Why the Deficit, the Debt Ceiling and the Fiscal Cliff are Just Elaborate Distractions
If you are like me you are growing increasingly frustrated with our ongoing national distraction from the core issue facing our nation. In the midst of the Great Recession, we find ourselves in a 3 year GOP inspired series of purposeful crises. How we can be focused on taxes, the deficit, and the debt ceiling in the face of such great need for job creation is virtually impossible for me to fathom.
When you look into the faces of your children and grandchildren do you dream of a future of tax cuts and deregulation? Is this really the cause behind which all Americans are to align themselves as we march towards the next great chapter of American history?
America was and should be the land of opportunity. Yet increasingly we are becoming a nation of cynical opportunists.The cynical use of these kinds of opportunities can’t sit well with true conservatives. They wreak of fiscal irresponsibility. This kind of behavior grows the influence of government while reducing the rights and freedoms of our citizens. These kinds of policies weaken the nation now and unless reversed, cripple the nation in the future.
The voices on the right want you to believe that government is always evil, and business is always good. Neither of these is true, nor is the opposite. This stark unyielding mythology of government and business has done much to harm our nation and push people out of the process.
We’ve been hearing about trickle down for decades. No matter the problem, no matter the circumstance the right argues that the answer is to concentrate more wealth in the hands of the wealthy. They argue that when the wealthy have money it will trickle down.
Unfortunately, the facts of the last 30 years don’t support our national experiment with trickle down economics.
One who waits until it’s too late. One who follows polls while ignoring information.
The problem of leadership is among the most critical factors affecting the future of our nation. This isn’t intended to be a rhetorical attack on our elected officials, this is intended to point out that we have been devoid of leadership for at least several decades or at the very least, the political climate in our country is such that even the most well intentioned leader finds it nearly impossible to lead. Put simply we have a terrible habit of policy that is a penny wise and a pound foolish.
In 2012 we have an opportunity to choose our leaders, let us not be the ones who do nothing.
Yesterday Eric Cantor when speaking about the Payroll Tax Cut Extension said "People across America are scratching their heads, wondering what Washington is doing." This is just the latest example of what is arguably the historically greatest do nothing congress we have ever seen. In the middle of the greatest economic downturn since the great depression the GOP / Tea Party response has been to do nothing. Their response time and again has simply been "no".
Our very Grimm Congressman was at it again yesterday, spouting shear nonsense and vitriol among the rhetorical right wing talking points he dutifully delivered. If you are going to speak with such force, it's helpful to have the weight of the facts on your side. Yet again our representative failed to follow this simple rule.
As much as I support the efforts of the Occupy movement, I firmly believe that we must do more than Occupy, we must Act. Ultimately we will need to do more than express our frustration, we will have to do something about it. We will need to change our government, our elected officials, our communities, and ultimately ourselves.
The description and goal of Bank Transfer Day is straightforward: If you currently have checking and savings accounts (deposit accounts) with a big bank, the organizers encourage you to remove all of your funds, close your accounts, and place your money in a new deposit account with a not-for-profit credit union or local bank.
Good for the haves but abhorrent in the have nots.
It’s interesting to watch the voices on the right point and ridicule all of us lazy Americans who are taking government handouts. If one were to believe the right, it is the greed of the poor and middle class that is killing America.
With Life So Good, Who Needs the American Jobs Act?
According to an article in the Wall Street Journal today, "From 2000 to 2010, median income in the U.S. declined 7% after adjusting for inflation, according to Census data. That marks the worst 10-year performance in records going back to 1967." The Walt Street Journal goes on to say that they don't expect incomes to recover until 2021, even then only about 5% will be regained. This announcement comes on top of our 9.1% unemployment with actual unemployment more like 20%. Welcome to the Republican JobTopia.
Social Security is one of the most successful programs in American history. It is supported by large majorities of voters regardless of party or political affiliation. Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) recently noted "When [Social Security] was developed, 50 percent of seniors lived in poverty. Today, poverty among seniors is too high, but that number is ten percent. Social Security has done exactly what it was designed to do!"
This installation of please think is focused on how exceptional the modern republican party has become. The party that values exceptionalism has truly become exceptional, exceptionally hypocritical.
How The Things Said On The RIght Couldn’t Be Further From The Truth.
It goes without saying that politicians on all sides have a tendency to bend the facts to fit their rhetoric. A little lie here, a little lie there, it’s common knowledge and accepted. There seems to be a new approach that pushes this to the extreme. I’d like to introduce you to the latest right wing weapon I call “the 180.” Increasingly we find our friends on the right saying things that aren’t just lies, but literally are the complete opposite of the truth.
Stupid, ridiculous, disappointing, disgusting. When asked by the Washington Post and Pew Research Center to describe the debate in just one word, these words and others like them are how Americans described the debt ceiling and budget talks.
There are many ways to look at many issues. Typically we hear how complicated the world is and how complicated the issues are. Taxes however are pretty simple. The right argues that it is our excessive taxation that is the source of America’s problems. Americans are overburdened. We can’t create jobs. We can’t live our lives. We can’t solve the critical problems ahead of us because of taxes.
As the republicans continue to make unrealistic demands in exchange for raising the debt ceiling, and President Obama continues to offer unbelievable concessions to the republicans without putting up much of a fight, I'd like you to consider this number, 3%.
We’ve all shouldered the burden of the economic recession. Some of us have faced unemployment of 9 to 20%. Some of us have seen our 401k plans wither. Others have seen their pension plans drained by the economic downturn. Middle class wages have actually decreased by almost $1,000 in real terms over the last decade. But only a select few of us have had to share the burden of over $1 trillion in profits over that same decade.
