Main Street vs. Bombs

Reading the morning news I am riveted to the article about the defense budget’s final figure of $662 BILLION and how easily it passed the House. Really, aren’t we going through tough financial times? Times that we cannot possibly put people to work because we are hung up on ideological notions about frugality? Weren’t they all distraught about the shrinking middle class and lower class having health care just a while back because “our children are being saddled with all this debt”? Who is paying for that defense budget do you suppose?

We are hopelessly and intentionally detached from reality… To be blunt that defense bill passed because of the money it brings to the pockets of congressmen through government contracts handed out across the house floor in trade for election contributions from those contractors. That budget is as big as each of the stimulus bills the Bush and Obama administrations supported, and it will do less to protect us in the long term than putting people back to work and regaining a strong economy. It is as big as the health care bill that would have benefitted all of us except for the insurance and drug companies that propagandized it into failure. That budget is not full of protection for our freedom by any stretch, it is full of PORK to use a term the GOP controlled House stood on a year or so ago.

A slim number of my friends are convinced that big business is great and will create jobs if left alone to do it, and while that is certainly true to an extent, it statistically does not inject long term and sustainable economic impact like small business does, not to mention that at this time much of the big business is off shore and not doing any of us any good anyway. Except to stock our shelves with Chinese made junk we can all live without, most big companies are not doing a great job of helping us out economically because they blow with the winds of Wall Street, and in many cases they cost us heavily on the backside.  Small businesses tend to grow more solid over time because folks who own them have all their eggs in that one basket and are inclined to nurture it with care; far more care than what was taken to cause this mess in the first place. Small business overall pays its way by injecting money locally and providing jobs locally that produce revenue that is spent or banked locally. The very loud noise we hear from some politicians these days is in support of big business, big coal and big oil and the “jobs” they will bring, and they take that stance because the aforementioned groups pay them to support them.

I personally cannot support big business buying our legislators. It is undermining a truly exceptional democracy and destroying this country from the inside out and supporting it from the top down.   Probably the most ardent supporter of our government is me for it is the best there is on this planet, but having said that, with every government contract or subsidy out there comes control that we all need to take a really hard look at. If they are controlling our politicians, they are controlling policy. Government is not the enemy, the ones who control our politicians are.

Meantime, we are still vastly unemployed and under-employed and staring the end of American dominance and “exceptionalism” square in the face, not to mention another great depression. If we do not demand congress get to work on America’s Main Street soon and stop playing the fool they would like us to we are in deep trouble. They are holding out hope that Obama does not get re-elected so they can stand up and say that HE ruined this country and they will have won. While a few of you applaud that and it is agreeable to your politics, the vast majority of us could care less who gets this country on track because we are hurting individually and as a country we are teetering.  While big business is taking our money and making bombs for thirty years in the future so politicians can enjoy their Christmas vacations in style Main Streets are empty and many will have no Christmas. Do we really want America to fail for the sake of those few who gain from our pain?

The Institution

Just when we thought we had seen it all, the story from Penn State broke a few weeks ago, raising for me more than just concerns over sexual misconduct. I still find it appalling that no one in a leadership role at Penn could find their way clear to turn Sandusky in to police? No, they maintained the status quo so that their isolated institution could go on about their business of winning football games. They no doubt saw the 1.52 billion dollar annual endowment or the 765 million dollar research enterprise the University amasses as the end game. What were they thinking? Is the damage done to even one kid worth protecting anyone? Is the failure of the whole she-bang worth protecting one guy? They were out on the prairie of Pennsylvania; in their own little isolated world thinking maybe the whole thing would go away and the institution would be preserved to continue serving all of them; they were the power.

We all belong to a similar institution in our Federal government whereby the good of a few is increasingly trumping the good of the many. The same type of questions can be raised of this government as Penn State: Is protecting the greedy institution worth selling out your values and your constituent’s wellbeing? Is the failure of the entire country worth a few ideological doctrines? Is the defeat of one guy worth compromising our economic health and place in the world? Correct me if I am wrong, but isn’t democracy all about working problems out, and coming to the table with an outcome in mind?

Recently 60 Minutes news magazine on CBS ran a piece on our congress men and women participating in insider trading which is totally legal for them to do in their isolated world. Yup, they voted themselves exclusion to that practice right in front of behind our backs. When asked about “timely” transactions in her personal portfolio Nancy Pelosi looked like she saw a dagger coming at her, and although John Boehner was somewhat cooler, he certainly did a lot of lip licking while quipping that he does not control his own investments. That one stunt alone should make all of you demand their resignations, but it goes beyond that; some of them are selling inside information through power brokers on “the hill” to the highest bidders. In other words selling committee info on up and coming legislation to a high stakes fencing operation like stolen car parts. Say for instance selling information about an area to be opened up for oil leases in Wyoming, and if the info got into the right hands soon enough they could make a bundle on land speculation in that area. I still cannot believe this crap is going on while Americans are discussing where Obama was born or who is on the right side of gay marriage. These guys are committing real and serious crimes and with our money! They would throw away the key if any of us participated in that kind of thing.

Another piece that 60 Minutes ran involved long-time lobbyist Grover Norquist who has authored a “pledge” to not raise taxes and then coerced legislators to sign it in the name of fiscal responsibility or some such catchy phrase. The whole thing sounds innocent enough until you start thinking about what he has effectively done; he now “owns” those legislators. If they break “the pledge” he blackballs them with lobbyists that will cut their election funding therefore losing their seat on the Capitol Hill gravy train. Where I come from that is often viewed as extortion. What is to keep this guy from holding Congressmen and Senators up on anything really? What is to keep him or others from manipulating voting on issues other than taxes? Say like being approached by insurance companies that give him money to get legislators to sign a ridiculous “pledge” like: “I pledge to never agree or vote to fund public health”. Great, now what happens if we have an epidemic of monstrous proportions in New York or a category 5 hurricane that threatens the health of 2 million people in Texas…are we going to think it is so great then? That is a silly analogy perhaps, but I am trying to get your wheels turning…it is not good for any individual, group or corporation to control our legislators with money. We pay them to work for us, not him. We pay them to make decisions for the good of America, not their pockets or their ideals.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, politicians are not about to lose sight of what the game is on “the hill” and that is to protect and defend…their special interest groups who keep them in office at all cost, even this countries failure. They are sworn to uphold the Constitution, but they seem to be above it and the laws that the rest of us have to obey. They write their own rules, wages and benefits. As I write they are mulling over legislation that addresses the aforementioned insider trading issue. Mulling it over? Every jack one of them should have been lined up at the door to sign on, but they are not. No, they are trying to find a way to draw attention away from it and frankly there are not that many people who are privy to that insider trading exclusion so a little diversion might just do it.

With good intentions many Americans have been unknowingly coerced into a high stakes game where the winner will take all while we fiddle with the cards. The “special” interests be it corporations, churches, insurance giants, investment firms or energy companies have discovered they can be in command of the message through a combination of media and controlled politicians and they are doing just that. Social items, that while individually important to many of us, have absolutely zero to do with the end game that we are unwittingly engaged in. They are intentionally taking our eye off the ball by haranguing on stuff like abortion, birth certificates, “family values” and the price of crude and who is to blame on both sides of the aisle and for what. We are so desperate for jobs in this country all the advertisers and the politicians have to say is that they will “create jobs” and many of us are lured into thinking that whatever they are selling is just dandy. But, like a rancher leaving the pasture gate open while feeding the cows, the horses are out behind our backs while we throw the hay off the wagon to the open mouths of the noisiest.

We are standing by while they toy with cutting Social Security, which by the way none of them pay into and legislators are cutting education that our parents and grandparents coveted because it brought them to a place of security in this world. These cuts and many more are there only because they irresponsibly marched off to two wars that are the first in this nation’s history to have gone unfunded because they thought Americans would not swallow a tax hike to fund more conflicts that had no end; and they were right. Now Americans are pissed and rightfully so but they are being steered away from the real issues because they can be, because we are not paying attention. No one is talking about the two wars nor have they been. No one is talking about the slide of small business and Main Street which indeed does feed 70% of our overall wealth in this country. And certainly, no one is mentioning the only way to get moving is to build on what we have.

Most of the people I know have no idea how our legislative body works really. They don’t know what a “bill” is or how it gets written; they don’t know how legislation is decided on, and worst of all they do not understand that all the obstructionism is a ploy to buy time for positioning for the future so they can start the whole thing over again. None of it is being done to save us. None of this is for the future of this country. It is for their pockets and their future pockets and their lobbyists’ pockets who are often former politicians. So the rotation continues and we are washing farther out in the wake.

The Honorable Sandra Day O’Connor, former Supreme Court Justice said not long ago she felt good course in civics would serve many in this country well. And that old cowgirl is putting her money and time where her mouth is and spreading the lessons through E-readers and such in the school systems. Touché!

Goose? How About the Gander?

                 In the pit of my stomach I have felt a sickness for the division of this country in recent months. This country is so hurting and many who stand to gain from its separation are manipulating the facts to cultivate their crop of kickbacks.

                There is no animosity here, I am just fed up with the blabbing games that many are playing to get the upper hand; rather the upper funds, and, all falsely in the name of God, patriotism or our safety. They are lying to folks, and the game is getting deadly for this country we all live in and serve.  Our kids are dying defending some elusive, vague goal where most of the combat deaths are a result not of fighting for liberty, but defending fuel convoys that feed the war machine. We are being told by some these days that “real Americans” are a select group of us and otherwise have no business demanding attention. It makes me sick that the media and the internet is being used for propaganda to oil only selective monetary parts of our melting pot we were so proud of only a generation ago. The honking is so loud, misleading and blatantly divisive people cannot hear what is truly being said.

Ms. Ann Coulter regarding protesters demanding attention from politicians and bankers to make things right for all Americans, threw verbal divisionary rocks at the crowd by saying,
“I am not the first to note the vast differences between the Wall Street protesters and the tea partiers. To name three: The tea partiers have jobs, showers and a point. “
Um…what is the point? I have been under the impression that “jobs” and the economy were the point. Why the change of direction Ann? Perhaps the economy was never “the point” for you huh? Perhaps media is starting to pay without the messiness and energy of political office? Either way, my Mother would have washed her mouth out with soap for that incredible disrespect.

 I listened to a WWII Veteran who hauled his 80 something year old body to the Wall Street movement; he was fed up with the banks and the investors on Wall Street and the politicians and media like Coulter sticking up for them and rightfully so.  The banks did fraudulent things by bundling loans and selling them over and over again to the point that no one has a clue who owns a given mortgage and then pocketing the change. They were gambling knowing full well their big house of cards was going to fall and it did with Americans smashed under the debris.  Many of the financial players got out before the collapse of their stretched out scheme, some did not, but no one has been held to bear at this point. There is legal action from all 50 states that has recently come to the front, but by and large it is business as usual on Wall Street and people like her are defending it?

I find it curious, and in some cases like Ms. Coulter’s, downright infuriating that American media and some politicians have largely ignored the issue of fraudulent activity yet many have used the fallout as a football for their own devices.  They have used our pitiful state to win at all cost and float only the goose with the golden egg while the gander is plucked right down to the skin.

Ms. Coulter was not alone in her sudden flurry of condemnation of the other Americans and their protests; House Majority Leader Eric Cantor clamped his foot between his teeth as well hollering at the Oct. 7^th Values Voters Summit that somehow there was a real difference between the outcry of the Tea Party folks and the Wall Street protests:  "If you read the newspapers today, I, for one, am increasingly concerned about the growing mobs occupying Wall Street and the other cities across the country. And believe it or not, some in this town, have actually condoned the pitting of Americans against Americans. But you sent us here to fight for you and all Americans. He seemed to feel no such concern in November 10,2010 in this interview segment on Fox Business with Don Imus:

Don Imus: “Wouldn’t it be fair to suggest, though, that the Tea Party is more than just a few nuts with funny signs and funny hats. It represents the sentiment of most people who were upset with what was going on, don’t you think? I mean, even people identify with them, they might not identify themselves as a Tea Partyer, but they certainly share the same concerns and feelings they do. That’s fair, isn’t it?”

             Cantor: “Tea Party is an organic movement. This is not some movement that started in Washington. It’s about the people. And that’s what, I think, the message from this election is about. Get the government in D.C. working for the people again and not the other way around. “ 

 Cantor: “I think the Tea Party has a lot to do with the energy that came out at the polls because they’re like the tip of the spear. They represent and reflect the frustration that Americans have at what’s going on in Washington.”

                What is going on in Washington Mr. Cantor? This is the same guy who along with many others in the House of Representatives has not considered one proposal coming either from the President or the Senate to get this country back on track. Nor have they offered any suggestions for recovery other than following the tax cuts that were done in both 2001 and 2003 and followed by several more from the Obama administration with no definitive results.  He obviously has little intention of representing Americans as a whole for you cannot even use his web form to contact him unless you are from his voting district. In that blatant defiance he is certainly not alone for Michelle Bachman denies Americans at large access as well, and she is a Presidential candidate. What have we come to America?

                Similarly caught up in the fervor of hypocritical best moments the Reverend Robert Jeffress of Dallas, Texas is calling on the Republican evangelicals to not support Mitt Romney for the 2012 Presidential candidate because he isn’t Christian enough. First of all, what say does he have in our government where the recently picked apart constitution assures separation of church and state? Think about it; do we really want to include religion in government when the Christian religion cannot even decide who is in, and who is out? And, what religion is it that we pick to include in government?

                Not to be left out of the Nobel Prize for the science of feathered friends is Presidential candidate Herman Cain who speculated on the Wall Street demonstrations and then scolded Americans while fully admitting…“I don't have facts to back this up, but I happen to believe that these demonstrations are planned and orchestrated to distract from the failed policies of the Obama administration. Don't blame Wall Street, don't blame the big banks, if you don't have a job and you're not rich, blame yourself! ... It is not a person's fault if they succeeded; it is a person's fault if they failed."

            I have to say while there are those who certainly lean on the shovel and some who used really poor judgment in personal finance,  the vast majority of unemployed Americans would like nothing better than to have one of the jobs that were taken overseas. Or have the construction jobs that are given to illegal’s for the exploitation of cheap labor. Or, have their homes back that were bogusly mortgaged with no option of re-financing because the banks do not know who holds the mortgage. They would give their eye teeth for their 401K’s to be balanced where they left them when they went to bed nearly four years ago on the eve of economic collapse. They would, across the board want a chance for their kids to go to college and jump the ever widening gap between the have’s and the have not’s. They want big business out of our government, not out of our lives as some have suggested. Lastly, they want the regulations put back in place that at one time prevented this fraudulent banking from happening, just as the banks have been regulated since the Great Depression when crooked practices broke our parents and grandparents. The only ones these regulations were hurting were the crooked ones in a place of trust tempted to go for the gusto with someone else’s money. Where I come from it is considered embezzling and is prosecuted, not rewarded nor supported.

                Cantor comes by his comparative views honestly enough, for one movement no doubt lines his pockets and the other taketh away.  Herman Cain is on banking boards that make money on saps like the ones marching on Wall Street and has use for the abolition of regulations. All of the noise out there has reason behind it, but that does not mean it is good for us as a whole; and a whole is what democracy is all about.

Folks are not looking down the road when they follow the tax ending pied pipers who promise liberty and justice for all; whoever “all” is. There is certainly government waste that has been rampant for the last 60 years, but cutting many of the programs including education is a bit of a bloodletting that was found by our forefathers of democracy to cure no ills. For example in short: cutting programs altogether like education will come back to cost us locally in our judicial systems and prisons where lack of education will equate to delinquency, and that in will turn pull people out of production. Federal highway monies that subsidize the states, which in turn subsidize the cities, will throw a huge burden on taxpayers locally. Sure there is room for states, counties and cities to cull their financial obligations to make up for shortcomings, but it will take time to sort it out and in the meantime individuals will be burdened far more than they are at this time. Lastly the very top of the chain of our tax system earners do not even pay into Social Security and have loopholes right now that you could drive a semi through.

That is another subject for another time; my point is that much of what is broadcast from the politicians and media honkers is designed to inject policy for their chosen corporate charity by pitting the flock against each other and we had better learn to sort it out. In my hay meadow, what is good for the goose is good for the gander, but the honking is deafening us to the point that we do not hear what they are really saying.

Are You Vegan?

Are You Vegan?

            While reading a really short article today on Clinton having become a vegan, I happened to take a look at the comments and someone posted that he might not have won his first election had he been vegan then and possibly not even now. You know, they are more than likely right, at least in the politically correct windblown climate we have this last several years. After all, folks are still calling Obama “an elitist” because he graduated from Harvard on a student loan, and in trying to create jobs through government interjection he is “treasonous”. How dare he, or anyone for that matter, suggest that we need to “invest” in this country in order to reap a harvest of jobs. We must stay the course of coddling the super rich while undermining the poor and middle class and God forbid, we call the banks that got us into this mess onto the carpet.

            It really makes me wonder what it is folks need in their lives when they are lured into some of the talking points that are the spoiled meat of the debate these days and then carry those points as if it were their own child. For instance, the talk around a town hall near you seems to be about “job killing”, and before that it was “the trickledown effect”, then onto the debt ceiling when the trickle dried up. Have you ever wondered what happened to that “trickle down” angle that was so prevalent in 2009 and ‘10? We were almost climbing out of the “great recession” back then, but the Bush tax cuts were about to expire and we were talked into leaving them in place because it would create jobs through “trickle down”. Right; those cuts had been in place since 2001-2003 when they were created by the special powers of the White House in front of behind our backs.  Those tax cuts sure did not stop this country from losing nearly a million jobs a week in 2007. Nor did they stop the slowdown of the recovery, but we have been steered away from the accountability of it all as we watch politicians sit back and watch it not work.

            At this time the right handed campaign rhetoric with how religious this country is, or not has taken center stage…I ask: does it really matter where humans came from, really? I am here, therefore I am; I really do not care if I jumped out of the pages of the Bible or got lightning struck as an ameba 200 million years ago. The fact is I am here and content to wonder at the beauty of it all and speculate on how it all came to pass while loving my fellow man; at least most of the time. After all, has any theory been “proven” to be the one? I would love to know how things came to be and I have a mix of theory and theology myself, but I do not consider it, well…Gospel. Why are we even bringing the speculation into politics? Want to see what happens when you bring religion into government…head to Iraq, or the Gaza strip. It does not work there and is not working here, already.  

I hate to say it, and it is sad, but Christians can’t even firmly decide who is “right” when it comes to Biblical interpretations among them, neither can the Muslims decide what faction is correct when it comes to the meanings of the Koran and how to apply them.  That is precisely why the wise men that set this democracy up opted for banning religion in the halls of justice and decision making.  The Quakers had vastly different views than the Protestants and the Lutherans and still do, so why invite that contention into congress? God knows we have plenty without it these days.

Without a doubt “Job killing” has to be one of the more loose cannon terms for the “out of bullets” problem we are having today. Some Republican candidates are slinging that term around for every ill and piece of legislation that has come down the pike, handily dispatching any notion of support for anything other than tax breaks for everyone. This country will never get on its feet without investment from all of us, and this government…period. You know, this economic recession hit every country in the free world and some that were not, and China pulled out of it in a few months…while we are wallowing in the halls of Congress they are investing in their country. They are not “anti”-Chinese or “treasonous” for doing so, they are saving their country. They are putting people to work and that creates a full government coffer. While we let these people that know nearly nothing of economics argue until the white elephant waddles home about the damn debt ceiling, China is growing by leaps and bounds and to a large degree with our money; money that we could be investing here. Instead we are paying interest and we have been talked into sitting on our hands, thumbs up until Obama is driven from office, for reasons only their hair dresser knows for sure.

If you want a great example of what is going on in front of behind your back, try looking at our domestic oil and gas fields and coal production in Wyoming where a fair share of the leases are owned by China and numerous other countries. While we are for sure in trade deficit with China and can use some exports to offset nearly all our goods coming from them, it really irks me to hear some politicians talking about “drill baby drill” yet we are selling away our resources and the energy companies are plotting as I write to enlarge ports on the Columbia River to be closer to those markets. Along with the port plans are big plans for railroad use from those coal fields with tracks that are already clogged when this country is working. We are not necessarily benefitting from all the drill rigs or the money they generate. The 1870 something mining laws virtually give away minerals as it is and now we are leasing to other countries with no return other than polution? China has its’ own coal, but why dig when you can own another piece of the American rock and for cheap? Beef and other renewable products are satisfying some of the trade deficit, and we need to do a better job of trading, but do we really want to give up finite products like natural gas and oil? When it is gone, it is gone. My question is: Why are we waiting for it to be gone before we move on to renewable energy in the first place? Is it a “right” or “freedom” to be driving a gas car instead of an electric one?

Alas, we are stuck in this catchy phrase void that absolutely does not amount to a hill of beans in the desert. There is a smart assed movement to outdo the current administration and each other right down to the old guard Republican undermining the new and you can bet your sweet bippy, not one of them will reveal they are vegan because they might be viewed an “elitist” or worse...whatever comes next.  

A little Confidence and Thought Please

It is really hard to formulate a confident outlook after watching the recent squabbling in the legislative bodies over what amounts to wooing Tea Party and independent votes. It is doubly hard with the current financial news that is a direct result of that squabbling. All our congressional and senatorial mainstream council can’t seem to hit their ass with both hands because they are tied behind their backs. Their hands are tied by Tea party ideals that will not work by themselves, at least at this time, and they are tied by companies through all parties who stand to lose with the reforms Obama wanted to see like insurance and credit card strangleholds, banking reforms, oil subsidies and even subsidies to other countries.  We have the vote but really big business has the money and our vote is being influenced by their money and in the form of digital rhetoric.

                Even before Obama was elected it was a well-known fact that he wanted to reform the amount of control these big companies have on the American people. He wanted to get this country to thinking renewable energy so that we could get out of the Middle East eventually and he was looking to mend our foreign policy void with the Middle East countries that are spawning terrorists who attack us. However, the lobbyists took charge to make sure that he was discredited to save their financial interests and are now doing what they can to make sure the economy does not succeed, for if it fails, so shall he. I say: if he fails, so shall we. So, my question to American is: if we elected him to do all those things as we did, why are we letting the goons tell us that doing those things is bad for us and similarly driving this country into the ground in the name of winning?

                It is interesting to me that people have not even noticed that Obama has done quite a bit to make the government more lean including trimming the numbers of some departments and asking every employee what he or she thought would help their own departments to shed a few pounds of bureaucratic fat and then acting on it. He has nudged the BLM into more of a local agency by allowing field offices to make decisions on a neighborhood basis instead of a one size fits all policy. The military has cut some really fat projects that were only there to satisfy one legislative district costing us billions in some cases. Those are just a few  of the things accomplished, but they go unnoticed because people who stand to gain from failure have kept people stirred up over ridiculous, frivolous things to the point that many have taken their eye off anything to do with policy.  

                In my thinking there is a definite need for reform in our government and there are parts of the Tea party ideals that are important and in fact necessary, but you cannot run a household without income, and the lost revenue from taxes is killing us on our blind side. There was a reason for Bush to set those tax cuts up to expire…because they were not sustainable. In my thinking, there is also a bit of an “agenda” underlying with the Tea Party that is no different than the fun loving support for the oil companies or the mega-farms and unions of the other two parties. Indeed the Tea Party leaders have put together an agenda of zero tolerance including for the aging “baby boomers” and their ownership of Social Security and Medicare.  Both programs need some revamping which is something Obama wanted the health care bill to address, but they are now being called “entitlements” like we are all beggars for our own money. They are insisting that we are too controlled, yet they want to control our right to an abortion, marriage, education and religious practice. I heard one Tea Party Representative say recently that they are not there “to compromise” and that caused me to shudder to tell you the truth; my way or the highway?  Is democracy not all about “compromises”?

                We untied the apron stirrings with England in the 1600’s for a reason and it had little to do with Tea and everything to do with the church in government and individual freedom. For some reason the story of our American heritage has been taken way out of context of late and people have failed to understand that the constitution was written to be a guide and gives provisions to flex as those "founding fathers” knew it would need to.  People are crying foul of government as if the problems just started two years ago; in reality, they have been going awry for decades. We did not fall off the path of democracy recently as some would have you believe and we certainly are not seeing political tactics like the debt ceiling increase for the first time. What we do see these days in government policy is the takeover of politicians by lobbyists hired by the insurance companies, oil companies, churches and food companies to make sure their businesses are considered first when it comes to legislation…period. They do not consider the American people, just like they did not consider us when they were stretching the debate out on the debt ceiling, when ideology took precedence over the economics of the here and now. They did not think of the millions of 401k’s or retirement accounts that are going to suffer with the turmoil over whether to pay our bills or not.

                I know some are not fans of hearing that Bush inherited nearly a trillion dollar budget surplus from Clinton and healthy economic growth, but it is a fact. It is also a fact that Bush put forth the first economic stimulus package that we borrowed for after dribbling the failing economy along with tax refunds, lowering interest rates and tax cuts primarily for the rich. All of the measures were too little too late, forcing the incumbent President to react to the horrible economy, banking practices that were the height of greed and two wars that were being funded without economic cash flow. Now, the stimulus monies have run out for the most part, Obama’s opponents have convinced Americans that he is a Muslim witch Dr. from Kenya, and the economy has suffered heavy losses three months in a row while the rich are paying the lowest taxes in 80 years. While everyone is blaming everyone else in the legislature there is literally trillions of dollars waiting in the private sector for nothing more than a positive economic climate and a little optimism.  They were on the verge of investment across the board until this latest political stunt to run the ship aground.

                Economically at this time we cannot afford to step up to the ideals of the Tea party leaders and continue to cut without investment. It would be great to get this fat cat government to go lean, but doing an crash diet now will break us, and by the look of it today we are headed for another recession or worse and perhaps globally. We are in need of investment and interjection if we hope to regain the economy we had even four years ago let alone after Clinton got done shaping it. We were on the verge of righting it but our confidence was undermined by those who stand to gain from failure. The best thing we can all do is hold our leaders accountable in the legislature by telling all of them to work for us, stop taking the politicians and the media rhetoric to heart and get behind this President and tell the politicians to do the same.  A little thought on information you hear would also go a long way toward healing.

Debt, Taxes and Basic Civics

The rhetoric is killing me. There are so many misleading statements out there over the current and most recent debt ceiling change I simply cannot avoid blabbing about it. The intentionally misleading information out there is what is driving a wedge between all of us and it has to stop. I do not think there are many Americans who relish being at odds with their neighbors, me included, but as long as we allow ourselves to be bamboozled the wedge will remain and our country will falter.  

                I heard a Republican congressmen say the other night something to the effect of “the senate has proposed nothing!” Well no kidding, the original “Bill” came from the House therefore the Senate was reacting which is the procedure of the governmental bodies. The house proposed the debt ceiling debate so the Senate has to react. It certainly isn’t that they have not participated as some would have you believe. For a simple but informative illustration on how government legislation works use the link. http://www.genome.gov/12513982

                Our tax system has many parts and many problems; among them the tax structure is outdated in some ways and needs serious revamping. The system is open for all kinds of modern fraud because of the hundreds of loopholes that have sneaked into it over time and they are killing us. On the flip side, it is designed to be a floating revenue source, ever changing and often unstable. Taxes go up and down with the tide of government spending. In war it is called upon to make up the differences, it is used as a tool of stability in turbulent times such as these, and taxes go down typically in quieter times or are invested in our growth. Conversely, the debt ceiling fluctuates with the changing tax revenues. This is hardly the first time the debt ceiling has been raised since its’ inception during WWI, in fact it has been raised something like 179 times by both Democrats and Republicans. Reagan holds the record at 17 times in one Presidency and mirroring the effects of that were his tax hikes during that same 8 years where he raised taxes some 7 times to quell a turbulent time. He also saw massive interest rates under his watch which this administration has miraculously escaped. Obama has been walking a tight rope successfully avoiding inflation, but it can come at any time if we falter on our growth. I have heard a few folks talking about inflation at this time because of the gas prices and inflation is not in play there, the rise at the pump is simply the whim of the oil industry and supply and demand.

                There is nothing new about government spending, it has been going on for years and if you want to know the truth it is leaner now and in the last several years than it has ever been save for war. Nothing that this President has done is in anyway unusual save for the fact that he and Bush did not raise taxes for the two wars; for first time in history we have gone off to war unfunded. “Obamacare” did use some money and it was really bad timing for sure, but had it been allowed to unfold as designed two years ago we would not be talking about “entitlements” now because Medicare and medical costs would already be on the road to repair. The administration has by and large reacted to an economic situation and for a variety of reasons they have had only limited success. Contrary to what some would tell you, the incredible debt that we face has been building since the minute we landed in Afghanistan and it grew by leaps and bounds when we went on to Iraq. The two “stimulus” packages added to it of course, but without them we would be in really bad shape according to most of the economists; you cannot grow an economy without investment. Of course the success of the injection of the stimulus’s is hard to prove to the American people, and the Republican party and the Tea party are certainly not going to admit that it had to happen because they stand to gain from the fallout of failure.

By and large the overall debt is a result of two unfunded wars and shrinking revenue in tax cuts at a time when the amount going out is incredible. They have cost us directly over a trillion dollars and that does not include the miscellaneous costs surrounding them or the thousands of lives. Those lives by the way were given over 60% of the time while protecting fuel convoys; they were not lost in static battle.

The debt will be hard to get under control no matter what until we get out of the wars and get back to discussing jobs instead of this ridiculous debate of whether to pay our bills or not. There is only one other country in the world with a debt ceiling and that is Denmark I believe, and the debt ceiling there is set so incredibly high not even two wars would touch it. Borrowing takes place worldwide and for better or worse it keeps the economy running around the globe much like it does when we borrow bank money for our cars. Like it or not, we are involved to stay in a world economy although borrowing so heavily is not exactly advisable.

In listening to Dan Akerson the head of GM this morning I learned that they have paid back to Canada and the U.S.  a good share of the money used to bail them out and are carrying an 8 million dollar company balance. They are strong and ready to get on with it. He said that the U.S. Government had never interfered with their management team and he is thankful for the financial support saying that without it we would have suffered another million lost jobs. They feel that the only thing (until this ridiculous debt ceiling debate that is) holding this country back is a little confidence which has been severely undermined by all the false statements and rhetoric floated for the sake of winning favor and re-election even though it is tearing this country down.  There are many companies holding trillions waiting for the right climate to invest and with those investments will come recovery and a strong America.

It seems ironic to me, but Obama is perhaps too middle of the road for leadership here and now. By being a moderate he cannot get a grip on leading because no one is wholeheartedly behind him for he is neither far left nor right. All I know is that Dan Akerson is right in my thinking, and not getting behind our President is killing this country. It would behoove all of us to pay a little more attention to what we are being told and understand a little better the steps of government so that we are not so quickly fooled when politicians and the media point their fingers. It would behoove us to get behind the guy and his efforts to get this country back on its’ feet.  Divided we fall.

Money Talks, and Kicks and Sqeals

So I am catching up on the news the other mornin’ and happen on an article about Rudy Giuliani and his “coziness” with Rupert Murdock and how “Fox Network” suddenly appeared on New York cable TV when there were folks ahead of them on the waiting list at Time Warner. It also discusses court intervention and how even that did not detour Fox or Rudy in their quest for cable exposure in New York and subsequently Rudy’s unprecedented successive appearances on Fox programs during his run for the Whitehouse.   Anyway you can read it for yourself if you want by following the link http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2011/07/21/rupert-murdoch-scandal-rudy-giuliani-s-ties-to-news-corp.html?om_rid=DnqIHH&om_mid=_BOKXWyB8cdETF7 

My attention was drawn not so much to the article, for Murdock has a long history of manipulation, but to the comments afterward and one lady saying “The President's associations are far more questionable than Rudy's friendship with Murdock.” That is all she said, no mention of what those “associations” were of course and she did not answer queries from others regarding her allegations. I have one question for her assuming that what she is saying is even correct…why is it American’s these days are flocking to the doctrine that a wrong is fine if it is in line with other wrongs? Or for some, it is OK to “sin” because one is forgiven of their sins if they are a “believer”. I find it far more rewarding not sinning in the first place, and I do not understand what we are condoning these days when it comes to being more right. That should read “correct” I guess, but I left it as “right” because the play on words indeed sums up some of the thinking…the more “right” you are, the better American you are.

My Dad was a good Republican back when the differences of party were represented by ideas on how to get to the same end, and that being the betterment of the country. Back then the two parties were both respectful of each other even though they were far apart at times, but they worked and bartered together and got things done; that was pre-lobby mind you. For myself I have never picked a Party to call my own, but in the last few years I have discovered that I do not like “my way or the highway” style of discussion, nor blatant head turning ignorance among the politicians when it comes to the manufacture of lies to win at all costs such as the “Muslim terrorist” myth swirling on the internet about Obama’s Presidential intentions. There were normally sane politicians turning their heads to many of the lies like that one and all for the sake of winning, never mind that it was slowing economical recovery and causing people to discredit our highest office. Unfortunately, things like that have a way of coming back around, and they will.

Call me old fashioned, but before the incredible hold by lobbyists on our politicians and the media, and before the blessing of the Supreme Court condoning mega-political contributions from the lobbyists that big business employs, we had a much more balanced approach to government,  fur flying or not. Media was also not as manipulative, or as influential because folks had to read and understand the words, and most understood that you cannot take stock in everything you read.  Politicians had to speak to all Americans not just their constituents or their corporate lobbyist. I have not run across one Tea Party politician yet who will let me comment on their online contact form along with some Republicans and it baffles me what it is they are doing there if it is not to represent all Americans. Similarly, our House Speaker has his website set up the same way and I find that offensive. However, since he is Speaker you can contact him via the House website to tell him your ideas for America. My thinking is that we are all Americans and all are hurting economically and we should be heard.

The reality is we are not loud enough financially. Billions upon billions are spent every year by corporations, insurance companies and mega banks luring politicians to support them. In reality it is no different than the Mob and good old fashioned arm twisting, or worse.

My Sister was just saying that she felt like legislators were little kids when it comes to ironing out the debt ceiling change and feels like the TEA party leaders are a bunch of uneducated jerks who are driving this debate into the ground by ignoring the threat. I have to agree that even toying with the possibility of default at this point is nothing short of foolish no matter what your sworn ideology is. The other two parties know full well the consequences because they have been here before, but are playing the scary game of who is going to look the best come election time. If we default we not only have the potential to derail the country as a whole, and for a very long time, but the older Americans who are the largest voting body and biggest spenders  are subject to losing everything they have saved for AND their investments in Social Security and Medicare. The middle class, working class could lose untold amounts of money stashed in their 401k as well as possibly their jobs. Do we really want to do that for the sake of a few tax breaks that lead to nowhere?

I am not naïve, and understand that the U.S. government indeed has a huge cleanup to do when it comes to money drain, but at this moment job creation and revenue are what we need to cure the ills, not clamping down and certainly not decreasing what revenue we have. Getting out of the two wars we got stuck with would go a long ways to helping things out. Getting rid of a ton of subsidies like Ethanol, foreign aid, farm subsidies, oil and gas incentives and cutting our massive defense budget would go nearly as far, but those entities all have huge lobbies and they pay to play like the middle class cannot. Interestingly enough, in my area of the country the rich are still building…erecting arts centers, 7000 square foot homes and polishing their gold in the basement vault, so I have to ask…where is that trickle down?

It takes money to make money, always has, always will. I have nothing against people who “have made it” in this world, but a faction of our government favors the ones who in part got where they are by the sweat of the middle class. Legislators are allowing money to talk through them and policy is being set according to who coughs up the most. I for one believe that the average American has coughed up way more than their share and we are the ones who will lose when the spittle of debate lands on us and the shiny bars are liquidated. Will we be able to talk?

Fool Me Once…and Again and Again

         July 16, 2011 was the actual deadline for raising the debt limit for this country and an infamous day in history where we allowed lawmakers to drive this country off a cliff by not voting to pay our bills. The economic impact of not raising the debt ceiling scares me beyond anything in my life, and the fallout has already started with S&P dropping 69% this morning and the exchange down 100. This is not about government spending; this is about government paying their bills…the ones that we have incurred, not the ones we are creating or might create. It is not something that has just come up either; the debt ceiling has been raised many times over the years. In fact Ronald Reagan the conservative God of favor lately, pushed to raise it 17 times in his quest for getting out of the worst financial problems since the great depression with his 10.5% unemployment and near American default. He knew back then what anyone who has been paying attention knows now…we are not growing an economy by cutting investment and jobs.

            “Think Progress.org” ran this quote recently: “Congress consistently brings the government to the edge of default before facing its responsibility. This brinksmanship threatens the holders of government bonds and those who rely on Social Security and veterans benefits. Interest rates would skyrocket, instability would occur in financial markets, and the Federal deficit would soar.” Sound familiar? Ronald Reagan, 1987

            Imagine all the folks near or in retirement not be able to spend; that is exactly what will happen if they keep insisting on cutting Social Security and Medicare, and as I’ve said before those are NOT entitlements, they have been bought and paid for out of wages. That group of people is now the largest group of spenders in this country aside from the top 1% who still have oodles to spend thanks to legislation curbing taxes for them. There is no question that we have to revamp elder care especially Medicare and Medicaid, but that revamping needs to concentrate on streamlining it and closing the loopholes that allow the rampant fraud associated with it.  That is what costs us money. We also need to address preventive medicine not just in the elderly but across the board. Not addressing health care problems when we had the chance was nothing short of stupid and it will turn to catastrophic soon especially as our financial situation worsens. In fact it has indeed contributed immensely to the problems we are having now.

            We have been fooled beyond belief in this country when bettering our health care system, cutting debt associated with it and attempting to control banking that got us into this mess is propagandized as bad. The reality is, it is bad for the insurance companies quarterly profits and investment bankers bonuses. This President is giving the Republicans the moon when it comes to a debt ceiling deal according to many older former Republicans, but the current congress is not taking it even though the prospect of not will no doubt put this country and the world into a real and serious tailspin worse than nearly every American has ever seen. It is beyond me why we have to barter for this financial maneuver in the first place? It is to pay our bills like, you know, the two wars that congress agreed to get us into a few years back and the huge tax cuts that left this economy unsustainable. Funny, one of the few who voted against going into those wars was Obama.

            Politicians on both sides of the fence change their stories all the time, but following the stories this last 4 + years have been hard to take, especially now. Cutting college funding is one of the “new” or “half-breed” Republican’s ideas for curbing spending, but giving the top 1% tax breaks is not? The rich have not paid their fair share in years thanks to tax loopholes so large you could drive a bus through them, yet we are giving them more than ever now. What is really stunning, on top of that is the middle class who indeed funds this country, is supporting legislation to give them and corporations huge tax breaks and at the same time are taking up the slack and bearing the burden! Middle class lives are hold as well yet we are buying into this nonsense that “Trickle down” is coming. Well, where is it? That is what I want to ask the pro-tax loophole folks in congress…where is that trickle down? Weren’t we supposed to see that by now? After all it has been 10 years since the Bush tax cuts began and the economy has flittered away since. Rather than ask Obama where the jobs are, how about asking the folks who supported those “trickle down” tax breaks where the jobs are?

It is bad enough that we are being misled by our politicians for their political gain but being misled by the in their pocket “news” sources is inexcusable. Putting future candidates on the media payroll like Bachman and Gingrich allows them to campaign for months before they launch their bids and it ought to be a huge breach of campaign rules in my thinking. Buying politicians is inexcusable in the first place whether it is news media or corporations, but the Supreme Court allows it and recently opened the door for unlimited money flow from corporations to candidates in a 1 vote Republican win. By the way, those corporations are also headed up by that top 1% who have all the tax cuts already…does anyone understand how much we are being taken for the fools? The middle class is being cut out of everything and if you look at tax cuts meant for the wealthy and pricey education only available to the wealthy you get the idea that it might just be by design.

Not supporting education is probably the most powerful maneuver there is when it comes to controlling any government. Without education, particularly in a democracy and particularly in economics and civics, politicians and rich corporations can easily pull the wool over our eyes and control this country the way they see fit. I certainly don’t mean to sound way out there, but when I hear politicians such as  New Hampshire’s new Republican state House Speaker, William O’Brien stating that college students should not be allowed to vote because “they just vote their feelings” a big red flag goes up. Of course they vote their feelings, doesn’t everyone? The idea that we should cut education funding as a means of balancing state and federal budgets is ridiculous. That is like a household cutting the food budget instead of the entertainment allotment. We must as some are screaming stop the unnecessary spending, but we cannot sustain ourselves if we take the food away. Without getting back to the education the post great depression survivors supported, we will indeed be unexceptional as a country.

I am a centrist in just about anything and pro-American in everything, but when I am being told that this or that is bad and never hearing a different solution I have to conclude that I am being bamboozled. I hear today that amid all this very important debt ceiling deal, the House of Representatives are incredibly still talking about the damn light bulb law! I guess that goes along with their harangue about the health care bill being bad for us. I can see where privatization has gotten us with insurance that only 40% of Americans can afford and mostly only if it is attached to their jobs, but then again, I have my eyes open.

It is beyond me how easily we are fooled into believing that what is good for us is bad. Education, small business and industry made this country exceptional and it would again if we just invested in it. The middle class made this country great not the upper 1% of the income scale. Not the news conglomerates or the giant communications companies. Not Wal-Mart or the oil companies and the plastic industry that they spawned…hard individual work on Main Street made this country great.  We are being fooled again into believing that investment in America is bad for us and if we don’t stop waiting for this congress to save us we will not be in need of it.

What Are We Thinking?

            A friend of mine on the Front Range “clips” online articles on water issues when he comes across them and emails them to me. He recently sent two articles on the oil and gas companies’ use of hydraulic fracturing parts of the Earth’s crust to get at the trapped natural gas far below the surface that would otherwise not be accessible. One of the articles was pro and written by a conservative Democrat from Oklahoma who heads up the American Gas Association, the other was an opinion from Sam Schabacker of Food & Water Watch a consumer advocacy organization and it was con.

            As an educated left leaning centrist I have to wonder about the motives of the President of the American Gas Association when he is telling me that all is safe in oil, gas and “fracking”. On the other hand when it comes to someone worrying about what we eat or what we bath in I happen to believe that is as important to us as it was our ancestors, so I have to agree that intentionally polluting underground areas might not be in our best interest. The pro guy makes the “in vogue” case that the gas industry supplies and creates thousands of jobs for Colorado therefore we should support it no matter what. The job issue in this country is now held up for just about every cause even though often jobs are indeed never created.

            Along those lines and from “across the pond” I listened to an interview of Tony Blair with Wolf Blitzer and when asked if the going’s on of News Corp in Britain was a tad bit out of line and should be dealt with, he responded that it is par for news organizations over there and he wondered, with almost pity at American distaste for such antics. Tony Blair looked like a fat cat under a canary cage and went on about how this was business as usual never once mentioning that cell phone and computer hacking of anyone is illegal. The bottom line is both of these situations benefit someone therefore we should just ignore the consequences and except the defense of the practices as gospel. I cannot.

            I wonder regularly what it is about us that allows politicians and large corporations to pull the wool over our eyes so regularly that we accept being blind as a part of life. If some tidbit is repeated enough we take it as the whole truth and nothing but the truth and never bother to look up the facts. In the case of to “frack” or not to “frack” it makes only common sense that diesel fuel forced through small fissures underground will indeed find its way into the underground aquifers and it is only a matter of time before it shows up in our drinking water. Not to mention it takes millions of gallons of our precious water to hydraulically fracture in the first place. Yet, through both “public education” and political muscling, the oil and gas folks have managed to keep hydraulic fracturing off EPA regulations for safe water.  And they have managed to convince people so thoroughly that they are they are on the up and up the practice is being defended around the dinner table, especially if they are “creating jobs”. We are so naïve.

            It all boils down to money just like this ridiculous debate going on about our economy. If Obama has a double dip recession he loses in 2012 and that is the only thing motivating the new strain of politicians in D.C.  period. They could care less if we are teetering on financial disaster as long as he loses and that has been the goal from the beginning. Why does congress not embrace all ideas to get the economy moving? They keep pointing the finger at Obama for not doing this or that with the economy and the debt, yet they are the ones who are hired by us to make decisions, fix problems and create policy. The role of the President is to steer; the legislators’ role is to represent their districts and they are obviously not doing it for the districts are still not adding jobs. The conversation always turns to spending yet very few of these politicians have demanded that we get out of Iraq and Afghanistan which to date has cost us 1.2 trillion dollars and it is all borrowed money. That is our debt problem in the first place, not Obamacare, nor the bailouts which by the way have been nearly paid back and with interest. We have a spending problem alright, congress spending for their employers…oil and gas companies, tobacco companies, banks, you get the idea.

            I have to agree with my friend Mike…I have paid into Social Security and Medicare nearly my whole life so what makes it wrong that I receive benefits from it? We are crazy to buy into this especially since Social Security supports itself and can be viable for another 25 years without any additional funding. Yes, there are abuses to both systems that can be addressed and we can stop some needless bleeding, but benefit cuts handed to the people who built those funds in the first place, give me a break. Cutting taxes again and again for the rich is blatant support not for the folks that need it, but for the folks that control our government. For every dollar in tax breaks given I would bet my shrinking last dollar that four dollars come back to politicians that support the machine. We, the disappearing middle class cannot afford that kind of political game playing so they no longer work for us, and we buy into the lies that the rich create jobs. The only thing that is “trickling down” to us is the debt from borrowing money to give these people tax breaks. What are we thinking folks?

            There is no talk in any of this about getting small businesses back to Main Street and those my friends are what make this country go ‘round. Small businesses would benefit hugely by cutting the subsidies for big oil and giving it to solar entrepreneurs, but small businesses are not funding politicians, the biggest business of all. The loudest politicians for the most part are the ones who have been at it the longest and it is because they have been given the most money to keep doing what they do; benefit the lobbyists. One exception is Rand Paul the “rookie”, but he knows full well who scratches Kentucky’s bank, I mean back. Kentucky receives more federal dollars than just about any state out there and he will do nothing to topple that record, Tea Party affiliation or not.

            We can do a lot of federal cutting like subsidies to the rich in the form of tax cuts and ethanol which is causing our food prices to go through the roof. We can clean up government waste in general by tying record keeping together so duplicate spending is controlled and we can cut the Mother of all spending by nipping at the war machine budget. Most people do not know that the general defense budget has grown 67% since 2001 and is almost larger than the rest of the world combined…that is being paid for out of our taxes. When they increase defense spending, or any budget for that matter it is a tax increase. I do not care what you argue, this country is a machine and it is fed by taxes one way or the other. No matter what your party supposedly stands for they are taxing you.  

            This country is living truly on the edge when we talk of cutting the deficit instead of putting money into jobs. Jobs will cut the deficit by giving people the money to spend. You cannot pay household debts down without income, and you will not have income without a job…it is that simple. We almost bounced back from the Bush and Obama reinvestments but they were a little too late in the case of Bush and a little too small on Obama’s part. They did stop the job loss successfully, and added a few but we need to kick start things again or we will be in the same boat. The rest of the world invests heavily in their job creators and their students and we must do the same or dwindle away.  

            A strong nation starts with economics not war planes. We cannot run the engines of war without the money to do it anyway and that money is disappearing into investment banking, oil and gas production, big overseas business and now radical ideology. If we do not invest in the people of this country it will be belly up, it is that simple. If this country defaults many have no idea what will happen…let’s start with no 401 K’s…they will be empty. Jobs on every level will disappear making everything much worse than it already is. No stock market stability here or in the world and interest rates will go sky high deepening the problems. These politicians that are taking these silly pledges have no idea what they are doing and Boehner and a few other Republicans know it, yet they are playing along with the game because they are afraid they will lose our votes. Well, mine has not been there since we were lied to about Iraq so I will not cost them.   

Black and White-NOT

Lately I was pleased to hear two really common sense guys who managed to have concrete ideas or experience to go with their criticisms. Or better yet, they can explain what they think the problem s are and how to fix them without bashing the other party. It was refreshing to listen to Chris Christie in an interview on CNN with Piers Morgan; he told us who he was, what he stood for and only mentioned the word “liberal” a few times and not derogatorily at that.  He seems to realize it takes both stallions and mares to make a horse. Conversely, it takes two or more ways of thinking to make a democracy. I liked the guy personally because he said what he thought about things without hesitation and without the patriot games that have become so familiar to us. He got through the whole interview without making things up as he went.

On the contrary, watching the first Republican “debate” I noticed some of those folks were still campaigning for the same thing they have always campaigned for; division. They seem to not be for America succeeding; rather they are for Obama’s failure and apparently the failure of the Democratic Party which happens to be the other half of the horse. This is not a one-sided affair by any means, but it has been, the last several years, taken to heights we should all be ashamed of. It is nonsense when folks are not speaking to all Americans when they ask for a vote; rather they are pandering to only one party and offering nothing in particular for solutions for the country. My Daddy taught me that when folks continue to bad mouth everyone else without offering a solution, they are likely covering for their own inadequacies.

All concentration on the problems facing this country has been cast aside to embrace “my way or the highway” both in congress and in main stream America and it is ridiculous.  There is no black and white when it comes to fixing this mess the BANKS got us into although there are some on both sides who would like to make you think so. Sure, sure, the banks were not regulated like they were before Reagan loosened control on them, but nothing we say to go with our hindsight is fixing the problem and we need to drop it. At the same time folks need to stop listening to those who keep preaching spending reform before job creation…that will NOT fix the problem of a recessed economy from what I can ascertain.  Any casual observer can see that the Bush tax cuts did nothing to create jobs or stop them from falling of the street both before he was out of office and after.

Much of the mess we are in has nothing to do with the budget; rather it has to do with two unfunded wars, the first in the history of this country without raising taxes. Without Americans keeping our GDP afloat or producing instead of being supported with unemployment, there will be no need for a balanced budget. By the way, do you realize it was only ten years ago that this country was sporting a budget surplus and nearly in the black across the entire economic board?

Getting people back to work has to be the number one priority for this country and we are not going to do it without investment in those people. If we let this country go in default all hell will break loose, according to the other really wise man I was fortunate enough to catch, Mr. Alan Simpson former Republican senator from Wyoming on “In the Arena” also on CNN.  He was saying that folks who are pooh-poohing this debt ceiling deal have no idea what will happen if we let it go, like the federal bond market perhaps liquidating which would be devastating. The investments the bonds bring to this country are tremendous and if the holders decide to cash them in it could be really bad. Not only will we have to pay them, we would not have their investment. He was also saying that Bernanke is in no way lying about the seriousness of this and congress needs to get together on ideas and stop the partisan crap.

I have said before, the “Tea Party” had the right idea in the beginning and a few of their branches still do, and many of them do not agree with where parts of the party have drifted. The folks throwing the tea into Boston Harbor were all shapes and sizes and certainly all single minded but they came together to oppose the English government not each other. Michelle Bachman said during the first Republican debate  that the current Tea Party is made up of people from every walk and then went on to mention several times that “liberals” are to blame for thus and so. My question is: which is it… All for one, or one for all, or neither?  I happen to be a “one” and part of the “All” but they are not attempting to get my vote it seems nor are they telling me what it is they intend to do to “fix” things. I am tired of hearing how bad the other side is and what a great business hand Reagan was, let’s fix the problems now!

Speaking of Reagan…I liked him fine. He over all did an OK job but he was no God as he is being portrayed today by some who are lamenting the fact they can’t find anyone worthy to step up to the plate in his place. He had charisma alright, but he sat on 10% unemployment for about two years; higher than what we have right now. He also raised mostly middle class taxes 11 times to stave off a full blown depression in easier times than now. By far the biggest thing he had going for him was a congress who could work together to solve problems and that helped to save his bacon. Back then legislators were not all about annihilating the other party. If that had been the case back 200 years ago, we would not be a country today.

There are those who know full well that Obama fails if they sit this one out. I ask: What about us? What about this country if they cut education as a stab at looking fiscally responsible? The manufacturing jobs are gone folks…they are not coming back because cheap labor is key to multi-billion dollar success stories. We need education to be as affordable as it can possibly be because the jobs we hope to create to keep up require that. Big companies here at this time have learned how to get by with less employees and some are even hiring temporary white collar workers because they do not have to provide them with a single bennie.  Point is, we will have to re-educate the folks who are sitting on the sidelines and we just aren't doing that without an investment and a serious one. We have to invest in industry that will carry us through in a changing world. We might actually see people buying up government bonds if we were to announce to the world that we were on a collective course to pull ourselves up by the boot straps.

The rich are still rich, we must enlist them to make investment into great new ideas; the mamby pamby chicken shit blame game has to stop. What of challenging America invention to come up with bio-plastics to replace oil based materials; investing in solar and wind in a very real sense, not the half hearted display we see now? Efficient batteries to store electricity from solar and wind generation, home solar charging stations for electric cars, landfill power generation; I could go on and on.  I guess I sound like “a liberal” but the ideas are out there and they are being sat on because no one is investing. No one is investing because existing industry like oil and gas are the squeaky wheels and they are getting, pardon my pun, the oil. Legislators on the opposing side are gambling that Obama will fail before the country goes under so they are sitting idly on a powder keg in doing so.

 I have a friend who was pointing out how electric cars just would not do for many applications like pulling our horse trailers or cross-country trips. I was compelled to argue that modern trains are pulled by electric motors. Yes, they are diesel charged, but refined solar might just change that if great minds are supported. Ski lifts are pulled 100% by electric motors and mountain top solar would be easy enough to do to supply power in the future for that industry. Gas stations already exist and can become electric power hookups almost overnight since transmission lines are already in place to them. My point is it just isn’t that difficult.

It is high time we write legislators and prod them to give up at least some of their special interest money and time to fix this country. We have to start with investment and the money is out there without further draining our country, we just have to tap it and we aren’t going to do that without sound support from congress. We indeed have a President who is more than willing to help with innovation, but he cannot do it alone nor will he get legislative help until we demand it. The legislators, at least in part are paid by big oil to keep oil production going and until we break that cycle by squawking louder regarding innovation we will be in food and gas lines and I mean soon. We cannot lock ourselves away from the rest of the world either, which is another of the Tea Party pushes; we have to play in the giant sandbox now and it can be hugely productive if we just pick up the shovel. Burying our heads in the sand is not an option.

The only thing that has kept us going so far were the investments that George W and Obama made and they did not go far enough so we are seeing the effects of it dwindle. I am all for getting the spending under control but at this time that is toe scuffing and folks shoes are wearing thin.