Who Increased the Debt?

Who indeed?

Paul Krugman's  NY Times Op-Ed today focuses on the myth of debt recovery in the past.  

You often hear assertions to the effect that in the past the economy has always rebounded strongly after a recession, so there must be something special at work here — and that something special must be the socialist in the White House.

Yet the reality is that weak recoveries have actually been the norm for the last two decades: both the 1990-1991 recession and the 2001 recession were followed by prolonged “jobless recoveries”.

Take another look at what we're going through and tell me we should be out of danger now two years after the failure of the biggest banks and financial firms in the world as well as the automotive industry.  

Come on people.

Who's Gonna Level the Playing Field?

I can't say it as well or as knowledgeably as Robert Reich.  After President Obama's Rose Garden press conference this morning, subject:  The Economy, Reich had this to say.

Trickle-down economics has been a cruel joke.

On the other hand — given projected budget deficits — if the rich don’t pay their fair share, the rest of us will have to bear more of a burden. And that burden inevitably will come in the form of either higher taxes or fewer public services.

If anyone’s declared class warfare it’s the people who inhabit the top rungs of big corporations and Wall Street (and who comprise a disproportionate number of America’s super rich). They’ve declared it on average workers.

The ratio of corporate profits to wages is higher than it’s been since before the Great Depression. And even as corporate salaries and perks keep rising, the median wage keeping dropping, and jobs continue to be shed.

You’ve got the chairman of Merck taking home $17.9 million last year. This year Merck announces plans to boot 13,000 workers. The CEO of Bank of America takes in $10 million, and the bank announces it’s firing 30,000 workers.

Maybe I’m old-fashioned, but the way I see it we’ve got a huge budget deficit and a giant jobs problem. And under these circumstances it seems to me people at the top who have never had it so good should sacrifice a bit more, so the rest of us don’t have to sacrifice quite as much.

Yeah.  Those salaries.  Those layoffs.  Those Congressmen who won't level the playing field.

Where the hell did THIS GUY go?

 

Hosed

Hosed  by Cole Scott

Published yesterday by Brian @ Waystation One for his other project on One Stop Poetry, this packs a political punch I can't duplicate...

Eww! What did I step in?

this is not another poem

but a manifesto written

in red lipstick

on the morning after mirrors

of a nation that has forgotten

its identity in drunken debauchery

and the rush of get rich,



quick scams to join the

one percent, drawn on dry

erase boards for fast exits

slowly turning the tourniquet

cutting the flow of blood to

the innocent & amputating the

masses as gangrene populace



who then will you find to

cut your grass & wash your

Aston Martin at minimum

wage?



rage against the machine

that chews the bone to suck

the marrow of the weak, spewing

bullshit rhetoric in excess, exhaust

to choke the few trees left

that haven't been martyrs to the cause

of containing self-egrandizing

laws---



Tocqueville said,

"self-interest properly understood"

was our strength, but butchered

it has been, in two word

short attention

spans



so while you sup on

caviar and crackers at state

dinners kissing the ass of those

you have indebted us to, think of me

for once, as I often think of you

when cleaning off the bottom

of my shoe.



sorry if this hurts your feelings,

i am still just waiting for

change i can believe in.

Balasana  by Cole Scott

 

"Game Change" a Page Turner

I haven't finished the book, "Game Change" yet but it is a page turner like no other political tome I've read.  If you were into the 2008 presidential race, this is the book for you.  I began reading it last Wednesday.

It's been criticized on a number of levels as it is without footnotes or references, all stories being delivered from sources the authors deem reliable, those with whom they've worked for years.  The authors' contention is that few, if any, would be forthcoming about behind-the-scenes campaign experiences if they had to be publicity outed.  As such, the caveat emptor here is "grain of salt".  Be that as it may, it reads like a suspense novel.  You cannot put it down.

Not sure why it's been characterized as critical of Hillary.  I think the portrait of her seems balanced and fair.  Who the hell would run for president & not be overwhelmed, exhausted &/or arrogant from time to time?  The remark Harry Reid made about then Sen. Obama's light skin & speaking abilities (lacking a dialect) seems taken out of the context in which he spoke.  I have no love for Harry Reid.  He's a pompous ass.  But I doubt if what he said was much different than what most of the cognoscenti said when considering Obama's chances as a black presidential candidate.  It's all about electability.

The most surprising thing I've learned, thus far,besides the Elizabeth Edwards revelations, is how long the candidates prepare to be candidates.  It is years in the making.  I'm not talking about the youthful yearnings to be POTUS; I'm talking about the years during which potential candidates lay the groundwork themselves in their policy no matter their political standing or office (or no office) at the time.  They assemble their teams years in advance to assess the landscape.  They begin to raise money furtively.  Talk about your well-oiled machine.

The First 100 Days

Interesting set of events to mark the first 100 days of the Obama administration. This Arlen Specter defection to the Democratic party is something else. The pundits are all over it. I mean, when conservative talk show host, Joe Scarborough says he can't credit his party with much of anything for the past eight years except out of control spending and the deficit etc.,(Morning Joe 4/29/09) where are the Republicans going to turn?

Recent surveys show President Obama's likability quotient at 81%; his approval rating at 61%. This means whether or not people agree with his policies, they like the guy. Pundits say they haven't seen this kind of swing since Reagan. This gives President Obama an incredible leg up when it comes to making policy. Even more dramatic is the announcement by Republican Senator Arlen Specter that he is switching parties. He's gonna be a Democrat because the Republican party can no longer help him win in Pennsylvania. As former statistician turned political commentator Chuck Todd ruminated, the Republican party is about to become sequestered in the southeastern states. They have lost the Northeast, the Midwest and the Mid-Atlantic states. They would have lost Arizona during the presidential election except McCain is still standing. Once Al Franken is confirmed as the official winner of the Minnesota senate race, the Democrats will have a filibuster-proof 60 seats in the Senate.

It's impossible to judge anyone the first 100 days. As for the Democratic party, now is when the real work begins. No more excuses about the Republicans holding them back. Dems have the obligation to make things happen. We need health care reform, financial reform, you name it, we need it.

Time to roll up our sleeves and "git 'er done" before the donkey party figures out a way to come back.

Man's Best Friends

My girlfriends are my best friends but the photo I was trying to upload, a group shot of us twenty years ago--still slim, still pretty, all in our mid thirties, is a pdf file & I can't get it to work. Soooo, here's a nice photo of my dog, Dewey, we call him Sideways Dog, and my beloved cat, Maggie. Along with our female dog & eldest pet, Zoe, they are a pack. They are not my pack, they are my husband's pack. They follow him around, yes, all of them, like, well, like dogs. Even the cat, the creature I love most in the house, loves my husband more than me. He says it's because he feeds them, plays with them, walks them, etc. He's probably right. I do, however, wish the cat could be my very special pet. I love her beyond reason. She's so adorable. She's smart, she's tiny (only 6 lbs) and she's the most beautiful cat I've ever seen. Perfect conformation and markings and she's a pound kitty.

All our animals are pound animals or strays. We just don't do the expensive pedigree route. What's the point? With 25 million animals unwanted & put down each year, why not save one or two or three? They are always grateful, always needy, always unconditionally loving. I hate to bring President-elect Obama into this but, he should be getting a pound animal, regardless of his daughter's allergies. It would be another show of inclusiveness and caring for the unwanted and the forgotten.

Happy New Year from Uncle Jay or Where We Were in 2008