the world. Many are still without work; new businesses are not opening up and credit is still not readily available to most; yet, during this time, and despite the best (or worst) efforts of the Republican Party, you have fought the fight for the American people.
Laying policies that will lower costs over the long-term; depriving greedy, and in many instances, morally reprehensible big businesses from their obsession with short-term profits (see finance industry, auto industry, energy companies, insurance companies, maybe even Coca-Cola); you have been harassed and mocked by a substantial minority of Americans and what used to be a relevant political party in our nation. Yet, you persevered.
The members of that party, I call it the GOPCON Party (GOP meets CON-servatives), have done everything they could to obstruct you; to prevent you from not just leading our nation out of the morass of 8 misguided years of abject incompetence, but, even in many cases from simply governing. They want America to fail.
You, Mr. President, and your party--although not all of them--initially strove for bi-partisan solutions to problems that had not been seen in 70 years. They, however, chose a talk-radio approach to our nation's future by littering the present with emotional garbage, nonsensical delays, demagoguery, rebel-rousing and tactics so common to roving groups of neo-facsists: fear and threats.
President Obama, I am proud to be an American again. I was shamed by how our nation had behaved over the last 8 years. I live abroad and truthfully, I tend to be somewhat of a loud-mouth and don't fear too many people so not many foreigners could scare me in their overt disgust for our antics since W became president; however, it has not been easy. Many people didn't so much as hate us as they were simply shocked that we, America, would behave so stupidly, be so reactionary and twice vote in a man who could barely speak a sentence that even the dumbest Americans could understand, let alone bright ones.
Your policies have set the auto industry back on a track that at least resembles principles from Business 101: build products that people want to buy. You are trying to get our nation to see the benefits of a green revolution and just how many jobs could be created should "we", I mean those so-called wealthy businessmen ever lobbying for tax-cuts so they could invest in American businesses, use our once great American ingenuity to lead the world in this field--instead of giving this too off to China.
Your Accomplishments
You have fought the credit card companies and made it safer for us to use credit cards. Their irresponsible and predatory customer-trolling policies were nothing more than legalized loan-sharking--who hasn't been cheated by a credit card company? But, changes have been made. You, the president, the government, is forcing them, a monstrous corporate entity against which we, small, hardworking, Americans simply have no recourse, to change their ways. Good job!
The environment bill could have been better but I am a gradualist. If you try to go too far then the "system" will stand to lose too much money and it will prevent you from doing anything. Again, hats off for being a pragmatist. Next time, we will do better. The clunker program was anything but; yet, if we listen to those idiots on the right, they will say this too was farcical. Name one program, Mr. President, that they have supported or passed that has made our nation better in the past 30 years.
Soon, you will save tax-payer money by cutting out the banks as the middlemen in the student loan process and again, despite what you can be sure will be GOPCON obstructionism, the quality of American's lives, those of the "disregarded majority", will be set on firmer ground. You will fight the fight against big business by going after obesity. If people cannot smoke--I am not a smoker--because it harms them and us, why are companies allowed to poison us with these sugary, fake-foods. Why is 30% of our nation allowed to drain our nation's resources because they make life choices that turn them into herds of scootering-zooming fatties?
Finally, President Obama, I sleep well at night knowing that you are doing your best to make our nation as great as it could've been had the GOPCON Party not stopped the wheels of modernity; had we not been side-tracked by sheer and unadulterated stupidity, greed, contradiction and shameless fake-religiosity and anti-Americanism.
You need to be civil to the likes of that idiot southern congressman, Joe Wilson. I don't have to be--I still blame that state for firing the first shot. So, until you are ready to completely and fully accept their political irrelevance as a modern day political party and govern as if they didn't exist, we will continue to fight the battle for you.
The America in which you and I want to live, Mr. President, does not condone such antics like what were seen on the floor of the Congress when you were speaking. The America you and I love, voices our opposition, and then when the nation needs decisions and governance, we make decisions and govern: the GOPCON Party has chosen to extract itself from governing the nation. They should be ashamed, they should be impeached.
What is the next problem we will tackle, President Obama? Perhaps, we can start taking away their guns?
Friday, September 18, 2009
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Par for the Course
They should be ashamed, but, they won't be.
There are things like, let's see...a constitution. ""Ah, that's just an outdated piece of paper," they mutter over grits drowned in butter. There is a court that is supposed to make decisions based the letter of the law. "Yeah, but, most of those justices were chosen by republican presidents so they had to choose W for the presidency," they rejoice whilst staring at maps of the world where thanks to our troops "democracy" has taken root.
There is even an office, an oval one, in which sits the highest, elected official in the land. He is the President of ALL the United States of America. Shame was brought to this great office by Nixon; by a republican congress-led witch hunt, which did to Clinton what is trying with some success to do to Obama--spread lies and hate against the president so as to distract him from his agenda and wait until he makes a major mistake. Yes, Clinton was stupid to start that affair given the HUAC-style pressure he was under from a nation held hostage by Newt and company.
W brought shame to the White House, to the nation; but, he was and still is called President Bush and in all my dislike of him, I would be awed to meet one of less than 50 men in the past 200 plus years to have held the title of President of the United States of America.
Last night, some southern Joe from none other than the state that fired the first shot against federal troops in 1861 at Fort Sumter, had the utter indecency to shame the office again by screaming (like a spoiled, rotten brat) "you lie." Not since a southern senator beat a northern one with his cane into a coma in the 1850's has such a display been seen.
Shame on you! Shame on the GOPCON Party!
President Obama is all ya all's president so respect him, or at least tje office, an shut the hell up, Joe!
There are things like, let's see...a constitution. ""Ah, that's just an outdated piece of paper," they mutter over grits drowned in butter. There is a court that is supposed to make decisions based the letter of the law. "Yeah, but, most of those justices were chosen by republican presidents so they had to choose W for the presidency," they rejoice whilst staring at maps of the world where thanks to our troops "democracy" has taken root.
There is even an office, an oval one, in which sits the highest, elected official in the land. He is the President of ALL the United States of America. Shame was brought to this great office by Nixon; by a republican congress-led witch hunt, which did to Clinton what is trying with some success to do to Obama--spread lies and hate against the president so as to distract him from his agenda and wait until he makes a major mistake. Yes, Clinton was stupid to start that affair given the HUAC-style pressure he was under from a nation held hostage by Newt and company.
W brought shame to the White House, to the nation; but, he was and still is called President Bush and in all my dislike of him, I would be awed to meet one of less than 50 men in the past 200 plus years to have held the title of President of the United States of America.
Last night, some southern Joe from none other than the state that fired the first shot against federal troops in 1861 at Fort Sumter, had the utter indecency to shame the office again by screaming (like a spoiled, rotten brat) "you lie." Not since a southern senator beat a northern one with his cane into a coma in the 1850's has such a display been seen.
Shame on you! Shame on the GOPCON Party!
President Obama is all ya all's president so respect him, or at least tje office, an shut the hell up, Joe!
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
A Common Good
Ownership is a good thing. Owning a car, a home, a dog, a bike, a chair and even a garbage can are all good and helpful things.
Each one of those things requires certain care in their respective handling so as to ensure that they will be maximized in their use for us. Each of these things, to a greater or lesser extent, is a resource for the owner and even for non-owners in some cases.
Each of these things becomes a part of our routines of life, a life woven into a common one. We sit in the chair to eat, read the paper or surf the web. We walk the dog and pet him, relaxing on the couch after a long day soaking up the unconditional love of a good pup. The garbage can, if properly used, sorts our recyclables and this act in our personal life adds to the common one which makes it better--good.
Ownership
American society is an ownership society. Again, there is nothing wrong with this; well, there are many wrongs but the overall basis for this concept upon which our nation was founded is not wrong. Yet, when people own things, they strive to ensure that their neighborhoods are good, clean, safe and happy. If all of this, then a town or a neighborhood can be a great place to own a home, a dogs, bikes, balls, TV's, bbq's, etc. By acting in a manner that is conducive to an overall good, one contribute to a sounder, common good.
A common good is something that the GOP and the conservatives don't want for America. I believe this from the bottom of my heart. This is not rhetoric. They do everything they can to put the interests of America behind the needs and interests of a) the wealthy and b) big business. How else can we justify what they did to our nation during W's 8 long years? How else we can justify the way they are creating panic and hysteria over the president's courageuous efforts to overhaul health care? They mocked the clunkers program--an obvious benefit to some but at the end of the day, a benefit to all.
There are so-called preachers wishing President Obama dead and there are talking-heads on Fox hinting that something "radical" must be done to stop him. Is this good for our nation this hate? How is it that when W was lying to the world about Iraq, all debate on the need for that invasion was considered "anti-American" and "support for the terrorists"; and now, when we are trying to pull our nation back from the brink of bankruptcy by overhauling the greatest drain on our nation's wealth, the failed healthcare system, conservatives and the GOP are turning the debate into a screaming match while wrapping themselves in the buntings and banners of silent Old Glory?
The Media
The emasculated and fading-from-relevance, traditional media is not questioning or condemning these tactics. Why? Again, the profit incentive. They too need to make money, they are looking after their own interests. The Iraqi invasion was exciting. It was good for sales of newspapers and magazines. Many a smart journalist probably knew as I that the "truth" W was selling was about as accurate as a history book written by Soviet historians. Those same journalists also knew that uncovering W's deceit would sell still more papers and magazines, etc--help them and their interests.
Writing an article with the facts and figures about the healtcare dilemma, showing support for the president and why these conservatives and the GOP are simply wrong and even anti-American, is boring. Such journalistic responsibility can't compete with the lies of Fox News, the reprehensible and irrresponsible criticisms by Cheney of Obama's policies so why try, they figure.
With no regard for the nation's rules, mores and precedents before him in regards to governing and the US Constitution, Mr. Potter (Cheney) has again broken with protocol and less than 6 months out of office, already, he is vocally challenging the president; trying to plant the seeds of doubt, hate. When will death knock on his door I ask? It will be a great day for our nation when he dies and I will be the first to shout with joy. (So Republican of me, such anger. Imagine, waiting for someone to die. So, non-Christian of me.)
At a time when our nation needs to gather behind our president as he struggles to lead us to a better place, the lies and emotions of the conservatives threaten to destroy our president, our nation. Why? Because they want to be re-elected, they want to limit more abortions, kill more criminals, invade more nations which were not threatening our good, embarass us on the world stage more often, ruin the environment further, give more tax breaks to the billionaires, bankrupt more local governments and states further: California, arguably our greatest state, is stricken by disasterous fires and bankruptcy.
A Genius Idea
Cars pulling into a Burger King in New Jersey drive over a medal speed bump at the drive in and energy is created and stored. Eventually, it is hoped that this would be used at all drive-thrus, toll-boothes, etc. This invention received stimulus money from Obama's "failed stimulus package" (so say the conservatives). If used at all the drive-thrus and in other places throughout a town of 15,000 people, 30% of its energy needs can be taken care of in this manner. This is a simply genius invention which will do wonders in lowering energy costs. This is something that never would have seen the light of day under a republican administration.
A woman was interviewed in a local paper in New Jersey about how she would feel if these things were put around the town" "So long as it doesn't mess up my routine, I don't care. But, if it gets in my way, don't need'em." What has happened to our "can do", "community first" attitude? When did we become so obsessed with our own so-called personal good? When did the cult of comfort, ease and leisure replace our belief in the American nation? Have we become so self-possessed that we can't slow the car a little, add 22 seconds onto our drive to the store, for the sake of creating energy to run the street lights in our town? For the sake of maybe, just maybe, staving off the disastrous effects of global warming by a decade or two: a common good.
What has happened to the common good and who is left to make sure it survives? President Obama is one and this is why the conservatives are finding it so easy to railroad his healthcare overhaul. He has proven himself to be naive and foolish: he believes in the America that drove our troops across battlefields in faraway countries, in their efforts to accomplish the mission and lead us to victory.
He wants to make ALL of us better and not just some of us. How cynical we have grown as a nation. We are more like Europe than we want to admit.
Each one of those things requires certain care in their respective handling so as to ensure that they will be maximized in their use for us. Each of these things, to a greater or lesser extent, is a resource for the owner and even for non-owners in some cases.
Each of these things becomes a part of our routines of life, a life woven into a common one. We sit in the chair to eat, read the paper or surf the web. We walk the dog and pet him, relaxing on the couch after a long day soaking up the unconditional love of a good pup. The garbage can, if properly used, sorts our recyclables and this act in our personal life adds to the common one which makes it better--good.
Ownership
American society is an ownership society. Again, there is nothing wrong with this; well, there are many wrongs but the overall basis for this concept upon which our nation was founded is not wrong. Yet, when people own things, they strive to ensure that their neighborhoods are good, clean, safe and happy. If all of this, then a town or a neighborhood can be a great place to own a home, a dogs, bikes, balls, TV's, bbq's, etc. By acting in a manner that is conducive to an overall good, one contribute to a sounder, common good.
A common good is something that the GOP and the conservatives don't want for America. I believe this from the bottom of my heart. This is not rhetoric. They do everything they can to put the interests of America behind the needs and interests of a) the wealthy and b) big business. How else can we justify what they did to our nation during W's 8 long years? How else we can justify the way they are creating panic and hysteria over the president's courageuous efforts to overhaul health care? They mocked the clunkers program--an obvious benefit to some but at the end of the day, a benefit to all.
There are so-called preachers wishing President Obama dead and there are talking-heads on Fox hinting that something "radical" must be done to stop him. Is this good for our nation this hate? How is it that when W was lying to the world about Iraq, all debate on the need for that invasion was considered "anti-American" and "support for the terrorists"; and now, when we are trying to pull our nation back from the brink of bankruptcy by overhauling the greatest drain on our nation's wealth, the failed healthcare system, conservatives and the GOP are turning the debate into a screaming match while wrapping themselves in the buntings and banners of silent Old Glory?
The Media
The emasculated and fading-from-relevance, traditional media is not questioning or condemning these tactics. Why? Again, the profit incentive. They too need to make money, they are looking after their own interests. The Iraqi invasion was exciting. It was good for sales of newspapers and magazines. Many a smart journalist probably knew as I that the "truth" W was selling was about as accurate as a history book written by Soviet historians. Those same journalists also knew that uncovering W's deceit would sell still more papers and magazines, etc--help them and their interests.
Writing an article with the facts and figures about the healtcare dilemma, showing support for the president and why these conservatives and the GOP are simply wrong and even anti-American, is boring. Such journalistic responsibility can't compete with the lies of Fox News, the reprehensible and irrresponsible criticisms by Cheney of Obama's policies so why try, they figure.
With no regard for the nation's rules, mores and precedents before him in regards to governing and the US Constitution, Mr. Potter (Cheney) has again broken with protocol and less than 6 months out of office, already, he is vocally challenging the president; trying to plant the seeds of doubt, hate. When will death knock on his door I ask? It will be a great day for our nation when he dies and I will be the first to shout with joy. (So Republican of me, such anger. Imagine, waiting for someone to die. So, non-Christian of me.)
At a time when our nation needs to gather behind our president as he struggles to lead us to a better place, the lies and emotions of the conservatives threaten to destroy our president, our nation. Why? Because they want to be re-elected, they want to limit more abortions, kill more criminals, invade more nations which were not threatening our good, embarass us on the world stage more often, ruin the environment further, give more tax breaks to the billionaires, bankrupt more local governments and states further: California, arguably our greatest state, is stricken by disasterous fires and bankruptcy.
A Genius Idea
Cars pulling into a Burger King in New Jersey drive over a medal speed bump at the drive in and energy is created and stored. Eventually, it is hoped that this would be used at all drive-thrus, toll-boothes, etc. This invention received stimulus money from Obama's "failed stimulus package" (so say the conservatives). If used at all the drive-thrus and in other places throughout a town of 15,000 people, 30% of its energy needs can be taken care of in this manner. This is a simply genius invention which will do wonders in lowering energy costs. This is something that never would have seen the light of day under a republican administration.
A woman was interviewed in a local paper in New Jersey about how she would feel if these things were put around the town" "So long as it doesn't mess up my routine, I don't care. But, if it gets in my way, don't need'em." What has happened to our "can do", "community first" attitude? When did we become so obsessed with our own so-called personal good? When did the cult of comfort, ease and leisure replace our belief in the American nation? Have we become so self-possessed that we can't slow the car a little, add 22 seconds onto our drive to the store, for the sake of creating energy to run the street lights in our town? For the sake of maybe, just maybe, staving off the disastrous effects of global warming by a decade or two: a common good.
What has happened to the common good and who is left to make sure it survives? President Obama is one and this is why the conservatives are finding it so easy to railroad his healthcare overhaul. He has proven himself to be naive and foolish: he believes in the America that drove our troops across battlefields in faraway countries, in their efforts to accomplish the mission and lead us to victory.
He wants to make ALL of us better and not just some of us. How cynical we have grown as a nation. We are more like Europe than we want to admit.
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Summer Shorts
For good or bad, better or worse, I am back to my editorial rantings on "what I see, feel, hear, eat, smell, know, don't know, think I know or feel like acting like I know but don't really know about."
It has been a long month since my self-inflicted bout of silence. I felt that I was getting in too deep, sounding a bit angry and being consumed by my inherent hatred of the conservative wing of the GOP (I don't dislike the other wings of the GOP, after all, who hated the Bad News Bears?)
My seething disgust for the cons was drawing me away from rational thought and I found myself succumbing to their eternal war which evokes emotional outbursts devoid of intellectual thought--I too was becoming the demogogic diatribe, the shadow of Limbaugh only standing to his left.
Having cleaned the head and spent some time in the promised land, America, I am back and ready to set at it again with earnest.
Clunkers
Man, isn't it nice when you see the federal government actually demonstrating that there are some intelligent and America-first (read: not just Big Business but all Americans, rich and poor) people still involved?
The clunker program had it problems and of course the usual suspects were against it--although I am sure that many of them made trade-ins and received the $4500 check from the government--but, for the most part, it was a wonderful and successful program. It was precisely what our government has been void of for the past 8 years under Republican rule: creative, progressive, take-action-now thinking/governing. America will be better off for it.
Overall 690,000 cars were sold thanks to this program with Toyota leading the way. The fact that the Japanese automaker was number one in sales again demonstrates just how bad our auto industry has been over the past two decades. Chrysler, however, did finish second.
Many Republicans shouted that this was middle-class welfare (and tax cuts for the billionaires isn't welfare for the rich?). Last time I checked, though, I think the backbone of America's power was it's well-developed middle class, so what is the problem?
Also, it seems that if this $3 billion investment by the government resulted in the sales of 690,000 new cars, isn't that a stimulus to the economy? Yes, the good old cons, always against America.
Health Care
All I can say about this spectacle of neo-Nazi heckling and white-led rebel-rousing is: obstructionism, obstructionism, obstructionism.
They have absolutely nothing else to offer but fear-mongering (see GOP Scare Tactics and the 'War on Terrorism' due out soon by Eichmann, Hitler and Goring Publishing and written by Cheney and Rumsfeld) and lies: "death committees." Sweet baby Jesus, couldn't they have come up with something more Dr. Suessian like yuzz-a-ma-tuzz or grikly-gructus or diffendoofer committees? Now, that would have at least shown that they had made some progress since their last great quotable: "drill, baby, drill," not to be confused with "Seig Heil."
Sadly, our new president seems a bit overwhelmed by these tactics as they are truly overwhelming and when we have a president who actually strives to make our nation better for all (and to repair the damage of GOP control), one can get distracted. However, my good friend Paul Krugman writes on a regular basis helpful editorials and I quite often respond to the Obama's when they email letters about what they are doing.
So, yes, to the chagrin of the cons, we will pass health care legislation and we will probably increase the deficit but whereas endless tax cuts for the wealthy and endless wars against all middle-eastern nations that don't look like fat, balding white men don't lead to savings for the nation (or increased tax receipts), the savings gained from health care will eventually lead to a lowering of the deficit. Inaction will only increase the deficit and lead to our ultimate bankrupting and this is what they--yes, I said it, "they" (who you calling 'they'?)--want.
Wal-Mart
Re-energized from a lovely end-of-summer trip to New Jersey and surrounding states, I marvelled at the Wal-Mart commercials on TV.
"Live Better. Save Money." In this stylishly done ad, they show some pretty cool cats enjoying USDA steaks (read: "yo, Mexican boy, if you can't clean the carcass in 3 seconds of shit and other gorey matter, then get off the line. A little e coli is good for people.") and sitting wearing nice clothes around a stylish dining room table.
A) All of the people are thin and seem to have a modicum of intelligent thought in their heads; B) there is no 'B', I just needed my rant to seem deeper. Really, though, the whole notion that by buying--yes, buying--shit made in China (and never in America), somehow we will live better because we are saving money on that shit, makes my head spin. Call me a commie or whatever, but, I will never comprehend why and how consumption is the answer to our problems.
Granted, we need things to live and to survive. Families have needs beyond what I can imagine (having no children yet of my own) and when on a tight budget a place like Wal-Mart is helpful. I am not against that end of the bargain and I am grateful that there is such a place to keep prices in perspective for we all know that Big Business and their lobbyists (read: GOP) are evil; however, let's call it what it is: Wal-Mart kills small American businesses faster than the Chinese and rabbits can breed.
Every dollar spent in Wal-Mart is money out of our nation; it is killing a small business downtown--not that they offer much anymore (thanks to Wal-Mart). Wal-Mart, however, could lead the nation in a American small-business revival if it too decided to ensure that at least 50% (or even 60%) of everything sold there was being made in America.
Imagine, the increased prices by such a policy would be offset by the higher-wage-paying jobs. Sadly, however, when my wife and me try to buy "typical American souvenirs" for friends in Russia, we are always shocked to realize that everything you touch--even the Amish star I bought from an Amish store--is made in China!
We tried this time to buy only "made in America" souvenirs and guess what? Our bag of gifts was empty.
Well, enough for now, I am starting to sweat.
Soon, it will be time for College football (Go Knights), the World Series (Go Yanks) and the Oktoberfest ("another beer, please.").
It has been a long month since my self-inflicted bout of silence. I felt that I was getting in too deep, sounding a bit angry and being consumed by my inherent hatred of the conservative wing of the GOP (I don't dislike the other wings of the GOP, after all, who hated the Bad News Bears?)
My seething disgust for the cons was drawing me away from rational thought and I found myself succumbing to their eternal war which evokes emotional outbursts devoid of intellectual thought--I too was becoming the demogogic diatribe, the shadow of Limbaugh only standing to his left.
Having cleaned the head and spent some time in the promised land, America, I am back and ready to set at it again with earnest.
Clunkers
Man, isn't it nice when you see the federal government actually demonstrating that there are some intelligent and America-first (read: not just Big Business but all Americans, rich and poor) people still involved?
The clunker program had it problems and of course the usual suspects were against it--although I am sure that many of them made trade-ins and received the $4500 check from the government--but, for the most part, it was a wonderful and successful program. It was precisely what our government has been void of for the past 8 years under Republican rule: creative, progressive, take-action-now thinking/governing. America will be better off for it.
Overall 690,000 cars were sold thanks to this program with Toyota leading the way. The fact that the Japanese automaker was number one in sales again demonstrates just how bad our auto industry has been over the past two decades. Chrysler, however, did finish second.
Many Republicans shouted that this was middle-class welfare (and tax cuts for the billionaires isn't welfare for the rich?). Last time I checked, though, I think the backbone of America's power was it's well-developed middle class, so what is the problem?
Also, it seems that if this $3 billion investment by the government resulted in the sales of 690,000 new cars, isn't that a stimulus to the economy? Yes, the good old cons, always against America.
Health Care
All I can say about this spectacle of neo-Nazi heckling and white-led rebel-rousing is: obstructionism, obstructionism, obstructionism.
They have absolutely nothing else to offer but fear-mongering (see GOP Scare Tactics and the 'War on Terrorism' due out soon by Eichmann, Hitler and Goring Publishing and written by Cheney and Rumsfeld) and lies: "death committees." Sweet baby Jesus, couldn't they have come up with something more Dr. Suessian like yuzz-a-ma-tuzz or grikly-gructus or diffendoofer committees? Now, that would have at least shown that they had made some progress since their last great quotable: "drill, baby, drill," not to be confused with "Seig Heil."
Sadly, our new president seems a bit overwhelmed by these tactics as they are truly overwhelming and when we have a president who actually strives to make our nation better for all (and to repair the damage of GOP control), one can get distracted. However, my good friend Paul Krugman writes on a regular basis helpful editorials and I quite often respond to the Obama's when they email letters about what they are doing.
So, yes, to the chagrin of the cons, we will pass health care legislation and we will probably increase the deficit but whereas endless tax cuts for the wealthy and endless wars against all middle-eastern nations that don't look like fat, balding white men don't lead to savings for the nation (or increased tax receipts), the savings gained from health care will eventually lead to a lowering of the deficit. Inaction will only increase the deficit and lead to our ultimate bankrupting and this is what they--yes, I said it, "they" (who you calling 'they'?)--want.
Wal-Mart
Re-energized from a lovely end-of-summer trip to New Jersey and surrounding states, I marvelled at the Wal-Mart commercials on TV.
"Live Better. Save Money." In this stylishly done ad, they show some pretty cool cats enjoying USDA steaks (read: "yo, Mexican boy, if you can't clean the carcass in 3 seconds of shit and other gorey matter, then get off the line. A little e coli is good for people.") and sitting wearing nice clothes around a stylish dining room table.
A) All of the people are thin and seem to have a modicum of intelligent thought in their heads; B) there is no 'B', I just needed my rant to seem deeper. Really, though, the whole notion that by buying--yes, buying--shit made in China (and never in America), somehow we will live better because we are saving money on that shit, makes my head spin. Call me a commie or whatever, but, I will never comprehend why and how consumption is the answer to our problems.
Granted, we need things to live and to survive. Families have needs beyond what I can imagine (having no children yet of my own) and when on a tight budget a place like Wal-Mart is helpful. I am not against that end of the bargain and I am grateful that there is such a place to keep prices in perspective for we all know that Big Business and their lobbyists (read: GOP) are evil; however, let's call it what it is: Wal-Mart kills small American businesses faster than the Chinese and rabbits can breed.
Every dollar spent in Wal-Mart is money out of our nation; it is killing a small business downtown--not that they offer much anymore (thanks to Wal-Mart). Wal-Mart, however, could lead the nation in a American small-business revival if it too decided to ensure that at least 50% (or even 60%) of everything sold there was being made in America.
Imagine, the increased prices by such a policy would be offset by the higher-wage-paying jobs. Sadly, however, when my wife and me try to buy "typical American souvenirs" for friends in Russia, we are always shocked to realize that everything you touch--even the Amish star I bought from an Amish store--is made in China!
We tried this time to buy only "made in America" souvenirs and guess what? Our bag of gifts was empty.
Well, enough for now, I am starting to sweat.
Soon, it will be time for College football (Go Knights), the World Series (Go Yanks) and the Oktoberfest ("another beer, please.").
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Tomorrow Should be Better than Today
In a nutshell (Brazil Nut), a liberal can be summed up as a person who believes that society (and he being a driver/participant in it) works to ensure that yesterday's ills and wrongs can be overcome. The resulting effect of this triumph over the "wrongs," be they technological or wrought by basic human prejudice, is that everyone eventually will live a better, happier life.
In a nutshell, a conservative believes this is all pie-in-sky nonsense and that it is each man for himself, survival of the fittest. And, if the "fittest" have a conscience then they donate to charities of their choices.
The Rule of Thumb
An economist by the name of Arthur Okun stated that when unemployment drops by 1%, GDP drops correspondingly by 2% to 3%. Many hesitate to call this a law so therefore, it is called a "rule of thumb."
Over the past 30 years, our economic ups and downs have all revolved around either the creation of virtual wealth; speculation on bubbles in the investment arena such as internet/techonology and then the real esate bubble; and, ultra-hyper-mass consumption leading to the "virtual ownership" through the abuse of consumer credit.
Conservatives and believers in the tooth fairy still like to claim that tax cuts were responsible for much of the growth of this era but what they are not willing to admit is that the vast Reagan and W tax cuts came during periods of massive deregulation of our banking and financial markets. Perhaps, it was the loss of oversight on these industries which led to the increases in investment?
Progress
30 years ago, we had no internet and the government, led by rising stars like Al Gore and then Bill Clinton, wisely aided the development of this technology. The internet today has arguably had more impact than any development since the creation of electricity. Had W been president, then we would still be mailing letters and calling each other from telephones attached to kitchen walls.
In these 30 years, we have also seen a massive assualt on modernity. The republicans/conservatives, led by their bible-thumping breathen from the Southern states, have reacted in many of the ways that Islam has reacted to US encroachment on their youth cultures via our enticing soft culture: Benjamin Barber a pompous but very wise former-Rutgers professor called it Jihad vs. McWorld. Fundamental, theocratic cultures are being threatened by the internet and its uncontrollable morals and so we see violent reaction.
These reactions manifested themselves on 9/11 and they have united and made powerful the GOP since 1994. Barry Goldwater was liberal in many of his views compared to what the conservatives of today espouse as rational, intellectual thought. They call any progressive behavior communist and as is typical in reactionary, fear-driven, change-adverse societies (I happen to live in one today), forward-looking, intellectual thought is called "pseudo" and "faux."
Yet...tomorrow may not be better
For 30 years, we have seen the lives of Americans made "better" thanks to the increase of consumer credit. Yet, today, we have more Americans bankrupt or in crippling debt than at any other time in our history. We have not seen the advance of any serious, long-lasting technologies, other than in the military industrial complex, during this period.
At the expense of our long-term well-being, for the sake of short-term profits and massive bonuses, conservatives have poohed-poohed investment in any area that might have paved the way for gradual and positive development in our economic infrastructure: what are we capable of leading the world in today other than in the field of arms? Obesity? Soft culture?
Driven by greed and void of the so-called 'invisible hand', big business has been free to make profits off of their profits without showing anything other than virtual wealth and needless consumer goods.
In the never-ending quest for lowered margins so that quarterly bonuses could be ever larger, big business, patriots all of them, "Jesus-sayers" predominately from Southern states and almost always conservatives, willingly drove their businesses out of America. Unemploying the American workers, they espoused that the market, the gospel of the profit incentive, demands such sacrifice. And so, today, we see that as 1% of Americans join the ranks of the unemployed, the GDP is dropping faster than it did in the past--and vice versa: Okun's rule is screamingly conservative compared to today's reality.
Another consequence of our failed experiment at a greed-driven economy void of governmental regulation is that these jobs, it is estimated, won't return to our eonomy after the downturn subsides. The lost jobs are lost for real because places like China and India and Mexico are now doing the work that Americans did just 20 years ago; but, for a mere fraction of the cost and all for the sake of the quarterly profits of that shrinking pool of owners.
Obama's Vision
They obstruct and they obstruct yet the conservatives haven't yet found the key ingredient to dismantling the man's vision. He has vision and being an American, I am addicted to vision and national goals: a man on the moon by the end of the decade, only fear we should fear, ask not what your country can do for you, etc., etc.
President Obama is trying to make the changes we found impossible to make beginning in January 1981 when greed came to town. President Reagan had vision, granted, but he also had an economic understanding that was perfect for the nation in which he came of age. By letting Detroit off the hook on gas emission requirements in the mid-80's and pretty much paving the way for SUV's, Ronald Reagan took our economy back to the post-WWII era of useless consumer crap in all shapes and colors for everyone at the lowest possible price. Which has directly led us to where we are today: nowhere.
We are for all intents and purposes bankrupted as a nation. What is our plan for going forward? More consumption for the sake of consumption? More unregulated profits thanks to super risky mortgages, etc.? President Obama is trying to make us a green nation because he knows that this may be one of our last pillars of world economic leadership. We are America. We used to be the smartest nation until taxs were cut so far that federal funding dried up for research grants resulting in a dumbing down of our universities (although, we still are the best in this area, the world is catching up fast).
Our college grads speak English poorly. Too many are focused on making big and quick profits in finance. We have lost our way and been dumbed down thanks to the cultural battle against modernity. We have to seize the golden opportunity which is sitting before us and we must become the world's leader of all green technologies. Europe and Asia, led of course by China, are making great strides at capturing this new and growing segment of the world's market.
It is time for us to boldly strive forward, like Americans, and to conquer yet another frontier for the betterment of our nation. If this means that we need government leadership and funding then so be it. Because one thing is for sure, the sales of more cans of soda or bigger bags of beef jerky at Wal-Mart are not going to preserve our place at the top for much longer.
Conservative response: "need to cut taxes. The market will make the necessary adjustments and then all will be good again." Been there, tried that and look where it got us.
In a nutshell, a conservative believes this is all pie-in-sky nonsense and that it is each man for himself, survival of the fittest. And, if the "fittest" have a conscience then they donate to charities of their choices.
The Rule of Thumb
An economist by the name of Arthur Okun stated that when unemployment drops by 1%, GDP drops correspondingly by 2% to 3%. Many hesitate to call this a law so therefore, it is called a "rule of thumb."
Over the past 30 years, our economic ups and downs have all revolved around either the creation of virtual wealth; speculation on bubbles in the investment arena such as internet/techonology and then the real esate bubble; and, ultra-hyper-mass consumption leading to the "virtual ownership" through the abuse of consumer credit.
Conservatives and believers in the tooth fairy still like to claim that tax cuts were responsible for much of the growth of this era but what they are not willing to admit is that the vast Reagan and W tax cuts came during periods of massive deregulation of our banking and financial markets. Perhaps, it was the loss of oversight on these industries which led to the increases in investment?
Progress
30 years ago, we had no internet and the government, led by rising stars like Al Gore and then Bill Clinton, wisely aided the development of this technology. The internet today has arguably had more impact than any development since the creation of electricity. Had W been president, then we would still be mailing letters and calling each other from telephones attached to kitchen walls.
In these 30 years, we have also seen a massive assualt on modernity. The republicans/conservatives, led by their bible-thumping breathen from the Southern states, have reacted in many of the ways that Islam has reacted to US encroachment on their youth cultures via our enticing soft culture: Benjamin Barber a pompous but very wise former-Rutgers professor called it Jihad vs. McWorld. Fundamental, theocratic cultures are being threatened by the internet and its uncontrollable morals and so we see violent reaction.
These reactions manifested themselves on 9/11 and they have united and made powerful the GOP since 1994. Barry Goldwater was liberal in many of his views compared to what the conservatives of today espouse as rational, intellectual thought. They call any progressive behavior communist and as is typical in reactionary, fear-driven, change-adverse societies (I happen to live in one today), forward-looking, intellectual thought is called "pseudo" and "faux."
Yet...tomorrow may not be better
For 30 years, we have seen the lives of Americans made "better" thanks to the increase of consumer credit. Yet, today, we have more Americans bankrupt or in crippling debt than at any other time in our history. We have not seen the advance of any serious, long-lasting technologies, other than in the military industrial complex, during this period.
At the expense of our long-term well-being, for the sake of short-term profits and massive bonuses, conservatives have poohed-poohed investment in any area that might have paved the way for gradual and positive development in our economic infrastructure: what are we capable of leading the world in today other than in the field of arms? Obesity? Soft culture?
Driven by greed and void of the so-called 'invisible hand', big business has been free to make profits off of their profits without showing anything other than virtual wealth and needless consumer goods.
In the never-ending quest for lowered margins so that quarterly bonuses could be ever larger, big business, patriots all of them, "Jesus-sayers" predominately from Southern states and almost always conservatives, willingly drove their businesses out of America. Unemploying the American workers, they espoused that the market, the gospel of the profit incentive, demands such sacrifice. And so, today, we see that as 1% of Americans join the ranks of the unemployed, the GDP is dropping faster than it did in the past--and vice versa: Okun's rule is screamingly conservative compared to today's reality.
Another consequence of our failed experiment at a greed-driven economy void of governmental regulation is that these jobs, it is estimated, won't return to our eonomy after the downturn subsides. The lost jobs are lost for real because places like China and India and Mexico are now doing the work that Americans did just 20 years ago; but, for a mere fraction of the cost and all for the sake of the quarterly profits of that shrinking pool of owners.
Obama's Vision
They obstruct and they obstruct yet the conservatives haven't yet found the key ingredient to dismantling the man's vision. He has vision and being an American, I am addicted to vision and national goals: a man on the moon by the end of the decade, only fear we should fear, ask not what your country can do for you, etc., etc.
President Obama is trying to make the changes we found impossible to make beginning in January 1981 when greed came to town. President Reagan had vision, granted, but he also had an economic understanding that was perfect for the nation in which he came of age. By letting Detroit off the hook on gas emission requirements in the mid-80's and pretty much paving the way for SUV's, Ronald Reagan took our economy back to the post-WWII era of useless consumer crap in all shapes and colors for everyone at the lowest possible price. Which has directly led us to where we are today: nowhere.
We are for all intents and purposes bankrupted as a nation. What is our plan for going forward? More consumption for the sake of consumption? More unregulated profits thanks to super risky mortgages, etc.? President Obama is trying to make us a green nation because he knows that this may be one of our last pillars of world economic leadership. We are America. We used to be the smartest nation until taxs were cut so far that federal funding dried up for research grants resulting in a dumbing down of our universities (although, we still are the best in this area, the world is catching up fast).
Our college grads speak English poorly. Too many are focused on making big and quick profits in finance. We have lost our way and been dumbed down thanks to the cultural battle against modernity. We have to seize the golden opportunity which is sitting before us and we must become the world's leader of all green technologies. Europe and Asia, led of course by China, are making great strides at capturing this new and growing segment of the world's market.
It is time for us to boldly strive forward, like Americans, and to conquer yet another frontier for the betterment of our nation. If this means that we need government leadership and funding then so be it. Because one thing is for sure, the sales of more cans of soda or bigger bags of beef jerky at Wal-Mart are not going to preserve our place at the top for much longer.
Conservative response: "need to cut taxes. The market will make the necessary adjustments and then all will be good again." Been there, tried that and look where it got us.
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Truths and Lies--Right to Life Hypocrisy
Recently, while fielding the condescending fly-balls of a conservative as he fungoed sound-bite after sound-bite to me: "Obama is a Muslim. Obama is making America socialist. Obama is a tax and spend liberal. Obama's stimulus has failed. Obama supports murder. D.C. is more violent than any other city and it has a no-handgun law. Blah-blah and blah;" I made a diving grab of one of his more egregiously boring and emotion-less diatribes and decided: "this one would not get away."
This conservative, like the millions of other Stepford cons with their love for country music, chewing tobacco, Reagan and fraternities, argued that while the Constitution does guarantee the "right to bear arms"; it did not permit for the right of a woman to have an abortion. Having successfully pooh-poohed this bold attempt at turning the US Constitution into silly putty, we got right down to the issue at hand: he told me that "God didn't like abortion."
This answer impressed me the most. On the one hand, if he had such an open line to God, then I have a whole list of questions that I would like to pose; and, the top is when will Rutgers football get into and stay in the top 10? But, needless to say, neither does he have an open line nor God's email address. When the cons say that "God" is against abortion, what they are saying is that they are.
The Grand Hypocrisy
That fact established and feeling as if I were getting my sea legs, it was decided that ever bolder forays into the swamp-like thought process of the conservative needed to be made. Stepping carefully, lest I fall into one of those emotive traps lined with lime-like emotional idocies for which there simply is no answer (Barack Hussein Obama is really a Muslim), the grand hypocrisy needed to be scaled and conquered.
Cons (Conservatives and Republicans) refer to the evilness of abortion. They say abortion is murder. Many were simply gleeful and rejoiced when they learned that that doctor was killed in his church in Kansas. His sin, they say, was that he was the only doctor in the US doing third trimester abortions. Whether I agree with such an abortion is not the matter of discussion here (probably I don't but I would need to consider all of the circumstances).
Their joy at his tragic murder in church can easily be reacted to with the same disgust and anger that we Americans felt on 9/11 when CNN showed crowds of Muslims celebrating the deaths of so many Americans: terror and the ill effects of it should not be high-fived. In both instances, laws were broken and most importantly the law of God, "thou shalt not kill."
And this leads us to the hypocrisy. If abortion is murder then we can assume that the cons are God-fearing folk who are against murder. Yet, they celebrate the murder of this doctor in a place as invoilable as the church on a Sunday morning. How?
Then, we can statistically say (I don't have these numbers up to date but when I worked on my master's thesis in 1994, they were accurate), the majority of children aborted are done so for economic reasons. A family, one perhaps mired in poverty, admits that it does not have the means to provide for this expected child and so, they abort the pregnancy in, quite often, the earliest possible stages.
Now, this is the part which simply boggles my mind. When we so-called liberals admit that abortion should not be abused we want to provide for people who happen to fall into high-risk groups for such behavior, family planning training. Like math, planning for a family which includes instruction and information about contraceptives, is something that needs to be taught from the earliest possible age: the moment a girl or boy are capable of mating.
Yet, the cons are almost always against such training. They consider contraception to be against God's will. When, this is the hypocrisy which really turns up the heat on my brain to a level where some steam begins to leak out, babies are born into families and communities that have had little or no training as to the why's/how's/if's of starting families void the necessary economic means the cons go berserk; in these communities where there has been no easy access to contraception and suddenly a young woman of 20 has three children already, the cons will scream should God-forbid any public assistance be offered to help this young woman provide at least a bowl of Trix for her growing kiddies each morning.
When the cons cannot guarantee that in fact no pubic assistance will be offered to these "people of loose morals," then they start cutting taxes left and right. And as it says on page two of the "How to be a Real Con" instructional manual, the tax-cutting tool is really not so to "put more money into the hands of the wealthy so they can invest more;" No, it is so the cons can take more money out of the hands of the government thereby leaving ever less and less in government coffers for nefarious things like welfare, family planning, etc.
Finally, I mentioned that he should at least like the idea of "Head Start" programs in these communities overflowing with underage, single moms. He told me that "Head Start" was just another one of those liberal 'we know better than y'all' things and that it was 'elitist.' Choosing not to fall into the trap, I merely turned away and let those words drift off like balloons into the night sky. And then after about a half hour of silence, he asked me: "What is Head Start anyway?"
I told him what it was and he listened. We clarified that abortion was not being done because the child had already been born. He realized that some of the kids might actually learn something and pull themselves up out of the poverty into which they were born. When I told him it was like teaching them how to fish rather than buying them the fish, he smiled. I had hit home. And then, we got going on hunting and how guns should be in the pockets of all Americans, etc, etc.
We all need guns to defend against the criminals. When I mentioned that had not so many children been born into abject proverty, maybe, crime would be lower. He called me a racist again. As if whites aren't born into poverty? He also managed to rethink his position on Head Start and said that a good, traditional family could provide what Head Start did and that deterence would come by having more prisons.
And, the hypocrisy continued. They are against murder. Aren't guns used to kill? But, they will say that it is not guns but people that kill. Yes, their lies and their truths are one in the same so be careful or else you too will find yourself knee deep in lime and soon you will have no knee left.
This conservative, like the millions of other Stepford cons with their love for country music, chewing tobacco, Reagan and fraternities, argued that while the Constitution does guarantee the "right to bear arms"; it did not permit for the right of a woman to have an abortion. Having successfully pooh-poohed this bold attempt at turning the US Constitution into silly putty, we got right down to the issue at hand: he told me that "God didn't like abortion."
This answer impressed me the most. On the one hand, if he had such an open line to God, then I have a whole list of questions that I would like to pose; and, the top is when will Rutgers football get into and stay in the top 10? But, needless to say, neither does he have an open line nor God's email address. When the cons say that "God" is against abortion, what they are saying is that they are.
The Grand Hypocrisy
That fact established and feeling as if I were getting my sea legs, it was decided that ever bolder forays into the swamp-like thought process of the conservative needed to be made. Stepping carefully, lest I fall into one of those emotive traps lined with lime-like emotional idocies for which there simply is no answer (Barack Hussein Obama is really a Muslim), the grand hypocrisy needed to be scaled and conquered.
Cons (Conservatives and Republicans) refer to the evilness of abortion. They say abortion is murder. Many were simply gleeful and rejoiced when they learned that that doctor was killed in his church in Kansas. His sin, they say, was that he was the only doctor in the US doing third trimester abortions. Whether I agree with such an abortion is not the matter of discussion here (probably I don't but I would need to consider all of the circumstances).
Their joy at his tragic murder in church can easily be reacted to with the same disgust and anger that we Americans felt on 9/11 when CNN showed crowds of Muslims celebrating the deaths of so many Americans: terror and the ill effects of it should not be high-fived. In both instances, laws were broken and most importantly the law of God, "thou shalt not kill."
And this leads us to the hypocrisy. If abortion is murder then we can assume that the cons are God-fearing folk who are against murder. Yet, they celebrate the murder of this doctor in a place as invoilable as the church on a Sunday morning. How?
Then, we can statistically say (I don't have these numbers up to date but when I worked on my master's thesis in 1994, they were accurate), the majority of children aborted are done so for economic reasons. A family, one perhaps mired in poverty, admits that it does not have the means to provide for this expected child and so, they abort the pregnancy in, quite often, the earliest possible stages.
Now, this is the part which simply boggles my mind. When we so-called liberals admit that abortion should not be abused we want to provide for people who happen to fall into high-risk groups for such behavior, family planning training. Like math, planning for a family which includes instruction and information about contraceptives, is something that needs to be taught from the earliest possible age: the moment a girl or boy are capable of mating.
Yet, the cons are almost always against such training. They consider contraception to be against God's will. When, this is the hypocrisy which really turns up the heat on my brain to a level where some steam begins to leak out, babies are born into families and communities that have had little or no training as to the why's/how's/if's of starting families void the necessary economic means the cons go berserk; in these communities where there has been no easy access to contraception and suddenly a young woman of 20 has three children already, the cons will scream should God-forbid any public assistance be offered to help this young woman provide at least a bowl of Trix for her growing kiddies each morning.
When the cons cannot guarantee that in fact no pubic assistance will be offered to these "people of loose morals," then they start cutting taxes left and right. And as it says on page two of the "How to be a Real Con" instructional manual, the tax-cutting tool is really not so to "put more money into the hands of the wealthy so they can invest more;" No, it is so the cons can take more money out of the hands of the government thereby leaving ever less and less in government coffers for nefarious things like welfare, family planning, etc.
Finally, I mentioned that he should at least like the idea of "Head Start" programs in these communities overflowing with underage, single moms. He told me that "Head Start" was just another one of those liberal 'we know better than y'all' things and that it was 'elitist.' Choosing not to fall into the trap, I merely turned away and let those words drift off like balloons into the night sky. And then after about a half hour of silence, he asked me: "What is Head Start anyway?"
I told him what it was and he listened. We clarified that abortion was not being done because the child had already been born. He realized that some of the kids might actually learn something and pull themselves up out of the poverty into which they were born. When I told him it was like teaching them how to fish rather than buying them the fish, he smiled. I had hit home. And then, we got going on hunting and how guns should be in the pockets of all Americans, etc, etc.
We all need guns to defend against the criminals. When I mentioned that had not so many children been born into abject proverty, maybe, crime would be lower. He called me a racist again. As if whites aren't born into poverty? He also managed to rethink his position on Head Start and said that a good, traditional family could provide what Head Start did and that deterence would come by having more prisons.
And, the hypocrisy continued. They are against murder. Aren't guns used to kill? But, they will say that it is not guns but people that kill. Yes, their lies and their truths are one in the same so be careful or else you too will find yourself knee deep in lime and soon you will have no knee left.
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
I Can Hear the Thunder Already
It is a fact that not all Americans have health care. It is a fact that when someone loses a job they lose their health care, also. It is a fact that poor working families prevent their children from taking part in school sports for fear that should their child be injured, then, they could be bankrupted.
It is a fact that many of our doctors are beholden to the interests of pharmaceutical companies--prescribe a high-cost medicine rather than do a low cost procedure or hands-on treatment. It is a fact that our health care system stresses (and excels at actually) dealing with the illness when it has occurrred and not in preventing the onset of the illness.
And, it is a fact that the entire health care debate, like global warming, has been so politicized that constructive dialogue is nearly impossible.
The Democratic controlled House of Representatives has found an amazingly painless way to finance at least half of the cost of the health care reform being demanded by our president. Painless, I should say however, for a mere 98% of all American households. The other vast 2%, those earning from upwards of $350,000, will have to pay anywhere from $500 to $9000 in a surtax. Those poor souls, what will they do without that extra night in a top hotel in Naples, Florida--which for a standard double they would have paid around $1500?
You know what? I don't care what they will do without that extra night. I don't care that a person making $1 million has to pay a bit extra to ensure that his fellow countrymen, so many who are of the working poor with several kids and no health care, might now have a chance to get health care. Make health-care-less Joe's health better and his productivity levels go up; he is a better consumer of the goods and services that might be responsible for that $1 million salary; he will certainly be a consumer longer, right? Maybe, that $1 million salary will actually go up as a result.
Besides, as many probably know, when you are making so much money, there are a lot of perks that go with the job. The amount of freebies a person making upwards of $350,000, in many cases, probably add up to be more than the average salary of the healt-care-less working poor.
Hidden Taxes--Opportunity Lost
This year the US goverment will pay close to $2.5 trillion on health care. $207 billion will be lost to the economy as a result of shortened life-spans because people don't have health care. And so, a surtax that would cost the nation's wealthiest 1.2% to 2% $544 billion over 10 years, simply does not upset me in the least bit. Actually, it is fair, it is right and it is the American way.
Why is it that the lack of universal heatlh care, which puts a debilitating drain on the whole economy and disproportainately effects the middle class down, is acceptable to a nation which has never paid homage to an elite, ruling class? No universal health care is a tax against all Americans in that opportunities are lost and the costs of these lost opportunities result in bankrupted local governments, states and even our federal coffers echo in their bareness.
The American Way
We are a capitalist nation. We are a nation of free-enterprise. We are a nation that has the God-given resources to effect positive and timely change in a world that often looks after its own small, regional or national interests first. We have caused no world wars. When there is tragedy in the world, Americans join together and send money, help and even prayers. We are a good nation. However, why do we have such anger, such disregard for our fellow countrymen when they are in need?
Granted, our system of giving, of charity, is the best in the world and it is to be commended. However, for instance, in a time of economic downturn like now, what happens to charity? It too dries up. And, despite some foundations like Bill Gates' trying to provide health care, when proposals are put forth by anyone to provide governmental, systemic help for our fellow countrymen in need, the issue immediately becomes hotly politicized. The whole argument lapses into the conservative modus operandi of "us versus them", "black and white" and "communism versus capitalism."
When did we become such a greedy and almost vengeful nation? It is as if the thinking at the country clubs goes, "they are poor, they deserve no health care." Why is a payment of $9000 for a family earning $1 million not a reasonable thing to ask? Why can this uninsured American not be guaranteed health care by his nation? We are not, after all, a third world dictatorship. Although, health care in Cuba is free and universal.
The Expected and Passionate Reaction of the Right
For many of the right, travel to Europe and many other nations in the world is limited to Mexico. Yes, a generalization but a fair one. World travel by Americans has never been a great past time. The overwhelming majority of us don't have passports and why should we? Yes, we have all of the beauty and greatness right in America, so why do we need to travel?
Personally, I love travel and that is my hobby. (I live in another country.) What travel does afford us with is the ability to compare. I have sought health care in other countries and truthfully, despite the scarey propaganda of the AMA as to the dangers of "socialized medicine", their systems work; they work efficiently, are free and to fill prescriptions costs around $3. And, as a result, the drain on GDP is anywhere between 7% and 10% in Europe and Canada (and everyone is covered including visiting foreigners!).
This means that their workers are healthier and their economies are losing less. This means that our wonderful system of free enterprise, void of that ever guiding "invisible hand", is sabotaging our ecnomic health as it holds the nation hostage through unimpeded rising health care costs for every aspect of health care all for the sake of ever larger profits.
The republicans/conservatives (I really wish the conservatives would come up with a new party because I am certain many of them don't wish to be aligned with the GOP anymore) will act in the same way they have since Obama took the reins: obstructionism, lies about socialized systems and the "long lines" for what really are health procedures that take up about .0001% of all health procedures; and, as usual, they will scream about increased taxes.
Increased taxes will somehow be linked to the 2nd Amendment and to abortion and then to liberal values and gay marriage and suddenly, Bucky Davis from Mississippi (who makes $1,745 a month) and hasn't seen a doctor since a doc cleared him from the womb, will punish democrats because they dared to raise "his" taxes. Also, lest we forget, the increased taxes, as the conservatives like to say, will lead to decreased investment by this 2% of Americans and so business development won't take place and the economy will sputter further.
$500? $9000? If a wealthy American is so petty as to punish his nation by not investing in his own business because his was "surtaxed" to help pay for health care, then I say, he is not an American. In my America, we give our neighbors a helping hand, we help the world, we are God-fearing Christians, Jews, Muslims, etc. who strive for the better of all not just "me."
If the right to bear arms is so vehemently protected, why is not the right to live a heathly, productive American life somewhere on that radar of obstructionist, Goldwater-hatched conservatism?
It is a fact that many of our doctors are beholden to the interests of pharmaceutical companies--prescribe a high-cost medicine rather than do a low cost procedure or hands-on treatment. It is a fact that our health care system stresses (and excels at actually) dealing with the illness when it has occurrred and not in preventing the onset of the illness.
And, it is a fact that the entire health care debate, like global warming, has been so politicized that constructive dialogue is nearly impossible.
The Democratic controlled House of Representatives has found an amazingly painless way to finance at least half of the cost of the health care reform being demanded by our president. Painless, I should say however, for a mere 98% of all American households. The other vast 2%, those earning from upwards of $350,000, will have to pay anywhere from $500 to $9000 in a surtax. Those poor souls, what will they do without that extra night in a top hotel in Naples, Florida--which for a standard double they would have paid around $1500?
You know what? I don't care what they will do without that extra night. I don't care that a person making $1 million has to pay a bit extra to ensure that his fellow countrymen, so many who are of the working poor with several kids and no health care, might now have a chance to get health care. Make health-care-less Joe's health better and his productivity levels go up; he is a better consumer of the goods and services that might be responsible for that $1 million salary; he will certainly be a consumer longer, right? Maybe, that $1 million salary will actually go up as a result.
Besides, as many probably know, when you are making so much money, there are a lot of perks that go with the job. The amount of freebies a person making upwards of $350,000, in many cases, probably add up to be more than the average salary of the healt-care-less working poor.
Hidden Taxes--Opportunity Lost
This year the US goverment will pay close to $2.5 trillion on health care. $207 billion will be lost to the economy as a result of shortened life-spans because people don't have health care. And so, a surtax that would cost the nation's wealthiest 1.2% to 2% $544 billion over 10 years, simply does not upset me in the least bit. Actually, it is fair, it is right and it is the American way.
Why is it that the lack of universal heatlh care, which puts a debilitating drain on the whole economy and disproportainately effects the middle class down, is acceptable to a nation which has never paid homage to an elite, ruling class? No universal health care is a tax against all Americans in that opportunities are lost and the costs of these lost opportunities result in bankrupted local governments, states and even our federal coffers echo in their bareness.
The American Way
We are a capitalist nation. We are a nation of free-enterprise. We are a nation that has the God-given resources to effect positive and timely change in a world that often looks after its own small, regional or national interests first. We have caused no world wars. When there is tragedy in the world, Americans join together and send money, help and even prayers. We are a good nation. However, why do we have such anger, such disregard for our fellow countrymen when they are in need?
Granted, our system of giving, of charity, is the best in the world and it is to be commended. However, for instance, in a time of economic downturn like now, what happens to charity? It too dries up. And, despite some foundations like Bill Gates' trying to provide health care, when proposals are put forth by anyone to provide governmental, systemic help for our fellow countrymen in need, the issue immediately becomes hotly politicized. The whole argument lapses into the conservative modus operandi of "us versus them", "black and white" and "communism versus capitalism."
When did we become such a greedy and almost vengeful nation? It is as if the thinking at the country clubs goes, "they are poor, they deserve no health care." Why is a payment of $9000 for a family earning $1 million not a reasonable thing to ask? Why can this uninsured American not be guaranteed health care by his nation? We are not, after all, a third world dictatorship. Although, health care in Cuba is free and universal.
The Expected and Passionate Reaction of the Right
For many of the right, travel to Europe and many other nations in the world is limited to Mexico. Yes, a generalization but a fair one. World travel by Americans has never been a great past time. The overwhelming majority of us don't have passports and why should we? Yes, we have all of the beauty and greatness right in America, so why do we need to travel?
Personally, I love travel and that is my hobby. (I live in another country.) What travel does afford us with is the ability to compare. I have sought health care in other countries and truthfully, despite the scarey propaganda of the AMA as to the dangers of "socialized medicine", their systems work; they work efficiently, are free and to fill prescriptions costs around $3. And, as a result, the drain on GDP is anywhere between 7% and 10% in Europe and Canada (and everyone is covered including visiting foreigners!).
This means that their workers are healthier and their economies are losing less. This means that our wonderful system of free enterprise, void of that ever guiding "invisible hand", is sabotaging our ecnomic health as it holds the nation hostage through unimpeded rising health care costs for every aspect of health care all for the sake of ever larger profits.
The republicans/conservatives (I really wish the conservatives would come up with a new party because I am certain many of them don't wish to be aligned with the GOP anymore) will act in the same way they have since Obama took the reins: obstructionism, lies about socialized systems and the "long lines" for what really are health procedures that take up about .0001% of all health procedures; and, as usual, they will scream about increased taxes.
Increased taxes will somehow be linked to the 2nd Amendment and to abortion and then to liberal values and gay marriage and suddenly, Bucky Davis from Mississippi (who makes $1,745 a month) and hasn't seen a doctor since a doc cleared him from the womb, will punish democrats because they dared to raise "his" taxes. Also, lest we forget, the increased taxes, as the conservatives like to say, will lead to decreased investment by this 2% of Americans and so business development won't take place and the economy will sputter further.
$500? $9000? If a wealthy American is so petty as to punish his nation by not investing in his own business because his was "surtaxed" to help pay for health care, then I say, he is not an American. In my America, we give our neighbors a helping hand, we help the world, we are God-fearing Christians, Jews, Muslims, etc. who strive for the better of all not just "me."
If the right to bear arms is so vehemently protected, why is not the right to live a heathly, productive American life somewhere on that radar of obstructionist, Goldwater-hatched conservatism?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
