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.
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.
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.
American exceptionalism is a key theme of the right. America is great simply because we are. Regardless of the facts, regardless of the trends, regardless of what other nations are doing, America is exceptional. What makes America great is greatness. The moment at which we stop manifesting greatness, we can no longer make the claim. Which is better, for America to be great, or for America to think it is great?
That which is spoken, to be leveraged rhetorically but not acted upon, but intended to hide one’s actual actions.
Ethics, while not religion, exist in the domain of right and wrong behavior. The right has spent much time and effort over the last few decades trying to convince us that they are the party of religion, they are the party of ethics, they are the party of right moral and ethical conduct. The reality of the right is that they have claimed the ethical ground as a way of framing the debate so that anything from the left starts as being devoid of ethics.
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.
Why We Should Be Doing More Than Police Crackdowns
Much has been made and said about the Occupy movement in the last two months, but not much has been done. Our media and our government have largely feigned ignorance as to the source or cause of the Occupy movement. Increasingly we find a more determined dialog, but the real question is why has it taken so long and why did it have to come to occupation to start the conversation?
A Convenient Excuse To Avoid Confronting The Realities Of Modern American Society
Lazy is the insult heaped upon so many other injuries Americans endure on a daily basis. Lazy is the convenient excuse used by the right to belittle those they oppose and to mitigate the guilt of defending the wealthy few. Lazy is the laziest possible approach to solving our problems.
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!"
Simply because the modern right uses a term does not mean that we should indulge them. How did retirement and health care for the elderly and disabled become an entitlement? Why do democrats use this language, and worse still why won't they fight to save these programs? When did the idea that forcing our senior citizens to live in poverty was a good thing for our nation?
The Republican Party Has Done Nothing, Nothing, Nothing...And Worse
"Jobs, Jobs, Jobs" it's what House Speaker John Boehner said was the number one issue of the 2010 election. It's the one thing I can confidently say that I agree with John Boehner on, jobs, American jobs are the number one issue facing us as a nation. This fact begs the question, why haven't the Republicans done anything to promote job growth since the 2010 midterm elections? Why if the election was about "jobs, jobs, jobs", have the Republicans done nothing, nothing, nothing?
Worse than nothing, the republican party has actively sought to undermine American jobs, American wages, American workers and the American economy.
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.
The jobs numbers just came out and they are at best dismal. We added just 54,000 jobs. So many of us are unemployed or underemployed that I don’t need to explain to you how important job creation is during this recession. Let me offer my radical jobs proposal. It’s so unthinkable, so impossible, yet so easy and 100% effective…and it doesn't involve the government.
Any discussion of fairness seems to trigger voices on the right like Congressman Paul Ryan or Congressman Michael Grimm to invoke “class warfare.” They are on to something, we have been experiencing class warfare for at least the last 40 years, unfortunately for Ryan and Grimm, the data seems to suggest the war has been on the middle class.
